November, 1946
THE ECHO
PAGE FIVE
Ecusta's Fine New Color Film Released
Coveted Garden Award Is Given To Ecusta Again
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Shown above is a reproduction of the award that was presented to Ecusta for the fourth time by the;
National Garden Institute for our outstanding gard en production records.
(Continued From Page One)
N
Pisgah Forest, three miles from
Sfevard, was selected as the site
^or the paper plant because of the
'"illions of gallons of pure water
"'hich come tumbling down daily
“ut of the mile high Pisgah Na
tional Forest. And from the old
^“dian name “Ecusta”, which
^eans rippling water, Straus chose
name of the plant which was
^sstined to play a vital role in the
cigarette industry.
Beautiful color views of the riv-
and the forest are pictured in
film, and Ecusta’s huge reset-
''®irs, holding several millions of
Sallons of water, and the enormous
^*'ter plant are shown.
. Construction of Ecusta’s build-
'®gs began in June, 1938, and even
’'O'v, several years later, more con
struction is in progress and im
provement and modernization work
being carried on constantly.
More than 1,600 persons are em
ployed at Ecusta and most of these
^ere born in North Carolina. A
^ cross-section of the employees
their various jobs is shown in
stirring movie.
To the hum of the modern paper
^achines, the vast fields of the
. ®st from which Ecusta obtains
raw flax and the huge ware
houses here in which thousands of
of this flax are stored are
Shown.
.Step by step paper making is
P‘!tured ... the digesters or huge
Rooking vessels where a crew
the fibre into the digester,
lid is fastened on and the wa-
and chemicals are turned in.
pjter several hours of cooking, the
is conditioned and the im
parities dissolved.
.’trough channel pumps and
•"Pes the fibre is turned into
Rasher beaters and is passed un-
a roll filled with steel knives,
^hich eliminate more impurities,
peaching is the next step, follow-
•''8 by another process of washing
the vacuum washers.
'^0 maintain exceedingly rigid
''d exacting standards, frequent
sampling and testing are carried
throughout all processes by a
|^.‘'ge staff of highly trained tech-
in the control department,
f^ter the final washing the pulp
o Sent out of the pulp mill into
Qe refiner room. Here it is placed
** the beaters and mixed with the
'•'oper amount of water, crushed
cut between metal bars under
revolving roll and stationery
?®tal plates in the bottom of the
eaters. This mixture is called pa-
stock and is sent to the ma-
'>16 room.
(.After preliminary treatment in
® machine room, the stock is
through a centrifuging ma
rine resembling a large cream
®Parator which throws out the re-
j^aining impurities and from here
(, Soes through a screen. Passing
Qf’^ough tiny metal slots consisting
J nearly two hundred parts water,
^e stock is now ready for the pa-
machines.
. the paper is run on the pa-
machines, more samples are
pen for the cigarette paper must
Perfect. A strip the width of an
'^foiled cigarette will support a
.®ight of eight pounds; it must
fold or tear; it must not stick
° the lips; it must burn at the
^“tne rate as tobacco; it must be
,®3que, pure white and above all,
®steless.
Other processes including in-
(Pections, finishing and packing
j ® Paper for shipment are shown,
* '*'ell as the manufacturing of the
several by-products of Ecusta.
The Champagne Paper Corpora
tion, which is associated with Ecu
sta, has a substantial business of
its own in making booklets of
“roll your own” cigarette paper,
of course, uses the fine Ecusta
cigarette paper. All booklets are
made by machinery and the covers
for the booklets are printed, slit
and prepared for the booklet ma
chine in the printing department.
Enough booklets are made to roll
more than 500 million cigarettes
in one day are made in the Cham
pagne plant.
Believing in the theory that it
not only takes new machinery, lat
est and most effective methods,
but also interested and happy em
ployees to make Ecusta fine flax
cigarette paper, officials of the
company put great stress on the
recreational program of the com
pany for the employees and their
families.
Scenes of Ecustans at play at
the huge recreational area. Camp
Sapphire, where the workers and
their families can relax and play
... a wonderful lake for swim
ming, boating and fishing ... all
kinds of playground facilities . . .
and sports, including swings, mer
ry-go-rounds, shuffleboards, ten
nis courts, badminton, ping pong,
canteen for light lunches, ball
field, picnic grounds, facilities for
cooking and a large gymnasium for
basketball or dancing. The camp is
open all summer and last season
more than 22,000 visitors used the
facilities of the recreational area.
Ecusta also maintains a large
library with nearly 3,000 volumes.
The selection of books is complete
in that here can be found world
famous classics, fiction, reference
books, biography and juvenile fic
tion. A book-mobile is taken to sev
eral departments each week where
schedules do not permit the em
ployees to visit the library.
The Ecusta band, which plays
for various functions throughout
the county from time to time, is
shown in the movie playing for the
annual Christmas party. The per
sonnel of the band is made up of
Ecusta employees and their chil
dren. A full course of band in
struction and training is given free
to those who can qualify by taking
musical aptitude tests. Instruments
and music are furnished by he
company, and the program is close
ly co-ordinated with the public
schools and credit is given for
work done. Ecusta also has a string
band, which is recognized as one
of the finest in Western North
Carolina. The band furnishes mu
sic for square dances both at the
plant and in the county.
A full-scale sports program is
also maintained which includes
baseball, softball, tennis, basket
ball, bowling, ping pong and golf.
There are inter-departmental
leagues and Ecusta enters teams in
the Western North Carolina
leagues in both basketball and
baseball each year.
Since many of the employees
own farms of their own and de
vote a good part of their time to
gardening and farming, the com
pany encourages both, because in
this manner, while living on their
farms they may continue to grow
their crops and food for their fam
ilies and at the same time engage
in gainful industrial work.
Each year a garden show and
harvest festival is held in the spa
cious Ecusta cafeteria and employ
ees bring their select fruits, vege
tables and flowers to exhibit them
in competition for prizes. Hun
dreds of exhibits are entered in
these shows and cash prizes as
well as many valuable sweepstakes
prizes are awarded.
The management of Ecusta takes
an active interest in community
affairs and contributes liberally to
many essential enterprises.
The growth and progress of the
Don’t Forget;
VOTE
FOR SCHOOL
BOND ISSUE
ON DEC. 10
YULE PROGRAMS
(Continued From Page One),
again this year with the first onts
at midnight Thursday, Dece,B^be^
19th. They are so arranged that,
everyone will have an opportunity-
to attend one of them. The sched'
lile is as follows; Thursdayi
cember 19, midnight; Friday^ DC'
cember 20, 8:00 o’clock a, m.; 4:00
o’clock p. m.; 4:30 o’clock p. m,;
and the last one at midnight Fri
day.
A program of Christmas music
will be given by the Ecusta band
and the girls’ chorus.
Ecusta Paper Corporation may be
attributed to its guiding policy
which is expressed by the conclud
ing remarks of the narrator which
are: “No matter how powerful a
combination of money, machines
and materials a company is a dead
and sterile thing without a team
of willing, thinking and articulate
people to guide it. Ecusta, a great
man’s dream come true.”
The film was prepared under
the direction and supervision of
the recreational department, of
which John Eversman is the di
rector. Most of the photography
was done by Walter Glass of
Albany, N. Y.
The film is expected to he shown
throughout this state and over the
nation.—The Transylvania Times,.