My adventures in Port Angeles, Washington

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

I drive through PT every few weeks or so.
To me it’s not so bad but I don’t live there.

It’s head and shoulders above Port Angeles homeless drug addict wise.
I’d wager that there are more panhandlers in Sequim but I frequent there often and cringe each time I see the usual suspects.

My main gripe w/PT is getting a blast of that smell when I don’t expect it.
Many years ago when I was younger I put some time in a couple of paper mills to pay the bills and hated every minute of it.

That's the main thing keeping me from moving to Pt T. Even if it's only a rare occurrence per year, when the wind shifts in the wrong direction, it would be too much. They say, that when that happens, it can last for days. Even a few days of that per year would be difficult. I spent a year in Salem, OR, before the main pulp mill closed, and when those chemicals got into the air, I literally couldn't breathe. It was scary. I don't need to go through that again. It's too bad, because it's such a beautiful location, nice town.

And what about the mill in/around Port Angeles, Andy? Same? Or not as bad--different type of mill?

[MechAndy]

Ruth, when I worked in the mills I was a pipefitter/welder and ran crews.
It’s was just effing nasty the way they turned a blind eye to the chemical hazards.
They use an item called “millwater” on the paper lines.
It did cooling,lubrication and several other things.
It’s the chemical water they make and used to turn recycled paper into mush and it will etch your hands clean if you drop a tool into it and want it back.
Doesn’t hurt but you will have clean hands like a baby’s bum at the end of a shift.

The 2 mills I had the pleasure to work at in California did not stink.
But that old one near the Antioch bridge had the smell.
Maybe that one was running where as the ones I fixed were shutdown.
I dunno.
I’m not sure (been a while) but that smell might be boiling millwater and it’s just yucky.

I’ve been to Port Angeles no less than a few hundred times in the last 30 years and I don’t smell it there.
You even have to drive right through the mill to get to the end of that spit.

Some wastewater treatment centers (sewage plants) stink really really bad and some don’t.
The reason is some use a piece of equipment called an odor eliminator and that cost a good 20-30M 30 years ago.
It like a catalytic converter that super cooks fumes with heat.
That might be why some paper mills stink and some don’t but I don’t know for sure.

The ones I worked at made brown paper like for boxes I’m not sure if that’s what these do or if there is any difference if they made white paper which might need more bleach or something like yucky like that.
Once again I’m not sure.

[Ultrarunner]

The old Crown Zellerbach mill in Antioch and it’s 49 MW turbine power plant all gone… only the dock, scales and water tower remain.

The last years of operation it was a recycle mill.

Tacoma is the odor I remember most.

Sorry to hear Port Angeles and surrounds have a similar situation as many parts of the Bay Area…

Some on the street are truly unbalanced and last week I had an altercation… you never know… just be careful… it only takes a moment.

[MechAndy]

Yeah that old mill has been gone for a while

These areas on the olypen are tainted with the occasional tweeter/pan handler and it is sketchy leaving your car on a trail head in the middle of nowhere but this area as much as people complain doesn’t hold a candle to the lesser areas of the Bay Area.

I have always liked PA even though it’s a bit rough around the edges and am planning on taking our guests there for sushi next week.

I’m sure you well know that this is a very diverse area.
It’s just financially diverse opposed to racial diversity and poverty/drugs are where issues come from.
Nothing is going to pack this area with money anytime soon and frankly I wouldn’t want that.
I would like to see the occasional druggy disappear though.