CoverIndex

Forest and Paper

Abitibi

2 pictures · 1946–1969

Founded
1912 (Abitibi Pulp and Paper, Iroquois Falls); Abitibi Power and Paper 9 February 1914; Abitibi Paper 1 December 1965
Head office then
Iroquois Falls, Ontario (registered head office until 1965); Toronto thereafter (408 University Avenue, then Toronto-Dominion Centre)

Abitibi made newsprint at Iroquois Falls, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Pine Falls, Manitoba, and Beaupré, Quebec, and kraft pulp at Smooth Rock Falls. Frank Harris Anson started the Iroquois Falls mill in 1912. After a long receivership the company came out in 1946.

It was a mainstay of Canadian newsprint, building mills and hydro in the north and shipping paper into the United States. Buying Price in the 1970s made the combined firm the world’s largest newsprint producer.

Why it mattered

Abitibi was a mainstay of Canadian newsprint, building mills and hydro in northern Ontario and later Manitoba and Quebec, and shipping paper into the U.S. market after newsprint tariffs fell. Buying Price in the 1970s made the combined firm the world's largest newsprint producer.

Now

Abitibi bought Price in 1974 and became Abitibi-Price in 1979. Later names were Abitibi-Consolidated, AbitibiBowater and Resolute. Paper Excellence, through Domtar, bought Resolute in 2023. The group now uses the Domtar name.

Changed hands (1997) · Now: Abitibi-Price / Abitibi-Consolidated / AbitibiBowater / Resolute / Domtar (Paper Excellence Group)

Still open

  • Some secondary accounts put an early head office in Montreal (1914 Dominion incorporation); the 1965 annual report says the registered head office moved from Iroquois Falls to Toronto that year.
  • Which historic Abitibi mills still run under Domtar versus closed or sold was not fully mapped here.
Log booms, tug and mill river, painted.

Abitibi · 1946

Log booms, tug and mill river, painted.

the picture

Two workers drilling under a snow-covered tripod.

Abitibi · 1969

Two workers drilling under a snow-covered tripod.

the picture

Sources

The pictures

References

All companies