The last reel of newsprint produced at Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper on Feb. 19 became a photo op moment and a time of reflection for its manager of paper operations. Shane Moscrip eulogized the closing of an era that reaches back to the 1920s in the northwestern Ontario city’s industrial history. “For more than a century, this mill has converted wood, water, steam, and skill into paper. Generations have stood on five paper machine floors, listening to the cadence of the wire, the draw through the presses, the steady breath of the dryers. They measured their days by tonnage, quality, and uptime,” Moscrip wrote. “These paper machines have run through wars, recessions, ownership changes, grade transitions, rebuilds, and countless shutdowns and startups. It has been the industrial heartbeat of this town.” …The landmark mill, which dominates Thunder Bay’s skyline, will continue to operate as a single-line softwood kraft mill.