We turned out alcohol in tankcar loads, and it was pure enough (195 proof) to be used for any purpose, including medicinal uses. I was told that a plastic company in Chicago was buying our product. I don't know how much was made.

The government agents kept a strict watch on the product because of the possibilities of diversion to illegal uses. The high federal taxes on beverage alcohol did not apply, and the agents were alert to any possibility of diversion to the black market. I was told that we were making the alcohol for about 30 cents a gallon (not counting the government investment in the plant) and the tax on beverage alcohol was, I believe, about $9 a gallon then.

So every valve had a lock on it and the federal men had the keys. But the chemists drew were allowed to draw off some "laboratory samples" and we put some in our cars and drank a little, cut down with tap water. We thought it helped the cars and our morale. Probably not.

In late 1947 the federal subsidy was discontinued and the plant was shut down. It was eventually dismantled and all that was left was the huge pile of wood waste that had been put through the cyclone (the big blower that shot hot steam and acid through the sawdust to extract the edible material that the yeast could feed on). The inedible fiber was piled up and (several years after the plant was closed) was used by farmers as mulch.
  

I have long believed (lacking official proof) that the plant was shut down for two reasons. First, the agribusiness interests had a huge capacity for ethyl alcohol production and a powerful lobby. The second reason may have been the change of fuel used in the big rockets and missiles after World War II. Alcohol burned cleaner, with an exhaust almost transparent, but the petroleum-based fuels (similar to the fuels burned in jet aircraft) created a dense cloud of exhaust gases. But the jet fuels had more punch and thus increased the efficiency and range of the rocket engines.

The Eugene Post Office:
  Eugene, Oregon 1949-1956

© 1999 Wilfred R. Franson