In the Second World War a naval repair base was established at Corpach, and in the 1960s this was redeveloped into a site for the pulp mill that, at its peak in the 1970s, employed over 900 people, provided thousands more forestry jobs across western Scotland, and consumed over 10,000 trees per day. When the pulp mill closed in 1980 some of the demand for timber was maintained through the paper and saw mills established in Corpach.

 

The Corpach Pulp Mill 1964-1981. Stretching from the two 'dolphins' cranes on the islet, unloading 16,000 ton bulk carrier ships full of woodchips, with a 1,500 ft pipe blowing the hard wood chips into massive piles on the far left of the site. These would then be turned into pulp using chlorine and china clay moving through the buildings from left to right, and becoming paper in the low wide building called the finishing end. Lorries would bring 80 loads every day with trains pulling 350 tons of logs every night.

 

It employed almost 1000 workers, was responsible for vast housing developments and improvements to transport infrastructures in the area. The buildings covered 320,000 sq ft and 5000 tons of steel and 30,000 cubic yards of concrete were used to build it.  It had 3 miles of rail track and 2 miles of road at its peak.

 

The Corpach Paper Mill, near Fort William was closed by Arjo Wiggins in 2005, with 135 jobs going.