STRONG – The Strong Hardwood Sawmill on Chandler Road will close Friday leaving 36 employees with a questionable future.

The closure is set to last until the first week of September when market conditions will be reviewed and a decision made to either reopen or close permanently, said Mary Keith, a representative for owner J.D. Irving Ltd. of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.

“The company is working to place qualified people (from Strong) in our Dixfield and Ashland mills,” Keith said. “The employees include hourly workers as well as management.”

The former CAT lumber mill was purchased by Irving in October 1999 following acquisition of the Dixfield mill, she said. The mill produces hardwood lumber.

“It’s the best business decision,” Keith said, “but it’s a difficult one. In small towns, people we work with are our neighbors, but with the drop in market prices and the decline in lumber for housing, we will close and review the current state of the market in September.”

The closing follows other mill shutdowns here within the past few years. Forster Manufacturing closed its Strong mill a few years ago. The same holds for Cousineau Lumber and Strong Lumber.

“I hate to see it close. It’s too bad to lose the industry,” said Richard Chandler, who built the mill in 1972 and sold it in 1994. “Foreign markets probably are a factor,” he said. “It’s hard to compete with foreign wages.”

The closure could be the final chapter in a long history of wood mills dating back in the late 1800s that dotted the path of the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad. Timber was loaded on to flat cars and transported to Farmington, according to the railroad’s Web site.

“There’s not much talk but it’s not good. It’s the end of the mills,” said Susan Adams, a clerk at Beal’s General Store.

Raylene Tolman from the Strong Advancement Committee said the only jobs left in town are those held by people who are self-employed, woodsmen or work at a few small stores. The Strong Nursing Home moved to Livermore Falls earlier this year.

Tolman said a pilot panel of the committee will focus on economic development as one of its tasks.

“We need to find a way to get business here,” she said, ” and we’re working on it.”