Nordmark
– A Mine-Village in Sweden
A Brief Guide from the Early Middle Ages to the Present Times
Translation: Donald MacQueen
View over Nordmark valley
Nordmark is a village incorporated in the municipality of Filipstad in the province of Värmland in western Sweden. It is situated along Road 246, 15 km north of Filipstad, 45 km south of Hagfors. 280 km west of Stockholm.
HISTORY
The name "Nordmark" comes from a time when the river that flows through the valley consisted of a series of small lakes joined together by narrow straits, so- called ”nor” in Swedish.
Within a radius of about 5 km from Nordmark Church there are some fifteen mining fields, each containing several mines. What was extracted from these mines was primarily lodestone or black iron ore. The remains of at least five iron-smelting works are also in evidence.
Mining and iron smelting were carried out in the district from the early middle ages (possibly the late iron age) to the year 1980, when the last mine was closed.
The text accompanying a map from 1883-95 has this to say about Nordmark: "The Nordmark mines rank among the highest-yielding mines in the nation, and it is possible that parts of them were opened before the Black Death".
There is no historical evidence to establish when extraction started, but in the year 1413 King Erik XIII of Pomerania issued a charter for mining in Nordmarksberg, where by that time mining had already been underway for a considerable period. These mines are probably some of the oldest in Sweden.
In olden times several independent mine owners extracted ore from the same field. Each of these work sites was seen as a mine, and each had its own name. This explains why the old mine names are still in the plural.
This mode of extraction, with many independent operators working the same area, was the cause of many accidents owing to collapsing mines. This prompted the Swedish crown to order in 1628 that all mines be surveyed.
The Nordmark mines are the westernmost pits in Sweden's central iron ore region. They supplied iron ore to the iron industry in western Värmland.
It is safe to say that the mines of Nordmark were an essential precondition for the flourishing culture surrounding the ironworks in the Klar (Clear) River and Lake Fryken districts.
Today (2003) Nordmark Parish— which apart from the central village of Nordmark also comprises Stjälpet, Motjärnshyttan, and Sandsjön— contains:
- A school (first through fiveth grade, kindergarten, and nursery school)
- A church and parish house
- A small auto-repair garages (authorized demolition and junk dealer)
- A community hall, a community park, a heritage/ mining park and museum, and a sports field
- And a mechanical factory in Stjälpet.
In 1894 there were 2,664 people living in Nordmark Parish, and most of them worked primarily in its mining and ore- processing industry.
In 1890 eleven mining fields and nine ironworks were under operation in what is now the municipality of Filipstad.
The Filipstad mining district accounted for some 10% of total world production of iron during the period 1650-1750.
In 1960 there were about 75 iron- ore mines operating in central Sweden, 5 of them in the municipality of Filipstad. By the year 1991 all of them had been closed down.
GEOLOGY
Nordmark is situated in the westernmost part of the mining district of central Sweden. This central mining district is like a huge bowl whose brim is made up of Åland/ Finland in the east, Åtvidaberg/ Askersund in the south, and Ludvika/ Falun/ Gävle in the north.
The gray to reddish mineral ”granulite” is characteristic of the central Swedish ore-rich bedrock. It is volcanic in origin (sintered volcanic ash), deposited during the first geological period of the earth.
In connection with volcanic activity iron and calcium salts were precipitated and settled on the bottoms of shallow lakes. These deposits were capped by vast amounts of volcanic ash which after millions of years was transformed by sinking, heating, folding, addition of various mineral solutions, etc.
In a later geological period granite and basalt solutions penetrated the crust of the earth, the mountains wore down, sediment was deposited while the bedrock was shuffled by folding and faulting, etc.
Iron ores from the Nordmark area consist of sedimentary magnetic black ores in which the iron ore mineral consists of lodestone (Fe Fe2O4).
A pure granule of lodestone contains 72.4% iron. The rest is oxygen.
Together with the granules of iron mineral there are so- called lime spar and ferruginous quartz minerals, which lower the iron content.
The normal iron content of high- grade iron ore in a solid cleft from the Nordmark mines is around 50-55%. This high iron content made it possible to process iron even in olden times.
SIGHTS TO SEE
NORDMARK MINING MUSEUM AND HERITAGE PARK (700 years - 12 buildings - 700 sq.m.)
Part of the museum
The facilities managed by the Nordmark Heritage Association are found on "Tanner's Croft", situated at the end of "Hembygdsvägen" (Heritage Road) near the vicarage.
They include:
- Nordmark Mining Museum, with collections of tools and machines used in mining.
- Mineralmuseum
- Maps, photographs, models (including a 10 m2 model showing the mining facilities as they were in the 1920s).
- A gun smithy from the 18th century.
- A furnace-master's home, a single- entrance duplex construction from the 18th century.
- An earth- covered cabin from the 19th century.
- A cafe and meeting hall.
For information contact:
Filipstad Tourist Information phone +46 (0)590-613 54
Nordmarks Museum phone +46 (0)590-504 04, fax +46 (0)590-509 04
E-mail nordmarks.museum@swipnet.se
Homepage http://nordmarksmuseum.com
A guide will also show you around the ancient mines.
NORDMARKSBERG MINING FIELD
is situated about one kilometer east of Nordmark Church. Take the road toward Sandsjön (Sand Lake) and follow the signs.
Nordmarksbergs mines 1786
These mines were in use from the oldest times (1200s?) up to 1962. When it closed, the deepest mine was 360 meters deep. At that depth it is connected to the Taberg Mines by a 1 km long shaft.
The area surrounding the mines is a so- called freeholding mine field, instituted in the 1650s. The land and extraction rights were owned by the state, which allotted mining rights to the various mine owners.
This arrangement lasted until around 1970, when the state transferred the land to Uddeholms AB, which had the extraction rights at that time.
The mine was originally exploited by a number of freeholding owners, but in the 1700s the Uddeholm Company of that day bought the mine and operated it under the company's own management.
In the 1960s about 20,000 tonnes/ year of iron ore was mined and transported from one drift at a depth of 360 meters to Taberg for dressing.
A total of about 2 million tonnes of ore has been extracted. Some silver, asbestos, and limestone has also been mined.
The area surrounding the mines and the appurtenant buildings are now owned by the Värmland Industrial Heritage Foundation.
Up on top of the mine slope you can walk around and look down into the deep mining pit where medieval miners set fires to break off the ore.
The ore heads that plunge straight down to the west lie as a cover around a central body of limestone. At a depth of about 300 meters a young vein of granite intersects the ore.
The shaft tower (from 1925) over the "Gubbort" shaft
This shaft tower is still in place, as are two mining cottages from the 18th-19th century and a hoist room for the elevator machinery.
Some of the pits were once covered by a log roof to keep the winter cold from penetrating the deepest parts. Nevertheless, many of the huge mine cavities were full of ice down to a depth of 300 meters. It was even possible to skate down there in the summertime.
Underground the seasons lagged behind about six months as regards freezing and thawing. Many miners took advantage of this phenomenon and refrigerated food there during the summer.
"New" Shaft Tower
Along the road that skirts the edge of the mines southward we find the "New" Shaft Tower (from 1945). It was built to make use of the huge quantities of iron-rich rock refuse (knockings) that the Great Mine had been filled with for centuries. An inclined shaft was cut under the waste- filled Great Mine, and the iron- rich knockings were extracted and transported by train to the Taberg dressing works.
Further south next to the white storehouse there is a tiny log cabin with a sod roof, the "clink." Troublesome mine workers were jailed here.
In the ordinances issued by mine- proprietor Franz von Scheele on December 15, 1849 it was stipulated: "Under penalty of a fine of five “riksdaler” miners are forbidden between the hours of nine in the evening and four in the morning to stray from the vicinity of their domicile unless their work should so demand or circumstances should require their presence elsewhere. Any miner encountered by the constable during this curfew shall under the above penalty immediately explain his errand and, unless he be able to present valid reasons, upon being so directed, return directly to his residence."
The large white storehouse was primarily used for storage of foodstuffs, which constituted the bulk of the pay received by the miners for their work.
Below the storehouse lies what is nowadays called "Nordmarksberg Manor". This was originally the homestead of a mine- owner and is now a private residence.
A bit further down the hill we find the remains of a house where the paternal grandparents of the famous brothers Nils and John Eriksson (of neighboring Långban) once lived.
Nordmarksberg's mines are the second richest in minerals in the area (after Långban), with some 80 different minerals described, some of them unique to this place. The list is topped by pure gold and silver.
The mine is world famous for its beautiful lime spar crystals, a fine sample of which is on display at the British Museum in London.
THE TABERG MINES
The Taberg mines are situated about 900 meters north of the Nordmarksberg mines and are connected with the latter at a depth of 390 meters via a transport gallery.
The deposit was discovered in 1702 by the brilliant ore prospector Nils Nilsson-Jern (his surname means "iron"), and extraction began immediately.
The name "Taberg" is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable and a long Swedish "a" owing to its Finnish origin. It actually means "the hill beyond" (beyond Nordmarksberg).
The mines were owned by Uddeholms AB and were operated until 1962.
The closure was not a result of ore depletion but rather of the fact that ore mining in the Nordmark area was concentrated in the Finnmossen mine. When it was closed down, the deepest shaft was 520 meters deep.
At the turn of the 20th century the mine was 350 meters deep, one of the deepest mines in all of Sweden. A Taberg "record" was the vertical raise that was driven to 350 meters straight up to the surface, without lateral connections.
The Taberg ore head plunges steeply down to the north and consists of lodestone. Some of the upper 100 meters or so has been exposed to weathering, however, and has become a clayey limonite ore, which is difficult both to mine and to dress as a result of its consistency. This ore was exported to Poland.
The ore heads continue underground with undiminished scope. They have been attested to a depth of about 600 meters.
Towards the end of the mine's active history about 40,000 tonnes of ore was extracted per year, and about 2 million tonnes has been mined altogether.
Starting in the 1940s, ore from all of Uddeholm's mines at Taberg, Nordmarksberg, and Finnmossen mines was dressed at the Taberg Dressing Works. The concentrated ore (slick) was transported to Hagfors Ironworks for further processing. When the ironworks at Hagfors changed its production methods in 1969, there was no longer any need for "Taberg slick". The dressing works was closed that same year and was torn down soon afterwards. All that remains is two ore bunkers and an ore mill.
Other buildings from the mining days are the mining building, which is used as a workshop (Taberg Welding Co.), and the former machine shop, which is owned by Jan-Olof's Auto Demolition Co. The former smithy and some storage buildings are also still there.
Taberg mining office
The Taberg mining office is still standing. It is now owned by the Nordmark Housewives' League and used as a weaving center. It is in daily use, both for members' own purposes and for commissioned weaving. Visitors are welcome.
Some 20 meters west of the old mining office there is a large collapsed pit.
The collapsed pit
At 6.30 a.m. on Thursday, September 1879 a tremendous roar was heard, and a massive section of the mine slope up by the Taberg mining office caved in on the mine. The collapse continued for a couple of hours, but no one was hurt. It was deemed necessary, however, to reroute the newly built railroad that now teetered on the edge of the pit. The course of the cave-in is vividly described in a letter from C. W. Skarling, who then lived in the office building. A wing of Taberg Manor stands close by the mines (private residence). It was moved to the former site of the Manor itself.
The manor proper was moved in 1917 to the village of Uddeholm, where it is now a forestry office.
In connection with the removal of the building, Uddeholms AB raised a stone to the memory of the well-known poet and member of the Swedish Academy F. A. Dahlgren, also known as "Fredrik from Ransät", author of the melodrama ”Värmlänningarna”.
He was born in Taberg Manor in 1816.
FA Dahlgren memorial stone
Another memorial stone, dedicated to the famous horse Polly, who died in 1874, can also be seen near the road about 100 meters south of the site of the manor.
THE TABERG WATER-WHEEL RELAY
About 200 meters south of the Taberg mines by the road to Sandsjön (Sand Lake) there stands a water wheel and relay pivot that have been restored by the Värmland Industrial Heritage Foundation.
The wheel and relay were built in 1836 and were in operation until 1915. The wheel was driven by water from a 2-kilometer-long man-made canal from Grundsjön (Shallow Lake). Power from the water wheel was relayed with the help of suspended swinging wooden rods to East Taberg of some mine, where the power was conveyed to a series of suction and hoist pumps in the shaft to bail out the water.It is possible to see the remains 20 large water-wheel relays that supplied the mines with power before the advent of electricity in 1915.
The longest relay contrivance of this sort (about 1,200 meters) stretched from a water wheel down by the road 246 up to the Nordmarksberg mines and was in use from 1669 to 1796.
TABERG CANAL
The canal starts about 200 meters north of the Taberg mines and follows the curving hillside northward to Sand Lake, about 4 kilometers away. The canal was opened in 1850 and was in use until 1876, when Nordmark-Klarälven Railroad (Filipstad-Nordmark- Motjärnshyttan- Hagfors, later Munkfors- Deje- Karlstad- Skoghall) was completed and took over ore transports.
From ”Sandsjöbrygga” (Sand-Lake Dock) the ore was reloaded for road transport the final 9 kilometers to Motjärnshyttan.
To facilitate road transports between Sand-Lake and Motjärnshyttan, Uddeholms AB bought a steam engine in England in 1860, the "Steam Horse," to pull the ore cars.
However, the road proved to be far too poor and the machine too heavy, so after a few attempts the project was abandoned. The Steam Horse is now on display at the Hagfors Railroad Museum.
It is calculated that the ore/ iron was reloaded some thirty times before the finished product reached the harbour at Vänerhamn for further delivery to customers.
Taberg Canal is a first-rate canoe route, offering ample opportunities to see beavers and moose, and an outside chance to see bears and wolves.
Stamparbo power station near Taberg Canal
THE FINNMOSSEN MINES
The shaft tower in Finnmossen
The Finnmossen mines, which are situated alongside Road 246 to Filipstad, were first opened in 1713. As with the Taberg mines, their deposits were discovered by the ore prospector Nils Nilsson Jern.
The mines were the last ones operated by Uddeholms AB in the Nordmark area and were shut down in the summer of 1973.
The extraction rate was then about 100,000 tonnes of ore per year, with a work force of 22 men.
Toward the end the ore was sent to Persberg for dressing and forwarding to the smelting works in Hagfors.When it closed, the shaft was 420 m deep. At least 10 million tonnes of ore remained in the ground. About 2 million tonnes had been extracted.
The remaining facilities at the mine are now privately owned.
VÄRMLANDSBERG MINE
This deposit is situated about 900 meters east of the Nordmarksberg mines and was discovered in the late 1950s with the help of magnetic prospecting from airplanes. The tip of the ore body lies at a depth of about 290 meters, and the extremely rich ore runs to a depth of about 400 meters. Ställbergs Gruv AB started extracting ore in 1969 and continued until 1980, when the largest customer (Hagfors Ironworks) changed its crude iron sourcing policy.
The remaining facilities are privately owned.
In connection with the dismantling of the facilities after closure, what could be termed a "miracle rescue" took place.
On Tuesday, December 16, 1980, a couple of miners were up in the shaft tower preparing to pull some mine cables out of the shaft.
Suddenly one of the cables came loose and the whiplash knocked Jan Larsson off his feet, sending him plummeting down the 420-meter-deep shaft.
His work mate saw him twisting in the air as he disappeared down the dark pit.
Shocked, the workmate ran for help. When the rescue party arrived, as they thought, to go down and retrieve what remained of Jan, after a few minutes they witnessed to their surprise how Jan Larsson came climbing up the ladder from the shaft, unscathed.
Jan told them how he had managed to grab hold of and hang onto a free-hanging cable and slowly brake his fall with his hands and feet. It wasn't easy in the dark to find the ladder alongside, but he finally did.
Jan's final comment was: "My time hadn't come".
JAKOBSBERG MINE
The mine is situated about 200 meters east of Road 246 where it crosses Sand-Lake River.
The mine has yielded manganese ore. The deposit was discovered in 1863 by the well-known ore prospector and mine conductor L. J. Igelström. Before that time, however, the mine had probably been in operation since 1694 under the name of Gräsåsskärpningarna (Grass Ridge Quarries). Extraction of manganese ore has been undertaken off and on but was permanently discontinued in October 1918. Mineralogically speaking, the deposit is interesting, with many rare minerals, including pure copper.
SANDSJÖBERG MINE
This mine is situated west of Sandsjöälven (Sand Lake River) about 2.5 kilometers north of Nordmark Church and is one of the most remarkable mines in the Nordmark area.The iron ore body is mentioned in 1776 as "worth exploiting and the richest and best in the ”Bergslagen region." This explains how it was considered worthwhile to mine a 300-meter-long and 0.5-1.5 meter-wide ore body that slants and winds down the hillside to a depth of 10 to 30 meters.
Ore mining was discontinued in 1872.
THE LIMKULLEN LIMESTONE QUARRY
The Limkullen limestone quarry is situated about 2 kilometers west northwest of Nordmark Church.
Limestone quarrying took place here for a very long time. In 1830 Uddeholms AB acquired the deposit, which was exploited until around 1940.
The limestone quarrying has resulted in a large amphitheater-like hollow in the hillside where numerous orchestral performances and the like have taken place in the summertime over the years.
NORDMARKSHYTTAN SMELTING WORKS
Nordmarkshyttan 1900
The remains of the Nordmark Smelting Works and the piles of clinkers it left can be seen near Nordmarks Museum.
In King Gustav Vasa's land register from 1540, Nordmark Smelting Works is listed as having three mine proprietors as its owners and having to pay a tax of 250 ”osmunds” of iron.
During the entire 17th century Nordmarkshyttan was one of the most productive smelting works in Värmland.
The works was operated by independent mine proprietors who joined together to form a smelting-works partnership. Uddeholms AB also owned a share of the works.
Nordmarkshyttan Smelting-Works Partnership, which is headed by a smelting-works bailiff, is still in function as a management body for common properties.
Nordmarkshyttan shut down (its last iron production) in 1905 and was torn down a few years later. The final shipment of rod iron went to Russia, which had a shortage of iron owing to the Russo- Japanese War.
NORDMARK CHURCH
Nordmark Church was built in the year 1731 and is well worth visiting. The church is open during the summer. A description of the church can be purchased there.
RECREATION, FISHING
Fishing licenses for fishing in the Nordmarkälven River Fishery District can be purchased at the Nordmarks Museum and general store and elsewhere in Nordmark. Every year game fish are released into the Nordmark River, which is a part of the Gullspång River System.
The fishery district encompasses lakes and waterways within a 140 km2 area from Motjärnshyttan in the north to Filipstad in the south.
RAMBLING AND BERRY- PICKING, ETC.
With Nordmark as a point of departure you can explore miles and miles of magnificent hiking, biking, and woodland automobile routes.
In season, the berry- picking opportunities are unlimited.
Plenty of beaver, moose, deer, and various birds inhabit the area. Bears and wolves have been sighted in the vicinity.The Nordmarks Museum can refer visitors to suitable guides, routes, sites, etc.