The timber, having been felled and stripped of its bark, is collected in convenient places, and when the snow is sufficiently deep, it is then hauled to the nearest river, where it is stacked to await the melting of the snow and ice, when it is floated down the swollen torrent or river, and by this means it is carried down to the lake or fjord and taken to the saw-mills.
Norway in ancient times had a larger area of forest than it has at the present. In the fourteenth century the Hanseatic League appropriated the commerce of the country. They cut down the forests nearest the coast, also farther inland around the fjord districts, and exported the timber, having at that time considerable commerce with the Dutch, and later—in the seventeenth century—with the English and Scotch.
Forest fires, and the growing consumption of timber, as the population increased, along with reckless felling on the farm lands, have been the means of denuding the west country of the larger forests, thus leaving the mountains comparatively bare and desolate and the plateaux a wilderness.
The State owns very extensive forests, chiefly in the extreme north and east of the country, altogether covering an area of some 2,500 square miles. These forests are under the control of forestry managers, overseers, and rangers. A commercial system has been devised by which these forests are kept up to their original size and value, State nurseries for the rearing of young trees having been established at several places in the country, the two largest being at Voss and Hamar. Three forestry schools for elementary instruction in the cultivation and treatment of forests, and an agricultural college for advanced instruction in the same, have been founded in recent years.
CHAPTER VI
THE MINING INDUSTRY
The mining industry, which commenced activity in the seventeenth century, was responsible for the consumption of very large quantities of timber, and this has been going on for the last 270 years. The Kongsberg silver-mines, which are owned by the State, have alone some fifty square miles of State forest set apart for their requirements. The ore at these mines is virgin silver, occurring in lodes, and it is sometimes found in large nuggets weighing up to 200 pounds. These silver-mines were commenced in the year 1624.
Copper-mining was started at Röros in 1646. The most important copper-mines in the country are the Kongensgrube, Arvedalsgrube, and Storvatsgrube; the ore found in them is copper pyrites, and a large quantity is exported. There are also extensive copper-mines at Sulitjelma in Nordland, at Aamdal in Telemarken, and at Valahei in Hardanger.