SEVEN CENTURIES OLD

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 102, 26 October 1929, Page 24

SEVEN CENTURIES OLD

GREAT COPPER MINE

(Copyright.)

"Wliat potentate in all the world has a treasure-chamber equal to this?" So King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden used to exclaim when ho eamo to Falun, in tho central province of Daleoarlia, to inspect the great copper tuino that iu his day and for centuries before was the country's greatest source of matorial wealth. Tho mine has been worked continuously for more than seven hundred years. More than half a million tons of copper havo beon removed, besides fifteen tons of silver and a ton of gold. To-day the great bulk of its wealth has been exhausted, and it is now tho by-products that aro of chief importance. According to a legendary story, a goatherd of seven centuries ago observed that the coat of one of his goats was streaked with rod. Its sides had brushed against tho copper deposits, and thoy in turn had been oxidised by the wind and air. This slcndor cluo led to the discovery of tho great mine. The first charter bears tho dato of 128S. It is now in the possession of tho Borgslag'lndustrial Museum in Falun, where important exhibits show the gradual development of the mining industry in Sweden through the centuries. Tho enormous mine-pit has becomo a source of intorcst for tourists. In a sotting of huge piles of grey clinkors, tho exposed cavity would hold a building six times tho size of tho royal palaco in Stockholm, or a-'mass ono and a half times the size of Cheops' Pyramid. The members of tho present firm are descendants of the original owners, and their company is generally acknowledged to bo tho oldest joint-stock company in the world. Within tho mine, whero work still is carried on, the galleries extend for more than twelvo miles, and tho lowest depth is more than a thousand feet below tho surface. One of the largo upper chambers is used for banquots and other festivo gatherings, but, owing to necessary precautions for safety, no ono is permitted to enter tho deeper galleries. . " The mine is situated in tho south central part of the provinco of Dalocarlia. Near it are tho great iron oro fields of tho Borgslagen Company, which also controls the massive mountains of iron ore in the arctic regions of Sweden. The town of Falun is tho adminstrative contro of the provinco. To tho north is tho wooded and hilly Lake Silian region.