NOTES ON NORWEGIAN INDUSTRY 49 



not on as low a level. To these works the water is brought down in ten 

 pipes, each unit to furnish 14,000 horse power. After being utilized 

 here the water is to be carried through a tunnel in the side of the 

 mountain walls for about four miles, where it is again dropped, this 

 time to the bottom of the valley. In the lower works 120,000 horse 

 power will be obtained. Judging by the progress already made it 

 would seem probable that within a few years the full 260,000 horse 

 power will be available, all to be used for nitrate manufacture. The 

 Tinelv drains an area of more than a thousand square miles of high- 

 land. One lake alone near its head waters has an area of fifteen square 

 miles and an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet, while the water of Tinsjo 

 which is below the Ejukanfos, drops 550 feet in reaching ISTotodden. 



The development has been largely carried on by a Scandinavian- 

 French company and by the Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik, the 

 great dyestuff manufacturers of Germany. These two companies have 

 now combined their forces and each has a half interest in the Rjukan 

 plant. A railroad has been built from Notodden to the foot of Tinsjo, 

 and another from the head of the lake to the Rjukan works. A steam 

 ferry-boat conveys freight trains the length of the lake and a larger 

 one is now building by means of which all trains will go through with- 

 out change from Notodden to Saaheim, where the lower Ejukan works 

 are situated. It is said to be rather a cross for the owners of the rail- 

 road to run passenger trains, but this the government compels them to 

 do. A busy town has sprung up at Saaheim and here, as at most in- 

 dustrial towns in Scandinavia, the workmen are well housed. Every 

 house has a garden where not only vegetables, but also flowers are culti- 

 vated with great care. When I was there the poppies and dahlias were 

 in magnificent bloom. In every window, and this is practically true all 

 over Norway, were pots of flowers and Nottingham lace curtains. 

 Notodden, on the other hand, resembled a western mining camp. It has 

 the reputation of being the toughest place in Norway, and though pro- 

 hibition is legally enforced, there is said to be a large amount of 

 drunkenness. I must add, however, that during two months travel in 

 Scandinavia I saw but three drunken men, one in Stockholm, one at 

 Gellivare in northern Sweden, and the third in Notodden. It is safe 

 to predict that this region of northern Telemarken, which includes the 

 watershed of the Tinelv, will become one of the most important cen- 

 ters of electric industry in the world, though there may be a question 

 as to whether Norway will be able to furnish sufficient labor for the 

 increasing development. The Norwegians are by tradition and habit 

 farmers and fishermen and it remains to be seen how effectively they 

 can be transformed into industrial labor. Nitrate factories will nat- 

 urally spring up elsewhere, since it is an industry, remarkable in that 



VOL. LXXX. — 4. 



