Eleventh International Geological Congress. 



37 



mine is worked for pyrite, which is used in the sulphite pulp digest- 

 ers belonging to the company which operates the mine. 



This corporation, by the way, although one of the oldest in 

 existence, is one of the most progressive and profitable concerns in 

 Swdeen. The date of its actual foundation is not known- but it is 

 supposed to be about the year 1225. There is in existence a deed 

 dated 1288 conveying certain shares of stock; and one charter of 

 the company, given by King Magnus of Sweden and Norway, is 

 dated February 24, 1347, and at that time ratifying and confirming 

 the company's rights and privileges which are mentioned as very 

 old. 



The company, whose full address is Stora Kopperbergs Bergs- 

 Jags Aktiebolag, Falun, Sweden, began to make or produce 



Copper about the year 1225 



Sawn lumber in the year 1G89 



Iron • .1M'..*.'.1735 



Gold and silver 1790 



r Bessemer 1871 



SteelJ Open hearth 1 sys 



L Electric 1904 



Pulp j Soda (sulphate) 1S95 



\ Sulphite 1900 



Paper 1900 



Bismuth 1904 



It owns vast forests, two hundred iron mines, and water-falls 

 estimated at 150,000 horse power. It makes the specially soft char- 

 coal wrought iron for which Sweden is famous. Its annual produc- 

 tion is 



75,000-100,000 tons pig iron. 

 70,000 tons Bessemer ingots. 

 26,000 tons open hearth ingots. 

 4,000 tons charcoal iron blooms. 



75,000-100,000 tons rolled and hammered iron and steel. 

 It uses 450,000 cubic meters of charcoal per annum, making 

 150,000 cubic meters in its own kilns. 



The Falun mine, called "The Country's Treasury" by Gustavus 

 Adolphus, is 1200 feet deep and has about 18 miles of underground 

 workings. The bottom of the mine is now full of water, and many 

 of the old workings are inaccessible. During the first 400 years 

 of its history the ore was broken by burning wood against it. Gun- 

 powder was first used in 1729. The ore was raised by means of 

 windlasses worked by hand or horse power, and the ropes were 

 made of ox-hides, 200 to 300 hides being required for a single rope. 

 The country rock at Falun is the crystalline series in the form 

 of gray gneiss and granulite or leptite. The gneiss is locally a 

 quartzite which is the true ore-bearing rock, and to it belong also 

 the other copper ores of this and adjacent districts. It contains as 

 accessory minerals amphibole, cordierite and its alteration pro- 

 ducts, falunite, andalusite and magnetite. There is also consider- 

 able white saccharoidal limestone. Composite basic dikes also oc- 

 cur, cutting both ore and country rock. 



The ore of the Falun mine is pyrite of various modes of occur 



