{"id":2440,"date":"2025-12-01T07:29:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T07:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitalta.no\/en\/?post_type=article&p=2440"},"modified":"2025-10-23T07:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T07:39:10","slug":"alten-copper-mines-large-industry-in-alta","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/visitalta.no\/en\/article\/alten-copper-mines-large-industry-in-alta\/","title":{"rendered":"Alten Copper Mines: large industry in Alta"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tMarit in Dullan was looking for her goat in the mountains. But what she found started the industrial adventure of the ages, with the copper mines in K\u00e5fjord.\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n

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K\u00e5fjord Copperworks was started in 1826 by Englishman John Crowe and Scottishman Henry Woodfall. Written sources document that ore exploration in K\u00e5fjord has been going on since the 1690s, but with small deposits. Nevertheless, Crowe and Woodfall became interested in this. But they were close to giving up the entire project when their business associates did not want to invest in capital for mining in K\u00e5fjord. Then “something happened that was to change the small village dramatically and at the same time also have great significance far beyond the borders of Norway.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShined like gold\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One late summer day, the young woman Marit from Dullan was up in the mountains looking for a goat. It had been raining and Marit was busy coaxing after the runaway goat. \u201cSuddenly her foot slipped on the wet moss<\/em>\u201d and in the mountain, which shone like gold, something shone towards her. Like most people at that time, Marit was also superstitious, so she \u201cthrew steel<\/em>\u201d over the find, so that the underground would not hide it away again. To be able to find it easily later, she tied a red ribbon around a nearby juniper bush. She then hurried off to fetch her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediate excitement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was not until a few years later that she confided in her husband Peder about the find. Then she showed the stones to the merchant Wilhem Klerck in Bossekop. Klerck had started working for Crowe as a so-called day laborer. He convinced Marit to show the stones to Crowe, who was immediately excited about the find. They initiated investigations and uncovered discoveries \u201cof a rich ore vein with a considerable extent<\/em>.\u201d Again they contacted their business contacts, and they managed to raise enough capital to start large-scale operations. The mining company \u201cAlten Copper Mines\u201d was formed in 1826.<\/p>\n\n\n\t

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