Blaafarveværket the year 1835-36

Here you will get a very detailed insight into one of Blaafarveværket's 122 years of operation, the operating year 1835-36. Through various sources, you will experience how many details have been preserved in the Blaafarveværk's and external archives. Themes include weather and wind, illness and health, production and operations, as well as customers and income.

The entire Blaafarveværket - Operating year 1835-36

The years 1835 and 1836 did not stand out in the history of Blaafarveværk. It was a year of growth and optimism, something that characterised the 1830s, but these years were not dramatically different from 1834 or 1837. However, we will use these years as a starting point to gain an in-depth insight.

At the end of 1835, 695 workers were employed at Blaafarveværket at the end of the year.[1] As there was a lot of turnover in the workforce, an average of 671 workers were employed between July 1835 and June 1836. These were distributed as follows in the various departments: 498 miners, 79 crusher workers and 98 colouring workers.[2]

A total of 156.5 tonnes of various cobalt pigments were produced in the operating year 1835-36. This yielded an income of 1,956 spesidaler.[3] This value is difficult to convert to today's currency, but if we use Nores Bank's currency calculator, 1,956 spesidaler amounts to approximately NOK 36 million.[4]

Most of this pigment was sold to customers in the UK, the Netherlands, German city states, Belgium, Denmark, France and Norway. Shipping took place from harbours in Drammen, Christiania and Drøbak.[5]

Operating costs in the same year were 85891.116 spesidaler. The expenses can be divided into 3 categories: "Manufacturing costs", such as timber, firewood, new tools, purchase of raw materials, etc. "Wages and social security costs", which included workers' wages, expenses for the factory school and health insurance, etc. "Miscellaneous expenses", which included repairs, construction of new industrial buildings, etc.[6]

Blaafarveværket did not only consist of mining, crushing and dyeing operations. It also operated a corn mill and a sawmill. In 1835, it was reported that the Haugfoss corn mill was run by two master millers and two day labourers. In 1834, 4000 barrels of flour were produced. The grain was ground in 3 malt and 3 sieve mills.[7] The mill was powered by hydropower from Haugfossen. The mill's workers delivered their grain to the grain mill to get flour.

Haugfoss sawmill produced 100 tonnes of boards in 1834, i.e. 1 tonne = 12 boards.[8] The sawmill only produced boards for Blaafarveværket and was run by a master sawyer and a day labourer working on one saw blade.[9]

So far we have looked at the "dry facts", but now we will go a little deeper. Sickness absence in the operating year 1835-36 was 2.4 %.[10] In comparison, sickness absence in the Norwegian mining industry was 4.7 % in 1997.[11] Blaafarveværket had a works doctor who was responsible for all workers and their families. When permanent workers fell ill, they were entitled to half pay for up to two months. In the event of injury, all temporary and permanent workers were entitled to full pay for up to two months. Workers also received free medicine in the event of illness. Expenses for the works doctor's salary, all sick/injury pay, the purchase of medicines, transport of the sick and injured, and the doctor's firewood were paid by the sickness fund. In 1835-36, the sickness fund's expenses totalled 1299 spesidaler. Of these expenses, 69 % were financed by the factory owners and 31 % were financed by deductions from the workers' wages. Most of the expenses went to doctors' salaries.[12]

With this in mind, we will now take a look at the annual report of the company doctor, Ludvig Holberg Arentz.

Good Health - The way of life at Blaafarveværket and the village around 1835

Dr Arentz celebrated another quiet New Year's Eve in 1835. He must have spent much of the day writing his "medicinal report", in which he reported to the Ministry of the Interior on the state of health in Modum. This document gives us a unique insight into the Blaafarveværket and the people of Modum.

The first thing Dr Arentz could report was that the health of the general population was good.[13] From today's perspective, this claim would probably be a gross exaggeration. The disease picture was characterised by "Cathar fever", inflammations, measles and diseases of the stomach and intestines. Dr Arentz was particularly struck by several cases of rose fever. Rose fever is an acute infection of the skin caused by streptococcal bacteria.[14] The infection leads to red swelling of the skin and can be serious, especially in people with compromised immune systems. It is treated with penicillin. It was claimed that rose fever was widespread among the poor because they often went without shoes. The red inflammation mostly appeared on the feet, which the doctor treated with warm foot baths.

The doctor was also concerned about spreading cases of rickets. "Radesyke is a slightly woolly disease. It has been suggested that the diagnosis became a kind of generic term for syphilis, leprosy and scurvy.[15] The word radesyke comes from the Old Norse word for ugly, "rade". Dr Arentz believed that the disease had come to the village from Sigdal. Everyone diagnosed with radesyke was sent to Kongsberg Hospital where they were cured. The doctor believed this minimised the spread.

Dr Arentz was able to report that only one person had been killed in an accident that year. The accident did not occur at Blaafarveværket, but at Kongshaug, where a tanner, i.e. someone who produced leather, drowned in the river. The accident had a peculiar course:

He wanted to fetch water in a bucket from the water flowing out of Kongsaugfossen at the end of the mast, and by giving the bucket such a seal that it could be filled at once, the flow of water acted with such great speed and force that he, who did not release the handle of the bucket quickly enough, was thrown into the gutter and thus carried to the river. His [...] body has not yet been found.[16]

The body of the tanner, Jacob Mejer, aged 38, was not found until a year later. The river had carried the body down to Hassel in Øvre Eiker.[17] Mejer was first buried on 15 June 1836.

In terms of women's health, it was reported that only one child was stillborn this year. The foetus had been dead for some time before the birth occurred. Otherwise, there were no dead women or children. The doctor had assisted with a forceps delivery, where mother and child did fine. Something that probably contributed to the low death rate was that Modum employed a "qualified" midwife, Mrs Andersen.[18]

Modum also had its own vaccinator, sexton Peder Moen. Moen was responsible for vaccinating the village's children against smallpox. He did this by infecting the children with cowpox, which made them immune to smallpox. In Norway, smallpox vaccination was compulsory from 1810. If you couldn't produce a vaccination certificate, you could be denied access to work and marriage.

In Dr Arentz's view, the poor people of the village were well looked after by the Poor Law Department. If they fell ill, they were sent to Kongsberg Hospital for treatment, or were treated locally by Dr Arentz himself.

The doctor also claimed that no quacks were treating the sick in the village. He also claimed that there was no local interest in them. The Moing were only interested in treatment from practising doctors, not wise wives and the like.

And now: the weather - Weather in 1835

Doctors in the 19th century were very interested in the weather. In the districts, doctors kept a diary of how the weather had been throughout the year. If the doctor could see a connection between bad weather and poor health, this was reported, while the doctors often reported on exciting phenomena in the sky, etc. For the year 1835, Dr Arentz reported the following:

On the evening of the 11th of December, a strange air meteor is observed: A luminous fireball the size of a 12-pound cannonball appeared in the atmosphere like a shooting star. It swung in a half-arc from west to east, and as it descended it burst with a slight bang. Five smaller shooting stars sprang from one of the balls, which were soon extinguished. Shortly afterwards a not insignificant thunder was noticed.[19]

Besides this, the months of January, February and March had all been stormy and mild. On 5 February, the rain resulted in "a rainbow flashing in the atmosphere".

April and May were characterised by very cold nights. On the night of 16 May, there was a night frost. June, July and August were characterised by hot and dry weather. This had a negative impact on harvests. Root crops and cereals were largely saved, but the population had to slaughter a larger proportion of their cattle stock than usual. No food shortage was to be feared.[20]

The last four months of the year were relatively mild and, apart from September, there were no major precipitation events to speak of.

The purpose of this post is to highlight how much we can actually read from the sources about the history of Blaafarveværket. The archives are full of very detailed descriptions of everything from weather to sales figures, and everything in between. Blaafarveværket has a rich archive, some of which is available online. For anyone interested: just start digging in them! https://media.digitalarkivet.no/db/browse?page=1&archives%5B0%5D=no-a1450-01000000006338

Sources:

• RA/S-1044 - Ministry of Justice, Medical Office M/Buskerud county L0063: Medical report by Ludvig Holberg Arentz
• SAKO, Modum church books, G/Ga/L0003: Klokkerbok nr. I 3, 1832-1842, p. 215-216

Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20051109010746

• Reports on the economic situation etc. in Norway at the end of the year 1835, kindly submitted by the councillors of the realm. "Buskerud Amt." Christiania: Trykt af Chr. Grøndahl, 1836. https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/nos/st_23b_1835.pdf
• RA, Modum's Blaafarveværk, G/Gd/Gda/L0165: -, 1834-1839, Processed by Blaafarveværkets dokumentasjonssenter, 31.08.1998
• Bolstad, Erik, editor. Store Norske Leksikon. https://snl.no/
• Carstens, Halfdan, ed. Building in the rock: an account of Norwegian mining. Norway: Tapir Akademisk Forlag, 2000.
• Moen, Eli. "Competition for bread"? The workers at Modum Blåfarveverk 1822-1848. Master's thesis in History. University of Oslo. 1984.

[1] Moen. Bread in demand? UIO. 1984. 17

[2] Ibid.

[3] RA, Modum's Blaafarveværk, G/Gd/Gda/L0165: -, 1834-1839, Processed by Blaafarveværkets dokumentasjonssenter, 31.08.1998

[4] https://www.norges-bank.no/tema/Statistikk/Priskalkulator/ Read 18.01.2021

[5] https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/nos/st_03r_1835.pdf Read 18.01.2021

[6] RA, Modum's Blaafarveværk, G/Gd/Gda/L0165: -, 1834-1839, Processed by Blaafarveværkets dokumentasjonssenter, 31.08.1998

[7] Reports on the economic situation etc. in Norway at the end of the year 1835, kindly submitted by the county governors of the kingdom. "Buskerud Amt." 63 https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/nos/st_23b_1835.pdf Read 18.01.2021

[8] Reports on the economic situation etc. in Norway at the end of the year 1835, kindly submitted by the county officials of the Kingdom. "Buskerud County." 68 https://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/nos/st_23b_1835.pdf Read 18.01.2021

[9] Ibid.

[10] Halfdan, ed. Building in the rock. 105

[11] Ibid.

[12] RA, Modum's Blaafarveværk, G/Gd/Gda/L0165: -, 1834-1839, Processed by Blaafarveværkets dokumentasjonssenter, 31.08.1998

[13] RA/S-1044 - Ministry of Justice, Medical Office M/Buskerud county L0063: Medical report by Ludvig Holberg Arentz

[14] Store Norske Leksikon, s.v. "Rosen," by Tore Langeland and Bjørn Myrvang, 18 January 2021 https://sml.snl.no/rosen

[15] Store Norske Leksikon, s.v. "Radesyke," 18.01.2021 https://sml.snl.no/radesyke

[16] RA/S-1044 - Ministry of Justice, Medical Office M/Buskerud county L0063: Medical report by Ludvig Holberg Arentz

[17] SAKO, Modum church books, G/Ga/L0003: Klokkerbok nr. I 3, 1832-1842, p. 215-216

Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20051109010746

[18][18] RA/S-1044 - Ministry of Justice, Medical Office M/Buskerud county L0063: Medical report by Ludvig Holberg Arentz

[19] RA/S-1044 - Ministry of Justice, Medical Office M/Buskerud county L0063: Medical report by Ludvig Holberg Arentz

[20] Ibid.