The plant's service staff
Security guards and sweepers - Factory employees who did not work in mining
At a large company like Blaafarveværket, there were some employees who did not work directly with the mining operations. Some of these, such as the works doctor and the works teachers, have been talked about a lot in the past. Therefore, today we will focus more on those who worked lower down the ladder. Those who kept watch and carried out fire prevention. In other words, the security guard and the sweeper.
They were important for the daily operation of the plant, but they are somewhat lost in the history of the plant. Today you get their stories.
The security guard - The one who could still be used for something
Every night a watchman went round and looked after the fire, and every two hours he went round to all the residents and told them the time. I remember so well how safely I went back to sleep when I heard his "Ho Ho" and knew that someone was watching over us all.[1]
Henriette Thaulow
This is how Henriette Thaulow remembers the nights when she lived in the doctor's house at Nymoen. As was usual in Norwegian cities, the Blaafarve Works had its own security service. We only know of the security guard at Nymoen.[2] It is possible that a security guard was also employed at Skuterudflaten, but this does not appear in the sources that have been researched.
In Norwegian cities, security guards functioned as an extension of the police force.[3] They were supposed to keep order, be alert to suspicious events and pay special attention to fires. They were uniformed and armed with a "morning star", i.e. a kind of club. In order to contribute to public safety, the guards would call out the time and wind direction.[4] The security guards in the town of Skien also had instructions to arrest all animals that were unattended in a public place and hand them over to the town hall caretaker. If a dog disturbed the peace of the night, the owner was to be admonished to lock it up, or the dog was to be caught and locked up in a convenient place or chased away.[5]
At Nymoen, things were somewhat more relaxed than in Skien. The security guard made a round every two hours, not every hour.[6] When a fight broke out at Nymoen on Good Friday night in 1844, watchman Ole Jensen Nymoen was out on his rounds. A big brawl took place between the factory employees and some drunken men who were "singing and making noise".[7] Security guard Nymoen only seems to have registered that there was a group of drunken men making noise at 10 o'clock and that the atmosphere started to become tense at 12 o'clock.[8] A man was stabbed in the face when security guard Nymoen finished his rounds at around 01:00.
In this sense, it seems that the security guard at Blaafarveværket was not necessarily required to intervene in the event of a disturbance, but rather to ensure that any fires were detected and, perhaps most importantly, to wake the workers in the morning so that they could get to work on time.[9]
There may be an explanation for the fact that the plant's guards were not expected to intervene in the event of unrest. Those who were recruited for guard duty were often disabled workers who were no longer able to carry out the work of the mine or mill. The watchman in 1833, Peter Sjultz, had, according to him, worked for 58 years in the service of the works. He had lost his right arm and had trouble breathing, which led to him being transferred from the mine to guard duty.
Celebrate - All verkets piper
In addition to guard duty, Blaafarveværket had its own sweeper. He was responsible for sweeping all the mill's pipes every mountain month.[10] The sweeper also had to keep a record that was to be submitted to the bookkeeper. If possible, it was desirable that the sweeping took place in the morning.[11]
In 1837, Andreas Olsen was the sweeper at Blaafarveværket. He had a monthly salary that was slightly higher than the basic salary of a miner, i.e. 7 spesidaler. In addition to his salary, Olsen had the same rights as the mill's other employees. Free housing and use of a "mound piece" for cultivation.[12]
Through his sweeping duties, the sweeper was exposed to unhealthy oxides. Along with the calciners, who roasted the cobalt minerals free of sulphur and arsenic, the sweeper had to sweep the poison trap. The poison catcher was a horizontal pipe device designed to catch, or collect, the arsenic smoke released by the roasting process. The smoke contained the substance arsenic trioxide, better known as arsenic, and when it cooled it turned into soot that was deposited in the poison trap. Around St Hans and Christmas, the calcination furnaces were extinguished and the poison trap was swept.[13] It is also likely that the sweeper was exposed to arsenic-containing soot from the chimneys of the smelting and calcining huts.
From the sweeping protocol, we can see that sweeper Olsen had help from a Torger Halvorsen to get all the fireplaces swept on time. They both received many reprimands for "slovenliness", i.e. poor workmanship. All in all, there were only a couple of homes that were considered well swept in an undated November in the 1830s.[14] Several of the chimneys contained "a lot of slag" and were therefore probably difficult to clean properly.
Sweeping was an important part of the Blaafarveværk's fire prevention work, as chimney fires were a constant danger. At the mill itself, the buildings were close together and in constant use throughout the year. The melting and calcining furnaces ran at all hours of the day and night, sparks from the ash in the forge flew and all the buildings had to be heated from the first months of autumn to the last months of spring. The labour housing complexes at Nymoen and Skuterudflaten had houses and barracks standing close together. If one house caught fire, all the neighbours were at risk. The sweeper thus played an important role at Blaafarveværket.
In summary, we can see that a mining company in the 19th century had far more employees than just cabin, crushed stone and mine employees, and that these, each in their own way, were important for the daily operation of the plant.
[1] Henriette Thaulow: "Mother Narrator". pp. 4-5
[2] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157/G/Gd/Gdd/L0253/0001: - / Regning over farveverkets samtlige utgifter, 1833-1839, p. 4
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[3] "Instructions for the watchmen in Skien, issued from Skien and Porsgrund's police station on 16 March 1835, by the town bailiff N. Cappelen, with added impressions of the watchmen's verses". Published and printed by Peter F. Feilberg. 1835.
[4] Ibid. p. 8 § 7
[5] Ibid. p. 10-11 § 11
[6] Eiker, Modum and Sigdal magistrates' court, SAKO/A-123/F/Fc/L0009: Ekstrarettsprotokoll - Modum, 1841-1847, p. 175
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[7] Eiker, Modum and Sigdal magistrates' court, SAKO/A-123/F/Fc/L0009: Ekstrarettsprotokoll - Modum, 1841-1847, p. 175
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[8] Ibid.
[9] RA/PA/0157/H/He/L0442 - Mulkteringsbog 1852 - 28 June 1852
[10] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157/G/Ga/L0064: -, 1828-1848, p. 14
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[11] Ibid.
[12] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157/G/Ga/L0064: -, 1828-1848, p. 13
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[13] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157/G/Ge/L0319/0001: - / Berigt over arbeiderne ved farveverket, 1827-1828, p. 3
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[14] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157/G/Gf/L0368/0001: - / Papers concerning the boundaries of the properties. Dele Grændserne af Eiendommene. Kartforretning. Survey, 1824-1840, p. 10
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