|
Those of you that have visited Fagernes and/or my cache Fagernes Urban have probably seen the statue or the picture of the statue that depicts the slate driver and his horse and the carriage filled with slates.
Most of the slatesm came from the area where this cache is located. If you take a walk a little farther up from the recommended parking, you can study the slate pits.
Slate has been taken froom these pits from times ancient, but the organised slate industry - with various companies over time - started out in the 1850s and there is still a little activity in the pits. Around 1900 about 200 there were around 200 persons wthat had jobd sonnected to the shale production. Up to 1960 the main product was roofing shales, but from then the main product was grounded slates , used for topping on tarred roofing felt.
One thing was to pry the slates from the mountain, the next step was to get them to the market, i.e. the railhead at Fagernbes 12 kilometers away. For this purpose the slate road was created. It winds slowly down the hillside, almost alwayus falling slightly, almost without uphills. The load of slates were heavy, remember.
The Slate Road was in use until the trucks took over the transport.
Roughly the first six kilometers of the Slate Road can still be followed on foot. When the slate road reaches the farmland in Skrautvål, it can not be traced anymore, but it probably followed the local road past Skrautvål church and over Spikarmoen to Fagernes.
Parking should be easy to find around:
N 61 04.945
E 09 10.029
Just across the road from the recommended parking there is a big, red building. This was were the director for the slate mining company lived and also the administration building for the various shale companies. This building was a Museum, but not open in 2016.
Read more about the museum here,
The cache is a a black Lock&Lock type box of the size 0,75 liters, 11 x 17 x 5 centimeters. The cache is placed a short walk down the Slate Road from the museum. It is not directly visible and covered by a stone.
|