Changing Contact Patterns Within the Luleå District During the Nineteenth Century Author(S): Ian G

Industry and the Local Economy: Changing Contact Patterns within the Luleå District during the Nineteenth Century Author(s): Ian G. Layton Source: Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 70, No. 1, Landscape History (1988), pp. 205-218 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/490756 Accessed: 27-06-2016 09:16 UTC

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This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INDUSTRY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY: CHANGING CONTACT PATTERNS WITHIN THE LULEA DISTRICT DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

By Ian G. Layton

Layton, lan G., 1988: Industry and the local economy: Changing 100--- HUNTING contact patterns within the Lulei district during the nineteenth century. Geogr. Ann. 70 B (1): 205-218 FISHING REINDEERHRN WORKING OIIRON- IORE ON

ARMING TIMBER-

Landscape changes have been studied in great o-"-- 1550 A 1600 R i160,N 1700IN 17;0WORKING 1800 1850 1900 detail at the level of the agricultural village, taking up changes in the local agrarian organization, land Fig. 1. A model of the sequence of long-term changes in the trade use and settlement patterns. At a wider regional economy of the Lule valley. level, however, the landscape has usually been affected by a variety of other factors, over and above those of agricultural methods and organization. This is particularly true in northern Sweden zone where conditions were best for agriculture, during the nineteenth century, when industry set fishing and maritime trade contacts. The primate its imprint on the landscape and economy both settlement was (and still is) the town of Luleat, within and beyond the domains of the agrarian- controlling the mouth of the river and serving as a based communities near the coast and in the lower typical gateway port and administrative centre for valleys of the major rivers. The extensive forested the vast interior. In these latitudes, agriculture territories of the interior, hitherto less accessible alone has rarely been able to provide sufficient and largely devoid of permanent settlement or income for subsistence and taxes, so that subsi- pronounced culturAl impact, began to be marked- diary means of livelihood have traditionally play- ly affected by man's quest for resources. Instead of ed important roles in the region's economy. The the earlier, pre-industrial balance between man surpluses from livestock farming, fishing, sealing, and nature, intensified economic activity began to hunting, Lappish trade, tar-burning and the hand- pervade the primeval forests and sensitive moun- sawing or hewing of timber, had long provided the tain environments-not simply for local or nation- necessary commodities for an export trade, which al needs, but to supply the seemingly insatiable facilitated the import of foodstuffs, salt and other demands for raw materials from the great concen- essentials to support an otherwise precarious life trations of population in Europe's rich farmland in these northern climes. and industrialized coalfield areas. This short study An analysis of the export trade of the Lulea aims to demonstrate some of the effects of this district reveals long-term changes in the relative technological and socio-economic changeover on importance of a succession of products (Figure 1). contact patterns relating to home, place of work The nineteenth century saw both a continuation and local commerce, in the lower valley of the and an acceleration of this process of change, as Lule river in northern Sweden. the traditional agrarian products gave way first to The huge catchment area of the Lule river ex- a proto-industrial and then to a truly industrial tends from the mountain and tundra zones, utilization and processing of local forest and through the sub-boreal forests to the still-emer- mineral resources (Figure 2). Unfortunately it has ging coastal plains flanking the Bay of Bothnia. not proved possible to differentiate between the Prior to the nineteenth century, permanent settle- timber that was sawn by hand, or by water- or ment was mostly in the form of villages, which steam-powered sawmills; however, the district's were largely confined to the more fertile coastal steamsaws increased rapidly in number and capa- Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988). 1 205

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(2) (2) % (2) (3) (4) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) (5) % Ioo-,-. -- 1o0,? oo

90:::::::90: 90 HUNTING AND SEALING so . so : ::......

80...... FISHING AND

..70 ...... 70 *.70 NORWEGIAN TRADE

. REINDEER HERDING

60, 60 60

so. so ...so FARMING 50 50 .50

*0 TAR BURNING

TIMBER-WORKING 2050 20 20 0O IRON50 ORE FIRON-WORKING

1791- 96- 1816- 21- 26- 31- 36- 41- 46- 5- 56- 61- 66- 71- 76- SI- 86- 91- 96- 95 1800 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 1900

Sources: Lulefi's domestic export trade 1792-1861 from the town's fiscal records (Stadens enskilda rakenskaper H: 1, Luleds stads arkiv, Harn6sand Landsarkivet); Lulefi's foreign trade 1790-1900 from customs house summaries in the Board of Trade records (Utrikeshandel ser. 4, Kommerskollegiets arkiv, Riksarkivet).

Fig. 2. Changes from traditional to industrial commodities, as shown by relative value of Lulefi's export trade during the nineteenth century.

city after 1860, especially during the boom of the trict of Nedertorne i (Brindstr6m, 1984); the 1870s, and the latter decades of the century saw employment opportunities offered by the new the demise of virtually all of the exporting water- industries may have permitted earlier marriages saws. The 1870s mark the take-off of industri- among agricultural workers, thus increasing the alization in the Luleai valley as, in addition, the possible size of families; furthermore, industrial iron industry was reorganized around the Altap- labour requirements often exceeded local skills pen rolling mill, steamships took over from sail in and resources, occasionally resulting in inmigra- the export trade (c. 1880) and railways were con- tion of workers during initial and expansive phases structed (1887-92). These technical innovations of technological change. within industrial processing and transportation Below the Lappmark boundary the population gave rise to an enormous upswing in the rate and more than doubled between 1815 and 1870 (from extent of resource utilization, which gave new 8,379 to 17,837) and then redoubled by 1900 to employment opportunities not only to the local 'landless' population but also to both seasonal and permanent migrant labour. 40-

0 35 a Population growth z S30- After the fall in population in connection with the 0 disastrous war with Russia (whereby Sweden lost 25- NEDERLULEA Finland in 1809), the Luleai district experienced z-Z /220- & LULEA TOWN 2 / continuous growth throughout the rest of the cen- 5 / OVERLULEA <* & EDEFORS tury (Figure 3). This expansion was traditionally 10- LULEA PARISH explained by 'peace, vaccination and the potato', S OWN- ... -JOKKMOKK but other factors probably need to be considered. 5 -- . .. .* & KVIKKJOKK Recent research has shown, for example, that 0 . i" i . .i o....' 1750 1800 1850 1900 nineteenth century improvements in hygiene and 1750,1,0-0...... the revival of breast-feeding decreased the rate of Fig. 3. Population changes in the Lulei district. Sources: census infant mortality by half in the neighbouring dis- datafrom Tabellverketl1749-1859andFolkrdkningarl1860-1910. 206 Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988).1

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1825 0 UNOCCUPIED 0 EXISTING SETTLEMENTS IN 1700

SSETTLEMENTS ORIGINATING AFTER 1700 LULEA. GAMMELSTAD(OLD TOWN) O THE PRESENT TOWN OF LULEA --- PARISH BOUNDARY

9500

J 2600 01500 1000 500 100 50 5

1850

SELET .00*

HARADS

O( verlulo A) 1831

HEDE N (Nederlule A) RODEN

* S900

'\HARADS

(Edefots)

1881

(Nedertuleh)

RODEN

SVART6N

ALTAPPEN4

Fig. 4. Population distribution in 0 5 10 15 20 25 Km the Luleh district 1825,1850, 1900 (after Egerbladh, in Egerbladh and Layton 1986, p. 113).

Geografiska Annaler - 70 B (1988)- 1 207

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms I. LAYTON reach 34,620. This growth resulted in the need for had risen to 14, and they were almost all located new church centres as settlement spread further outside the old agricultural areas on suitable fall inland, remote from the old church at Gammel- sites downstream from the forest resources that staden (Figure 4). In 1831, therefore, the old coas- they wished to utilize. Not only the logs but also tal parish of LuleA was divided into NederluleA the sawn planks were floated on the Lule River (still centred on Gammelstad) and Overlulea, the and its tributaries, as overland communications latter obtaining its own church in Boden. This and means of transport were still lacking. By the village lay more central to the most populous turn of the century, the three remaining watersaws farming district in the new parish than did its rival, had virtually ceased operations and production the former market village of Heden. For similar was focused primarily on six large steamsaws near reasons, OverluleA was. itself subdivided in 1881 LuleA (at the mouth of the major river) and, on a and the northern half became the new parish of smaller scale, at two saws near the railway junc- Edefors, with its church at Harads (opposite the tion at Boden. These locational shifts were in sawmill at Bodtraiskfors). The establishment of response not only to changes in sawmill technolo- these new parish churches clearly must have alte- gy but also to new transport possibilities, new raw red the social contact patterns, by regularly bring- material supplies and the availability of labour. ing together local populations that in earlier times had only been required to make monthly visits to the old parish centre in LuleA Gammelstad (Berg- Merchant contacts ling 1964, p. 371). The region's trade remained principally in the By 1900 the growth of the town of LuleA and its hands of the town merchants during the early suburbs (e.g. Svart6staden near Svart6n), and of decades of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, the new municipality of Boden, clearly indicates no merchants' account books appear to have sur- the urbanization process then at work (Figure 4). vived for the town of Lulea; nevertheless, their This urban expansion meant that the cash flow extensive contact nets can be reconstructed from thus increased in town as well as in the countryside estate inventory deeds (bouppteckningar), which and, as the numbers of potential customers grew, record detailed lists of a merchant's debtors and the establishment of retail and other services was creditors at the time of his death. Figure 6a shows encouraged. the contact field of one such merchant, Abraham Stenholm, who died on the 7th of May 1821 (Lay- ton, 1982). As was common in the two previous Changes in industrial location centuries, he owned booths in the coastal market The lower LuleA valley experienced a succession settlements of Lulea town, Raned, and Kalix, as of industries during the nineteenth century, illu- well as in the markets at Jokkmokk and Gallivare strating three technological cycles nesting within in Lappmark. At his time of death, most of his the timber product cycle, which peaked in 1897. dealings with the Lapps appeared to have been Figure 5 shows that around 1805 the district settled up, so that only a few debts were recorded. contained five coarse-bladed sawmills (mostly In the coastal districts, however, 532 individuals owned by villages), together with two ironworks were still in his debt, of these, 380 lived in the and one fine-bladed saw owned by the pioneer coastal and riverine farming villages and even in industrialist, Baron S.G. Hermelin. They were all the new isolated homesteads that were beginning located peripheral to the domains of the old farm- to appear in the relatively unexploited forest ing villages, in order to have access to the rela- areas. tively untouched forests belonging to the Crown. Towards the middle of the century many mer- In association with the Selet ironworks, new sett- chant contact fields had begun to be somewhat lements were rapidly established in the vicinity reduced in scale and area. P.A. Lange's estate (Figure 4)-the settlers providing the works with inventory of 1842, for example (Figure 6b), recor- charcoal and transport services. The ironworks at ded no more than 221 individuals with outstanding Ovre SvartlA were short-lived, however, and the debts, and for the most part they lived within 35 nearby forest (originally set aside for charcoaling kilometres of LuleA (i.e. NederluleA). Only 28 of purposes) was allowed to be used to supply the his debtors came from OverluleA parish, probably large export sawmill at Hedensfors. By the 1860s, as a result of the introduction of new industry-ba- the number of commercial fine-bladed sawmills sed systems for the distribution of imported neces-

208 Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988). 1

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INDUSTRY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY c. 1805 .-- /~v A BARv BLAST IRON FURNACE WORKS I WATER SAW (COARSE-BLADE) 1801 \ WATER SAW (FINE-BLADE)

s . STEAM SHIPYARDSAW ' SHIPYARD 1830s-50s 0 ORE ENRICHMENT PLANT - RAILWAY ~VRE

VARTLA %.

'. HEDENSFORS c 1860

EE AVAN " / \ SELETS-' -X RUK //, {. I "\ -'' -'GAQOVIKI'LL- xGiDDVIK L ULEA oK.

'I \ | % 4, -- " ,BODTRASKFORS

LJUSA'-

HOLMFORS\

Gilllivase aliae HEDENSFORS c.1900 1-EN

SVARTLA, \ . ,I30DTRAKO

OVRE6VRE ~

S KARLSVIK. LULEA 0

BODQEN \

SVARTLA~

Stockholm \

Stockhol STENSBORG7 ALTAPPEN

o 5 10 15 20 25 Km 1 ,J /

Fig. 5. Proto-industrial and industrial locations in the LuleA district 1805, 1860 and 1900.

Geografiska Annaler-70 B (1988)- 1 209

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A 1821 , NC Abraham Stenholrn -

\ --.- -

GALLIVARE

''.- .. ~/-- / -A- -,. NEDERKALIX , " I"

JOKKMOKK LUE

B GALLIVAlE 1842 Lange

-",.r - ..,,. -

JOKKMOKK ,------.------. .ULEA

O 10 20 Km

4,,

LULEA

1867

C.J. Sundstrom (Boden/ Holmfors Saw) --

Sources: (a) & (b) from respective bouppteckningar, Luled stadsarkiv, Hiirndsands landsarkiv; (c) the Sundstrom family archives, C 175 Enskilda arkiv, Hirn6sands Landsarkiv.

Fig. 6. Merchant contact nets: (a) and (b) based on lists of debtors and creditors in estate inventories made after the death of property-owning individuals; and (c) based on an account ledger.

210 Geografiska Annaler- 70 8 (1988)- 1

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Soo -500

400 400

300.200 ,1300.200

a 80 80so

7Cs5o - 70. .-50 -, 70 W0- 40\ . 4060

0 O

,W,. 3020- _300%20

10 .10

Rural settlements in Norrbotten

'- Towns In Norrbotten (Haparanda, PiteA, LuleA) LuleA Town

Fig. 7. Changes in the numbers of -. Interpolated merchants in the town of LuleA, 0 ) 0 to) 0 ) 0 to 0 0 o to co cl t t o 0m together with the towns and rural c) i i i N N i 0 0 ) 0 0 - I ? I I- districts of the county of Norrbot- ten 1860-1900. Sources: Sweden's official statistics: BiSOS ser E 1850-94, BiSOS ser F 1895-1900.

sities (e.g. foodstuffs, tobacco) and for the pro- sumables, rather than in industrial products, and duction and export of the new products of bar iron new patterns and hierarchies emerge along the and sawn timber, which took over from the lines of central place theory. merchant-dominated tar trade (see Figures 8a and 8b). The gradual erosion of the town's monopoly on The diffusion of retailing local trade was accelerated through the legislation This period also proved to be transitional with of 1864 which relaxed restraints on local trade and regard to the organization of local trade. The tra- handicrafts, enabling new retail and service facili- ditional system of seasonal markets, visited main- ties to be established in the countryside. By the ly by the wholesale/retail merchants based in 1860s, population growth in villages near to the LuleA, gave way to a new system of local general watersaws had increased both the need and the stores open throughout the year in all of the main opportunities for new businesses, which were settlements-both market towns and villages. rapidly established either by the town merchants Employment in the forest-based industries was (in the form of filial branches) or by local entre- still seasonal to a large extent, but it provided an preneurs. Figure 6c shows the 1867 contact net of important new source of income. Although rural the Boden merchant and sawmill owner, C.J. farmers and labourers were mostly paid in kind Sundstr6m. His customers numbered 310 and (e.g. foodstuffs, tobacco, coffee, textiles), the came principally from the large farming villages flow of cash began to increase. This was un- within 20 kilometres of this growing centre, but doubtedly an added incentive for the setting up of also from the new settlements that were springing country stores and businesses which could effec- up further inland, in what was later to be the tively obtain local monopolies (based on their parish of Edefors. This typifies the new pattern of locational advantages in terms of ease of access retailing the arose after 1864, when Boden began and convenience, in comparison with the more to expand as a retail and service centre. After this, distant town of LuleA). The gradual improvement the local mercantile system of wholesaling and and extension of the road network during the retailing (cf. Vance 1970) began to be increasingly nineteenth century made it easier to transport dominated by internal trade in foodstuffs and con- supplies inland from the port of Lulei in greater Geografiska Annaler. -70 (1988) -1 211

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Table 1. New general stores and craftsmen (...) registered 1864-1870 in the parishes formerly belonging to LuleA town's handels-gebiet.

Parish 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 Total Merchants in 1860

LuleA town - (1) - - - - 1 1(1) 29 Nederlulei 16(5) 10(2) 1 1 - 3 3 34(7) 2 Overlulei 7(1) 8 1 2 - 2 2 22(1) 11 RAnei 4 - - 3 - - - 7 - Jokkmokk 9 2 2 1 - 2 - 16 - Gillivare 4 4 - 1 - 1 - 10 - LuleA region 40(6) 24(3) 4 8 - 8 6 90(9) 42 Others in BD 19(3) 15 4 3 8 7 7 63(3) 59 Total in BD 59(9) 39(3) 8 11 8 15 13 153(12) 101

Source: Register of new businesses (Alfabetiskt register till f6reningsregistret 1864-1943, ser C II (b) vol 1, Landskansliets arkiv), Norrbotten Country Archives, LuleA. [BD = Norrbotten county]

bulk-a factor which greatly facilitated the loca- applications, but the rate declined significantly tion of retail businesses to outlying settlements. It thereafter. This demonstrates that the diffusion of was against this background that the new general retail services had been effectively restrained by stores were established, forming a network where- earlier regulations and that their relaxation in only the smallest hamlets and farms lay more opened up the floodgates to repressed local needs than 5 kilometres away. for easier access to retailers, particularly to gene- The ban of free trade in food supplies was lifted ral stores. Permanent shops (open throughout the in 1815 and the old restraints on the Swedish year) were now established in LuleA Gammelstad, domestic economy (ndringstvdnget) were further Boden, Heden, and most of the larger villages in relaxed in 1846. Among other things, it then be- Neder- and Overlulea, as well as in the old market came possible to obtain permission to establish centres (RAnea, Jokkmokk and Gillivare) which stores for the sale of general merchandise (lant- had previously been restricted to their statutory handeln) and to set up handicraft production in market days. This increase in country shops re- the countryside-except for within 30 kilometres duced the importance of the traditional markets of a town. The Lulea merchants and craft guilds, and the markets at RAnea, Overkalix and Neder- however, were still very reluctant to sanction per- lulea (Gammelstad) ceased to operate around mission for 'unqualified' persons, so that few new- 1860 (Hoppe 1945, p. 245). Certain summer mar- comers appeared. kets at RaneA and Edefors dealing in tar and hand- In Norrbotten, and particularly in the region of and watersawn timber were retained, but were LuleA's former trade monopoly (or handels-ge- soon to decline as the demand for tar fell and the biet), the number of small merchants and crafts- steamsaws took over the production and direct men in the countryside increased most rapidly, export of timber. The two Lapp markets of Jokk- however, after the 8th June 1864-when even mokk and Gillivare, however, continued in greater freedom to establish new retail businesses importance until the end of the century (ibid). was granted (Figure 7 and Table 1). According to Frequently the new businesses that started up in a list of persons registering new businesses in 1864-5 were local retail branches established by Norrbotten, there were 68 applications (59 for the town merchants, e.g. Olaus Nilsson and J.M. trade and 9 for craft activities) made within the Finell in LuleA Gammelstad, Nils Sundstr6m in county of Norrbotten in 1864 (Table 1). Of these, Boden, Gammelstad, Heden and Ranea, Jonas 46 were located in the traditional hinterland of Bodell in Boden, J.F. Olsson Lindgren in Lulea, especially in the more densely populated Brind6n, H.A. Benckert and C.A. Govenius in villages of the coastal parish of Nederlulea which Jokkmokk (the latter also in Gillivare), N.E. lay within 30 km of the town and thitherto had not Bergstrom in Gammelstad and Jokkmokk, Lind- been allowed to establish crafts and retail services. gren in Jokkmokk and RAnea, O.D. Sundberg in The following year also saw a large number of Edefors (Harads). Others were initiated by indu-

212 Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988) - 1

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INDUSTRY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY stries that already had trading privileges; for ex- stries and the decline of trade in the traditional ample, in 1869 the Bodtriskfors sawmill owners products of farming, fishing and tar-burning, the (i.e. Bergman, Hummel & Co, then owned by role of the town merchants as wholesale exporters C.O. Bergman and N.E. Bergstrom, both from declined substantially. Consequently they concen- Lulea) opened a general store in Jokkmokk, trated more on the retail trade and began to which served both as a retail outlet and as a distri- specialize in particular types of goods rather than bution centre for supplies to company employees continuing to offer a wide range in direct competi- engaged in lumbering and floating. Most of the tion with each other. A number of town mer- remaining new businesses, however, seem to have chants, however, continued to retain wholesale been started up by local enterprise in the larger interests with regard to the import of certain food- villages, such as the two parish centres of Lule A stuffs and wares, supplying other retailers-espe- Gammelstaden (17/21) and Boden (11/13), and cially in the smaller settlements inland. the farming villages of Harads (3/4), Heden (3/4), During most of this period some of the weal- Smedsby (4), Pers6 (4), Ersnas (2), Sundom (2), thier town merchants continued to operate and Antnas (2), during 1864 and '65. Initially they vertically-integrated businesses, handling the usually had the character of general stores, offe- purchase and sale of a wide range of imports and ring groceries and a small selection of the range of exports as well as owning both small vessels for the manufactured wares traditionally imported from local collection of products and large ones for Stockholm by the town merchants. The decline in shipping cargoes to and from Stockholm and the numbers of town merchants in Lule i between abroad. Ship construction, sawmilling, banking, 1864-70 (from 35 to 12) can thus be largely attri- farming, and fishing, were also among the many buted to the relocation of some of their business activities pursued by merchants in LuleA (Layton, activities. 1982). The scale of these operations gradually Local everyday needs were increasingly catered declined during the course of the century, in the for by these new village stores, so that the town face of competition from foreign shipping, the merchants (who had hitherto tended to deal in introduction of organized banking and regular remarkably similar assortments of imported food- coastal steamship services, etc., so that merchant stuffs, tobacco, textiles, metalware, etc.) must bankruptcies were not infrequent in LuleA. have found themselves forced into more direct The Lule i tradesmen's association (Luled Kbp- competition with one another on the retail side. mannaf6rening) was formed in 1840 as a direct As the traditional trade in butter, tar, hewn and continuation of the old Lulea merchants' associa- handsawn timber declined, so the merchants be- tion (Luled Handlaref6rening), according to a gan to lose their special relationships (i.e. credit protocol from 1843 (Nilsson 1950, p. 5). Similarly, ties) with individual farmers and, at the same the craftsmen also had their own local factory and time, the local competition resulted in them losing craft association of guild. Originally, membership customers (according to the 5 year report from the had been obligatory in order to practise trade or a Governor of Norrbotten in 1822, p. 23). This in- craft and, even after the regulations were re- evitably led to many of Lulea's merchants aban- moved, membership continued to be the main seal doning the food sector and instead specializing in of approval for experienced and well-qualified other lines of consumer goods, for which people merchants and master craftsmen. Not everyone would be prepared to make the long journey to applied for, or was granted, membership and after town. Specialization was further encouraged by 1846, when large numbers of 'unqualified' small- the rapidly growing population and by the increas- scale businesses sprang into being, only the larger ing cash flow resulting from the numerous established firms belonged to these now voluntary employment opportunities offered by the new organizations. However, official statistics con- industries. tinued to use membership lists as the basis for their Thus the legislation of 1864 effectively ended annual reports, so that for some years after the the trade and craftsmen's guild monopolies of the 1860s the total numbers of businesses are far from coastal towns, systems that had operated for more accurate (Figure 7 and Table 1). Nevertheless, than two centuries and which had only been par- these figures do tend to reflect actual trends and tially eroded by the trading privileges granted to thus provide a rough framework for analysis. The certain industries as an inducement to local invest- sudden upswing in the numbers of merchants in ment. With the rise of the iron and timber indu- the town of Luledt during the 1890s (Figure 7) was Geografiska Annaler. 70 B (1988). 1 213

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Table 2. Numbers of qualified master craftsmen in Lulef town- there were increasing numbers of persons setting ship. up business in crafts and services--often without 1815 1830 1850 1860 1880 1900 any specialist training or recognized qualifica-

Master tions. The laissez-faire policies of the latter half of craftmen 30 31 54 55 62 71 the nineteenth century thus favoured private Population 919 1064 1257 1516 3120 9484 enterprise and initiative, for as the town expan-

Sources: Annual reports on merchants and craftsmen in towns ded, so did the number of opportunities (and (Arsberaittelser om handlande och hantverkare i staderna, Kom- opportunists!). merskollegiets arkiv, Riksarkivet). By the very nature of their particular skills local craftsmen were, of course, already specialized and they gradually came to complement their own output with associated products imported from clearly a result of the population boom in associa- outside the region-thus offering specialist retai- tion with the opening of the iron ore railway and ling as well as services. These trends were to be- the ore processing and export at Svart6n. Many of come increasingly apparent in the final decades of the new retail businesses and other services were the century. highly specialized, serving not only the large urban population but also a large part of LuleA's former sphere of influence. The town had thus lost The impact of industry its importance as the sole source of everyday food One of the most significant socio-economic effects and consumer goods, but consolidated its domi- of industrialization in the local economy was the nance as the regional centre for administration introduction of a dualism between the new indu- and higher order goods and services. strial system and the traditional agrarian forms of production. Whereas the town merchants had previously controlled the region's trade and commer- The diffusion of handicrafts cial production (tar, hand-sawn timber, etc.), the As mentioned above, the relaxation and removal new ironworks and sawmill industries were largely of the restraints on local economic activity in 1846 in the hands of external capitalists. These indu- and 1864 also created opportunities for private stries were engaged in producing solely for the enterprise within the craft sector. Before the lif- export market and the profits rarely found their ting of the guild restraint (skrdtvdnget) in 1846, way back into the region, so that the industrial rural parishes had been allowed to appoint certain utilization of the region's resources rarely had craftsmen to serve the district (Nordberg 1965, p. much of a multiplier effect locally. 289). Hence in 1830 there were 16 approved indi- The new water-powered 'proto-industries' kept viduals in the rural parish of Lulea (4 tailors, 3 detailed accounts, some of which have survived shoemakers, 4 blacksmiths, 2 painters and 3 from the early 1800s, and from these records it is carpenters). In 1845 these had increased slightly to possible to reconstruct their contacts simply by 22 (5 tailors, 5 shoemakers, 8 blacksmiths, 1 pain- mapping their employees' home villages. In the ter and 3 carpenters), but in 1860 the official re- early stages of forest exploitation the catchment cords of guild-approved craftsmen only listed 13 areas tended to be fairly small. The Selet iron- names in the rural areas (3 shoemakers, 3 tailors, 1 works (Figure 8a) provides a good example of this blacksmith, 2 carpenters, 3 tanners and 1 clock- and shows that 325 labourers were mostly recrui- maker), and newcomers must therefore have been ted from settlements within a 25 kilometre radius. denied professional recognition. The last guild They worked at the ironworks in the summer, restrictions were removed in 1864 and thereafter produced charcoal in the local forests and pro- such enterprises could, in principle, be set up any- vided transport services, especially during the where-even near to and within the town (Hedin winter months when the ore and finished bar iron 1965, p. 130). could be more easily carried overland on hor- Table 2 shows that the numbers of officially se-drawn sledges. recognized craftsmen in the town of LuleA increa- In the Lulea district the earliest commercial sed during the century, but not in step with the sawmill, using fine 'Dutch' blades and more effi- rapid population growth of the latter decades. cient waterwheels, had been established in 1785 at These official data are misleading, however, for Hedensfors, above the falls which formed the first

214 Geografiska Annaler- 70 B (1988)- 1

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INDUSTRY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY

/ --" -,, -

1802 Selet Ironworks r-

I N, --

1860 Sw'~LLt Hedensfors Saw LC9. ,'o ...... _ __

1864

Bodtrdskfors Saw - - , & =". o..,- < - / '-k:' '

...... 189._

1899

0Altappen

1900 Bodtriskfors

-.-.. o.LULEA . ------11:11

Fig. 8. Contact patterns between industries and their employees' home villages, hamlets and farms. Sources: Account ledgers (avrikningsb6cker) for (a) Selets bruk 1801/2, Enskilda arkiv C, 176:28, Harn6sands landsarkiv, (b) Hedensfors sdgs dagverksbok och varujournal 1860, (c) Bodtraskfors sdgs avrikningsbok 1864, (d) AB Bodtrdskfors, Bodtraskfors f6rvaltning, avriAkningsbok 1900, and Altappen sdgs avl6ningsbok 1899, from the Swedish Cellulose Company archives (SCA:s Merlo arkiv).

Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988) - 1 215

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms I. LAYTON obstacle to fluvio-maritime navigation. The pat- individuals continued sawing activities at the old tern of contacts in 1860 between Hedensfors saw watersaw. More workers lived in the inland areas and its labour force of 115 individuals can be seen and fewer were recruited from the coastal dis- in Figure 8b. The upstream contacts were related tricts. to the main areas of forest utilized by the sawmill The coastal steamsaws now provided year- at this time, consisting of the forests formerly set round employment for nearly 1000 workers and aside for the Ovre SvartlA ironworks and of forest their families, living in barrack-like accommoda- land taken up by the company through new settle- tion adjacent to the mills. In addition, about three ments. Other watersaws soon appeared, as restric- to four times as many seasonal workers worked at tions on production has been lifted in 1842 and the sawmill sites for periods of as much as 7-10 export saws could be freely establishment after months of the year-especially when the saws 1863 (Wik 1950, p. 41). By this time, the forests operated double shifts and extra labour was below the Lappmark boundary had become legal- needed in the timberyards. At Altappen steam- ly available for settlement and utilization through saw, for example, at least 428 individuals were the process of avvittring, whereby the state deli- employed in this way during 1899 when 126 of mited its forests from those owned by private indi- them lived permanently on this island site and the viduals or communities. Bodtriskfors sawmill was remaining 302 were seasonal workers. Of this lat- established in the 1840s and by 1864 (Figure 8c) ter group, only 82 were recruited from the coastal the company had already gained access to exten- villages (see Figure 8d), the rest coming mainly sive forest tracts through organizing settlement in from other districts in Norrbotten and Vister- the Edefors area and the adjacent Lappmark, em- botten and from Finland. It should be noted, how- ploying 430 individuals for varying periods during ever, that these figures excluded large numbers of the year. In the already cut-over coastal districts, day-workers who were engaged in loading vessels many farmers took their horses into Lappmark in during the shipping season. winter to drive timber to the frozen floatways, Company account books for the second half of hence the company's wide contact net below the the nineteenth century thus reveal that sawmill sawmill. contact fields expanded inland, and new settlers in To replace their original felling rights, the ear- the interior were employed as well as migrant lier privileged sawmills were allocated extremely seasonal labourers from farming villages. Until generous grants of forest property and, until 1906, the latter decades of the century, labour was large- companies were also able to purchase forest land ly paid in kind, especially with grain, flour, peas, from homesteads and farmers in order to secure tobacco, etc.. This meant that these proto-indus- regular supplies of cheap timber. The avvittring tries accounted for the basic import needs of a process in Lappmark began in 1873 and the larger substantial part of the local population, thus ero- watersaws and coastal steamsaws extended their ding the former hegemony of the town merchants. timber catchment areas by purchasing forest and Furthermore, the rise of the cash economy, better cutting rights farther inland. Numerous new wages in industry than within the traditional agra- homesteads were established in Lappmark, with rian sector, and the decline of the tar trade, left generous grants of forest land, so that labour was farmers and their farmhands less dependent on now available in these areas for felling and floating the merchants for credit, supplies, and subsidiary work (see Bodtriskfors 1900, Figure 8d). As these incomes. settlers usually had horses of their own for farm and forest work, the total number of horses in Lappmark increased rapidly during the final deca- Urbanization des of the nineteenth century (Lundgren 1984, pp. The true industrialization of resource utilization 52ff.). This may well account for much of the and processing got under way during the last three decline in Bodtraiskfors' recruitment of coastal decades of the century, when steam-power was farmers and their horses between 1864 and 1900 applied to new coastal sawmills, rolling mills, ship- (compare Figures 8c and 8d). ping and rail transport. The population boomed, The labour force administered by Bodtriskfors apparently in response to the enormous increase in 1900 thus remained at the same level as in 1864 in employment opportunities, in terms of both but, out of the 428 workers, more were engaged in year-round work in the mills and mines and sea- felling, fewer in floating and only a handful of sonal work in the forests and floatways. The con-

216 Geografiska Annaler 70 B (1988)- 1

This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms INDUSTRY AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY centration of industries to the mouth of the Lule extended and intensified. The changes observed river and the construction of the railway linking here in the Lulea district's internal contact pat- the iron mines of Gillivare with the port of Lule A terns during the nineteenth century thus reflect were important factors behind the rapid expan- the increasing movement of people, goods and sion in the urban population. This tended to ideas-all of which help to explain changes in compensate the established merchants for their man's impact on the landscape as a whole. loss of rural customers (in terms of basic supplies rather than specialized wares) and, at the same time, this also attracted further specialist busi- Conclusion nesses and services to the town, thus consolidating It is important, therefore, to understand the work- its primacy within the region. ing of a region's infrastructure when attempting to It appears likely that the closure of the inland explain how and why the landscape changes in saws and ironworks and the rise of the steam- totam. Mapping the socio-economic contacts bet- powered mills drew many workers towards the ween merchants and the rural population, and coast (e.g. to Karlsvik, Stensborg and Altappen, between industries and their labour force, can Figures 4 and 8d). Furthermore, the construction provide further insight into changes in the spatial of the railway to the iron mines of Gillivare patterns and rhythms of people's movements and attracted considerable labour to the town of contacts during the nineteenth century. These Lulea, which was the port of shipment and the site contacts are intrinsic parts of their ways of life, of a new ore enrichment plant at Svarton (creating which collectively influence the landscape in terms suburbs such as Svart6staden, Figures 4 and 5). of settlement functions and lines of communica- However, the enormous timber requirements of tions, and which evolve largely in response to the the new saws meant that there were also more job availability of employment. Much still remains to opportunities inland (especially in Lappmark), be done in this field. and in many cases this work continued to be organized from the offices of old sawmills such as Bodtriskfors. During this industrial phase wages Acknowledgement were increasingly paid in cash form, so that saw- This paper is derived from research carried out mill companies such as Altappen came to rely within the Lule Valley Project (Layton, 1988) and upon local merchants to provide food supplies and the author gratefully acknowledges financial sup- general stores for the work-force, both in the port from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary forests and at the sawmills. Thus, not only the Foundation. farming population but even the town merchants were able to find niches in the industrial system, Layton, Ian, G., Dept. of Human Geography, The and the degree of dualism was reduced as University of Umed, 90187 Umed, Sweden. industrialization pervaded the region's local economy during the latter decades of the century. The free trade policies that prevailed interna- tionally in the second half of the nineteenth cen- References tury (and led to the enormous expansion in BERGLING, R. (1964): Kyrkstaden i 6vre Norrland. (The Lulea's resource exploitation, industrial output, Church Town in upper Norrland, English summary). and population) were also reflected in the valley's Skytteanska samfundets handlingar no. 3. Uppsala. internal economy. Mercantile restrictions were re- BRANDSTROM, A. (1984): "De karleksl6sa m6drarna". SpAidbarnsdodligheten i Sverige under 1800-talet med sr- placed by 'liberal' freedoms of production and skild hinsyn till Nedertorne&. ("The loveless mothers. Infant location, permitting industry, settlement, and mortality in Sweden during the 19th century with special commercial activity to reorganize and relocate attention to the Parish of Nedertorne&, English Summary). locally in the most economic fashion-i.e. in ways Umed Studies in the Humanities no. 62. UmeSt. EGERBLADH, I. and LAYTON, I. (1986): 'Skogsutnyttjande best-suited to the contemporary production and och samhillsf6riandring i en norrbottnisk Ailvdal under 1700- transport technology and economics. As the wave och 1800-talen, pp. 110-126 in Historisk geografi. YMER of forest utilization moved inland, accompanied 1986. Stockholm. HEDIN, N. (1965): 'Lanthandel under naringsfriheten', pp. by the diffusion of settlement, so the population 130-318 in EJDESTAM, J., HEDIN, N., NYGREN, E.: also expanded in the coastal region. This meant Bilder ur lanthandelns historia. ICA-f6rlaget, VAsterds that the network of communications was both (1943, 2nd ed. 1965).

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This content downloaded from 128.197.26.12 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 09:16:19 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms I. LAYTON

HOPPE, GUNNAR. (1945): Vigarna inom Norrbottens lin. Valley 1870-1970, English summary). Umed Studies in Eco- Geographica no. 16. Uppsala. nomic History no. 6. Ume&. LAYTON, I.G. (1982): 'En handelsmans d6d', pp. 255-280 in NILSSON, B. (ed) (1950): Luled K6pmannaf6rening 110 dr. Geografi och samhiallsplanering, studier tillignade Erik By- LuleA Boktryckeri-Aktiebolag, Lule&. lund. GERUM report no. B: 7. Ume&. NORDBERG, A. (1965): En gammal norrbottensbygd: anteck- LAYTON, I.G. (1988): Economic Change in the Lule Valley: ningar till Luled sockens historia, vol 1. Norrbottens An historical geography of trade and resource utilization c. Museum, Lule& (1928, 2nd ed. 1965). 1550-1900. Geographical Reports no. 7. Ume&. VANCE, J.E. (1970): The Merchant's World: The geography of LUNDGREN, N-G. (1984): Skog f6r export: Skogsarbete, tek- wholesaling. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. nik och f6rsdrjning i Lule iAlvdal 1870-1970. (Timber for WIK, H. (1950): Norra Sveriges sigverksindustri: FrAn 1800-ta- export: Forest work, Technology and Income in the Lule lets mitt fram till 1937. Geographica no 21. Uppsala.

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