Kongsberg Silver Mines
The silver mines of Kongsberg, in Buskerud county in Norway, constitute the largest mining field in Norway, with over 80 different mines.
It was the largest pre-industrial working place in Norway, with over 4,000 workers at its peak in the 1770s and supplied over 10% of the gross national product of the Danish-Norwegian union during its 335 year long history: over 450,000 man-years were expended in the production.
Read more about Kongsberg Silver Mines: First Discovery of Silver, Major Tourist Attraction, Arranging Parties, Sources
Famous quotes containing the words silver and/or mines:
“There is probably not more than one hundred dollars in cash in circulation today. That is, if you were to call in all the bills and silver and gold in the country at noon tomorrow and pile them on the table, you would find that you had just about one hundred dollars, with perhaps several Canadian pennies and a few peppermint Life Savers.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The humblest observer who goes to the mines sees and says that gold-digging is of the character of a lottery; the gold thus obtained is not the same thing with the wages of honest toil. But, practically, he forgets what he has seen, for he has seen only the fact, not the principle, and goes into trade there, that is, buys a ticket in what commonly proves another lottery, where the fact is not so obvious.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)