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The Evje og Hornnes geomuseum Fennefoss is a small museum in the Evje-Iveland pegmatite district. The Evje-Iveland area is known for many finds of rare minerals and good crystals. In the collection are many of the minerals found in these pegmatites represented. At the same time it is also a historical museum with displays on the Setesdal's culture. The area behind the museum is an open-air museum with old buildings from the 18/19-th century.

Geographical location
The Evje og Hornnes museum Fennefoss is located in the south of Norway, at approximately 62 km riding distance north of Kristiansand. It is located in the Agder county, in a district called Setesdalen. The Setesdalen comprises beside the Evje og Hornnes municipality, the Iveland, Bygland, Valle and Bykle municipalities.

History
The mining history of the Setesdalen very likely started during the iron age with production of iron from bog ore. The first serious mining took probably place in the Hamregruva copper mine in Bygland and is assumed to be of medieval times. In the mid 1800's an initiative to mine copper at the Mykleåsen, a hill ca. 4 km east of what is now the center of Evje, failed completely. The mining company went broke due to problems to extract the copper from the ore. Later it was determined that this was due to the nickel-content.

The demand for nickel increased during the early 1800's and prospecting for ore in Norway resulted in a first find in Ringerike in 1837 in an abandoned copper mine. In 1858 nickel was discovered in similar copper ore at the Mykleåsen. It took til 1872 before mining commenced in the Flåt nickel mine.

Initially the smelter down at the Fennefossen rapids, close to nowadays centre of Evje, used river sand to smelt the ore and extract the nickel. The result was what is called "nikkelmatte", a mix of nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, platinum and palladium. This was initially exported to foreign refineries, but in 1911 a refinery was opened in Kristiansand.

In 1884 the Flåt nickel mine was taken over by an English company, Vivian & Sons, and they decided to partly replace the sand with quartz extracted from the many pegmatites in the area around the mine.

The feldspar, even more plentiful present in pegmatites than quartz, was discarded; the cost of transport to Kristiansand was too high.

When in 1896 the Setesdalsbanen opened, a railroad connection between Bygland and Kristiansand, the cost of transport was greatly reduced and feldspar mining became profitable.

This was the start signal for extensive mining in the Evje municipality, and thanks to a sidetrack to neighbour municipality Iveland, also there. All in all more than 550 individual mines and prospects have been registered, albeit many are small.

Already in the early days of quartz mining, it was noted that many of the pegmatites contained large quantities of strange minerals. Many of them were found as black masses, sometimes weighing a couple of hundred kilo, but sometimes they were also found in crystals of considerable size. These were called black minerals and were later mined for their content of rare-earth elements. They attracted the attention of geologists, and during all the years the Evje-Iveland district has been popular for field studies.

Many other types of minerals were found, often in very well-developed crystals, and therefor of interest to mineral collecters. Examples are quartz, beryl, garnet, columbite, monazite, thortveitite etc.

Mining has been reduced to a mere 100-200 ton of ultra-pure feldspar a year in 2020, mainly for the production of artificial teeth, so-called dental spar or in norwegian, tannspat.

The mineral-richness attracted many collectors already from the 1960's on, but there was a huge increase after a geological guide was published in 1976 in Germany by Dr. H.-J. Wilke, Mineralien-Fundstellen - Skandinavien, with the Evje-Iveland area as the first chapters.

Hence, the area was visited by thousands of collectors every year, and some people saw business opportunities. Minerals and the mines/quarries became a resource, and a number of businesses were started.

The best known of all, is Theodor Gautestad. He was initially a miner in the Flåt nickel mine, but due to health problems he had to stop. He then started working in the feldspar mines, and developed an interest for the minerals found here. Especially the Landsverk 1 mine, where quartz cvrystals occurred in huge numbers and amazonite was found abundantly, must have been inspiring.

He started his own rock shop and workshop for cutting and polishing stone. There have been several other shops; all but one of them closed by 2000. Only one stone-cutter with a shop selling his own work is still in existance (2021), the Oddestemmen Steinsliperi.

The mineral richness resulted also in the opening of many fee-collecting sites, most of them closed nowadays (2021).

In 1975 some local historians decided to start a municipal museum, the Evje og Hornnes museum Fennefoss. Although initially more of a historical museum, it was especially thanks to Sigmund Monen's interest for minerals, that these became eventually more important for the museum than the historical displays. In the early 2000's the name was changed to Evje og Hornnes geomuseum Fennefoss.

Several local collectors build up considerable collections of both local and international minerals, three of which are displayed at the Evje og Hornnes geomuseum Fennefoss: the Theodor Gautestad collection, the Odd S.H. Hansen collection and the Kristen Dale collection. A small collection with minerals from the Langesundsfjord area was donated by Gunnar Nordbø.

The Evje og Hornnes geomuseum Fennefoss was able to acquire these collection with help from a cultural fund of the norwegian state. In addition, the municipality, for a good part through donations, was able to purchase a considerable number of minerals from other collectors. This has resulted in a municipal systematic collection of only norwegian minerals, grouped after their chemical composition.

The history of the Fennefoss farm
This farmhouse lies idyllic near the river Otra, and under the steep mountain side of the Fennefossfjell mountain.

On the other side of the river, there are some grave-mounds that date back to the Viking age, some 300-700 years A.C. It is assumed that there were already people living at the place where the museum is located. This is likely, due to the strategic view over the valley in southern direction. Any enemy approaching will be seen from a long distance.

The first written documentation referring to Fennefoss dates back to 1595. The name was written as Fenjafors. There is no consistent explanation for the name Fennefoss.

During the 1600's the farm was a police station, indicating that there must have been a rich family living here. During the first part of the 1800's the farm became a center for the Haugean movement, founded by evangelist Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771–1824). At the farm he hold religious meetings. The movement bought the rapids build a paper mill, corn mill and a stamping mill for clothes.

It is known that this farm house also has been in use as pension and a shop selling a multitude of items. This shop was run by local character Torgeir Fennefoss. He suffered from Rheumatoid arthritis, but he was known for his good mood and friendliness. His shop was very popular and people visited him to see what his latest acquisitions were. He was the first in Evje to start selling radio's and televisions. He also wrote letters to known persons like the Pope, Ghandi, Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1975 the Evje og Hornnes municipality bought the farm and surrounding land in order to start a local history museum. The buildings of the open-air museum were moved from different locations to their current.

Due to the considerable international interest for the geology and minerals in the municipality, these displays became gradually more important than the historical displays.

The museum is managed by the Setesdalsmuseet, part of the Aust-Agder museum and archive (AAma).

Setesdal's culture
The history of the Setesdal is strongly determined by farming, livestock, forestry, fishing, and from the late 1800's on, mining. Additionally, there has been a large army base in Evje, at the Evjemoen, with shooting ranges that are still in use.

The collections are thematized and displayed in separate rooms: Evje Pharmacy from 1905, a school classroom, a shoemaker's workshop, a room with kitchen utilities and other food-related items, an old sitting room, and a room with handicrafts like weaving.

The outside area behind the museum is an open-air museum with seven old buildings that are accessible for the visitors: grinding mill, blacksmith`s workshop, stable, sauna, two warehouses on poles, and a primitive farmhouse (årestova/årestua).

The municipal systematic collection
This part of the collection is organized according to which chemical group a mineral belongs.

Among the elements there are samples of silver, graphite and copper at display.

The  sulfides are well-represented in Norway, with numerous mines being worked for copper, lead, zinc, pyrite (sulpherous acid), nickel, molybdenium, cobalt and bismuth. Represented are among others: pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, molybdenite, bismuthinite.

The  halides occur sparingly in Norway. In the municipal collection only fluorite is represented.

The  oxides/ hydroxides occur abundantly in Norway. Several of them were and are still the object of active mining. In Nordland is an active iron mine (2021), and in the south of Norway is an active ilmenite mine (2021). Represented are among others: quartz, magnetite, hematite, ilmenite, rutile, anatase, columbite, fergusonite-(Y), davidite-(Ce), spinel, uraninite, corundum, manganite.

The  carbonates are well-presented in Norway. Nitrate minerals are so far not discovered in Norway. The Dalen-Kjørholt mine is among collecters considered to be one of the top-localities for calcite. Furthermore displayed are azurite, malachite and ancylite-(Y).

The  sulfates are moderately rare in Norway, but with good samples of baryte having been found in Telemark and near Kristiansand.

The  arsenates and  phosphates are not well-represented in Norway. different varieties of apatite are the most common representatives. In the collection xenotime-(Y) is the only other representative. Of the arsenates only erythrite is represented.

The silicate minerals are the most abundant type of minerals in Norway. These include different types of feldspar, epidote, different types of beryl, allanite-(Ce), zoisite, zircon, clinozoisite, thortveitite, thorite, different types of garnet, topaz, titanite and many others.

The Theodor Gautestad (1908-1991) collection
The Theodor Gautestad collection comprises a showcase with norwegian minerals, a showcase with his foreign collection, and several signs with important aspects of his life, and additionally some pictures. The highlight of his collection is the piece of amazonite as can be seen at the right. It represents the finest quality amazonite ever found in the Landsverk 1 quarry. The livery collar is not at display at the museum.

The Kristen Dale (1936-2014) collection
Kristen Dale became interested in collecting minerals when he found a large piece of molybdenite after his father blasted away some rock in order to make a cellar. He lived in Bygland, just north of Evje, and whenever possible he came on his bicycle to visit the quarries in Evje and Iveland, and collected many good minerals.

When he got his driver's license, he travelled all through the country in order to visit known, and discover so far unknown mineral occurrences.

His entire collection is organized after the county where the localities are located.

The Odd S.H. Hansen (1922-1997) collection
The Odd S.H. Hansen collection is located in the same room as the Theodor Gautestad collection.

Odd. S.H. Hansen was a military man stationed at the Evjemoen miniltary base, and met Theodor Gautestad. He developed an interest for minerals. Due to problems with space in his house, he collected mainly thumbnails and small cabinet sized samples. There are two displays with his minerals, one with the minerals from the Evje-Iveland pegmatite field, the other with minerals from the rest of Norway.

His collection includes an album with stamps from many different countries with pictures of minerals and other geological motives.

The Flåt nickel mine
In this section are exhibited objects and old pictures related to the Flåt nickel mine. The pictures give an impression of the development of the mine, which went through several cycles of improvement.

Special displays
In the Gautestad/Hansen room there are thematical displays on mica group minerals and beryll. Examples of the minerals are shown, together with important applications of these minerals.

In a separate room are displays on Pierre and Madame Curie, norwegian gemstones, nickel, the rare-earth elements and the geology of South-Norway.

In the room with the systematical collection of the Evje og Hornnes municipality is a display on the applications of quartz.

Opening hours and accessibility of the Evje og Hornnes geomuseum Fennefoss
The opening hours are 11:00-17:00 from ca. the middle of June til the middle of August.

The museum is not accessible for users of wheel chairs. The stairs to the first and second floor are steep.

Literature

 * Monen, S. (2016): Gruvedrift og nikkelindustri i Setesdal. Arbeidsfolk fortel m.m. Bind med 3 bøker. Evje og Hornnes kommune. ISBN Samlekassett: 978-82-690462-0-5
 * Uleberg, O.O. (1990): Kultursoge for Evje og Hornnes. Band 1. Manuskriptet etter Uleberg er ferdigskrive og lagt til rette for trykking av Olav Arne Kleveland. Evje og Hornnes Bygdeboknemnd. 562 pp.
 * Uleberg, O.O., Kleveland, O.A. (2003) Kultursoge for Evje og Hornnes. Band II. Evje og Hornnes Bygdeboknemnd.
 * Øina, S., Lie, K., Pedersen, R., Frigstad, O.F., Gunnufsen, K. (2007) Iveland V. Gruvedrift. Iveland Bygdesogenemnd.