Spitzbergen - Arctic Coal Company

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Title: Spitzbergen - Arctic Coal Company
Photographer: Drummond MacGavin
Subject Headings: Natural Resources - Mines and Mineral Resources, Engineering - Surveying, Geography
Condition: Good
Description: Photograph No.20 [Arctic Coal Co.'s hunting house in Advent Valley. [A man stands outside a simple small wooden hut with a door and without any windows visible]
Source of Description: Front of photograph [Cataloger]
Institution: Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections
Donor: Cynthia Callan
Date of Photo: 1912-1913
Medium: still image
Color: black and white
Size: 4.7 cm x 7.0 cm
Polarity: Positive
Image No: MS018-Z-16-20
Collection Name: Scott Turner Collection
Terms of Use: Rights to reproduce and distribute this image may be restricted. Contact the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections for further information.
User Comments:
• The Arctic Coal Company constructed this hut in 1907 as a way to augment its food supply through hunting. Hunting here was generally unsuccessful and the company complained about over killing by tourists and irresponsible Norwegian hunting practices. An exploration party, independent of the company, visited the hut in May 1913. Dr. Rüdiger later wrote of the hut: “In the hut were all sorts of provisions and utensils and the first indications of approaching civilization – empty beer bottles with the inscription “Bayrisk Øl.” The hut itself was small, with three bunks, one above the other, fireplace, table, and chairs set out: it had as a tiny Vorraum [vestibule], a horse-stall, and outside a two-wheeled cart . . .” (Dole, N., 1922. America in Spitsbergen, The Romance of an Arctic Coal-Mine, Boston : Marshall-Jones Company. P194.)
5/5/2008 11:14:02 AM by cchartne, Svalbard Researcher