Social Sciences

Talks to detail historic MTU grad’s venture

 

By Jane Nordberg

Gazette Writer

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HOUGHTON ---- Local scholars have long promoted the reach of area copper throughout the world. But some local and international scholars are focusing on the efforts of one area entrepreneur in his quest for another important natural resource.

“Michigan’s Role in Artic Coal” is the subject of the two-day symposium exploring the legacy of John Longyear and his success with the Artic Coal Co.

Events will be held on the Northern Michigan University campus Tuesday in Marquette and at the Franklin Square Inn in Houghton Thursday.

Longyear, a 1912 graduate of the Michigan College of Mines (now Michigan Tech University) and Marquette-area entrepreneur, was first drawn to the Svalbard region in 1903. Located north of Scandinavia, and only 750 miles below the North Pole, the Svalbard island chain contains significant coal deposits that are still mines today.

Early mining proved difficult at such latitude, with long winters, treacherous marine navigation and engineering challenges due to the harsh climate.

Despite these obstacles, Longyear established the largest and most significant historic coal mine in Svalbard. His Artic Coal Company, with the assistance of mining engineers from the Michigan College of Mines, was the first to successfully implement modern mining methods on the artic islands.

A hundred years after Longyear’s first visit to the region, a group of international archeologists gathered at Longyearbyen, Norway, to document the remains of the Artic Coal Company owned by Longyear from 1905 to 1916.

The research group consisted of faculty and professional staff from Sweden, Norway, Russia, the Netherlands, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Among the group was then MTU industrial archeology graduate student Larry Mishkar, who was interested in documenting the remains of mining railways through two of his other loves.

“I’m especially interested in railways and photography, and I love the rugged terrain and ice involved in artic research,” he said.

Prior to visiting the site, Mishkar learned that the area had been bombed numerous time in connection with World War II.

“The Canadians blew up a lot of it and burned it to expectation of the German’s arrival,” he said. “They didn’t want (German soldiers) to find a working coal mine that they could just exploit for the war.”

The Germans also had their way with the site, he said, first bombing it, then burning it. In between, however, they took the time to photograph the damage.

“There’s an incredible body of work that remains from that time period,” Mishkar said, citing documents, blueprints and photographs in the archival collections of MTU and abroad.

Even after reviewing Svalbard’s tumultuous history, Mishkar said he wasn’t sure what to expect on his first visit to the region.

“Here’s a place that’s a hundred years old, in the artic near the North Pole, that’s been bombed and burned out. Even after seeing pictures, it’s hard to know what you’re going to expect until you get on the ground,” he said.

What Mishkar and his colleagues found was a variety of artifacts, both big and small. One large coal bin still stands against the desolate, treeless landscape, connected to long-abandoned railway trestles and towers. Smaller items were found underfoot.

Due to the area’s proximity to Permafrost, the students found belt buckles, spoons, and even large caliber rifle shells perfectly preserved.

Mishkar and other field school workers were advised to arm themselves against polar bears, particularly when venturing far afield from Longyearbyen, a nearby town. The village’s population of approximately 1,500 is served by a hospital, shopping mall, grocery store, hardware store, grade school, tourist shops and the Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani, a working coal mine.

While Norway officially “controls” the archipelago, Mishkar said, a citizen of any country which has signed the Svalbard Treaty of 1921 is permitted to live and work there. The site of the field school has achieved historic designation.

Today, the Svalbard region is a “huge research area,” Mishkar said, providing information on everything from global warming to satellite tracking to researchers from the United States, United Kingdom, Poland, Italy, Australia, Sweden, Russia and even Thailand.

Regarding this week’s symposium series, Mishkar said the centennial of the Artic Coal Company is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the site’s long history and the fruitful collaboration of researchers near and far.

“They’re coming here because this is where Longyear is from,” he said of his fellow researches in Sweden and Norway. “This is where it all started.”

The two-day symposium will feature scholars from the United States, Sweden and Norway, those presentations will detail the historic events leading to Longyear’s success and the results of current archeological fieldwork being done to preserve the Artic Coal Company’s industrial landscape.

Representatives from Store Norske Spitsbergen Grubekompani, the Norwegian mining company who continues to mine coal near the community of Longyearbyen, will premier a documentary film celebrating the mine’s Michigan roots.

The symposium is open to the public and is sponsored by Michigan Tech University, Northern Michigan University, and Marquette County Historical Society and the MTU Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.