Saltdal

Saltdal is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rognan. Saltdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name must have been Salptardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Salpt (now Saltelva) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the river name is unknown.^[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted 1988. The arms show two gold-colored rowan twigs on a red background.

History

During World War II, the Germans decided to lengthen the Nordlandsbanen from Lønsdal in Saltfjellet. Over a period of three years, the original plan was to first have both the road and the railroad all the way to Narvik and then on to Kirkenes, but they only managed to build the railroad to Bodø. The Germans continued to lengthen the road to Kirkenes, and it came to be known as Blodvegen (the Bloodroad) by locals. This project involved prisoners of war, mostly from the former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, in building this road under extremely harsh conditions. The workers lived in prisoner camps where they did not receive enough food for the hard work with the road. This caused many of the workers to collapse and die. A famous sign of this road is the blood cross one of the prisoners drew on the mountainside with his recently killed friend's blood. It has become a tradition to repaint this cross with red paint, so people who pass this will never forget what happened. It's still possible to walk this road, which stretches from Saltnes to Saksenvika. At Saltnes, you will find the Bloodroad museum.

Saltdal was known for having some of the most horrifying prisoner-of-war camps in Norway during World War II. A grand total of 15-18 camps with 9,500 Russian, Polish, and Yugoslavian prisoners were located in the valley.

Geography

The main centre in the municipality is Rognan, on the southern shore of Saltdalsfjord, where the valley floor meet the fjord. When the Ice age ended and the ice had melted 9,000 years ago, the valley was a fjord as the sea reached what is today an elevation of 120 meters due to isostatic depression. The valley is situated just north of the Arctic Circle.

Two national parks are partially in the municipality: Saltfjellet-Svartisen National Park in the southwest, and Junkerdal National Park in the eastern part. This makes Saltdal one of the municipalites in Norway with the largest percentage of protected areas within its borders. The Saltdal river (known as "Saltdalselva" by locals) runs through the valley. The riverbed appears very bright in some places due to the minerals in the sand. The valley is covered with pine forest and birch and other trees are common as well. Lakes in the region include Fiskeløysvatnet.

Climate

The municipality lies on the northeastern side of the mountains of Saltfjellet, in the rain shadow of the mountains, and with mountains in almost all directions, Saltdal is one of the driest areas in Norway. For five years in a row, 2001 to 2005, and then again in 2007 and 2008, Saltdal (upper part of valley) was the weather station with the least precipitation in continental Norway, with only 74 millimetres (3 in) in 2005. Saltdal is also known for its warm summer days, frequently being one of Norway's warmest locations if the right weather situation occurs (east or southeasterlies). During a heatwave in June 2011 Saltdal recorded four days in a row with daytime temperatures exceeding 30 °C (86 °F), and on 11 june 2011 Saltdal recorded 33.8 °C (93 °F), new county heat record for Nordland.^[3] Monthly 24-hr averages range from −6 °C (21 °F) in January to 14 °C (57 °F) in July (1961-1990 base period, source Norges Meteorologiske Institutt), and the annual average is 3.3 °C (38 °F). April and May are the driest months, with less than 10 millimetres (0 in) precipitation, and July is the wettest month with 39 millimetres (2 in). This data is from the driest, upper part of the valley, and most other parts of the municipality averages about twice as much precipitaiton; Junkerdal (210 meters above sea level) averages 600 millimetres (24 in) annually.

Transportation

European route E6 passes through the entire length of Saltdal, with the Nordlandsbanen railway running alongside it. A road running east through the Junkerdalen valley leads to Sweden. The nearest main airport is in Bodø, a nearly two hour drive from Rognan.

Economy

Saltdal has a great history in boat building out of local timber. Especially before World War II, the boatbuilding industry employed a large percentage of Saltdal's population.

Nowadays, the largest employer in Saltdal is Nexans. The company's Rognan factory specializes in telecommunication, fibre optics and copper cables. There is also some agriculture in Saltdal, and many people work within public services.

References

External links

• Junkerdal National Park
• Polarcircle center