Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/44

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 Only a portion of the power of this stream is at present used.

thoroughly macerated by water and pressed into sheets, which are sold to the paper manufacturers of England. America and the continent. The logs are floated down to the mills in enormous quantities and the frequent lakes along the river courses serve as storehouses for the logs till used. One may often see acres of water thus covered with logs.

The one great drawback to manufacturing industry in Norway is the lack of all fuel except wood and peat. There is a little deposit of coal in one of the Vesteraalen Islands, but it is difficult to work and very little mined. On the coast it is of course possible to import coal, but this is hardly used outside of the larger cities. The ordinary fuel everywhere is wood, but this is naturally hardly applicable to industries. But if Norway is badly off for fuel, she is unique in her waterpower. Doubtless the water-power of America surpasses that of Norway, but here it is scattered from Maine to Georgia, and from Idaho to Texas. In Norway it is everywhere, from Kristiania to North Cape. In winter the whole highland of Norway, and this includes the largest proportion of her area, is covered with deep snow. This melts very gradually and in many places has not disappeared by the end of summer. There is thus a continual supply of water, from elevations of six thousand feet down to nearly sea level. This water has a very short distance to go before reaching the sea, and few of the rivers are navigable for any considerable length. The many lakes found in their courses serve as inexhaustible storage reservoirs, while the short stretches of river connecting the lakes generally have a very steep fall. Norway thus abounds in waterfalls, the water often descending a thousand feet