Selfors is a village in the municipality of

Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star People, groups and titles * Rana (name), a given name and surname (including a list of people and characters with the name) * Rana (title), a historica ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

. Selfors sits on the northern shore of the river

Ranelva Ranelva is a long river in the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Nordland county. The catchment area of the river is . Before the power stations of ''Reinforsen'' (1925) and Langvatnet (1964) we ...

and it is a northeastern suburb of the town of

Mo i Rana Mo i Rana () is a city, and the administrative centre of the municipality of Rana, in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the Helgeland region of Nordland, just south of the Arctic Circle. Some of the city's suburbs include Båsmoen and Yt ...

. The

European route E06 European route E6 ( no, Europavei 6, sv, Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north-south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and thr ...

highway passes through the village. Selfors has been inhabited since the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. The local branch of the Helgeland Hospital in Rana, is located on Selfors. There are also two daycare centres, a primary school, and school with secondary classes. In connection with the expansion of the ''Norsk Jernverk'' iron and metal industry company in 1946, Selfors Church was originally built by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. It was built in 1971 and constructed mainly out of glass and wood. It seats 200. Since 1976, however, it has also been used by the Church of Norway. Additionally, Selfors has a grocery store (which includes the local post office); a flower shop; a store for hunting, fishing and outdoor life; a petrol station; and an inn located along

. There are six housing cooperatives in Selfors, owned by ''Mo og Omegn Boligbyggelag''.

Transportation

The Selfors Bridge over the

river on the E6 highway connects Selfors with the town of

. The first bridge at Selfors was built in 1914. On 18 May 1940, it was blown up by the resistance in order to slow down the northward advance of the German occupation forces. It was, however, quickly rebuilt, and was used until it was torn down on 17 March 1965. A new bridge was then built, and is still in use today. Before the opening of the new bridge between Mjølan and

Ytteren Ytteren is a village in the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. Ytteren and the neighboring village of Båsmoen are northern suburbs of the town of Mo i Rana. They are both located on the northern edge of the mouth of the Ranelva riv ...

, Selfors Bridge was the only road connection between

and the two urban districts

and Båsmoen. The hillsides and mountains at Selfors are a popular terrain for outdoor activities. ''Varmosletta'', ''Skarvatnet'', and ''Kvitbergan'' ("the white cliffs") are located in untouched nature.

History

Selfors farm

''Selfors farm'' is one of the oldest farms in Nord-Rana and it played a central role at that place until 1680. The farm was located along the river

on the western parts of the present-day village of Selfors, near the

Ranfjorden The Ranfjorden (or just ''Ranfjord'') is a fjord in the Helgeland district of Nordland county, Norway. The largest part of the fjord is in the municipality of Rana, but the fjord also passes through the municipalities of Hemnes, Vefsn, Leirfjor ...

and Fossetangen. ''Selfors farm'' is mentioned in "the farm book of Aslak Bolt" in 1430, written by Aslak Harniktsson Bolt (ca.1380−1449), the Archbishop of Nidaros. Aslak Bolt wrote: ''"af selfosse 1/2 spann"'' Selfors thus paid 1/2 bucket of butter to the Archbishop of the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herbor ...

. The

Leidang The institution known as ''leiðangr'' (Old Norse), ''leidang'' ( Norwegian), ''leding'' ( Danish), ''ledung'' ( Swedish), ''expeditio'' (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was a form of conscription ( mass levy) to organize coastal fleets for s ...

census during the years 1566−1567 does not mention the farm. It had probably not ceased to exist, but was rather forgotten, since the farmer during the census in 1610 was registered as a sailor and in 1612 as a bailiff. In the 17th century ''Selfors farm'' belonged to the Hemnes Church parish.

Name

The name ''Selfors'' was first mentioned in 1430. It has been interpreted as ''Sel-foss'' (

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

for "the pinniped waterfall"), meaning a waterfall where

pinniped Pinnipeds (pronounced ), commonly known as seals, are a widely range (biology), distributed and diverse clade of carnivorous, fin-footed, semiaquatic, mostly marine mammal, marine mammals. They comprise the extant taxon, extant family (biology ...

s lived. It also has been connected with the

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...

word ''saelhtie'', meaning "ocean". This interpretation of "Sel-foss", however, is doubtful. In the old dialect of

they never used the name "sel" for

s, but rather used "købbe". ''Købbforsen'' which literally means "the pinniped waterfall", is located in another place in Rana municipality. The name could also be seen in connection with ''sele'' ("silent flowing and deep water"), similar to the Swedish place names of

Lycksele Lycksele (; sma, Liksjoe; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Lycksele Municipality in Västerbotten County, provinces of Sweden, province of Lapland (Sweden), Lapland, Sweden with 8,513 inhabitants ...

Sorsele Sorsele (; sma, Suarsa; Ume Sami: ) is a locality and the seat of Sorsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,277 inhabitants in 2010. Sorsele is also the nearest town to the ski resort Nalovardo. It is kno ...

, and

Åsele Åsele () is a locality and the seat of Åsele Municipality in Västerbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 1,798 inhabitants in 2010. Its elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed refe ...

. Selfors may then mean "a waterfall in a river with silent flowing, deep water". The waterfall is located at Fossetangen, and the "silent flowing, deep water" might be to river

Media gallery

Kvitbergan

Photos from the mountains around Selfors, taken in November 2005: File:Kvitbergan A.JPG, Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan B.JPG, Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan C.JPG, Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan 01.JPG, Gruben seen from Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan 02.JPG, Gruben seen from Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan 03.JPG, Mo i Rana seen from Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan 04.JPG, Mo i Rana seen from Kvitbergan File:Kvitbergan 05.JPG, File:Kvitbergan 06.JPG, File:Kvitbergan 07.JPG, File:Kvitbergan 08.JPG, File:Kvitbergan 09.JPG, File:Kvitbergan 10.JPG, The wetland area towards Langvatnet File:Kvitbergan 11.JPG, The wetland area towards Langvatnet

References

{{Authority control Rana, Norway Villages in Nordland