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Camp Morton (also known as Camp Douglas) was a
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...
mining encampment on
Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipel ...
island in the
Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...
archipelago,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. It was located on the northern shores of
Van Mijenfjorden Van Mijenfjorden is the third-longest fjord in Norway's Svalbard archipelago. It lies in the southern portion of Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspits ...
, near the sea entrance. It was part of an effort by British investors and entrepreneurs to extract resources from Spitsbergen, at that time open to various nations' claims for development. Located above the
Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...
, the camp was set up in the early 20th century by Ernest Mansfield, a prospector staking claims on behalf of a British investment company set up to mine for resources on the island. A major backer of the Spitzbergen Mining and Exploration Syndicate (SMES) was
Sholto Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton Sholto George Watson Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton, DL (5 November 1844 – 8 October 1935) was a major landowner in Scotland, a businessman with mining investments in what is now Svalbard, Norway, and politician, serving as a Scottish representati ...
, and the camp was named for him. The company in 1910 was renamed as Northern Exploration Company Ltd (NEC). The coal mine operated from 1906 into the mid-1920s. About half of the huts owned by NEC remain; the major building, now called Camp Morton, has been restored by the
Norwegian government The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power ...
."Camp Morton"
The Douglas Archives


History

In the early 20th century, Spitsbergen, in the
archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
now known as Svalbard, became a site for resource extraction and development north of the coast of Norway, then under Danish rule. Several nations had staked opposing claims there in the late 19th century, including the Dutch, Danish and British. Investors set up companies to develop the resources there, always with the hopes of a rich strike of gold, as had occurred with the Klondike Gold Rush in
Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...
, Canada in the late 1890s. One of the British companies was Spitzbergen Coal and Mineral Ltd of London, one of whose major investors was
Sholto Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton Sholto George Watson Douglas, 19th Earl of Morton, DL (5 November 1844 – 8 October 1935) was a major landowner in Scotland, a businessman with mining investments in what is now Svalbard, Norway, and politician, serving as a Scottish representati ...
. It evolved into the Spitzbergen Mining and Exploration Syndicate (SMES) in 1905. The company in 1910 was renamed as Northern Exploration Company Ltd (NEC). Ernest Mansfield, a British prospector and entrepreneur who was a "pioneer of the 'Klondike period' in Svalbard," was active on behalf of the British NEC in Spitsbergen, laying claim to land especially on the west coast of the island.Susan Barr, David Newman, and Greg Nesteroff, ''Ernest Mansfield (- Gold or I'm a Dutchman)'', Trondheim, Norway: Akademika Publishing, 2012 (The claims are in the names of major investors.) He built camps to try to mark and protect the land claims, hiring trappers to look after them during the winter months. In 1901 Ivar Stenehjem, a merchant, got funding for a couple of expeditions to Spitsbergen with the help of ship-owner
Christian Michelsen Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen (15 March 1857– 29 June 1925), better known as Christian Michelsen, was a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman. He was the first prime minister of independent Norway from 1905 to 1907. Michelse ...
from
Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...
. In 1905 Michelsen became Norway’s first prime minister. Stenehjem built a large timber building at Camp Morton called Michelsenhuset in his honor. The NEC coal mine at Camp Morton opened in 1906 and operated until 1920. Numerous camp buildings were constructed with funding from the Northern Exploration Company Ltd. Some were named after investors and their family members, such as Camp Mansfield and Camp Zoe (after Mansfield’s daughter). Camp Morton was named after Sholto Douglas, the Earl of Morton. The coal mining was never as profitable as investors had hoped, and operations had ended by the mid-1920s. Mining of other resources was also difficult. In 1932 the investors sold the Northern Exploration Company to the Norwegian government; its total property included 58 huts. Twenty-seven have survived, and the largest is Michelsenhuset, now known as Camp Morton. It has been restored by the government and is the largest structure at the site. A nearby hut, known as Clara Ville, is available for use by the
Longyearbyen Longyearbyen (, , "Longyear Town") is the world's northernmost settlements, northernmost settlement with a population greater than 1,000, and the capital and the largest inhabited area of Svalbard. It stretches along the foot of the left bank ( ...
snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...
club.David Newman, "Camp Morton" (additional content, 23 February 2013), The Douglas Archives, website, accessed 2 September 2013 The site also has some remains of mining equipment and the tracks of the mine railway.


References


Further reading

* Susan Barr, David Newman, and Greg Nesteroff, ''Ernest Mansfield (- Gold or I'm a Dutchman)'', Trondheim, Norway: Akademika Publishing, 2012 er * Frigga Kruse (Frozen Assets - British mining, exploration and geopolitics on Sptzbergen, 1904-53), Arctic Centre of the University in the Netherlands, 2013.


External links


"Camp Morton"
The Douglas Archives, includes current photos of the site () {{Historic Mines of Norway Coal mines in Norway Mining in Svalbard