AS Værdalsbruket is a company and estate covering of

Verdal Municipality Verdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the List of towns and cities in ...

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 ...

. The estate covers 60% of

, of which is productive forest. The estate now known as Værdalsbruket was first established in 1807. It is owned by

Storebrand Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, until 1999 and ...

, an insurance company.

History

Development of the estates started in the 17th century, when sawmills were established in the valley, and the first concept of private ownership of forests was established. The first sawmill was Grunnfoss Sag, established by Peder Juel in 1655, and included the rights from Ulvilla to Skjækerfossen. Peter Dreier received permission for the estates of Suul and Nybygget in 1683. Grunnfoss Sag was bought by Rasmus Ågeson Hagen in 1686, as he started acquiring farms in the area. The name Værdalsgodset was taken into use for parts of the area in 1736. During the 1780s and 1790s, Johan Wideroe Tonning bought the farms Suul, Nybygget, Malså, Juldal, and Væren estates. In 1807, Christen J. Müller, the owner of

Vinje Gods Vinje is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vest-Telemark which is part of Øvre Telemark. The administrative centre of the m ...

in Mosvik, bought Tonning's estates and the Hagen family's estates (known as Vukugodset). After the estate filed for bankruptcy in 1819 during bad market conditions for the lumber industry, it was sold to Hilmar Meincke, who started using Holmen as the head office. The estate was again to do Nicolai Jenssen in 1832, who in 1845 rebuilt Holmen. He also built the first steam saw in Ørmelen in 1872.The Verdal Landslide on 19 May 1893 made shipping from Verdal impossible, resulting in a new sawmill being built in Levanger, which opened in 1902.

bought the estate in 1908, but after much local debate sold it again in 1912 to Hjalmar Wessel. A year later, Trones Bruk, a sawmill in Verdalsøra, was built. He also sold 75 workers' homes and 61 crofts, along with of forest. During the late 1920s, the company had economic problems, and by 1930 the company had used up its share capital. The insurance company and main creditor, Idun, took over the administration of the company, and the ownership from 1932. In 1999, Trones Bruk was merged with Kirkesvaag Sagbruk & Høvleri and Innbryn Sagbruk og Høvleri to create InnTre.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaerdalsbruket Real estate companies of Norway Companies based in Trøndelag Verdal