Longyearbyen was founded in 1906 – history
John Munro Longyear
In 1901 an American John Munro Longyear travelled on a cruise to Svalbard together with his wife Mary and their five children. Longyear was a 51 year old businessman from Michigan who had interests in mines, railways, forestry, timber trade, real estate and banking. He was well traveled and well-read, knowledgeable and cultured and was involved both in politics and history. Longyear’s family cruise to Svalbard in 1901 laid the foundation for the establishment of Longyearbyen.
Longyearbyen’s father was a teetotaler, and probably he spent more time in the cruise ship’s library than in the bar. There he could acquire knowledge of Svalbard and talk to people on board, and even though he was on vacation, he had an eye for natural resource economic opportunities. In Recherchefjorden south on Spitsbergen behold Chr. Michelsen coal expedition in what is now called Calypsobyen and Longyear’s interest was ignited.
Adventfjorden in 1903
In the summer of 1903 he came back and visited Adventfjorden where Longyearbyen lies. Here he collected coal samples including the company Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompani and their performances in Blomsterdalen and the mountainside above Hotellneset. Cohorts were analyzed in the United States, and it turned out that the results were very positive. On this basis, Longyear established the Company Ayer & Longyear and they started negotiations to acquire trønder company annexation. In 1904 they came to an agreement, and Ayer & Longyear bought coal company.
Ayer & Longyear’s first coal mining expedition was to what later would become Longyearbyen, led by Longyear’s nephew WD Munroe. The expedition arrived Adventfjorden 2 June 1905 with the ship D / S “iTunes”, and on board there were 25 miners. One of Trøndelag’s performances were a bit up in the mountains, near where the trail now goes up to Platåberget. Munroe did however find better coal beds 700 meters further east. Carrier rail trolleys were installed up from the sea, and to get through the brink, a cutting was made. This procedure gave Longyearbyen its first local name “Skjæringa”.
Year round cabins in 1906
Coal mining in 1905 was so promising that Ayer & Longyear formed a coal mining company The Arctic Coal Company in February 1906. In late May, a steel vessel of 850 tons by the name “Primo” from Trondheim headed towards Adventfjorden. Also this time with W.D. Munroe as leader. On board were about 50 men, and the vessel was filled with lumber, three and a half tons of dynamite and Munroe’s horse. There was still ice in Adventfjorden and “Primo” had to dock at Hotellneset on June 10.
On Hotellneset a hotel was built in 1896 by Vesterålens Steamship Company, and this was a part of the agreement between Ayer & Longyear and Trondhjem-Spitsbergen Kulkompani in 1904. The 40 men stayed there, while the rest stayed in tents outside.
A strong storm prevented unloading for twelve days, but then they could bring timber and equipment into the sea area where the rail track started. This was extended to under mine opening. It was later named American Mine. We can still see that in the mountainside. Trolley railway transported the equipment up, and coal down to the sea.
Year-round homes were built
Ten houses were built, water supply was established and the workers began work at the cable car that was carrying coal from the mine and down towards the sea. The plan was to build loading jetties during the summer, but the delay they had because of the storm prevented this. Mining hallway were driven 65 m inwards inro coal beds of 1.30 meters. Munroe described operation possibilities as good, and the director of the Nordenfjeldske Dampskipsselskap stopped as a tourist and wanted to buy 50,000 tons of coal next year. D / S “Ituna” went in traffic between Longyearbyen and northern Norwegian ports summer of 1906 and last trip was on 2 October. 22 men under the leadership of Bert Mangham were left to overwinter in the new mining town. This was the first overwintering in an almost continuous series of 100 years. The exceptions are a few years during World War II.
1906 was the first year when people overwintered in the city, and they stayed longer than a short summer season. It was also in 1906 that W.D. Munroe named the town Longyear City (also called The Camp, and 1925 Longyearbyen). June 10 was the day when the establishment of the town started. The workers who built the first houses in Longyearbyen arrived and later during winter work on a pier started. Kaien shows that the place should have an established settlement, and it gave the opportunity for real communication and transport of coal to the mainland and goods to Longyearbyen. This was the first permanent pier at Svalbard, and at the Old port, we still find today the remains of the first pier foundations.
Source: Per Kyrre Reymert, Cultural Adviser,Sysselmannen på Svalbard
