Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-04-27
NEW MINERAL TREASURE
LAND IN FAR NORTH
Richest Mine Region Has an Area
About Equal To That OF
ireland.
SWEDISH CLAIMS ARE srAKED
Great Britain Controls Tract
Twenty Miles in size. Wh'lc
Norway Also Owns u Consider
able Portion.
BY uLAl.MAn OLSEN.

kRlSTlANlA. april = SPIT InerS
IN tr@ "niS a1,8ng g 'fl' to Start is
-..cr!sl North Pole expedition. some
time IN Aprl. has the richest mineral
deposits OF any land in the world. |;
lies some 500 miles from the most most
nor;hcrN point Of Norway. some Loo
miles from The north Of Great Britain
and some coo miles from the North
OF ireland. The Gulf stream impnScs
nm It's western coast. with the result
that quite early IN The summer ihc
icc mcl,S. leaving its bays free.
At present claims for its develop
mcnts have becn staked out by Swcd-
'iSh. Norwegian ana British companies.
courtesy TO Germany before the Mar,
has been rcocCupjci 10y tho British in
icrostS. and The Arctic Coal Company'S
rroperiies At AdNent Fay have been
This coal company Was an American
arm. With headGuartcrs in Boston. II
IS not a; al! Improbable that the whole
archipelago Will he annexed by Great
Britain before very long.
Holland First on Scene.
Dutch ships lrSt reached Spitzborsen
IN 1896. and although possession was
taken in tho name OF Holland. no at
discovery. The English flag MAS hoist
cd in 1914. and in 1879 conference
N London effected compromise be-
tween tho English and Dutch claims
lnc themselves to the northwest cor
ner and the north coast. and the Eng
ish keeping to tho other west coast
Gays The destruction of the whaling
industry caused both tho Dutch and
tho English 70 abandon SptzberGcn
some years aftcrward. Russian trap
pcrs were the next TO visit the archi-
PelaEo. Although they frequcntcd it
from 1850 to 1850. there was no move
on the part Of the Russian government
toward annexation
Finding Mineral Wealth.
Tnc hunting. Interest finally died
down. as the fishing interest had, and
1 WAS not until about thirty years
ago, that attention was called 10 the
mineral wealth OF Snit7bcrscn, THAT
upcncd a Now era The urChipclaCo'S
coal deposits first attracted attention.
Wonderfully beautiful marbles were
also located Iron ores in great guam
THY and OF a high grade were found
Industrial activity. Of course. raised at
once tho question OF the ownership Of
the land. For TWO centuries claims to
ownership had lain dormant but the
for long series Of years had con
SiStcntly claimed and actually ocCu-
pied any considerable part Of the
country. MAS Great Hritaiu The north
west corner belonged unuucStionahly
20 tho Dutch. Nt present, however, no
Dutch interests arc engaged in the de-
Nelopmcnt OF the land
Find sheep RnisinR Profitable.
INC most up TO- ldtc tCkci oD!uCnt
thus far arc the swedish coal mines al
BraSanZa Bay on the West Coast The
camp is wcll-built and wcll-furnish.
cd ono and there are a number OF wo-
men ana children among the nhabi.
ianis Live stock are raised and no
trouble is had with tho kccpinE of
shecp, piss and cattle. save in tho win
icrs when they have To he stabbed
carefully Sp!tSbcrEcn used 10 be
abandoned in the winter except for an
occasional fisherman or ;rapper who
mad the misfortune TO become ma
rooncd there, but today the winter
POPULATION OF the archipelago is about
1900.
Coal is tho only mineral devclopcd
up TO now. but there are what seem
70 be ineXhaustib!e deposits OF high
grade iron ore equal and even superior
u the rich deposits Of Arctic Sweden
other known minerals include copper
nEr!t.s, asbcstos, no!ybdenite. era PHI
tic, lead, silver and gold There are
no fewer than forty varieties OF marble