When we speak of the Falun mine's greatness, of copper for Versailles, of world trade and royal finances, it is easy to forget those who made it all possible. The miners. The men who descended into the darkness every morning.

The descent

Getting down into the mine was in itself a dangerous experience. The miners climbed down on ladders and ropes through narrow shafts, sometimes hundreds of metres deep. The air grew heavier with every metre, filled with smoke from the fire-setting used to crack the rock. They would light fires against the rock face and let the heat create fractures in the stone.

Down in the mine, the men worked by the light of tallow candles and torches. Visibility was poor and temperatures could be extreme, scorching near the fire-setting sites, freezing further away.

The risks

The dangers were many and ever-present. Cave-ins were the most feared, when the rock suddenly gave way without warning. But there were other risks equally deadly, if slower. The fumes from fire-setting damaged the lungs. The heavy labour wore the body down. Accidents with tools and falling rock were commonplace.

The average life expectancy for a miner was short. Many died before reaching forty. Those who survived longer often carried injuries that left them unable to work.

Mine owners and wage labourers

Above the miners in the social hierarchy stood the mine owners (bergsmän), those who owned shares in the mine. They were free men with rights protected by royal privileges and stood outside the ordinary feudal hierarchy.

But for the wage labourers who owned no shares, life was different. They did the heaviest work, took the greatest risks and received the least of the wealth that the copper generated. It is a contrast that runs through all of Falun's history and through the entire Swedish great power era.