Döda Fallet-Stairways, Hammarstrand, Ragunda Municipality, Jämtland,Sweden
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member g300td
N 63° 03.265 E 016° 31.054
33V E 576720 N 6992558
Stairways down to a waterless waterfall
Waymark Code: WMMEHW
Location: Jämtland, Sweden
Date Posted: 09/09/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Dorcadion Team
Views: 9

These Stairways will guide you to the beautiful landscape of Döda Fallet,
the dead waterfall.

In the late 18th century, logging emerged as a major industry in the heavily forested region of Jämtland. The rivers were used as fast and relatively easy transportation of the timber to the coastal sawmills. The whitewater rapid Storforsen however was a major obstacle as it damaged or destroyed much of the timber, forcing use of land transportation (portaging) past the waterfall. Another issue was that salmon could not swim upstream through Storforsen, and this made the fishing downstream good.
Because of this, a man named Magnus Huss, also known as Vildhussen (the Wild Huss), was in 1793 appointed to solve the problem by constructing a canal to bypass the waterfall. During 1794 and 1795 preliminary work such as clearing forest was carried out, but work on the canal channel did not begin until 1796, partly due to sabotage by locals who were skeptical or did not want to lose their paid work portaging the timber.
In early 1796 work on the canal started. It was dug through unconsolidated glacial-outwash sand and gravel including an esker, and sand kept running back into the channel, and there was concern about the effect on the fishing, and thus the province's governor ordered a stop to the digging. A new method was tried: a nearby creek was led into a temporary dam-lake, which was released when full, washing much sand away, and this was repeated, steadily further upstream, until it reached Ragundasjön. The spring flood of 1796 was unusually heavy, and lake water started to leak into the canal. The porous ground beneath the canal could not withstand the force of the water, which started to quickly erode deep into the esker. In only four hours in the night of 6/7 June 1796 Ragundasjön drained completely, triggering a 15 metres (49 ft)-high flood wave moving down the river, causing much destruction and establishing the much deepened and scoured-out course of the canal as part of the river's new course, probably thus restoring its old course as before the Ice Age. Although it was one of Sweden's largest environmental disasters, no one is believed to have been killed by the event. The washed-away soil and sediments redeposited at the Indalsälven's delta in the Baltic Sea north of Sundsvall, creating new land which Sundsvall-Härnösand Airport was later built on. The final judgment on the case (for loss of fishing) came in 1975, 179 years later.
Source:Wikipedia
number of stairs (minimum 60): 500.00

stair landing (check if yes): yes

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Ibisi visited Döda Fallet-Stairways, Hammarstrand, Ragunda Municipality, Jämtland,Sweden 10/23/2018 Ibisi visited it
llavids visited Döda Fallet-Stairways, Hammarstrand, Ragunda Municipality, Jämtland,Sweden 08/04/2016 llavids visited it

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