Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.1977, Blaðsíða 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla, Fimmtudaginn 15. Descmber 1977 — JÖLABLAÐ
Einar Árnason: —
Mountains ”MoweOwer
Touring Iceland is a novel
experience.
The many faceted, and
harsh but scenic views en-
countered on a trip around
the country leave you with
a profound and lasting feel-
ing.
It is a conglomerate of in-
gredients consisting of
mountains, valleys, rivers,
glaciers, volcanoes, rocks,
lava, black sand, ice, snow,
fire, hot water, escaping
steam and green meadow
land. Each bend in the road
presents an ever changing
view, made up of these
many eléments. This con-
trasting terrain, compared to
that of Western Canada,
must be seen t.o be appre-
ciated.
Many people that we met
in Iceland look upon this
varied and harsh terrain as
interesting, romantic a n d
beautiful, deserving of poe-
tic assessment. I hope that
they will forgive us if we
give the impression: ”Moun-
tains — Move Over.”
We Western Icelanders
born on the prairie land of
Western Canada have lived
our lives on the flatness of
a table top that extends
from Winnipeg for 1,000
miles to the Rocky Moun-
tains, an area of black fer-
tile soil highly productive of
cereal grains and agricultu-
ral products. We are accus-
tomed to appreciating land
that is productive. Moun-
tains, whether they be our
Rockies or those of Iceland,
seem to occupy space and
radiant beauty, requiring
poetic and pictorial descrip-
tion, but serve no other real
purpose. Undoubtedly the
harsh terrain of Iceland will
continue to provide inspira-
tion to poets, artists and
sculptors.
Second thoughts reveal
another picture, as t h e
mountains of Iceland have
provided sheltered valleys,
fresh glacial water and pr-o-
ductive rivers during the
past, in a difficult climate of
chilling frost in winter to a
cool summer which on occa-
sion becomes warm.
The mountains gather the
moisture, picked up over the
Atlantic, and directed at Ice-
land by the Gulf Stream,
where it goes into storage
by way of glaciers. Under
this you have the continual
setting of t h e terrestrial
cauldron that underlies Ice-
land. The glaciers gradually
melt, through this cooking
action, and cascade down
the mountain sides in the
form of rivers and water-
falls, a veritable gold mine
of a c t u a 1 and potential
hydro electric power.
This challenges the engin-
eering ingenuity of the na-
tion, particularly in t h e
proximity of Vatnajökull, on
the southeast coast, where it
rises to majestic heights
close to the sea. With an an-
nual rainfall of 160 inches,
(the highest in Europe), it is
a huge mountain of ice oc-
cupying a large land area.
Under this mother nature,
with her cauldron of fire,
gradually builds up areas of
water held back by an ice
dam, not yet melted. After
what may be 3-4 years, the
dam bursts and these glacial
waters pour down to the sea
in a matter of hours, at their
peak, over shifting terrain.
Here lies part of the major
plant at Akranesi and the
present construction of a
hydro eleetric power line
and chemical plant in the
Hvalfjörð. Iceland will prob-
ably find her energy poten-
tial increasing in demand,
but utilization means estab-
lishment of industry which
requires f o r e i g n capital,
technical knowledge, and in-
fluence. Discretion will be
required to maintain their
heritage, at which they have
been eminently succesful to
the present.
We can say that the moun-
tains of Iceland gather the
energy, which as an ever re-
newable source of power
bodes well for the future.
When we Western Iceland-
ers visit Iceland, it is not the
terrain which gives us the
great sense of elation and
satisfaction that we experi-
ence. It is the people who
are descended f r o m the
same Icelandic nation of the
late 19th and early 20th cen-
turies. They are closely re-
lated cousins, who receieve
us in their homes with all
the warmth and hospitality
that we ■ experienced with

our people who immigratea
from Iceland. Similarly the
complete immersion in the
Icelandic language is an ex-
perience we enjoy. In our
daily lives, less and less are
we in contact with people of
Icelandic descent, and equal-
ly difficult has it become to
find someone to converse
with in the language of our
forefathers.
And so we think of Ice-
land, not only as ice and fire,
but reserve our feeling for
the people, they are the
greatest.
EINAR ÁRNASON
BOBERG
and
PRUDEN
415 MAIN ST.
WORK CLOTHES
We Duplicate Keys
415 Moin St.
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PHONE 482-3216
road around Iceland, an en-
gineering flat.
With the increasing insati-
able demands for energy by
the Western Nations, the
untapped energy of Iceland
becomes one of great signi-
ficance. As the economics of
Europe and North America
are based on fossil fuels,
mainly oil, the diminishing
and exhausting supply of
this source is causing serious
consideration of other forms
of energy. Oil is very trans-
portable and relatively inex-
pensive form of energy and
through convenience has de-
veloped into a major energy
source. Exhaustion of oil
fields, uncontrollable price
manipulation by f o r e i g n
sources and strategic vulner-
ability are forcing a new
look for alternate sources of
power.
Hydro power, hot water
and steam are not transport-
able over 1 o n g distances
across oceans. This could be
a cause for foreign industry
to seek establishment in Ice-
land of energy’s intensive in-
dustries. This she has al-
ready done by way of an
aluminum plant near Reyk-
javik, a diatomaceous earth
plant at Mývatn, a cement
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