Saga - 1977, Síða 227

FOSSAKAUP OG FRAMKVÆMDAÁFORM
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company La société frangaise d’enterprises in Islande. The leading
man in both these companies was J. P. Brillouin, French consul in
Reykjavík, -vvho was connected with French banking and financial
interests. The main intermediaries and colleagues of Brillouin were
two influential young men from the south of Iceland, Gestur Einars-
son and Þorleifur Guðmundsson.
After the French projects had proved abortive, all water-rights
on the Þjórsá came under the control of the waterfall company
Titan and its sister enterprises Orion, Sirius and Taurus. This
company was founded in 1914 with Einar Benediktsson as its chief
initiator, in collaboration with Norwegian financial interests among
others. Titan was the most influential and long-lasting of all the
waterfall companies that operated in Iceland. During the years
1915—17 it undertook an extensive survey of the development pot-
entialities of Þjórsá, executed by the Norwegian hydro-electric en-
gineer G. Sætersmoen. In the year 1918 the company published de-
tailed plans for the building of six power-stations on the river
Þjórsá, while in the spring of 1919 it applied to the Icelandic govern-
ment for sole hydro-electric development rights.
Titan purchased various water-rights from individual parishes in
both Árnessýsla and Rangárvallasýsla. Some questioned the rights
of parishes in this field, and the waterfall committee, formed in
1917, was commissioned to investigate the matter. The committee
reached the unanimous conclusion that the sale by parishes was
without authority, and this view was confirmed by a special motion
in the Alþingi in 1919.
One of the plans of the Titan company was to use the power from
íts power-stations in the production of fertilizer for both home and
foreign markets. Some of the industrial buildings were to be located
by the power-stations, but the greater part of the power was to be
built in conjunction with the proposed export harbour in Skerja-
fjörður.
The lease of Gullfoss on Hvítá was held by the Icelandic Land-
Rund Ifrom 1907 to 1912, but then it passed under the control of
Private Icelandic interests that proposed to hand it over to a foreign
waterfall company. However, nothing came of this, and in 1917 a
new company Sleipnir, purchased all rights in Hvítá with the ex-
cePtion of Gullfoss. No development followed. Sleipnir was unique
among the waterfall companies in consisting exclusively of Icelanders.
Án Icelandic businessman, Páll J. Torfason, founded the Dansk-
jslandsk Anlægsselskab A/S in conjunction with Danish interests.
bis company acquired Dynjandi and other water-rights in Arnar-