Akureyri - 27.11.2014, Blaðsíða 22

22 44. tölublað 4. árgangur 27. nóvember 2014
THE ENGLISH CORNER WITH MICHAEL CLARKE
Silver and Gold
In a narrow fjord on the north
coast from which the town takes
its name is the town of Siglufjörð-
ur, literally “sailing fjord” and for
centuries it lived up to its name
as the only way to get there was
by boat. Surrounded by high and
treacherous mountains, it was
first made accessible by road by
the highest mountain
track in Iceland which
opened to “traffic” in
1940. Incredibly isolated
during the winter, it was
not until one of the first
tunnels in Iceland was
completed after eight
years tedious labour
that the town became
“accessible” and in 1967,
just early enough to
catch the last herring as
it was being fished out of the sea,
the tunnel was completed. The
first real Gold Rush in Iceland,
or Silver Rush in this case had
been the herring which complet-
ely filled the fjord for decades.
Icelanders didn’t know what to do
with this teeming mass of silver
and it wasn’t until the Norwegi-
an fleet arrived in Siglufjörður in
1903 that they realised it had any
value or that it could be actually
eaten. Once they had cottoned on
the town became the Klondike of
Iceland, and for forty years a huge
industry transformed the town
and vast fortunes were made. And
eventually even the locals learned
to eat it. Then it vanished, leaving
desolate factories and worthless
real estate. Soon the Herring years
became little more than a memory,
a glint in the eye of many of the
migrant workers whose
youth had been spent
gutting herring and
living it up in the even-
ings, and their children
whose existence it had
seeded.
Then a local art-
ist started a one-man
campaign to preserve
the old factories and
warehouses and braved
the ridicule of the local
population and the apathy of the
financers to almost single-hand-
edly establish the Herring Muse-
um of Iceland. In the end when
it looked like he was determined
not to give up and might actually
succeed a few of the locals rallied
round him and the museum went
on to win numerous award and has
become a major tourist attraction
in Iceland. His work was the start
of the second Gold Rush and soon
another ridiculous project to fina-
lly connect the town permanently
with civilisation was completed
with the building of the some of
the longest tunnels in Iceland, and
despite vehement opposition the
work was completed in 2010 conn-
ecting the town all year round to
the Eyjafjordur region.
A local entrepreneur who had
made his fortune abroad did an
amazing and unheard-of thing in
Iceland by deciding to bring his
money back home and has poured
capital into revitalising and
rebuilding the town and the trans-
formation has been phenomenal to
say the least. The dockland area is
now buzzing with life again with
shops, galleries and restaurants
and a huge and spectacular hotel
is rising on the dockside waiting
to make a catch of the new herr-
ing-tourists in huge shoals eager
to experience this Klondike town.
Incredibly a few stout-hearted
men have managed against all
odds, both human and geographic,
to bring this ghost town back to
life like a phoenix from the ashes.
Here’s hoping they are not the last
herring in Iceland’s seas. And that
a few of the pirates that in recent
years have drained the country
of its gold might have second
thoughts and bring some of it back
home.
Michael Clarke
Incredibly a few stout-
hearted men have managed
against all odds, both human
and geographic, to bring this
ghost town back to life like a
phoenix from the ashes.
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