The Mine Side 15 - Roströk

You have now reached stop 15 of the children's tour, The Mine Side. Stretch out your arm and hold it in front of you. Can you see it clearly? When Falu Gruva (Falu Mine) was at its peak, the air was so polluted that you could hardly see your hand in front of you. And it smelled terrible too.

It was because of all that smoke. It came from all the fires needed to extract copper and other precious metals from the ore. The smoke made almost nothing grow here on the "mine side". No grass, no flowers, no trees, no bushes. And those who lived in this part of town couldn't grow any vegetables at all. The ground was poisoned and full of slag stones. People coughed and had nosebleeds. But one good thing about the rust-colored smoke was that it prevented the plague from reaching Falun. The bacteria simply didn't thrive in it. This city tour is funded by Tillväxtverket.