Prison facilities Hellefossen

In Hellefossen itself there were two lakes: Hoensmælen and Ullernmælen.

It was a fishing device that when the fish jumped the waterfall, it slid into a basin where it was lifted up from. The Mælene fished very well at certain water levels.

There was also a fishing device called baskets (Flakes). They were simply baskets that the fish jumped into and where they remained until someone picked them up.

Drift net fishing was fishing with, as the name suggests, fixed nets, i.e. nets tied to the shore or with heavy moorings so that they stayed in the same place. This was often done by those who operated drift net fishing. The nets were set out in the evening and taken up again in the early morning.

The Mælen in Hellefossen is by far the oldest of the fixed fishing devices that have been used in the waterfall itself. When the first one was originally built on the east side of the river is not known, but it is first mentioned in writing as early as the 13th century. Already in a leather letter sent in 1224 by King Håkon Håkonsøn (1217-1263) to the farmers of Eker, the first hints of a mælen in Hellefossen are given. The king writes here about “…those who have made fishing arrangements here…”, which must be interpreted as being the first mentions of Mælen. During the time of Magnus Lagabøter (1263-1280), Mælen’s fishing in Hellefossen is also mentioned, which was already at that time such a lucrative fishing method that the church had secured ownership of it. In 1665, Mælens Laksefiskerier filed a lawsuit against the other developers of the waterfall.

The dams were built in a very exposed place in the waterfall. The Drammens watershed has a large catchment area, a full 17,300 square kilometers, and this often resulted in large spring floods that naturally severely damaged the dams. Over time, the river was also used more and more for timber floating, which resulted in a further risk of destruction. Over time, the dams were therefore built on with various protective measures, such as high-pitched troughs and ramparts. Over time, the dams thus became formidable structures, much larger than was actually needed just to catch fish. The concentrated currents that were supposed to attract the salmon were eventually regulated with a needle dam at the top of the waterfall. By adjusting the opening of this dam, it was possible to get just the right flow of water to attract the salmon.