The story of Ullern-Mælen

In addition to Ullernfiske, my grandfather, Johan Ihlen, also had the Ullern-Mælen. It is the oldest of the fixed fishing gear that has been used in the waterfall itself. It dates back to the Middle Ages and is first mentioned in writing in the 13th century.

The first hints of a Mæl in Hellefossen are already given in a leather letter sent in 1224 by King Håkon Håkonsson (1217–1263) to the farmers of Eiker. The king writes here about "those who have made the fishing equipment here", which is interpreted as the first mention of the Mæl.

During the time of Magnus Lagabøte (1263–1280), Mælen's salmon fishing in Hellefossen is also mentioned, which was already such a lucrative fishing method at that time that the church had secured ownership rights. It must also have been effective when the Danish nobleman Peder Hansen Basse, who was the lord of Akershus in 1545, traded Mælen's salmon fishing for Sogneberg ironworks. At that time, the value of Mælen was not a small sum.

The Mælen was originally a simple construction. Despite its simplicity, the Mælen fished very well, and the yield was almost pure net.

Johan Ihlen eventually left both Mælen and his share in driftnet fishing to his son Christian Ihlen, brother of my mother, Aslaug Blegeberg. My mother and her sisters also got a share in the fishing, but Christian Ihlen had the largest share, which he was to manage to the best of his ability. It was a lot of work to check Mælen – twice a day the water had to be closed, and this was done by hand. But it was great fun to catch salmon and trout with a net. It was a good time with lots of salmon in Mælen, and good profits.

But in 1948 Holmen Hellefoss began construction of a power station close to Mælen. Johan Ihlen explained to manager Eriksen the reason they had to take into account because of fishing. Eriksen and Johan Ihlen came to an agreement.

But developer Selmer had neither the will nor the time to take such considerations into account. They carried out many careless blasts. The mill was destroyed and so were the ground conditions. A fishing boat was crushed, and private individuals were also injured.

Johan Ihlen wanted to report this extensive damage to the police, but Christian Ihlen did not want to. He worked for manager Eriksen and was a friend of his.

There was never any compensation for all the destruction and loss of income from the salmon that Selmer caused with his careless blasting – not even from Holmen Hellefoss.

The power station was completed in 1952, but was not put into use until 1953. Mælen was never the same again. It was repaired, but there were few fish. It was a lot of work to check it every day. But one day in 1955 we were going to check – there had been a real rise in the river. We were a bit optimistic when we went to Mælen, and what we saw then I will never forget. They were “boiling” in the pool when we turned off the water – 7 beautiful salmon and 15 trout!

We continued with Mælen until the end of 1960.