Kväggeshyttan                                                                              

Easter värmland in the past centurie was predominantly a mining and ironmanugacturing region.
The furnaces were constructe where waterpower was available for driving ellows, blowing machines, slag stamps ore crushers.

Kväggeshyttan,
one of the southernmost furnaces in Värmland, was founded by a number of yeoman-miners (bergsmän) in 1655.
Blast furnaces, as were constructed at that time, had  limited useful life, and Kväggeshyttanwas rebuilt several times,
e.g in 1694 and 1813. Later a roasting furnace was also built here.

The ore was mainly carted in winter,
along frozen waterways from themines at Persberg. In 1875 afterthe furnace had been acquired by a mining magnate called
Gustaf Löthner, a "railway" was constructed from Åtorp in the north to the furnace, a distance of just over 2 km.
The loaded wagons (lorries) were pulled by horses and oxen. The pig iron from the furnace was usually taken to the nearby
Vassgårda hammers forge and then exported from Kristinehamn.

Kväggeshyttan was closed down in 1899.
Today only fragments of the many buildings remain. Like so many other places of its kind. Kväggeshyttan has been used for
hydroelectric production during the present century.