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Swedish Press N Y A
S V E N S K A
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Swedish Pioneers and Entrepreneurs, Then and Now
P R E S S E N
E S T . 1 9 2 9
September 2019 Vol 90:07 $5.95
07 2019
Axel Wenner-Gren Interview with Epiroc CEO Per Lindberg Mirror Landing
Axel Wenner-Gren and British Columbia By Frank Leonard
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ost North Americans probably do not realize that a century ago Swedish financier Axel Wenner-Gren began to manufacture and sell the famous Electrolux brand that soon included more than their grandparents’ vacuum cleaner. More recognized as a technological feat was the Wenner-Gren creation and operation of demonstration monorail systems at Disneyland and the Seattle World’s Fair. Some readers may recall his blacklisting by the Allies in 1942, purportedly for actions that supported the Nazis, which gave an element of notoriety to the “international mystery man.” Better known in Sweden, of course, the name of the founder of Electrolux remains on the Wenner-Gren Center skyscraper in Stockholm, which he constructed as the headquarters for his philanthropic activities. But his fame rests as much on an ostentatious display of wealth – the purchase of mansions and yachts where he hosted extravagant galas – which frequently became subjects of examination and envy in supermarket tabloids. When Wenner-Gren died in 1961, some newspapers declared that he was the richest man in Sweden. The New York Times reported that he was a billionaire. The financier has so far not been the subject of a detailed biography or business history. Only in 1975 did Wenner-Gren begin to emerge from the media shadow when a portion of his business correspondence came to light in the trial of close financial advisor Birger Strid and three other individuals for misappropriation
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Axel Wenner-Gren, Electrolux founder and owner for many years. Photo: Electrolux
of funds from one of his philanthropic foundations. From this trial emerged a three-part TV documentary and a commentary on some of his business ventures, which remain the best accounts in Swedish of the financier’s activities after Electrolux. But what Wenner-Gren described as his last and greatest venture – the project to develop a huge territory surrounding the Rocky Mountain Trench in northeast British Columbia – has been largely ignored in both Swedish and Canadian accounts. During the mid-1950s, the Social Credit provincial government of British Columbia under the leadership of Premier W.A.C. Bennett looked for new development schemes in the northeast corner of the province to complement the Alcan aluminum and hydro project in the north
west. In the fall of 1956 WennerGren took over an ambitious railway development plan for northeast BC that British landscape planner Percy Gray had conceived. With Gray as negotiator, the plan was presented, modified, and accepted by the government as a “memorandum of intention,” a secret preliminary agreement signed on 16 November 1956 which was not inserted into legislation or formally acknowledged by the government. In it, Wenner-Gren undertook to spend five million dollars on development surveys – mineral, forestry, water power – over a territory whose extent and boundaries were not specified, and to build a monorail covering 400 miles (650 km) along the Rocky Mountain Trench to extract the resources he found. In return, the government granted Wenner-Gren priority in developing the resources not yet claimed in this territory, provided he purchased the appropriate licences. Although the arrangement required Wenner-Gren to gamble a significant portion of his declining wealth on resources whose extent and value would be known only upon completion of the surveys, Strid enthused about the “enormous possibilities here” which “we have … for practically nothing.” To oversee the project, Strid immediately incorporated a new entity, the WennerGren BC Development Company, located in Vancouver, whose capitalization was completely in the hands of Wenner-Gren and
long-time associate Bernard Gore, with Gore as its head. The first newspaper reports of the deal three months later prompted curiosity in BC about its principal. When he arrived in Vancouver in March 1957 to discuss details with Bennett, Wenner-Gren’s promenades – his press conferences, inspections, and meetings with dignitaries – became occasions of celebrity that many wished to witness. Initial enthusiasm for the project – headlines that hailed the “billion-dollar deal” and a cartoon that displayed a monorail crossing northern BC – were followed by accusations of a government giveaway to a foreigner of unsavoury reputation, and revelations of some of Wenner-Gren’s investment missteps elsewhere. But the widespread acceptance of a reporter’s humorous name for the unspecified development territory, “WennerGrenland,” revealed that the financier had made a mark. Even though the initial hydro survey indicated that dams on the Peace River would have a capacity of four million horsepower (three million kilowatts), Wenner-Gren admitted to Strid that the BC project would be “very difficult to finance.” After signing another agreement with the province concerning hydro development, he created a second concern, Peace River Power Development Company (PRP). With a Canadian president and board of directors, it appeared that Swedish control was finally receding. But Wenner-Gren and Gore took more than 85% of the capitalization by issuing stock to themselves at a discount – 33⅓ cents per share rather than par value ($1.00 per share), ostensibly to cover the cost of surveys. In 1960
The Werner-Gren concession in the Rocky Mountain Trench area. Cartography by Eric Leinberger.
Strid informed Wenner-Gren of the substantial return that he had secured by selling 500,000 shares at par. A year later Strid predicted that refinancing would make PRP shares increase in value ten times in ten years. But Bennett grew impatient with the lack of progress on construction and nationalized PRP along with BC Electric in August 1961. Wenner-Gren had already sold 3.1 million PRP shares at par value, however, and government compensation for his remaining shares netted a return that led Strid to exult that the organization had received $1.5 million more than the total that had been invested. Wenner-Gren’s other ventures were less fortunate, however. The undertaking to construct a monorail had never made any sense, as the estimated cost for such a development line with uncertain traffic prospects exceeded the value of all railways in British Columbia at the time. WennerGren paid for a survey for a conventional railway instead, but its estimated cost was even greater. This did not prevent Bennett and Gore from making blustery speeches at the
“opening” in 1960 of the southern terminus of the projected Pacific Northern Railway, which disgruntled railway workers dubbed as “Probably No Railway” because nothing followed. After Wenner-Gren’s death, the survey became the basis for the government’s ill-fated Dease Lake Extension line during the 1960s and 1970s. Aerial mining surveys by Swedish compatriot Hans Lundberg cost more than the railway surveys but led to little more than grandiose predictions of a “new Klondyke” and the “largest copper mine in the world.” Nevertheless, Wenner-Gren expected that these “mineral discoveries would offer the biggest returns within a reasonable time.” There were prospects for profitable forestry development in the area, but a planned pulp mill could not proceed without licences. Gore expressed his frustration that “we are handicapped by a complete lack of money.” It is ironic that the single WennerGren venture in BC that turned a profit was the concern that Bennett nationalized. In the final five years of Wenner-Gren’s life, the discouraging results of his ventures in BC largely repeated those of his other investments. The dismal performance did not prevent Strid from declaring in 1961 that BC must be “one of the corner stones of our organization.” Six months before his death, the Swedish financier wrote confidently to Strid in English that he expected more good news from BC. But in a shaky handwritten postscript in Swedish, Wenner-Gren confided that “perhaps we should pull back, even in BC, so that we can finally get off this never-ending treadmill, which really begins to exhaust me.”
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‘Openness and honesty are key features of...’
Global S
Per Lindberg, President and CEO of Epiroc
Per Lindberg. Photo courtesy: Epiroc
Per Lindberg heads Epiroc AB, a leading productivity partner for the mining and infrastructure industries. The company was founded in Stockholm, Sweden, and has customers in more than 150 countries. Per is known as a strong leader with a long track record of successfully developing companies in a competitive international environment. In our exclusive interview he describes his background and shares with us his thoughts on the company’s achievements today and in the future. He also offers his take on Sweden as seen from the inside and outside.
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Please tell us about your background and your career path. I am a mechanical engineer, graduated from Chalmers in Gothenburg. I also have a Ph.D in Industrial Management from Chalmers. At one point I had a plan to become a professor but never acted on it. Instead I decided to become a management consultant. I moved to Chicago, stayed there for 4 years, came back to Sweden in 2001, and was appointed CEO of Korsnäs, a company in the forestry business held 100 percent by the investment firm Kinnevik. I also became the Vice President of Kinnevik, prior to leaving Korsnäs and Kinnevik in 2005 to head up the pulp and paper producer Billerud. In 2012 we acquired Korsnäs, so as to form Billerud Korsnäs AB. Since I knew Korsnäs quite well, I figured that there would be a good synergy mix between the two companies. Then I joined Epiroc in February 2018. Can you please summarize Epiroc’s product line and geographical reach? We produce equipment and services for specific niches in the mining and infrastructure market. Our products essentially target hard rock applications. The background for that is that the mining industry in Sweden and Scandinavia is basically in hard rock, and over time we have been able to develop specific technologies for hard rock applications.
We are talking about drills for drilling blast holes, as well as tools for surface and underground applications. Add to this underground loading and hauling equipment, along with equipment for exploration. Geographically, we are widely spread across the globe. Our biggest markets are the US, Canada and Australia. We are also present in South America, notably Peru and Chile. Add to that Southern Africa including South Africa, Zambia and some of the surrounding countries. Our presence extends to Russia and China, and many more. We have 60 sales companies throughout the world, and we are selling in 150 countries. What new technologies are of interest for your product line? There is a very strong push for digital and automated equipment for mining as well as for infrastructure. The aim is to increase productivity, which has been somewhat lagging for several years. With digital technology and automation we can see a significant improvement. That is one trend. Another trend is battery development and applications for heavy vehicles, where our key partner is the Swedish company Northvolt [see Swedish Press, March 2018, page 10]. Other primary drivers are
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Putting Sweden on the Map Abroad
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‘.... Swedish culture as well as companies.’
cost savings, sustainability, and improving the work environment by eliminating diesel fumes and using batteries instead. What happens next? We have a leading position when it comes to our niches in mining and infrastructure. We want to grow the business to reinforce our position through digital and automation solutions, and also through development of battery technology for mining and infrastructure. We also want to grow the company organically through technological development, and through acquisitions. The target is to grow the company by 8 percent per year on average. Is Epiroc involved in any activities to protect the global climate and environment? Sustainability is key on our agenda. We achieve it primarily by making our products more energy efficient. Using battery technology will improve the environment, but even with our conventional diesel machinery we have made improvements when it comes to the CO2 footprint. We are also addressing the matter of transportation. We have a major program to reduce its environmental impact by relying less on air freight of consumables and spare parts.
In which areas do you feel Sweden contributes most globally? One area where we clearly excel is in product development and innovation. If you look at the number of Swedish companies present globally, it is actually quite astonishing for such a small economy. How do you think the image of Sweden is evolving internationally, and particularly in North America? Sweden is seen as a positive or negative role model in North America, depending on which way the political wind is blowing. Some people believe our welfare system could serve as an example for North America, while others look upon Sweden’s social model as a cautionary example of things to avoid. In general, the image is probably more of solid people, solid culture, solid companies, solid engineering skills. The products coming out of our companies are thought of as having high quality. As far as companies go, I think we benefit from being Swedish, and that is certainly true for Epiroc. In your view, how has Sweden achieved its technological and business success despite being such a small country, population-wise? Precisely because we are so small. Firstly, it forces us to be international, and I think we have a culture of openness. Secondly, we find it easy to adapt to other cultures, on top of which we possess a very strong engineering culture and education.
Thirdly, we possess a positive attitude to innovation and entrepreneurship. These three characteristics have made Swedish companies both successful, relatively innovative, and very international. What aspects of Swedish culture and lifestyle are you personally most passionate about promoting? Openness and honesty are key features of Swedish culture as well as companies. Also very low levels of corruption; people trust each other and our government. Our society is highly egalitarian. These are values I like to promote. A typical scenario for a Swedish young person is finishing high school and then taking 3 – 6 months off to don a backpack and travel the world, thereby developing a perspective on other cultures and economies. This is important, because at that age a person is most impressionable. Do your employees receive Swedish Press? If so, have you received any feedback from them? Personally I have not received Swedish Press, but I know it is distributed to our national team in Canada. As far as I know, the feedback has been positive. For me, a publication like Swedish Press is quite important, because it really reinforces the Swedish heritage, which I think is valuable for both the company and its employees. Interviewed by Peter Berlin
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H ERITAG E
‘The loggers came to the dances in heavy boots...’ Mirror Landing and the Hult Family By Sheila Willis with the cooperation of Jean Male, granddaughter of the Hults
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round 1906 a steamboat captain, C.D.A. “Duff” Barber, began building a stopping place for steamboat and wagon traffic at the junction of the Athabasca and Lesser Slave Rivers in northern Alberta. This became Mirror Landing. By 1912 its business base was growing in preparation for the coming of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway (ED&BC). It was to be a major center of warehoused goods to save settlers and other northerners shipping time, as it took a week or so to receive supplies from Edmonton to this point. In September of 1912, according to family records, Carl Henrick Hult arrived in Mirror Landing along with his wife, Signe Maria Hagström Hult, daughter Birgit and son Hans Carl. Birgit would be 3 years old that September. While there a second son, Lars Christopher, was born. Mr Hult from Stockholm, Sweden, was a civil engineer specializing in railroad building. It is unclear if he had much to do with the railway advancing to the north. While in Mirror Landing he signed himself as a merchant, tended a trap line, and was in some way involved in a pool hall operation. A local Board of Trade advertisement also shows he sold tobacco, confectionery and workingmen’s clothing. Mrs Hult from Ösmo, Sweden, brought a bit of culture to this boom town. She was a lady, played the piano
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well, sang not quite as well, and had the forbidden desire to be an actress. Both Mr and Mrs Hult were well educated. Mr C.H. Hult’s father, Carl Hult, was an engineer and very often worked away from their home in Stockholm. At these times the younger Mr Hult lived with his grandparents of German origin, the Voss’ in Skäggetorp. It was there that he became fluent in German. Mrs Hult had obtained a high school education in languages and mathematics before finding employment with a Stockholm insurance firm. One wonders how they felt finding themselves in a rough and tumble steamship town living in a four-room log house with a wood plank floor, all the while homeschooling the two older children in Swedish. While the pioneering life in this young town was hard, life-long friendships were formed and kindnesses given. After arriving in Mirror Landing, the Hults became good friends with Mr Joseph Gauthier, a French-Canadian logger who owned
and operated a local sawmill, and his wife who was from the American South. Mrs Hult and Mrs Gauthier swapped English lessons for piano lessons and in time began to think of each other as sisters. The Hult children – Birgit, Carl and Lars Christopher – and the Gauthier children – Renée, Joe Jr. and Frédéric – were about the same ages and were playmates (Renée later spelled her name Rene, and Frédéric became Frederic.) In May of 1914 the Edmonton Bulletin reported that fires were threatening Athabasca, Mirror Landing and Grouard. The telegraph lines to Mirror Landing were down, the poles having been burnt. Birgit Hult and her childhood friend Rene Gauthier both remember sitting in a boat on a lake waiting out a forest fire. While there is no lake near Mirror Landing, it is possible that they were on the river, or were travelling when the threat of fire overtook them. Later the two girls saw their fathers black from head to toe as if they were coal miners, and
Image of Mirror Landing circa 1912-1914. Photo: Athabasca Archives.
H E RI TAG E
the hillsides covered in black spikes where trees once stood. There were happy times, too. Both Mrs Hult and Birgit talked about the community dances at the pool hall. Mrs Hult, who played the piano, would remember how the loggers came to the dances in their heavy boots and “some were so light on their feet.” These were events for all ages, and Birgit remembers the Indigenous people attending dressed in layers. As the evening warmed, they would take off their layers like peeling an onion. It is a lesson well learned, as to this day residents of the north dress in layers in certain weather conditions to accommodate fluctuations of temperature. In 1913, as the businessmen of Mirror Landing were preparing for the coming railway, the community was incorporated as a village and the name changed to Port Cornwall, after James Kennedy Cornwall, who was influential in the area and was part owner in the steamboats that so often stopped at the river junction to pick up and drop off passengers. As so often happened, the railway chose a route on the other side to the Athabasca River. Mirror Landing was one of many boom/bust towns. With no way of making a living in Mirror Landing, Mr. Hult joined the Canadian Armed forces. He was a member of the 197th Canadian Expeditionary Force and was posted to Germany. This left Mrs Hult at Mirror Landing dependent on the mail – which was less than reliable and often delayed – to receive money from her husband. One month, with no money for food, Mrs Hult walked to town with a beaver fur coat over
Examples of some of the Mirror Landing artifacts Sheila Willis brought back from the West Coast.
her arm looking for a buyer. She encountered a woman she knew to be a prostitute who agreed on the asking price. She gave Mrs Hult the money and took the coat. After a pause, she handed the coat back and said, “Here, you will need this next winter, pay me back when you get your money.” It was a moment that Mrs Hult was to remember. Later in life she would defend the working girls as people with only one option to make a living, and with no harsh judgment on their limited choices. Mrs Hult and the children were among the last to leave Mirror Landing. In the winter of 1916 they left for Edmonton by sleigh, then moved to Winnipeg and then to New Westminster BC where they once again met up with the Gauthier family. The friendship between Mrs Hult and Mrs Gauthier lasted until the latter’s death. Rene and Joe continued to write Mrs Hult and Birgit until Rene and Joe died. The area around Mirror Landing and the new Smith town site continued to be of importance to the history of northern Alberta. When the highway routes changed in the 70’s or 80’s, the town of Smith experienced a decline, located as it was about 15 kilometers from the main route. It is now a hamlet of about 300 people.
The Hult grandchildren have recently donated some of the items that were part of the log house in Mirror Landing to the local historian, Sheila Willis. These include the original pancake pan, a 5-heart waffle iron, a Swedish-English dictionary dated 1903, the steamer trunk used to transport household items to Mirror Landing and beyond, household linens, silverware, a large photo of Birgit aged 2 years in Port Arthur, and Birgit’s doll. Plans to revive the history of Mirror Landing are in the works. These family items will not only help tell that story, but also the story of the Hult family who came from Sweden as well-educated people to make a life in a new world, and who retained their heritage for the children, grandchildren and beyond. The family memories in this story came from Birgit’s daughter, Jean Male from British Columbia, in collaboration with Joe Gauthier of Washington and Rene Gauthier Moys of California. These accounts give us a better insight into the history of the people who immigrated in the early 1900’s, bringing with them the culture and traditions from their native lands.
Sheila Willis is a historian who resides in the new town of Smith, across from Mirror Landing. She is project lead on the History Check Heritage & Tourism mobile app for northern Alberta, has also added many geocaches with historical stories to the area, and does public speaking to share northern Alberta history. In October 2018 she received an Outstanding Achievement Award for heritage awareness through Alberta Historical Resources Foundation.
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