Magazine drive on "Sølvveien"
Transportation of goods between Bragernes and Kongsberg is often called "warehouse driving". In reality, this transport took place both on land and by water. The actual transport was carried out by "røyerter" in a rowing boat and carriages by horse and carriage. Along the river and the road there were shuttle stations, inns and inns where both the transport workers and other road users could quench their thirst and get food and shelter. There were probably also purchases and sales of goods to the local population, at a time when there were no country shops. All the traffic also provided work for craftsmen such as boat builders, blacksmiths, wheelmakers and shoemakers.
In the latter half of the 18th century, the mountain town of Kongsberg had around 8,000 inhabitants and was Norway's second largest city – smaller than Bergen, but larger than Christiania. The local agriculture could not feed such a large population, and the miners and their families were completely dependent on a regular supply of grain and other foodstuffs. It gave great power to a small group of "suppliers", who had the exclusive right to run this profitable business. Together with the top management at the Silver Works, they made up the upper class at Kongsberg.
The grain and the other imported goods that were going to Kongsberg came to Drammen - which actually consisted of two separate buying places - Bragernes and Strømsø. The silver factory's large warehouse was located at Øvre Sund in Bragernes until 1786, when a new and larger warehouse was built at Strømsø. From here the goods were to be transported to the warehouse at Kongsberg - today known as "Magasinparken". This was the origin of the term "Magasinkjørsel", and the transport went through Eiker.
Although a road was built all the way to Bragernes in the 1620s, much of the traffic went on the river, especially the transport of heavier goods. The "Røyertene" were a separate occupational group, who rowed "big boats" up the river to Haugsund. Some goods were transferred to horses and carts at the Langebru shuttle station close to Haug church, but much was also transported by boat further to Vestfossen and sometimes all the way to Rudstøa in Fiskum. However, the last stage through Kongsbergskogen had to be covered by horse and cart. This was by far one of the country's most important thoroughfares.
"Sølvveien" is a name that this road has been given in recent times. Originally, it was often called the "Kongeveien", but also the "Postveien", since there was a fixed postal route here with important correspondence between the management of the Silver Administration and the central administration in Copenhagen. Today there have been several new and larger roads between Drammen and Kongsberg, but at the end of the 18th century the route was broadly the same as when the road was built in the 1620s. However, maintenance and improvements were carried out. One of the most important was the construction of stone vault bridges, which probably replaced older wooden bridges. The largest and most important was Smedbrua, which was built in 1767 by stone masons from the Silver Works, where the road crosses the Fiskumelva. Smaller bridges of the same type came at Skogen and at Brekke on Nedre Eiker. Today, these bridges are protected as cultural