first settlers in the region of the Dalälven arrived after the retreat of the ice sheet, 10,000 years ago. At that time, the Lower Dalälven was below sea level and was in the zone corresponding to today's Dalarna, which was the first area settled. The first settlers in the region settled the banks of the river and its tributaries, as well as the shore. They were hunter-gatherers. In the Lower Dalälven, which extended bit by bit, the eskers were the best sites for the first permanent settlements. It was easy to nourish oneself, thanks to the river, and these places were also the easiest to defend. Besides this, the river was easiest to cross at this point. When agriculture developed, the lands south of the basin proved most fertile, and so the rest of the basin was used principally for pasture. There were some fields surrounding the villages, but were not very fertile. The forests were used for pasturing animals and fodder was harvested in the wetlands. Transhumance was adopted. In certain cites, the wetlands and lakes were partially drained to try to recover good-quality agricultural lands. Log driving Log driving in River Dalälven is documented from the 1600s onward. An important factor behind it was the 1607 prohibition from Charles IX of cutting wood closer than one Swedish mile from Falun Mine. However, until the Storskiftet land amalgamation reform and England's abolition of customs on wood products in 1849, the logging stayed small-scale. Four major sawmill companies dominated the logging in River Dalälven: Korsnäs AB at Lake Runn (Falun), established in 1858; Kopparbergs och Hofors Sågverks Bolag at Lake Hosjön (Falun), which started in 1861 and bought its competitor Carlfors Sågverksbolag in 1874; Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB, which modernized its mill at the rapids of Domnarvet (Borlänge) in 1863; and the mill in Älvkarleby, which was replaced by Skutskär sawmill in 1870. Log driving in River Dalälven reached its peak in 1952, when about 30 million logs per year were driven. It ended in most of the river in 1970. However, in the river's lower reaches, the driving continued until 1971, with some final emptying of the stocks in 1972. In 1973 the whole river was closed for log driving, and in 1977 all logging installations along River Dalälven were decommissioned. In popular culture In The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf dedicates a chapter to the