Saltdal

Saltdal is a municipality located in the county of Nordland, Norway. It lies on the northeastern side of the mountains of Saltfjellet, in the rain shadow of the mountains, and with mountains in almost all directions, Saltdal is one of the driest areas in Norway. For five years in a row, 2001 to 2005, Saltdal was the municipality with the least precipitation with only 74 mm in 2005. Saltdal is also known for its warm summer days, frequently being one of Norway's warmest locations if the right weather situation occurs (east or southeasterly winds).

The European route E6 passes through the entire length of Saltdal, and the Nordlandsbanen railway runs along side it. A road running east through the Junkerdalen valley leads to Sweden. The Saltdal river (known as "Saltdalselva" by locals) runs through the valley. The river bed appears very bright in some places due to the minerals in the sand. The valley is covered with pine forest and birch and other trees are common as well. Junkerdal National Park is located in Saltdal municipality.

Memorial for the blood road

Saltdal has a great history in building boats out of local timber. Especially before World War II, the boatbuilding industry employed a large percentage of Saltdal's population. Nowadays, the largest employer in Saltdal is Nexans. The company's Rognan factory specializes in telecommunication and copper cables.

During World War II, the Germans decided to lengthen the Nordlandsbanen from Lønsdal in Saltfjellet. Over a period of three years, the original plan was to first have both the road and the railroad all the way to Narvik and then on to Kirkenes, but they only managed to build the railroad to Bodø. The Germans continued to lengthen the road to Kirkenes, and it came to be known as Blodvegen (the Bloodroad) by locals. This project involved prisoners of war, mostly from the former Jugoslavia and Soviet Union, in building this road under extremely harsh conditions. The workers lived in prisoner camps where they did not receive enough food for the hard work with the road. This caused many of the workers to collapse and die.

A famous sign of this road is the blood cross one of the prisoners drew on the mountainside with his recently killed friend's blood. It has become a tradition to repaint this cross with red paint, so people who pass this will never forget what happened.

Junkerdal

It's still possible to walk this road, which stretches from Saltnes to Saksenvika. At Saltnes, you will find the Bloodroad museum. Saltdal was known for having some of the most horrifying prisoner camps in Norway during World War II. A grand total of 15-18 camps with 9500 Russian, Polish and Serbian prisoners was located in the valley.

The Norse form of the name must have been *Salptardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the rivername *Salpt (now Saltelva), the last element is dalr m 'valley, dale'. The meaning of the rivername is unknown.

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1988). It shows two twigs of rowan.