100 stories from the hiking route

1936 – Creation of national enterprise Lehtse Industry as part of Estonian Peat Industries

Information

Topic

Village life and society work

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 59.2651099

Longitude: 25.8488487

L-EST 97

x: 6571100.3
y:

Location

Kauksi-Aegviidu Hiking route

There were four bogs near Lehtse: Läste, Rebase, Pruuna, and Põriku. They have produced peat for litter, heating, as well as fertilising. The first attempts to produce base peat were made already in 1907, when the local farmers started using it. The first peat user community, the first in the whole Northern Estonia, was created in 1909.
The history of the national peat industry began in 1936. That is when large amounts of peat were excavated for the first time also in Lehtse in addition to Ellamaa and Tootsi. In 1936, the state created an enterprise called Lehtse Industry, which was part of the Estonian Peat Industries. Läste and Rebase bogs were planned, a railway was set up, 11 barracks were built for workers, silicate brick buildings for administration, and an office building was erected. A locomobile with electric generator was set up. The locomobile powered seven peat presses.
The peat industry settlement was like an island in the middle of bogs. It was connected and supplied via a railway. People called it simply the Bog.
The peat factory was destroyed by fire in 1959 and new factory was built near the Lehtse station. In the 1960s, the amount of handiwork started to decrease, but by that time, the local peat resources were almost exhausted. After 1975, only base peat was being produced in Läste, Põriki, and Pruuna bogs. Lehtse peat industry ceased production in 1992.