Around 100 years ago, there was a whole community here at Karlsfors. There was a bank, a post office, a school and a store. The industrial community started with alum production as early as in the 18th century. The alum was for example used as an ingredient for red paint. In the middle of the 19th century the industry shifted to mainly produce lime for cement and soil improvement. Today you can only see the remains of the industry.
Without water, industry would never have come to Karlsfors. The mills were water-powered and water was used in the alum manufacturing process for leeching and rinsing. To make the most of the water available, the sides of the stream were revetted with masonry, and traces of dam constructions are still visible in several places.
The water was led here, to the reservoir, along a revetted, now dried out channel from a dammed-up pond higher up the mountain. From here the water flowed through a wooden culvert down to Karlsfors Farm.