Roter Berg (Ore Mountains)

Red mountain
View from Bermsgrün to Crandorf and the Red Mountain
height	637.7  m
location	Saxony ( Germany )
Mountains	Ore Mountains
Coordinates	50 ° 30 '47 "  N , 12 ° 46' 53"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 30 '47 "  N , 12 ° 46' 53"  E

The Rote Berg , also called Rothenberg , is a 637.7 meter high mountain in the Saxon Ore Mountains .

geology

The mountain west of Crandorf was named after the Roteisenstein mined there . Starting from here, an iron stone entrance up to 17 meters thick runs via Erla to Bermsgrün , which was considered the most important iron stone delivery site in the Ore Mountains. The corridor consisted of a red run , on which mainly red iron stone , and a yellow run, on which mainly brown iron stone with iron ocher content was mined.

Iron stone mining

Located at the foot of Red Mountain Erlhammer is the oldest documented detectable hammer in Westerzgebirge . The iron ore required for iron smelting was probably mined as early as 1380. The first reliable evidence of this is a privilege for hammer master Flemig from 1517, in which the " Zech am Rothen Berge " is mentioned and iron stone and coal can be obtained from external sources. Christian Lehmann writes: “After the evening and Schwarzwasser zu [there is] a vested iron mine on the Roteberg in an electoral wood ... on which one of the best iron stones that the hammer mills use breaks old, before the tall stoves come , not to have melted, but came back to work in Nicol Klinger's time and was greatly expanded, so that there is also a saying of his: The Rotenberg makes the miners red and the hammermen rich. "

The mines operated on the Roten Berg included the mines St. Johannes Eisensteingrube am Rotenberg and St. Johannes Fehlständig , which were sold in 1583 . In 1585 the colliery Ascension of Christ on the Rotenberg was mentioned. In 1600 Nicol and Hans Klinger on Erla and Pfeilhammer received nine loads of Eisenstein a week from St. Johannes . The hammer owner Andreas Siegel in Mittweida and Großpöhla also owned a mine on the Roten Berg, whose ore deposits in the deepest part of the mine are said to have been a laughing width. In 1609, when applying for a concession to build a high furnace , he declared that he had built almost 2000 guilders into this mine, but that the iron stone was very melt-in-the-cold.

In 1662 the following pits on Rothenberg are mentioned: St. Christoph on the lower Rothenberg, St. Johannes on the upper, Andreas Siegel's colliery , Aufm Bruch , a Maß on the lower Rothenberg and the Heinzenbinge . In addition to Erla, Eisenstein was also delivered to Wolf Samson von Elterlein on the Obermittweidaer Hammer , Johann Heinrich von Elterlein on the Pfeilhammer and Heinrich Siegel on Großpöhla and Arnoldshammer .

At the end of the 17th century it is reported that "everything was cut in two". The Heinzenbinge was not drained by tunnels until 1730, but by artificial tools ( Heinzenkunst ). When the fear arose in 1732 that the old art shaft could collapse, the trades of the first and second Heinzenbinge determined that an art shaft should sink in the field of the first Heinzenbinge , with which the drainage of both mines was guaranteed. This was to 1737 32 ¼ Lachter cross rock cowardly dropped, 3¾ Lachter deeper than the old Community Kunstbau.

Between 1752 and 1791 the output - the total raw production of usable minerals - of the first Heinzenbinge was 24,607 Fuder Eisenstein for 66,564 Taler and 266 Fuder for 864 Taler (probably differentiated into red and brown iron stone). A total of 110,871 Fuder Eisenstein with a value of 310,124 Talers were mined at Rothenberg during this time. In the middle of the 18th century, the workforce consisted of one upper and one lower climber , 27 houses, eleven apprentices, three servants and three boys.

Adolph Lobegott Peck wrote in 1795: “The Roteberg is the most famous iron mine in the Ore Mountains. It consists of 4 passable pits, which annually deliver 3000 loads of iron stone to the nearest hammer mills, which give very good iron. 4 water arts, which lift out the pit water, indicate the spaciousness of the building there. ... The iron stone is bluish-yellow in color. Mineralogists call it Hematites coerulescnes and here 'glaucher' Eisenstein. Otherwise the glass head, brown stone and a lot of iron ocher also break here ”.

The chronicler Richter gave the following descriptions of the collieries and mining technology on Rothenberg in the middle of the 19th century: “The three mine pits of the Rotenberg, the Upper and Lower Heinzenpinge and St. Johannis, which intermingle at depth and supply water, are great. Their dewatering is done by arts, whose huge wheels hang over days. The iron stone is brought to the surface by means of a sweeping wheel and an iron rope weighing 110 quintals. ”He continues: The“ Rotenberg, which has been supplying 10–12 hammer mills with iron stone for 400 years with inexhaustible perseverance and always up to 200 miners in profitable Activity sustains, was and is Saxony's largest iron stone treasure. The elliptical brick shafts are often used by foreigners. The depth of the shafts 80-90 L continues under the black water. The artificial moat , which is derived from the black water, lifts the deep waters and drives the Göpel. The tons of art are brought out of the shaft by a wire rope. "

The civil engineering works in Rothenberg up to the 68 Lachter route were flooded by a flood in 1858. The heyday of mining on Rothenberg came to an end at the end of the 19th century. Although the ore was not yet exhausted, the actual mining was stopped in 1865. From then on, the water power for the Wassergöpel was used by a wood grinding shop. In 1875 and 1912 3 miners each are mentioned. In 1930 operations were resumed on a trial basis and the first Heinzenbinge Fundgrube including St. Johannes Erbstolln at Erla-Rothenberge are named in the 1938 “Yearbook for Mining and Metallurgy in Saxony” among the pits in progress.

A water pumping station was operated at the point where the tunnel systems near Erla flowed into the black water. In addition to the numerous dumps, a powder tower built in 1827 is a reminder of the former ore mining.

Mining educational trail

A two-kilometer-long educational trail with 16 information boards leads from Erla over the Rote Berg to the Upper Bergschmiede.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Siegfried Sieber: Newly discovered records of Lehmann (Landchronik). In: Sächsische Heimatblätter. 1963.
2. ^ Adolph Lobegott Peck : Historical and geographical description of the Electoral Saxon Erzgebürges. Schneeberg 1795, p. 87.
3. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Richter : Description of the Kingdom of Saxony. Volume 2, 1846, p. 489.
4. ^ EW Richter: Description of the Kingdom of Saxony. Volume 2, 1846, p. 435.
5. ↑ The St. Johannes Fundgrube and Powder Tower on the homepage of the Ore Mountains Mining Region ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

literature

• Siegfried Sieber : The Red Mountain near Crandorf. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter . Issue 2/1971, pp. 86-92.