Adam Christian Mengebier

Adam Christian Mengebier (born November 7, 1777 in Großleinungen ; † 1854 in Lübheen ) was a Steiger, later a Obersteiger of Mallisser's "Grand Ducal Brown Coal Works, called the Friedrich-Franz-Zeche"; later entrusted with geological exploration and administrative work in the gypsum opencast mine in Lübheen .

Extract from the baptismal register of the church in Großleinungen

Life

Adam Christian Mengebier was born in Großleinungen . He found his first traditional activity as a shaft master and foreman around 1805 in the Rudolphsgrube near Bad Helmstedt / Beendorf , near which he lived from then on. He must have acquired his experience and skills in practice, because a specialist degree is not verifiable. The coal seam there, which was exposed at the upper wood mill, probably represented one of the three seams that were exploited by the Rudolf mine (Mesekenheide colliery). His family circumstances suggest that from around 1807 he was also professionally active in the lignite mines around Sommerschenburg and Marienborn , as it was there that he met his future wife Christine Henriette Meyer from Badeleben , the daughter of a long-established large farming family who owned a stake there from 1830 in the local mining industry. This connection had three children.

At the beginning of the 19th century, based on finds and knowledge from the past, there were suspicions of further mineral resources in the so-called Griesen area near Conow, Malliss and Bockup in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . In 1817, the Grand Ducal Chamber of Mecklenburg issued a cabinet rescript stating that this area was to be investigated by test drilling. Since there was no suitable man available for this task in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, the Steiger Mengebier was recommended by a recommendation and hired him in 1817. Mengebier explored the area there through numerous test drillings and came across a lignite seam that could be mined .

Ground and Seiger plan of the Friedrich-Franz colliery near Malliss

The lignite deposit was opened up in 1820. The lignite mine was named 'Friedrich-Franz-Zeche'. By 1830 a network of routes 175 m long and 80 m flat had been driven. Both shafts, 100 m apart, were connected by a sloping section to ventilate the mine workings. According to the old records, the water table was around 12 m below the floor. To raise the pit water, Mengebier built a pump system that was moved by horse-drawn art (= water wheel operated by horse power). Thanks to Mengebier's mining experience and the employment of two trained miners named Goedecke and Müller, the exploration work proceeded quickly. The lignite was extracted in what is known as the pillar construction . The deposit area to be mined was aligned by means of ground sections driven in the collapse of the seam . From these, excavations were prepared laterally in the strike of the deposit in broken pillars (in the form of a 'lady's board', as Mengebier described it) up to a maximum of 3 m × 3 m. All buildings were built in door frame timbering with cladding (= lining of the roof with boards / planks). The coal was extracted by hand using a wedge pick (also known as a pickaxe). This was followed by the looting of the pit lining, which caused the hanging wall to collapse and fracture depressions formed for days. At that time only the lumpy coal was sold, the so-called clear coal was dumped on heaps . The only buyers of the lump coal are said to have been the prison houses in Dömitz , the mint in Schwerin and the court kitchen in Doberan .

With increasing mining depth, the water difficulties increased. The resulting additional expenses reduced the profitability, which had already been poor since the mine was in existence, into a deficit . In 1820, the income amounted to 500 thalers , while the expenditure amounted to approx. 517 thalers. Mengebier's salary from Easter to Midsummer 1821 alone is 100 thalers. Later, his annual salary was 400 thalers (paid even until 1840). Complete funding statistics cannot be found in the archives, only a few details. A report by Mengebier from March 22, 1833 shows that the monthly production was 3,000 "Bergscheffel". By sifting out 1300 mountain shepherds lump coal was obtained, the rest of the said charcoal, which was poured onto the dump. Due to this serious unprofitability, the mine was finally closed in 1838. Mengebier undertook further exploratory work in the gypsum quarry at Lübenheen , where, according to a list dated September 30, 1838, he took most of the equipment and tools with him.

From 1830, the mining and production began fertilizing and - stucco plaster in Lübtheener gypsum fracture .

In 1840 the Mecklenburg government commissioned the chemist Skogelund and the Obersteiger Mengebier to run the plant. A new opportunity to earn a living had arisen for some of the people from Lübheen. However, the company's economic situation remained poor. The plant was hardly profitable .

Adam Christian Mengebier died at the age of 77 in Lübenheen.

meaning

Mengebier is considered to be the co-founder and decisive personality of the modern mining and salt works in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. His ability and his technical and scientific interest earned him recognition in the population beyond the social barriers of that time. Mengebier's merits and his reputation at court must have been just as high, because the Grand Duke Friedrich Franz I granted an annual scholarship of 50 Reichstalers to study at the mountain school of the., To study his son Friedrich, who was to follow in his father's footsteps 'Prussian mountain town of Eisleben'. The student directory there from 1828 lists him as "[...] Mengebier, Friedrich, * Conow near Lenzen (Mecklenb.-Schw.)"

It is also worth mentioning Mengebier's collection of archaeological, palaeontological and geological finds, which are mentioned in several scientific publications of their time. His circle of friends included August Peter Julius du Menil , Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert and the Elbrevisor Karl von Suckow.

Fonts

• Comments and description on the situation cracks of the Grand Duke. Mecklenb.-Schwerinschen brown coal mine, called the Friederich-Franz-Zeche, near Mallitz in the area near Dömitz . Hofbuchdruckerei, Schwerin 1830.

swell

• Meyer, Ralf-Jochen: Family Chronicle Meyer / Mengebier
• District archive Ludwigslust, No.L5164 and L3621.
• District archive Ludwigslust: Collectio Varior Scriptorum Mecklenburgicorum , Vol. XIII, 1830, therein: Mengebier, A.Ch.
• State Main Archive Schwerin, Grand Ducal Cabinet I.
• State Main Archive Schwerin, Domanialamt Dömitz.
• Coal mining on the edge of the Allertal, TU Freiberg / Harz.
• Günter Pinzke: Manuscript for the mining damage analysis of the Malliss lignite mining. Schwerin District Council, Geology Department, 1981.

literature

• Günter Pinzke: personalities of the mining and salt works in Mecklenburg . In: Schweriner Blätter. Contributions to the local history of the Schwerin district . Vol. 6 (1986), pp. 56-59.
• Günter Pinzke: The Mallißer lignite mining . BoD-Verlag 2015; 196 pages, 108 illustrations. ISBN 978-3-7347-6915-3 .
• Franz Eugen Geinitz : The development of the Mecklenburg geology . C. Michaal, Güstrow 1904.
• Karl Wilhelm August Balck : Financial conditions in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. With special consideration of their historical development . Hinstorffsche Hofbuchhandlung, Wismar 1877, vol. 1, p. 131.
• Wilhelm Raabe: Domains of the Duchy of Meklenburg-Schwerin . In: Ders .: Meklenburgische Vaterlandskunde. Part 1: Special local knowledge of both Grand Duchies of Meklenburg. Hinstorffsche Hofbuchhandlung, Wismar 1857, pp. 439–545.
• Hartwig Rössler: Former mining in the mineral district of southwest Mecklenburg and its history . In: Mining in Southwest Mecklenburg ("SW Mecklenburg Mineral District": Potash Salt - Lignite - Clay - Turf iron ore - complex deposit in Lübheen). Conference publication for the 22nd meeting of the Mining Consequences Working Group of the German Society for Geosciences on 21./22. September 2007 in Nieklitz and Ludwigslust . German Society for Geosciences, Berlin 2007, pp. 36–53.

Footnotes

1. ↑ The upper seam is said to have been 0.6 m thick, the one below only 0.1 and 0.06 m. In the valley south of the colliery house, the remains of 12 dilapidated shafts can still be traced over a length of approx. 1 km on the eastern side of the valley.
2. ↑ 1 Bergscheffel from 1833 today corresponds to 72.6255 kilograms or around 1 ½ hundredweight.
3. ↑ RAECK, HANS (1928): History of the Eisleber Bergschule 1798 - 1928. Self-published by the association, delivery by Aug. Klöppel in Eisleben, page 112.