Ash trench

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ash trench
The Aschergraben near Altenberg, along the trench is the cross-border mining nature trail

The Aschergraben near Altenberg, along the trench is the cross- border mining nature trail

Data
location Czech Republic , Germany
River system Elbe
Drain over Tiefenbach  → Red Water  → Müglitz  → Elbe  → North Sea
source north of the Zinnwalder Berg
50 ° 43 ′ 54 ″  N , 13 ° 47 ′ 44 ″  E
muzzle in Altenberg in den Tiefenbach Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 42 "  N , 13 ° 46 ′ 20"  E 50 ° 45 ′ 42 "  N , 13 ° 46 ′ 20"  E

length approx. 7.4 km

The Aschergraben is an artificial ditch southeast of the mountain town of Altenberg in the Eastern Ore Mountains . The ditch, which dates back to the 15th century, was used to supply impact water for the tin processing of the local mining industry.

course

Course of the ash trench on a map from 1821

The approximately 7.4 kilometers long ditch begins in the ridge area of ​​the Eastern Ore Mountains, which is rich in precipitation, on the forest and meadow slope of approximately 880 m above sea level. NN high Zinnwald mountain near Cínovec . From here the ditch runs west to Zinnwald and crosses the Czech-German border. There it merges into the natural bed of the Zinnwaldgrundbach flowing north. Below Zinnwald, the ditch takes up part of the Häuerwasser (also called Heerwasser). Then the ditch flows around the southeastern and northeastern slopes of over 800 m above sea level. NN high Schaarspitze and takes up the Schwarzwasserbach northwest of the tip. Running in a north-westerly direction, the ditch in Altenberg crosses the Geisinger Straße and flows into the water of the Tiefenbach.

history

The ashtrench in Zinnwald. In the background the remains of the processing plants of Stahlwerke Becker AG

In the area of ​​approx. 750 m above sea level. high altitude mountain town Altenberg is one of the most important tin ore deposits on the European mainland. Mining in the bedrock began here around 1440. The tin content in the mined ore was on average only 0.76%. This fine distribution required extensive processing in numerous knock washes . Here the tin was washed out of the hermaphrodites, which had previously been pounded under millimeter size .

The Altenberger Pochwäschen concentrated in the valley of the Tiefenbach between Altenberg and Geising . However, the amount of water in the stream was insufficient to supply the 16 tap washes with their at times more than 1,000 tap stamps. Altenberg's location on the watershed between Müglitz and Roter Weißeritz led to problems with the provision of impact water for the treatment plants.

To remedy this, the Aschergraben was created as an artificial ditch as early as 1452–1458, in order to supply the Pochwäschen with water from the ridge layers of the Eastern Ore Mountains, which are rich in precipitation and bog, and from cut streams. This makes the Aschergraben one of the oldest preserved water management systems in the Ore Mountains and at the same time an important material evidence from the early days of Altenberg mining. It is also considered a technical masterpiece. The ditch has a height difference of about 80 meters between the beginning and the end. The gradient is only 0.3–0.6%.

The ditch probably got its name from the lost guild of the ashtrays, who possibly used the ditch path. The ashtrays burned potash in the woods , which was boiled with fat to make soft soap . According to a legend, the ditch is said to be the work of someone condemned to death. He is said to have saved his life by successfully completing the difficult task of supplying water over three mountains to the Altenberg mining industry.

Shortly after its completion , Hans Müntzer from Graupen acquired the Lauenstein estate in 1464 and in the same year sold the Aschergraben to the Altenberger Zinngewerke for 30 quintals of tin. Altenberg later became the seat of the Altenberg office .

In July 1813, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe hiked along the ash trench from Zinnwald to Altenberg. A Goethe monument erected on the Graben in 1913 commemorates this excursion.

The Aschergraben remained important for the Altenberg mining industry for centuries. However, the artificial ditch system was expanded significantly as early as the middle of the 16th century with the construction of the new ditch and the cross ditch , which led the water from the Kahleberg area to Altenberg, as well as the construction of the large gallows pond and the small gallows pond .

The Aschergraben still carries water today, and the course is partially covered with boards to protect it. The former Grabensteig is a popular hiking trail between Zinnwald and Altenberg (part of the cross- border mining trail ).

Power generation

Between 1916 and 1945 the water from the ashtrench was used in a hut building on Tiefenbach to generate electrical energy. Here a turbine was acted upon with an average of 200 liters of water per second over a gradient of 96 meters. It generated an electrical output of 140 kW, which was fed into the 5 kV three-phase network.

See also

literature

  • Hermann Beckert: Historical contributions to mining water management in tin mining to Altenberg. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter Heft 3/1961, pp. 211–221
  • Arthur Klengel: The Aschergraben and the other old water art installations in the Altenberger Bergrevier . in: Communications of the Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz 8 (1920) 4/6, Dresden 1919, pp. 102–111 ( digitized version )
  • Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology / Sächsisches Oberbergamt (Hg.): The tin ore deposit Altenberg / Eastern Ore Mountains . Mining in Saxony Vol. 9, Dresden 2002 ( PDF version )
  • Otfried Wagenbreth , Eberhard Wächtler (ed.): Mining in the Ore Mountains. Technical monuments and history . Publishing house for basic industry, Leipzig 1990

Web links

Commons : Aschergraben  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Description in the "MontE" database of the Institute for Science and Technology History (IWTG) at the Technical University of Freiberg ( memorial from December 17, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ↑ Saxony Atlas. Retrieved March 12, 2014 .
  3. ↑ The Aschergraben at www.bergbaumuseum-altenberg.de , accessed on August 6, 2010
  4. ^ Sächsisches Landesamt für Umwelt und Geologie / Sächsisches Oberbergamt (Hg.): The tin ore deposit Altenberg / Osterzgebirge . Mining in Saxony Vol. 9, Dresden 2002, p. 231
  5. ↑ Otfried Wagenbreth, Eberhard Wächtler (ed.): Mining in the Ore Mountains. Technical monuments and history . Verlag für Grundstofftindustrie, Leipzig 1990, p. 176
  6. ↑ Arthur Klengel: Book of legends of the eastern Ore Mountains . Altis-Verlag, Friedrichsthal 2006, p. 181
  7. ↑ Bernhard Jasmand (ed.): Goethe. Excursion to Zinnwalde and Altenberg. Dresden 1949.