Mining in the Albula and Landwassertal
The mining industry in the Albula and Landwassertal for ore ( Canton of Grisons / Switzerland ) is documented since the 14th and 15th centuries. However, the low yield and the low price led to the mining operations being stopped. Mining attempts were not made again until the 18th and 19th centuries.
The ore mines in the municipality of Schmitten are quite old . Three hours by foot above the village, in a scree slope between Guggernell and Sandhubel at 2500 m. ü. M., the main entrance to a mine network can still be found today. Not far from there, above the ridge in the Welschtobel of Alp Ramoz (municipality of Alvaneu ), mining was also carried out.
The miners often carried the ore-containing rock to the poche , where the chunks were crushed and washed. The cleaned rock was transported to Filisur and smelted in the furnace . The furnace was in Bellaluna , on the road from Filisur to Bergün . Here the raw ore from the lead mountain near Schmitten, from Latsch and from the Val Tisch was melted.
In the 17th century ore deposits were discovered on the Silberberg, the wooded steep slope between Davos Monstein and Jenisberg . A branching network of tunnels and pits gradually emerged here, and 17 pits were built in 1618. The longest tunnel was 300 meters.
The furnace, where the raw ore was led after the pounding, was in the Hoffnungs-Au, today's melting floor. Paintings from 1838 showed a small village with the administration building of the mining company, the miner's house and all other houses belonging to the mining industry. A mining museum has been housed in the Schmelzboden, in the former main building, since 1979.
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- Erwin Poeschel; Dominion, Prätigau [sic], Davos, Schanfigg, Churwalden, Albula valley
- Richard Hettlinger; Albula Bahn und Tal: technical and local history documentation