Enlightened happiness
Enlightened happiness is a disused mine in the Harz region . It is located in the Thumkuhlental southwest of the Hasserode district of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt . The outdoor facilities today form part of the natural history and geological nature trail , which, through the reconstruction of an old water art, bears witness to the former mining activities at the foot of the Brocken in the Harz Mountains .
History
The count's mountain burr Christoph Friedrich Jasche from Ilsenburg was one of the first to scientifically investigate the mining past of this mining area . He wrote in 1846:
“Across the Dränge- and Dummkuhlenthal there is a corridor on which cobalt ores break in and which has been the subject of mining since ancient times. It is doubtful whether this building did not prompt the establishment of the blue paint factory on Berg Freiheit in Hasserode, but it has been established that the mine was never productive enough to properly supply the blue paint factory with cobalt ore, hence the same according to the documents in ancient times, especially in the year 1771, obtained the ores in need mainly from Andreasberg, and earlier probably also from Bohemia . The abandoned pit appears in the older news from 1728 under the name Dumb Kuhle. "
The name is derived from "stupid", ie not productive, hollow or pit. District court judge Walther Grosse , however, assumed in 1929 that the name indicates that the Halberstadt cathedral monastery once exercised mining rights here. This can be confirmed because the bishop and the cathedral chapter of Halberstadt actually appeared as the highest mountain lords and liege lords of Hasserode in the Middle Ages. The feudal bearers were the Counts of Wernigerode since 1343 and so the first mention of this pit on Dhumkuhlenbergk na den Huppeln can be found in an undated document from Count Heinrich von Wernigerode, who died in 1429 .
Dr. Jasche also writes:
“In 1786 the open pit was taken up again, suggested by the mountain clerk Ditterich, and a new union was organized. The pit was named: Enlightened happiness. By means of a day-to-day art, the corridor was lowered into a main shaft and raised with field words on the road. The gangue consisted of quartz and calcite, the ores in gray and white table cobalt, cupronickel and arsenic gravel. "
The request for the prospect of the treasure trove including the dump, four Obermaasen, necessary hereditary tunnels, light and day shafts, water gradient, wheel room , Poch- and Wasch-Werk, mountain forge and all the usual mining industry The original freedom and justice is still preserved today in the state archive of Saxony-Anhalt . It was signed on June 3, 1785 by the count's mountain clerk and later mining inspector Carl Wilhelm Ditterich.
On July 4, 1785, Ditterich was summoned to the Count's Mining Authority of Wernigerode to discuss the conditions under which the mine should be operated . There he was informed, among other things, that due to a lack of firewood the intended installation of a paint mill is not possible and that no tithing has to be paid to the count for the mine for the first year . Ditterich was given three months to start construction. Ditterich accepted the conditions imposed on him by the Mining Authority to encourage “enlightened happiness”, the former Charlotten-Koboldts-Grube . In the following years he tried in vain to get old cracks or documents about the previous pit, which was filled with water, and to come into personal contact with the secret president von Waitz, the operator of the blue paint factory located on Prussian territory in Hasserode. In view of these facts and the approaching winter, Ditterich asked the Mining Authority not to start mining until the beginning of the Midsummer quarter of 1786. This request was granted, especially since nothing useful could be found in the archives of the mining authority and the count's chamber about the earlier mining in Thumkuhlental.
On April 14, 1786, the miners Sebastian Rose and Andreas Lampe drove their first shift in the “Enlightened Luck” mine under the guidance of Ditterich, then things happened in quick succession. In particular, the old spoil dump was first searched for cobalt. Over 22 quintals of usable rock were found, which were sold at a profit to paint mill owners in Allstedt, Welbsleben and Eisenach.
The entire count's family participated in the mine’s profits and losses through mining shares. In Hasserode, Ditterich was able to persuade Inspector Schultze, the paint master Jordan and the two master papermakers JH and JD Märtens, among others, to purchase a Kux for 1 thaler and 16 groschen. As a shift supervisor , he held three co- workers and was thus the main shareholder of this mine alongside Count Christian Friedrich zu Stolberg-Wernigerode . That changed in the following year, because the Secret Council and Chancellor of Bechtolsheim from Eisenach briefly took over 50 Kuxe.
The summer of 1795 almost meant the end of this cobalt mine. On the evening of July 25th it began to rain so heavily that the stream in the Thumkuhlental swelled and the water wreaked havoc during the night. The artificial moat was flushed full of stones and mud and the movable wooden weir was destroyed. The water had left its old creek bed and looked for a new course. It had also flowed into the uppermost tunnel and drowned the whole colliery, tore part of the dump down into the valley and completely washed out the driveway. However, the destruction in the bike room was particularly bad . Ditterich estimated that 200 Reichstaler would hardly be enough to repair the damage. The Ilsenburg smelter inspector Würtzbach even said that the ruin, if the flood caused there, is even greater .
Ditterich did not allow himself to be encouraged and did everything to get the mine going again, which he succeeded in doing. With the construction of a new shaft , which he gave the name "Bergmannshoffnung", the expansion of the bank walls and the relocation of the driveway, a similar disaster should not be repeated.
As early as the end of 1802, doubts arose about the profitability of the “Enlightened Happiness” mine. The mining authority requested several expert reports, which contradicted each other in terms of content. So everything stayed the same for the time being. Then came the autumn of 1803 and mining inspector Ditterich had to report to the mining authority on November 29th:
"I can also count yesterday's damage to the enlightened luck in the Hasserödisches Revier as one of the manifold adversities of my life, when around noon the mountain hunter Gille sent me the sad news through an express messenger that the Göpel of this colliery was on fire and that he was his comrade Berghauer Andreas Hahne, missed! "
The question of whether it was malicious arson or spontaneous combustion could not be resolved. Fortunately, there was no human life to complain about, but the financial loss for the continued operation of the mine was considerable. Bitter about the constant setbacks, the mining inspector Ditterich lost his courage to live, he died in autumn 1804. His son stopped mining at the end of the same year because he had no more finances to continue operating and he and the mining inspector Dr. Jasche did not want to and could not advance any more money to the mine. Dr. Jasche had the old mine buildings torn down and on November 4, 1809, informed the Wernigerode Mining Authority:
“Almost five years have already passed. In this long period of time I still had the hope of putting this previously derelict plant back into operation, but unfortunately theuration and war, the enemies of all trades and arts, did not allow this! "
Since times did not improve, the operation of the "Enlightened Happiness" mine has not been resumed. After the Second World War, the SDAG Wismut searched in vain for uranium. The shafts and tunnels of "Enlightened Happiness" were expertly kept from 1996 to 1998 .
literature
- Jörg Brückner : "Enlightened happiness" in Thumkuhlental. From the notes of Bergrat Dr. Jasche . In: New Wernigeröder newspaper . tape 13 , no. 21 , 2002, p. 21 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 48 ′ 24 ″ N , 10 ° 43 ′ 36 ″ E