Eschweiler mining
Eschweiler mining is the collective term for mining and opencast mining in the area of the city of Eschweiler in the North Rhine-Westphalian city region of Aachen . This area is a large part of the Aachen district and larger than today's Eschweiler urban area. In the south, in particular, it extends into the area of the former municipality of Gressenich and today's city of Stolberg , after which the southern districts of Eschweiler were demarcated in 1823 and 1935 and with which Eschweiler forms a common area of Eschweiler-Stolberg . In the broadest sense, this room is the sphere of influence of the Eschweiler Mining Association EBV .
background
Companies like Thyssen and Phönix have their roots in Eschweiler , which ultimately lead back to ore, lime, hard coal and lignite fields that were known as early as the Iron Age. Milestones were the Celtic-Roman mining, the Eschweiler Kohlberg in the 14th century and in 1834 the establishment of the Eschweiler Mining Association EBV with pits throughout the region. The end of the Eschweiler hard coal mining was on September 28, 1944, the Eschweiler open-cast lignite mine on September 3, 1987.
In the so-called Aachen area , industrialization began as early as the first half of the 19th century, making it the first industrial region in Germany . The main reasons for this were high occurrences of coal , quartz sand , limestone , various ores and water power , technical achievements such as steam engines and railways, as well as a rarely close spatial connection between the production facilities and the ore deposits. Eschweiler personalities such as Johann Peter Wältgens , Carl Englerth , Christine Englerth , Franz Reuleaux , Johann Heinrich Graeser , Friedrich Thyssen and August Thyssen should also be mentioned. What Eschweiler and the region lacked was a waterway. A Rhine-Maas Canal , which would have run through the city, was never realized, and so Thyssen and others migrated to Duisburg and the Ruhr area . Another disadvantage of the location was that the coal storage and industrial sites from Lille to Cologne had been divided between the Netherlands , Belgium , France and Prussia and Germany for centuries .
Ancient ore and coal mining history
Between Eschweiler- Scherpenseel and Eschweiler- Volkenrath , a Celtic mine from the Iron Age was discovered at the foot of the Korkus , in which as early as 400 BC. BC miners mined iron ore and later limestone. The Celts will have made use of the close spatial connection between prospecting sites, production facilities and settlement areas. A wreath of Celtic settlements around Scherpenseel and other Celtic settlements in Eschweiler are documented. The extensive and well-connected tunnels extended beyond the cork. During an attempt at the “Zur Gute Hoffnung” mine from 1880 to 1884, the old tunnel system was found there: the ore was completely mined by the Celts. The ruins of "Zur Gute Hoffnung" and the neighboring pingen and shaft entrances can still be visited today. The Celts were a large mining people with a high standard of mining technology and left behind in German terms of the mining industry such as "isarno" (= iron), "scagadt" (= shaft, cave, crevice), "mina" (= mine) and "clocca" ( = Bell); Eschweiler field names such as " Inde " and Killewittchen are also of Celtic origin.
In particular, iron , zinc and lead ores were mined to a considerable extent and used for metallurgical purposes in the 1st to 3rd centuries . In the Eschweiler-Stolberg area around Propsteier Wald, Eschweiler Stadtwald and Korkus, zinc ore , zinc spar and brown iron ore trains emerge on the surface and are indicated by the conspicuous vegetation of the so-called calamine flora. The ways to discharge the ores were the canal or race ways that already existed in Celtic times.
In the south-western " Propsteier Forest " in the Eschweiler urban area, a square building with a side length of 8 meters with remains of roofing tiles, a piece of slag and a piece of coal was found less than a kilometer from the Propsteier Villa in 1905: probably a Roman iron smelter. It is obvious that the Romans already used hard coal in the Eschweiler area, as it is fully exposed in many places and no mining is necessary. Furthermore, they probably used the easily processable gegalmei to make brass. They are considered the successors of the Celts in terms of lead, iron and coal mining.
They were also familiar with the metal casting technique of the cementation process in wood-fired ovens, mainly for cast articles of high demand. Corresponding finds also come from the "Propsteier Forest", among others. The cementation process was the only brass production process in the Eschweiler-Stolberg area until the 19th century. Here, melting pots are filled with pieces of copper the size of a fist, ground zinc ore and ground charcoal as a cement reducing agent or aggregate , which are then heated in the furnace to almost 1000 ° C. One of the best-known Roman brass objects is the Hemmoorer bucket in the Hanover State Museum, the ore fields in the triangle Mausbach / Hastenrath / Hamich in the southeastern Eschweiler district are believed to be the place of origin.
The Eschweiler Kohlberg until the 18th century
In 1394 the Eschweiler Kohlberg is mentioned in a document as "Koylberg zu Eschwylre" and coal mining in Pingen and smaller shafts. In 1794 the Eschweiler Berggericht was dissolved and replaced by French administrative structures.
Wältgens, Englerth and the EBV
In 1784 Johann Peter Wältgens began to expand the concessions he held in Eschweiler Kohlberg through acquisitions. He had received it as compensation for a lease for Kinzweiler Castle . In 1794, what was probably Germany's first steam engine was installed in the immediate vicinity of Herrenkunst at the confluence of "Luisenstrasse" in Eschweiler-Pump. In 1805, Ferdinand Wältgens and Carl Englerth received a large concession under French law for the entire area of the seams and down to the eternal depth based on a decree by Napoléon Bonaparte . The dewatering and seam limitation by the rule of the Counts of Jülich was hereby ended. In 1834, after Christine Englerth's death, the Eschweiler Mining Association ( EBV) was founded.
Pump-stitch and first steam engine
Pump-Stich is a south-western district of Eschweiler. It and its district of Aue are the oldest and was the most important industrial area in the city of Eschweiler. The Konkordia settlement there is named after the former Concordia hut , the listed ruins of which are now in the forest west of Konkordiastraße. The name pump goes back to being there since the transition from the ping - for tunneling late 16th century men's or fountains were what spurred by large water wheels pumps for water drainage ensured in the coal pits. The former pump house with one of the first steam engines in Germany as well as the Steigerhaus, the Graeser House and other buildings are under monument protection. Eschweiler-Pump is the birthplace of Franz Reuleaux .
Eschweiler and Weisweiler coal mines
The facilities of the "Eschweiler Kohlberg" were divided into the internal and external works with the seam "Padtkohl" as the border. The inland works in the area of the hollow core were
- the “Grube Aue” near Eschweiler- Aue
- the " Grube Centrum " near Eschweiler-Stich
- the " Ichenberg mine "
- the " Pit Reserve " near Eschweiler- Nothberg
the outworks were
- the " Grube Atsch " near Atsch (until 1935 in Eilendorf )
- the " Grube Birkengang " in Birkengang (until 1935 in Eschweiler)
- the "Grube Christine" in the upper birch aisle, named after Christine Englerth
- the " Grube Propstei " in the Propsteier forest near Eschweiler.
The pits of the "Weisweiler Kohlberg" in the east of the Inderevier and today's urban area were closed at the end of the 19th century. It was this
- the "Grube Weisweiler" near Weisweiler (until 1972 independent municipality)
- the " Grube Wilhelm " near Wilhelmshöhe (until 1972 to Weisweiler)
Mining districts
The mining districts - also called mine fields - in Eschweiler Kohlberg were "Feldend" on the northern hollow wing, "Buschend" in the area of the hollow turning and "Hundend" on the south wing. The street “Am Buschend” in Eschweiler- Wilhelmshöhe is named after “ Buschend” and the street “Feldenendstraße” in northern Eschweiler- Bergrath is named after “Feldend” . The last buildings of the former “Reserve” mine were demolished there in November 2005.
Mining-related attractions in pump
Heaps
Hard coal mining, but also open-cast lignite mining, left several heaps in the Eschweiler city area, which are mostly used for forestry today :
- Schwarzer Berg ( 250 m ) with Kitzberg in the Eschweiler city forest
- Dump Nierchen ( 223 m ) near Hüüllen
- On the Kippe ( 169 m ) near Eschweiler-Ost
- Zechenstrasse near Bergrath and Nothberg
- Floraweg in Weisweiler
- Slag dump at Hohenstein