Franz Pit

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Franz
General information about the mine
Franz Grube - old conveyor shaft.jpg
Information about the mining company
Start of operation 1882
End of operation 1950
Funded raw materials
Degradation of Brown coal
Greatest depth 40 m
Geographical location
Coordinates 50 ° 3 '50.2 "  N , 8 ° 25' 21.9"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 3 '50.2 "  N , 8 ° 25' 21.9"  E
Franz (Hesse)
Franz
Location Franz
Location Hofheim am Taunus
District ( NUTS3 ) Main Taunus district
country State of Hesse
Country Germany

The Franz mine (also Marxheim-Diedenbergen lignite colliery ) was a lignite mine in the Diedenbergen district of Hofheim am Taunus . It was in operation from 1882 to 1950 with numerous interruptions. Immediately east in the area includes Marx home location pit Emma ( location ) that they built the same brown coal - deposit from. After 1945, both mines were merged and consolidated into the Marxheim-Diedenbergen lignite mine .

Mining 1882 to 1904

On March 4, 1882 teufte the Diedenberger coopers, brewers and innkeeper "Zum Schützenhof" Georg Franz Kräckmann (1843-1913), a well shaft on his property from, at a depth of 18 meters, he came across a 130 cm powerful layer of lignite . On the same day he applied to the royal mountain district official Bergrat Giebeler for the prospect of the lignite field.

Two weeks later, the site inspection with the mining authority took place, Franz Kräckmann stated that the lignite deposit had been excavated on the day of the request for encouragement. This was of crucial importance because immediately after the coal discovery became known, two competitors (Obersteiger H. Schröder from Langenhain and mine owner W. Schwarz from Biebrich) submitted their own intentions to speculate for the Krackmann field at the mining authority. These were rejected as unfounded by the Oberbergamt in Bonn in April 1882: “... because the named W. Schwarz has just as little driven into the well shaft in question as the Muther H. Schröder, who both bought the lignite pieces from the find shaft only in Franz Krackmann's inn I saw and attended the cremation tests there. "(Bergrat Giebeler to the Oberbergamt, March 21, 1882)

The source of the coal was in a mountain-free area; in contrast to ores , lignite was generally free of mountains. However, the mine field to be lent covered the fields of neighboring iron ore mines, whose consent had to be obtained. The point of discovery itself was in the iron ore field Tiefegräben II, in the north it bordered the fields of the iron ore mines Heinrich VI and Niesensfreude II near Langenhain, in the south on the fields of the iron ore mine Wallstein near Wallau . Since none of the trades in these ore mines appeared for the scheduled final negotiation, the award to Franz Kräckmann was considered to be enforceable. On June 3, 1882, the Bonn Mining Authority lent the Franz field with a size of 2.189 million square meters to Kräckmann. Since he himself had no experience in mining, he ceded the loan to the Frankfurter Braunkohlengewerkschaft (FBG) on December 9, 1882, the transfer was rewarded with 5000 marks .

The FBG used the following trades. Friedrich Daumer (33 Kuxe ) and Ferdinand Rügler (33 Kuxe) were appointed as mine directors , both from Frankfurt . Mining engineer August Heym from Marxheim (17 Kuxen) acted as operations director, the remaining 17 Kuxen shares were held by the banker Max Goldstein from Frankfurt.

The first operational report for 1882 summarizes the development of the work. There is already a 34 m deep shaft, which has encountered a first coal seam of 1.30 m thick at 18 m and a second seam of 2.70 m thick at 31 m. The shaft measures 2.50 mx 1.60 m and is made of bolt-shot timber. There are already the beginnings of a working level , with a route to the northwest and away outgoing cross passages . The main line stretches to a length of 25 m, with a height of only 1.50 m and a width of 1.60 m. There work 24 miners working in shifts, additionally 6 workers are at the whim and 3 man in the pit house employed a carbon driving. The dewatering is done by a suction pump that is operated by hand.

Numerous exploratory boreholes resulted in an expansion of the coal field of several 100 m south and north of Diedenbergen, as well as 1000 m to the east in the direction of Marxheim.

The year 1883 was marked by disputes trades wanted to start on the low floor with the promotion, but citizens and administration of the municipalities and Diedenbergen Marxheim opposed it as a drying up of wells by pumping was feared the pit. In addition, both communities refused to allow the discharge of pit water on their territory. After several months of correspondence and numerous on-site and negotiation appointments, the highest mining authority, the Minister for Public Works in Berlin, was finally called for a decision. In June, the ministry rejected the community's objection and approved the mine’s new operating plan with minor changes. In the following month, the mayor of Diedenbergen again complained to the mining office about the mine expansion, so that a second time all the channels to the ministry were run through. In September this decision again in favor of mining operations.

In October 1883, operator Heym left the FBG and moved to Dresden. In the first half of the year, 250 tons of high-quality coal had been mined, which was resold for 4 marks per ton. The greatly reduced workforce of 3 miners per 12 hour shift received 2.20 marks per shift as wages. From mid-1883, the production was suspended.

At the end of 1883 the FBG filed for bankruptcy for the mine. The bankruptcy trustee was informed by the mining authority that the interest in the Franz brown coal deposit was too low to find buyers. The buildings erected for the mining operations, the shaft house and the coal shed were then auctioned off for demolition. The reason for the bankruptcy of the company was, on the one hand, the difficulties with the Latvian surrounding the seams , which made mining very difficult due to its soft consistency. In addition, the ongoing quarrels with the neighboring communities and the problems with dewatering were mentioned.

In September 1884, the remaining mine ownership was transferred to the former FBG trades Max Goldstein as sole owner. The following 13 years do not seem to have seen any mining activity, at least there is no evidence in the mining files.

New activities only started in 1898, when Max Goldstein sold his mine property for 850 marks to Ernst Alexander Büttler, a tax inspector from Höchst. A test shaft was dug with 3 miners, but the work was unsuccessful and there were further objections from the Diedenbergen mayor, who feared that the wells would run dry again. The mining operations stopped at the end of the year and remained closed for another 7 years.

Mining 1905 to 1920

In October 1905, the mine was opened briefly again to long in preparation for re-sale one month old shafts and tunnels (mining) | tunnels again aufzuwältigen . In August 1909, Bütler sold all of the shares to the engineer Alexander Kraemer, who was the sole trader. Kraemer went about the necessary reconstruction of the mine with great enthusiasm and in 1910 issued new operating rules for the Franz mine, which were also intended to allay the concerns of the mayors of the neighboring communities of Marxheim and Diedenbergen regarding water disposal.

In June 1910, the extraction and drainage tunnel had already reached its length of 120 m, it began south of the pit in Tiefen Graben . In the late summer of 1910 Kraemer sold his mine shares , but remained a representative of the Franz mine. The new shareholders were now a master butcher, a privateer, a state railroad conductor and sometimes their wives and children. 7 miners were employed on the mine, no coal was extracted. The operation was shut down again in October 1910.

In the years 1911 and 1912 the quarrels continued, the mine property was sold again and the conveyor tunnel was expanded to a length of 300 m. In March 1912 was Steiger Johann Stephan Hergennanh set as operator, he inspected the mine and found "that he has encountered our studs in such a dilapidated state that it must convert the same from the day of what at least four weeks are needed before you can continue working on site. So we cannot think of dismantling in the foreseeable future. "

Work on the tunnel continued in the summer of 1912, and finally the breakthrough into the old mine field was successful . You came to the shaft at a depth of 32 m, but due to a measuring error by the mark separator , you did not hit shaft 2, but filled shaft 1, which immediately emptied into the tunnel. The tunnel now had a length of 387 m. "In July 1913 , parts of the mine collapsed . Regular operations did not take place. Trades, managers and the mayors of the neighboring communities were highly quarreled and litigated. The total of 100 kuxe mine ownership was in 1912 still valued at 15,000 marks / Kuxe, in July 1914 the value of a Kux was only estimated at 30 marks.

At the beginning of 1916, work was resumed and some new company buildings were built: an office, a storage room, a bedroom and a dining room for the workers. The walls were made of brick and the foundations were poured from concrete. A new operator was hired again for 1916 and an operating plan was drawn up: “The underground construction shaft is sunk to 30.0 m and has seam No. 1 at 12 m and seam No. 2 at 25.50 m Drilled with a thickness of 2.0 m. At 27.10 m the floor is exposed. - An alignment section is to be driven from the shaft in a south-easterly direction and from this at 10.0 m, 30.0 m and 50.0 m from the shaft device sections for drying the seam are to be driven. The latter will later be used as excavation sites. - The routes will be expanded in door frame timbering with transverse base and board formwork. - Dismantling is not yet planned for the time being "(Obersteiger Schürmann on August 3, 1916)

In August 1916, the union obtained the exemption of 5 workers from military service in the First World War . The geological conditions soon forced an interruption of the operation - the hanging and the lying consisted of Latvians of different strengths. The only wood-lined shaft could not withstand the pressure of the clay layers and collapsed in January 1917. A new shaft with a stable concrete lining was planned.

To promote there was a 9 m tall wooden headframe , the feed reel is driven with an 8 HP engine. The strong water inflow was countered with a 3 HP high pressure centrifugal pump. The daytime facilities and the filling point were illuminated with electric light, and carbide lamps were used in the pit. The work shift lasted from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with an operator, four tusks, a machinist and a conveyor working. 205 tons of coal were mined each year.

In 1917, mining assessor Heinz Macco was commissioned to write an expert report on the mine. He impressively described the adverse conditions and the various temporary arrangements: “A shaft sunk in 1915/16 was dilapidated. The shaft, which is currently accessible, was connected to a route network of around 600 m in length and width. The surface area of ​​no more than 350,000 m² lay directly on the border with the Pauline I pit. The lower seam below the lower seam slopes down to the Main at an average of 3–4 ° steeper than the surface area. ”He describes the properties of the coal and reprimands the workforce:“ Top layer of lignite 30 cm, then 10–15 cm intermediate medium; Main packing in the lowest layer (30–40 cm) is strongly lignitic. It is an extremely streaky lignite of good quality, corresponding to that extracted in the Kassel district. But it was wrongly called pitch coal . It was obtained in large pieces and would have an excellent appearance if it were carefully kept free of impurities. The appearance of the coal suffers on wet days. On the other hand, the workforce should not be allowed to get used to such negligent treatment of the coal. ”He continues:“ The fate of the Diedenberg lignite deposits is likely to be determined by the strong swelling capacity of the clay in which the coal is embedded. Despite the low water flow, the moist air entering through the shafts was enough to cause the swelling effect. ”The route network was already struggling with the effects of the pressure. The coal was transported with iron wheelbarrows on a plank layer laid on the bottom of the route. Macco continues: "Such an unspoilt extraction can only be justified in mining at 20-30 m". In the pit, however, this type of extraction was carried out up to a few hundred meters, the swelling clay prevented the laying of rails. 4 stretches and 6 ascending stretches were dismantled, divided by pillars with a side length of 10–15 m. None of the 25 or so piers that had been prepared by then have been dismantled. Macco states "It is overexploitation" because the coal in the pillars between the routes is definitely lost for mining. Macco strongly advises you to wall up the routes or to protect them with a thin concrete shell against the pressure of the swelling layers of clay. He judges the construction of the shaft as adventurous: “One of them was already dilapidated. A wall shaft with a clearance of 3 m and a depth of only 24 m was now used. The lowest part of this wall shaft above this depth consisted of an iron construction, which should enable the connection of the filling point in the lignite seam. The bottom of the seam was at the shaft point 32 m, so it was not reached with the iron construction. As a result, the latter was exposed with brickwork and an extension was connected to it, which ended with a second, deeper iron structure in the lower coal seam. From this lower iron structure, a stretch was added to serve as a filling point, rising to the north. The remaining part of this lower iron structure was also filled with brickwork. The whole thing did not rest on a shaft base, as it should be properly, so it did not have sufficient hold on the shaft joint and its weight acted on the horizontal support of the lower iron structure filled with masonry. This was not up to the pressure and gradually had to give in. "Macco continues to criticize:" The equipment of the shaft was quite inadequate, the meager appearance of his lawn hanging bench suggests this. A single pair of guide plates guides a bucket that is moved with a construction hoist. The brown coal contents of the wheelbarrows are tipped into the conveying bucket on the shaft bottom. The perhaps 1/2 t bucket has a sloping bottom and a movable wall flap in front of it "

The ventilation was also seen as problematic; it was carried out through the shaft and through two boreholes at a distance of about 75 m to the west and northwest of the shaft. The boreholes had a diameter of 12 cm, which was insufficient for ventilation, especially since the coal was heavily outgassed ( carbon dioxide ). The oxygen content underground was too low to light a match. There was an acute health risk for the miners.

The First World War severely restricted mining operations, on the one hand it became more and more difficult to get materials for the construction of the mine (iron, wood, concrete, but also machines), as these were classified as essential for the war effort. On the other hand, over time it became more and more difficult to exempt miners from military service, especially since the mine did not produce enough to be classified as war important itself. In 1919 the workforce could be increased again, 40 men now worked in the mine.

Mining 1920 to 1950

In 1920 all 100 Kuxe were transferred to Mrs. Agnes Lang, one Kuxe was again worth 13,800 Marks. Since the city of Wiesbaden had made an advance payment to build roads and buildings, Ms. Lang pledged the mine property to Wiesbaden in 1921. This year 1838 t of coal were mined.

The frequent changes in the ownership structure continued until 1922, with a workforce of 46, 4806 t / year of coal were mined. A new shaft was sunk, which reached the second level in 1923. The operation was unsuccessful, however, in April 1924 the operation was stopped. Between 1882 and 1924 15,950 t of brown coal were mined. The following months brought numerous legal disputes over damages. Mine ownership had been widely diversified in recent years, so that trades could be found all over Germany, Switzerland and Lorraine. The attempt was made to clear up the “confused” ownership structure and the various debts and mortgages in numerous submissions to the mining authority and in several court cases. In the course of 1924, the Mainkraftwerke blocked the power supply due to unpaid bills, as a result of which the pumps failed and the mine was flooded with water.

There was no mining operation until 1933, but numerous lawsuits were still pending in court. The desire for self-sufficiency under National Socialism led to renewed interest in dismantling from July 1933. Requests for the purchase of the coals etc. a. also put to IG Farben , but rejected because of the poor quality of the coal. No mining operations were started.

In both 1941 and 1942 there were renewed proposals to resume mining. However, both were quickly withdrawn. After the Second World War there was a severe shortage of all raw materials, so that interest in brown coal in the Franz mine flared up again. The haulier Heinrich Savelsberg applied for and received a license for the mine from the American military government in August 1946. The mine now traded together with the Emma mine under the name "Braunkohlen-Zechen Marxheim-Diedenbergen". The Emma mine, which is directly to the east of the Franz mine, mined the same lignite deposit, but in the Marxheim district. In 1948 Emma reached a maximum production of 6500 t of lignite, the seam was 1.50 m thick. As of December 1, 1946, the two mines were nationalized on the basis of the new Hessian constitution . The former mine owner Savelsberg acted as trustee. The currency reform in June 1948 ended the post-war phase of the shortage economy. Coals became affordable again. This made coal from the Ruhr area more attractively priced. Savelsberg tried to stay competitive by purchasing a briquetting system. This had to be approved by the state government, which was done in 1949. In the following year, however, the state government ordered the closure.

Pit building

swell

  1. ^ A b Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1209.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Gabriel: Diedenbergen - a place in the country. Local family book from 1640 to 1900 . Plaidt: Cardamina-Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-86424-135-2 .
  3. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1140.
  4. ↑ a b Diedenberger coal from a depth of 18 meters , with an illustration of the headframe, Höchst Kreisblatt, issue of December 12, 2012.
  5. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1141.
  6. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1146.
  7. ^ A b Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1150.
  8. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte Nr. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1151.
  9. ^ A b Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1155.
  10. ↑ a b Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1156.
  11. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte Nr. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1157.
  12. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1158.
  13. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1163.
  14. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1165.
  15. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1166.
  16. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1170.
  17. ↑ a b Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1171.
  18. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1175.
  19. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1176.
  20. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1180.
  21. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1184.
  22. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. P. 1203.
  23. ^ Ernst Schütz: The Franz brown coal mine in Diedenbergen, Heimatgeschichtliche Manuskripte No. 31, Diedenberger Heimatgeschichtsverein, 1987. S. 1204.
  24. ^ Kampf um Emma report in Der Spiegel of September 3, 1952, digitized version accessed on March 30, 2017.
  25. ^ Friedrich Kinkelin: The usable rocks between Taunus and Spessart , in: Report on the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main , pp. 138–180, in particular pp. 160ff and p. 171ff, 1888. Digitized
  26. ↑ Ernst Schütz: The Franz lignite mine in Diedenbergen , publication by the local history association Diedenbergen, No. 31, 78 p., Diedenbergen 1987.