Mehlbach mine

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Mehlbach
General information about the mine
Mehlbach mine Pit plan 1750 - Detail.jpg
Colliery house 1750
other names on the Nuwenberge, Smytgin, Schmiedchen, Grube on the Neuberg, St. Elisabet Fundgrube, on the Neweberg, on the Milbach
Information about the mining company
Start of operation before 1495
End of operation 1921
Funded raw materials
Degradation of silver-bearing pale ore
silver-bearing pale ore

Gang name

Greatest depth 125 m
Geographical location
Coordinates 50 ° 24 '59.4 "  N , 8 ° 20' 16.9"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 24 '59.4 "  N , 8 ° 20' 16.9"  E
Mehlbach (Hesse)
Mehlbach
Location Mehlbach
Location Weilmünster
District ( NUTS3 ) Limburg-Weilburg
country State of Hesse
Country Germany
District Lahn

The pit Mehlbach was a mine of silver , lead and copper in Weilmünster . Pale ores containing silver were mined . Of the 125 mines for copper, lead, zinc and silver in the Lahnmulde , it is considered to be the most productive. Slate was also mined from the 16th century and iron in the 19th century . The first documentary mention was in 1495, the shutdown took place in 1921, so mining was carried out on the Mehlbach mine for over 426 years.

history

It flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries

The oldest known Nassau-Weilburg mountain order is from 1495 and already regulates the operation of the forerunner mine, the ore mine "umb Wilmonster uff dem Nuwenberge, called Smytgin". Smytgin is interpreted as Schmidtchen or Schmiedchen. On March 2, 1536 a new mountain order by Count Philip III. issued by Nassau-Weilburg . Count Philipp hereby guarantees the operators of the mine extensive rights, the most important points of the mining regulations were:

  • Erbstollen -Gerechtigkeit: a secure basis for the construction and operation of the extra-long and expensive lugs for drainage of the pit ( water solution )
  • the operators receive construction, roasted and charcoal from the count's forests free of charge
  • Philipp grants the operators a market to be held every Tuesday in Weilmünster
  • He gives them duty and tax exemption for all goods, so a tax exemption also for excise
  • Philipp grants them hunting and fishing rights within a half mile radius of Weilmünster, with the sole exception of hunting red deer.
  • The operators are granted the unrestricted right to build apartments, mills and bakeries for their own use - the necessary timber is supplied from the count's forests against payment
  • Finally, the operators of 10 years shall be adopted in all duties and services, ie freedom from taxes, Leibbede (submission of serfs), etching (food), estimate, warehousing and compulsory labor

Another specialty of the region is another Count's deed dated November 16, 1536, with which Philipp appoints Meinhard Wolff as miner for one year and guarantees a salary of 100 Rhenish guilders and a vacant official apartment. This is noteworthy because at that time in the region the miners were usually union officials and not, as here, officials of the shelf owner . At the same time, Count Philipp also appoints Friedrich Velten as a smelter and guarantees him a weekly wage of 1 Rhenish guilder. If work is done in the mine, the trades have to bear the wages, if the business is idle the count takes over the remuneration - the smelter is the first official of a mining authority that the count embodies here.

New information about the mine did not appear again until 1559, and documents from the sovereign describe mining in the Weilmünster area in three directories. This also lists the Smytgin mine as active, now under the name of Grube auf dem Neuberg . In the course of 1564 there was a lot of activity in all the mines near Weilmünster, in this year the water art was probably also created to lift the water flowing into the pit. Since no stream or river could supply water energy in the area of ​​the shafts of the pit on the ridge of the Neuberg, an elaborate, movable wooden rod extending over a kilometer into the valley floor was built to keep the water pumps moving on the mountain. It was driven by the waters of the Mehlbach stream, as was the stamping mill for crushing the ores. This water art was in operation for many decades and was not referred to as being in operation until 1750.

The mining operation continued for the next few years, in March 1578 the mine was lent to a new company - under the leadership of Melchior Huscher from Schneeberg (Ore Mountains) , the name of the mine is now St. Elisabet Fundgrube . Mining operations seem to have come to a standstill around 1600. In January 1609, a Roland Krug zu Nidda was granted the right to excavate the old mine on the Neuberg. Operations continued with interruptions until the 1620s, when the war prevented further dismantling.

Devastation in the Thirty Years War - 17th Century

Detail of the pit plan 1750
Detail of the pit plan 1763

The name of the Mehlbach mine was first recorded in 1625 when three citizens of Weilmünster were allowed to "bawen and rebuild the old mine uff der Milbach or Neweberg". The Thirty Years' War , which is currently raging, has already devastated the region and the mining industry, and a new beginning is still being tried. This was probably without much success. In the decades to come, the region was only able to recover very slowly from the aftermath of the war and the aftermath of the plague epidemics between 1624 and 1626. In the Nassau lands, over half of the population had died of the plague, and there were further losses due to famine and war drives. Mining had come to a complete standstill.

Bloom in the 18th century

New news from the mine is only handed down from 1740, there it is described that the union founded by the Weilburg bailiff Archenholz was unsuccessful. Ten years later, is Councilor Baron Jacob Sigismund Waitz of ash from Kassel to the pit and adjacent mining claims invested and can quickly show great success. That same year, which supplied him will lodge in Klein-Weinbach ( located at Weinbach ) 518 Mark (about 121 kg) from the Grubenerz erschmolzenes view silver to the coin supply in Weilburg. The good yield was honored in 1750 with the minting of a silver yield thaler. Further exploitation thalers were also created in 1752.

In 1751 so many miners were already working on the mine that the feudal bearers had to build a school for the miners' children. In addition, the church was given two freikuxen and donation was also given to the poor from Weilmünster. The extensive mine building with over 10 shafts, numerous tunnels and floors was shown in detail in a 3 m wide pit picture created in 1750, which is now archived in the Weilburg mining museum.

Waitz von Eschen was appointed Minister of State in 1757 and gave the mine to his son Johann Friedrich in 1761, who died a few years later in 1767. Mining largely came to a standstill and before 1775 the pit fell into the open again .

Industrialization in the 19th century

Over the course of the next 100 years, the pit was loaned to numerous entrepreneurs , but these were unsuccessful because the work necessary to investigate the deposit was not carried out. Between 1864 and 1870, a comprehensive report on the mine was drawn up by mountain manager Erhardt, which describes the mine workings as follows:

  • The mine workings have an extension of 450 laughs
  • There are 3 tunnels: the upper, the middle Kneisselche and the deep gallery
  • There are 10 shafts: the Rollbinger shaft, the New Art Shaft (28 Lachter Depth), the Oven Shaft (19 Lachter Depth), the Old Art Shaft (29 Lachter Depth, with a connection to the Deep Tunnel), the Black Shaft (18 Lachter Depth) , the Sigismund Schacht (36 Lachter depths, with connection to the deep tunnel), the Schäfer Schacht (15 Lachter depths), the August Schacht, the Friedrichs Schacht and the Yellow Schacht (each 18–20 Lachter depths).
  • The strongest mining was carried out over a length of 200 laughs above the bottom of the middle gallery
  • Erhardt predicts a rich yield and recommends the use of a steam engine

For the next twenty years, changing owners tried the mine, but without any known success.

It was not until 1889 that two companies made extensive investments and began industrial civil engineering. The deep tunnel was driven further underground and old stretches were cleared again . The New Art Shaft is being modernized above ground using a new steam engine and a boiler house, and the shaft has also been sunk further. A machine shaft was sunk by 1893. The operating results were unfavorable, however, so that operations were interrupted twice and the owners changed. In June 1900 the pit was electrified and a generator was attached to the dewatering machine. The first and second foundation level were provided with an electrical lighting system and an electrical pump was also installed. At the end of 1900, the machine shaft reached a depth of 125 m and another underground level was created. Electric drills are used on the new underground excavation. Despite all efforts, the Wolfgang union went bankrupt as the owner in June 1901.

In 19088 the Berlin tradesmen, Baron Willy von Dulong, took over the mine and tried to get mining going again. However, there were no verifiable successes. By 1920 the von Dulong company owned 19 mines in the Lahn-Dill area and in Siegerland, but went bankrupt in the early 1920s. The Mehlbach mine was finally closed on February 11, 1921 and the shafts closed.

Pit building

f1Georeferencing Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

The pit consists of numerous shafts and tunnels, as well as at least four levels. Centuries of mining did not leave any structural remains on the surface, but there are numerous pings and dump remains in the area that can still be found today:

Manhole began location Depth (laughter) image
August location DSC03260 Shaft and dump pit Mehlbach.JPG
Friedrich location DSC03261 Shaft and dump pit Mehlbach.JPG
Sigmund or Sigismund location DSC03259 Shaft and dump pit Mehlbach.JPG
New location 20190302 113932 Schurf pit Mehlbach.jpg
art location DSC03256 shaft Mehlbach pit.JPG
machinery location DSC03257 Machine shaft pit Mehlbach.JPG
Second lowest location
Light hole location DSC03276 shaft Mehlbach mine.JPG
Manhole location
Manhole location

Stollen:

  • Deep tunnels, water drainage gallery of the mine, Erbstollen until the early 2000s, more visible Stollenmundloch location

Web links

Commons : Grube Mehlbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 4 .
  2. ↑ Annual donation of the body's own to the body owner for recognition of the body's quality. ( uni-heidelberg.de ).
  3. ^ Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 6 .
  4. ^ A b Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 9 .
  5. ^ G. Brassert (Ed.): Journal for Mining Law (18th year, issue 1) . Bonn 1877, p. 481-482 ( bsb-muenchen.de ).
  6. ↑ a b c d Rainer Slotta : Technical monuments in the Federal Republic of Germany. Metal ore mining. Ed .: German Mining Museum. tape  4 . Bochum 1983, p. 380 .
  7. ↑ EF Keller (ed.): The tribulations of the Nassau people and the neighboring countries in the times of the 30 Years War, its heroes, statesmen and the like. a. famous contemporaries . Gotha 1854, p. 65 f . ( digital-sammlungen.de ).
  8. ↑ Klein-Weinbach, Limburg-Weilburg district . In: Historical local dictionary . ( lagis-hessen.de ).
  9. ^ Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 11 .
  10. ^ Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 13 .
  11. ^ A b Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 16 .
  12. ^ Rainer Slotta: Technical monuments in the Federal Republic of Germany. Metal ore mining. Ed .: German Mining Museum. tape 4 . Bochum 1983, p. 381 .
  13. ^ Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 19 .
  14. ^ Fritz Meyer: History of mining around Weilmünster, especially the Mehlbach mine . Ed .: Geo-Center Taunus Wetterau / Geological Working Group Bad Homburg. 1988, p. 20 .