Hermann Schmidtmann

Hermann Schmidtmann (born January 10, 1841 in Schmalkalden ; † November 13, 1919 in Grubhof Castle (Sankt Martin bei Lofer) , Zell am See district , state of Salzburg ) was a German potash mining and fertilizer entrepreneur.

Life

Schmidtmann came from a poor background and moved to the USA at the age of 17 . There he became a successful and wealthy businessman. He earned his fortune, among other things, by buying up the patent for the diamond crown drilling machines and selling it on to the Rockefeller Group at a very profitable rate. At the age of 30 he returned to Europe. At the end of the 19th century he controlled the fertilizer market in Germany, Austria-Hungary , Russia and the USA and was the owner of silver mines in South America and of patents in railway construction .

In 1885 he traveled to Reichenhall (today Bad Reichenhall ) and since then has turned his interest more to agriculture, cattle breeding and fishing. In 1890 he acquired the stately Grubhof, which he had converted into Grubhof Castle , as well as Oberrain Castle in Unken (Salzburg) and other farm estates. He also had telephone lines set up and the first power station in Pinzgau .

Schmidtmann increased the agricultural yields on his goods through the use of potash fertilization. He was also successful as a cattle breeder and raised the Pinzgauer cattle , the Noric horse and brown Lipizzaner as well as the rainbow trout imported from America . He also initiated experiments in the field of fruit and grain cultivation and had fruit and vegetables grown in glass houses for the German imperial court in Berlin.

Schmidtmann was married to the Swiss Josefine Bürgi and had a son and a daughter.

He died at Grubhof Palace and was buried in the palace garden.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Schmidtmann on Oberrain - unken.co.at. Retrieved September 13, 2019 . 
2. ^ State of Salzburg - Grubhof Castle. Retrieved September 13, 2019 .