Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer
Karl August Friedrich (since 1818 von ) Duttenhofer (born December 15, 1758 in Oberensingen ; † December 16, 1836 in Stuttgart ) was the first civil servant hydraulic engineer in Württemberg .
Childhood and youth
Karl August Friedrich Duttenhofer was a son of the Oberensingen pastor Christoph Friedrich Duttenhofer and his wife Katharina Magdalena, née. Raser from Kirchheim / Teck . In 1770 Christoph Friedrich Duttenhofer was suspended from duty because he had devoted himself more to sericulture than to his community. In the same year, his wife divorced him after his adultery with the innkeeper daughter Christine Magdalene Balz became known and the illegitimate son Immanuel Friedrich Duttenhofer, the progenitor of today's Oberensingen branch of the Duttenhofer family, was born.
In addition to Karl August Friedrich, the former pastor's wife had two other underage children to look after and turned to the Duke of Württemberg for support.
Karl August Friedrich first attended the Latin school in Nürtingen and, after the divorce of his parents and the resulting move, the one in Kirchheim. He was supposed to study theology at first, but at the request of his father on January 10, 1773, a week before his classmate Friedrich Schiller , he was accepted into the Carl Eugen nursery school .
The students were expected to give verbal assessments to each other. Schiller ascribed Duttenhofer “excellent gifts” during his school days, which “would always be increased through diligence”.
Duttenhofer studied at the High School Karl cameralistics and completed his training in 1780 with good grades. Immediately afterwards he was hired to teach mathematics at the military academy.
Teacher at the Hohen Karlsschule
From 1780 to 1794 Duttenhofer taught at the Hohen Karlsschule. A famous student who first studied hydraulic engineering with him and then continued to study architecture at the Hohen Karlsschule was Christian Zais . During this time his doctorate to become Dr. phil. in 1782 and his father's illness and death that same year. After the divorce, Christoph Friedrich Duttenhofer continued to deal with silkworm breeding and silk production and gained the reputation of an expert, but ran into financial difficulties. Karl August Friedrich supported the sick and destitute father as long as he could, but in March 1782 finally turned to the Duke with the request to take the father into the ducal foster home in Stuttgart. This application was rejected. The former pastor died in April 1782 in the ducal hospital, a foundation for the destitute dying.
In 1787, in addition to his teaching post, Duttenhofer applied for the position of an officer in the ducal artillery regiment in order to improve his finances. At the time, he not only had a divorced mother to look after, but also a sister. After this was rejected, he applied in 1788 to be dismissed from teaching in order to be able to earn money elsewhere. Thereupon he was appointed artillery lieutenant and also received the title of professor, which, however, did not affect his salary of 375 florins .
Over time, the focus of his activities shifted to the practical application of mathematics and physics, especially in the military. The young Hegel also occasionally attended his practical exercises in geometry . From 1788 he dealt with his later main topic, hydraulic engineering.
In 1790 Karl August Friedrich Duttenhofer married his cousin Sibylle Luise Wilhelmine Klett. The marriage resulted in two daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Carolina Wilhelmine Johanna (1791–1824), later married Julius Simon von Nördlinger . Among her children were Hermann von Nördlinger , Karl Julius Nördlinger and Wilhelm von Nördlinger . The eldest son, August Friedrich (1793–1867), became captain and hydraulic engineering inspector, the younger son, named Karl Friedrich (1801–1871), became hydraulic engineering inspector and senior civil engineer in Stuttgart.
After Duttenhofer did not receive a higher salary as a family man, he asked in 1792 for additional employment in the field of experimental physics. It was finally awarded to him, but was combined with the task of maintaining the "Astronomical Machine" of Philipp Matthäus Hahn , which at that time was in the library of the Hohen Karlsschule and is now part of the Württemberg State Museum, and showing it to strangers. These additional tasks brought him 150 florins more than before, but a little later Duttenhofer's teaching activities came to an abrupt end: Carl Eugen died in autumn 1793 and the academy was closed the following spring.
Military cartographer
Fortunately for Duttenhofer, the closure of the High Charles School coincided with the endangerment of the German Empire by the French in the First Coalition War . For defense purposes, the southwestern parts of the country from Bruchsal to Waldshut were mapped and Duttenhofer found a new job here, which he quickly earned: Not only Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger , professor in Tübingen and known as the father of land surveying in Württemberg, praised his Maps and plans, but also General Moreau , who had the works confiscated when he defeated the Swabian district troops. Duttenhofer's cards were used by the Genie Corps in Paris to create additional, larger cards and were later returned with words of appreciation.
Mill inspector and hydraulic engineering director
In 1795, Duttenhofer applied for the vacant position of mill inspector for the area “ Ob der Staig ” in addition to his military work . The experts warmly recommended the applicant to Duke Ludwig Eugen because they linked the hope of recruiting a skilled hydraulic engineer without a new one to actually have to create the necessary position for one. However, it was clear to them that the usual remuneration of a mill visitor was too low for such an expert. It was decided to give Duttenhofer a fixed sum of 100 florins, to which 30 Kreuzers were added per controlled mill run. After Duttenhofer had submitted a free report on the water supply to the city of Stuttgart, he was also entrusted with the well system in 1795 and appointed "Hydraulic Engineering Director". In the following years he rose to become captain, "Oberwasserbau-Director" and finally major. In 1799 he was in charge of all hydraulic engineering in the country.
Head hydraulic engineering director
classification
Duttenhofer was the first head water engineering director in the state and had to be classified accordingly in the hierarchy of civil servants. He now had an annual salary of 500 florins, half of which was paid in kind, as well as the right to care for two horses and a coachman and similar benefits. From 1798 to 1806 he was listed at the building office of the Rentkammer, first in second place, later in first place.
In 1806 King Friedrich set up a central administration based on the French model and divided the powers over six ministries. The road, bridge and hydraulic engineering department was assigned to the Ministry of the Interior. Duttenhofer was now subordinated to a president and two sous-directors. He was also a member of the Agriculture Department, which in turn was assigned to the Ministry of Finance. His superior in both departments was the much younger Carl Christian von Seeger , who eventually received the title of "General Hydraulic Engineering Director".
In 1816 King Wilhelm I restructured the administration. Duttenhofer's previous responsibilities merged in the Oberbaurat, one of the six departments of the Ministry of the Interior. Seeger became director and Duttenhof deputy director of this building council.
Just three years later, this senior building council was dissolved again. Duttenhofer became the technical consultant for the manorial hydraulic engineering at the Ministry of Finance. In this capacity, he was primarily responsible for making the Neckar navigable, as decided at the Congress of Vienna .
Shipping Commission
On April 1, 1817, King Wilhelm appointed a three-person shipping commission. Members were initially Duttenhofer and Shipping Commissioner Zeller, presided over by the Weckherlin State Councilor . Seeger and Duttenhofer each received an assistant - Duttenhofer his older son August Friedrich.
River building regulations were introduced in Baden as early as 1815 . After Duttenhofer and his Baden colleague Johann Gottfried Tulla had undertaken an inspection tour through the country, the shipping commission received the order in 1819 to draft river police and river building regulations for Württemberg as well.
Duttenhofer, who was promoted to colonel at the age of 59 and on his sixtieth birthday received the order of the Württemberg crown in the knightly level and was ennobled (until 1913, the award of this order for Württemberg subjects was connected with the elevation to the personal, non-heritable nobility ) , instead of working with Zeller, he now worked with another former Karlsschüler, Christoph Friedrich Kaussler. He was in charge of the conception of the new river engineering regulations and submitted a draft in 1822, which Duttenhofer did not agree with. His criticism concerned the financing concept, the lack of a technical central office for civil engineering matters and the lack of technical regulations for hydraulic engineering.
During his lifetime, Duttenhofer was unable to assert these objections. His first point of criticism can only be seen in the Baden-Württemberg Water Act of 1960. Here is a list of bodies of water that the state is obliged to maintain and develop, which largely corresponds to Duttenhofer's proposal. The ministerial department for road and hydraulic engineering as the central responsible body, which Duttenhofer had requested, was established at the Ministry of the Interior in 1848 and standards and guidelines for construction activities later became a matter of course.
The proposal criticized by Duttenhofer did not become legally binding. The main reason for the rejection in the state parliament was the fears of the communities that they would be driven to unnecessarily high expenses by maintenance obligations.
In 1822 the shipping commission was dissolved again and transferred to the technical department of the interior ministry.
buildings
The best-known preserved structures in which Duttenhofer was involved include the Jagstbrücke in Hohebach , over which the B 19 runs today , the Wilhelm Canal in Heilbronn and the Neue See near Stuttgart.
Jagstbrücke in Hohebach
Where today the stone bridge built by Karl August Friedrich Duttenhofer leads over the Jagst , a bridge used to stand. However, after the previous building was damaged by ice in 1799, there was only an emergency bridge at this point when Württemberg came into the possession of Hohenlohe in 1806 . This wooden bridge was unsuitable for troop movements and heavy traffic, which is why the order was issued in 1807 to plan a road from Künzelsau to Mergentheim including a new bridge over the Jagst. Duttenhofer only found out about this project when the road works were already under way on both sides of the river, and was given the task of examining the possibilities of rebuilding the damaged former bridge. However, the first investigations were carried out by route inspector Christian Etzel. After Duttenhofer had pointed out that the ground under the still existing bridge piers had to be explored and that further construction work might be necessary, he was given construction management in April 1808. From now on he was confronted with a number of difficulties: First, master stone mason Steinle from Öhringen was commissioned with the construction work, but the contract was canceled. After Steinle resigned, Johann Nägele from Waiblingen took over the job. Duttenhofer considered the normal labor service at the time to be risky, especially since he had been given a tight time limit until the autumn of 1808 for the construction of the bridge: The king wanted to prevent Baden claims to the Teutonic Order of Mergentheim by completing the traffic route.
Under these circumstances, Duttenhofer asked for the right to outsource the work on a daily basis and have Etzel supervise it. A sudden flood caused further delays, and finally Duttenhofer found that the remains of the old bridge could not be used because the piers were not on solid rock. They had to be completely torn down. Under these circumstances he received a certain delay: the new stone bridge did not have to be completed until 1809. However, he did not, as requested, receive Etzel's support for monitoring the construction work, but had to be content with Weginspektor Schmid from Neuenstein, who, however, apparently proved to be unexpectedly efficient. Another difficulty was the repeated floods that inundated and tore open the formwork of the piers, and finally the material obtained when the old bridge was demolished was nowhere near enough to build the new bridge. Keupers sandstone blocks from a quarry in Bühlhof had to be brought by horse and cart from eight kilometers away. In addition, Duttenhofer had to take care of the construction of an interim bridge, as the ford, which was initially planned, was not used as smoothly as planned. Nevertheless, by the end of 1808, all foundations were raised above the water level and the interim bridge could be used. Duttenhofer's new cost estimate for 62,000 fl. Met with astonishment in the ministry, which wanted to know the costs at least over several years and also commissioned Colonel von Seeger to check the matter on the spot. In his report, Seeger defended Duttenhofer's work and pointed out the comparable costs of the Lauffen Neckar Bridge . Apart from the king's expression of displeasure about the high construction costs, which were reported late to Stuttgart, and the further delay in completion, there were no consequences and the bridge was completed in 1810.
The 90 m long bridge with four arched fields, each with a span of 17.20 m, was adorned with a column bearing the king's coat of arms and his initials "FR" for Fridericus Rex, cast in Königsbronn . The final construction cost was 73,267 florins; A deposit of 1,500 florins was withheld according to an expert opinion by Duttenhofer in 1813, in case the work of the late master Nägele should prove to be in need of repair.
Wilhelm Canal in Heilbronn
Even under King Frederick, considerations had been made to make the Neckar open; Shortly after taking office, Wilhelm I. commissioned Duttenhofer to plan a new shipping route to Cannstatt . After a site inspection with the king and a consultation with Tulla, Duttenhofer planned a side canal with a chamber lock, on which the old weirs in Heilbronn could be bypassed.
The work under the supervision of Duttenhofer's son August Friedrich lasted 30 months and cost a total of around 171,000 florins. On July 17, 1821, the Wilhelm Canal was opened by the king. On this occasion, Duttenhofer was awarded the title of “Commentary of the Order of the Württemberg Crown”. August Friedrich Duttenhofer was able to travel after this achievement.
The canal has been preserved in a partially modified form and is now mainly used as a sports boat harbor. The last hand-operated lock on the Neckar is still functional.
New lake near Stuttgart
As early as 1795, Duttenhofer had dealt with the Stuttgart drinking water supply and carried out the preparatory work for an improvement in an expert report. In particular, he had pointed out that the planning of the lines had to be done with scientific methods and not at random. The complaints of residents and business representatives ultimately led to the fact that the work should actually begin. On November 30, 1818, Duttenhofer wrote to Tulla and informed him about various hydraulic engineering problems, including the grievances in Stuttgart: "The upper part of the city suffers from a lack of drinking and rinsing water, the lower part is affected by the greatest impurities [...] unhealthy. [...] A city of 24,000 souls has to be content with a water supply in dry summers which is no more than half a cubic foot to drink in a second of time [...] "
Duttenhofer had checked the possibility of supplying the Stuttgart Feuersee from Neckartenzlingen with Neckar water, which would then be used to supply the problematic Nesenbach . A second version of this plan envisaged that the supply line would only begin in Unterensingen and end at the Stuttgart torture tower (which was located roughly at the point where Paulinenstrasse and Tübinger Strasse now intersect), but this did not adequately supply all parts of the city would be. In both cases, however, he foresaw problems because the canal route would have to be led along the steep marl slopes near the Esslinger Eisberg and in Weil and Hedelfingen . In addition, the mills below the extraction point would probably have got into trouble due to the water extraction from the Neckar.
Less problematic, Duttenhofer explained, would be an improvement in the drinking water supply from the artificially dammed park lakes, the Pfaffenensee, which has existed since 1556, and the Bärensee, which was dammed up in 1618. Firstly, it is necessary to replace the previously wooden water pipes with clay or stone pipes, and secondly, a covered supply pipe for all spring waters of the Nesenbach valley, which also takes in the lake water. This supply line was to be led along the Hasenberghang and through a tunnel near the Rheinsburg (today's Karlshöhe ) and flow into the Feuersee. He also suggested the establishment of a dam which in Glemstal could absorb the excesses of the bear and the Pfaffensee and will form a new lake.
Tulla was largely in agreement with this final plan. In the years 1826 to 1833 the New Lake was created and the gradient at the beginning of the Christophstollen was lowered, so that the town was now much better supplied with drinking and service water than before. With a capacity of 280,000 cubic meters, the New Lake became the largest water reservoir in the artificial chain of lakes near Stuttgart. From 1847, its water was no longer forwarded to the Nesenbach, but treated as drinking water. Until 1998 the New Lake was used to supply Stuttgart with drinking water; now it only functions as an emergency water reservoir, but is still operated by EnBW . In the winter of 2008/2009, the dam from Duttenhofer's time was rehabilitated after leaks were found in a routine examination.
Correspondence with Cotta
There are 32 letters from Duttenhofer and 14 letters from his older son to Johann Friedrich Cotta in the Cotta archive in the Schiller National Museum . They concern both family matters and traffic-related projects.
Orphan aid
Just as Duttenhofer cared for his parents and siblings, so did he for his younger relatives.
The correspondence probably began in 1810 when Duttenhofer Cotta announced that his brother Johann Friedrich (1753–1810), who lived in Königsberg, had died and left six penniless orphans. Duttenhofer had agreed to take in three of these children; Cotta, with his connections to Dresden and Koenigsberg, was supposed to help manage the 1150 km journey for the parentless, and willingly took on this task.
August Friedrich, the problematic son
Most of the letters, however, are about Duttenhofer's son August Friedrich. He had assisted his father since 1817 and had taken over the construction management of the Wilhelm Canal in Heilbronn as well as the construction management of the canal construction in Friedrichshall . He must have made such a good impression on King Wilhelm that he made several study trips possible for him after the inauguration of the Wilhelm Canal. In the following years August Friedrich Duttenhofer traveled to France, Austria and Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Rhine region. Duttenhofer asked for and received letters of recommendation for his son from Cotta, which were of great use to him on several occasions on his travels, and in return passed the travel reports and tips he received from August Friedrich on to Cotta. In Livorno, for example, Duttenhofer junior found out about a water pipe that, with its five aqueducts , could serve as a model for the water supply in mountainous Stuttgart. Duttenhofer senior, however, stated with satisfaction that the Swabian counterpart would “be cheaper”, since in Stuttgart a single line bridge over the Heidenklinge and a tunnel through the Reinsburgsattel suffice.
August Friedrich seems to have returned from this voyage only hesitantly, but from 1823 to 1825 he was commissioned to prepare a canal connection between the Rhine and the Danube . In 1825 Wilhelm sent him on a journey again, this time to England. He should explore the local road and hydraulic engineering as well as the development of the railway system. From England, however, the king received a request for further support: August Friedrich set out for America spontaneously and against all agreements. Wilhelm expressed his displeasure with Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer about this escapade and refused any financial support for the son. Duttenhofer turned to State Secretary von Vellnagel for help on the one hand and Cotta on the other. He informed him about August Friedrich's plan to visit the 700 km long canal from New York over the Hudson to Lake Erie and then to get to know part of Canada and to sail the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans, which meant another 2700 km. On the one hand he hoped that Cotta would intercede with the king, on the other hand Cotta was able to influence August Friedrich through the contact man Lafitte in France, who, according to his father's wishes, should remove the Ohio and Mississippi from his travel program as unnecessary.
While August Friedrich made the three-month trip to America on the brigantine "Frances Miller", which was on the way with a crew of only nine, Cotta arranged a generous loan for it to the USA. Duttenhofer senior and junior were grateful and sent interested Cotta numerous travel reports, including about the speculation boom around the Panama Canal . At the beginning of 1827 August Friedrich returned to Europe and announced from Le Havre that he wanted to be able to travel to northern France as well. His father again sought support from Cotta, who actually managed to get August Friedrich to deal with inland waterways in France. In May Duttenhofer junior was finally back home and in 1828, again at Cotta's intercession, he became raft construction inspector and captain. He initially had special orders to do and then became a hydraulic engineering expert for the Neckar district. On October 23, 1829, however, he was relieved of his service after a rift had occurred. In a letter to Cotta dated November 17, 1829, there was talk of "ministerial Chicanes" and a boss whom he "could never respect". In a supplement, August Friedrich Duttenhofer stated that he could not put up with "being lowered into the class of road inspectors after 18 years of civil service, who as a beginner have to submit to a super-revision." his previous sponsor Cotta to do nothing more about the matter. While August Friedrich's younger brother took over the official duties of the older one, the latter wrote a book in the years following his dismissal, which was published by Cotta in 1835: “Tour of the United States of North America with special regard to the Erie Canal.” The motto of the amusing and richly illustrated work read: "Touring the United States of North America not only lifts the soul and makes the heart happy, but also awakens the spirit through the conviction that freedom is the greatest of all goods."
Planning of the Neue Weinsteige
In addition to worrying about his son, Duttenhofer repeatedly addressed questions about the country's transport routes in his correspondence with the entrepreneurial Cotta. In 1827 the planning of the Neue Weinsteige in Stuttgart was in the foreground of his considerations. In a letter to Cotta, Duttenhofer described the advantages and disadvantages of three routes:
If you choose the route from present-day Marienplatz through the Degerloch forest to Degerloch, you will conserve precious wine-growing areas, have the slightest incline to deal with and expect the lowest costs.
The second possible route, from the orphanage via Charlottenstrasse and Weissenburg to Degerloch, is the most efficient and also destroys relatively few vineyards.
The third route, which Eberhard von Etzel had planned and which was finally laid, met with sharp criticism from Duttenhofer. Two turning plates not only cost unnecessary time, but also valuable ground, and Duttenhofer felt reminded of the Splügen, San Bernardino and Simplon rivers during this route.
The second suggested route favored by Duttenhofer was also built later and is now much more used than Etzel's version.
Traffic route Stuttgart – Ulm
In his letters to Cotta, Duttenhofer rejected a canal connection between Cannstatt and Ulm via the Alb , as it was discussed at times. Instead, he advocated a railway line from Ulm to Göppingen and making the Neckar to Plochingen navigable .
Rescue attempt in favor of the Neckar shipping
Duttenhofer turned to Cotta for the last time in 1830 after he had learned that based on a profitability comparison of various transport routes, it was planned to give up Neckar shipping in favor of railway lines. Instead, Duttenhofer pleaded for the upper Neckar to be made suitable for shipping. Cotta responded to Duttenhofer's request and campaigned in the state parliament for the improvement of the shipping route. A fund of 100,000 florins was finally approved. Twenty years later, however, towing ships on the Neckar were overtaken by the Heilbronn-Cannstatt-Stuttgart railway line.
Honors
- 1818 Awarded the Order of the Württemberg Crown and the associated personal, non-inheritable nobility .
Others
In addition to his main occupation, Duttenhofer belonged to the "Association for Fatherland Studies", which King Wilhelm founded in 1822, worked for the " Statistical-Topographical Bureau " founded in 1820 and was a member of the "Natural Research Society in Swabia" and the "Agricultural Association."
Duttenhofer, who lost his wife and two daughters between 1822 and 1824, remained employed until the end of his life.
The grave of the Duttenhofer family is in the Hoppenlaufriedhof in Stuttgart ; the stone was restored in the 1980s. In Nürtingen there is a Duttenhoferstraße, which is named after Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer's grandfather Jakob Friedrich .
literature
- Fritz Bürkle, Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer (1758–1836). Pioneer of hydraulic engineering in Württemberg , Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-608-91521-4 ( Publications of the Stuttgart City Archives . Volume 41)
Web links
- Literature by and about Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer in the catalog of the German National Library
- The Duttenhofer family in Oberensingen and Nürtingen
- Christhard Schrenk: Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer (1758-1836), published on April 19, 2018 in: Stadtarchiv Stuttgart, Stadtlexikon Stuttgart
Individual evidence
- ↑ Date and place of death according to Willi Zimmermann: Heilbronn. The Neckar: the city's fateful river . Heilbronner Voice, Heilbronn 1985, ISBN 3-921923-02-6 , p. 93 (series on Heilbronn. Book 10).
- ^ Quoted from Fritz Bürkle, Karl August Friedrich von Duttenhofer (1758–1836). Pioneer of hydraulic engineering in Württemberg , Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-608-91521-4 , p. 18.
- ^ Helmut Marcon, Heinrich Strecker, Günter Randecker, 200 years of economics and political science at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen , Verlag Franz Steiner 2004, ISBN 3-515-06657-8 , p. 294.
- ↑ quoted from Bürkle 1988, p. 94.
- ↑ Deer Park. The New Lake gets a new seal ( memento from April 19, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ).
- ↑ quoted from Bürkle 1988, p. 117.
- ↑ quoted from Bürkle 1988, p. 133.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated February 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 27, 2009.
- ↑ https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/stn/page/1937024_0_2147_von-den-menschen-hinter-der- Adresse.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 30, 2009.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Duttenhofer, Karl August Friedrich von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Duttenhofer, Karl August Friedrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 15, 1758 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Oberensingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 16, 1836 |
| Place of death | Stuttgart |