Artificial moat

Hutthaler Graben at the Unterer Hutthaler Teichdamm aqueduct

Covered section of the Hohbirker Kunstgraben near Brand-Erbisdorf

The moat tour, artificial moat to supply the IV and V light holes of the Rothschönberger tunnel

Vaulted arches over the Zellerfeld artificial ditch

As Kunstgraben be moats designated on the mines with water to drive water wheels were provided.

background

Until the invention of the steam engine , water power was the main driving force behind the various driving machines in mining, such as B. Artificial wheels , sweeping wheels , water column machines or turbines .

To solve the mine workings, which were being driven into ever greater depths , stronger forces were also required. The water available in the vicinity of the pits was not sufficient for this. In many cases, springs dried up due to pitting in the mine workings. As a result, some of the required water had to be brought in over long distances.

investment

The aim was to maintain as great a difference in height as possible from the lower drain at the location of the hydropower machine. This difference is called the premium . For this purpose, the artificial trenches were created with a very low gradient so that they appear to represent contour lines in the terrain . You will follow the meanders of the valleys. In order to overcome natural obstacles, the artificial trenches were often led through florets , more rarely over aqueducts ; the most famous artificial moat aqueducts were the Altväterbrücke near Halsbrücke and the Sperberhaier Damm in the Harz Mountains.

Typically an artificial ditch begins at a weir or water divider and leads over florets and artificial ponds created for water storage to the pit. The water power machine is usually connected to a service and a vent. A path was laid parallel to the artificial moat, which the ditch climber used as a path when he drove to the weir to pull the riflemen. As far as they are still preserved, these paths are often used as hiking trails.

The artificial trenches were often covered with rinds. This served on the one hand to keep the trenches clean and protect them from overgrowth, on the other hand to protect the trenches from destruction by cattle. Furthermore, the operators of the trenches protected themselves against claims for damages from neighboring landowners, who had to put up with the creation of the artificial trenches in return for compensation because of the loss of yield and area, and who often made claims for allegedly drowned cattle or game.

Well-known examples

• Ash trench
• Ditch
• Grave tour near Freiberg
• Grüner Graben near Eibenstock
• Grüner Graben near Pobershau
• Upper Harz trenches
• Upper Harz watercourses
• Plattner Kunstgraben
• Reitzenhainer Zeuggraben
• Red moat
• Zellerfelder Kunstgraben
• Silberhütte artificial pit

See also

• Revierwasserlaufanstalt Freiberg (RWA)
• Upper Harz water shelf
• Lower Harz pond and ditch system
• Wuhr

literature

• Georg Agricola : De Re Metallica Libri XII . Twelve books on mining and metallurgy. Marixverlag, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-86539-097-8 (Latin, unchanged reprint of the first edition by VDI-Verlag 1928).
• Lysann Petermann: The Rothschönberger Stolln . In: Series mining history of the Altzella monastery region . Reinsberg 2005, The Grave Tour, p. 2-12 .
• Herbert Pforr: The Erzgebirge artificial trench system and the water power machines for dewatering and shaft extraction in the historic Freiberg silver mining . Ed .: RDB eV (=  mining . No. 11 ). Makossa, Essen 2007, p. 502–505 ( rdb-ev.de [PDF; 662 kB ; accessed on April 22, 2015]).
• Siegfried Sieber : On the history of mining in the Ore Mountains . Wilhelm-Knapp-Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1954, p. 135 .
• Otfried Wagenbreth : The Freiberg mining . Technical monuments and history. Ed .: Eberhard Wächtler . 2nd Edition. German publishing house for basic industry, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-342-00117-8 .