Taxiway Großfragant

Taxiway Großfragant
Processing plant, Großfragant, 1915–1918
Hiking trail on the disused route Location map from the tunnels in Großfraganttal to the Tauernbahn near Obervellach
Route length:	4.4 km
Gauge :	600 mm ( narrow gauge )
Legend stollen 0.0 Gallery mouth hole Großfragant Taxiway Großfragant 4.4 Mountain station of the Grafenberg material cable car Material ropeway 0.0 Valley station of the material cable car Mölltal taxiway 8.0 Valley station of the Raufen material cable car Material ropeway Mountain station of the material cable car Tauern Railway : Obervellach

The Großfragant taxiway was a field railway operated by the Austro-Hungarian land forces at Innerfragant in Austria during the First World War .

history

From the end of the 17th century to the end of the First World War , copper and sulfur were mined in the Großfragant . The deposit was discovered in 1689 and developed by Hans Adam Stampfer . At first, the copper ores could only be transported into the valley in winter by sledges and sack trucks. There was little mining activity from 1872–1876. From 1890 mining was intensified.

In order to simplify transport, the 4400 meter long field railway was laid out in 1906 for transporting ore. The used underground Hunte were on hand for a short time before the newly built cable car pushed or draft animals moved there.

During the First World War, mining was operated by the 10th Army . During this time, mining experienced a climax with the use of Russian prisoners of war , even overexploitation was carried out. In the post-war period, state-run mining declined again because the war-related metal shortage ceased, there were no longer any prisoners of war available as cheap labor and the transport of the ore to and via the Tauern Railway was comparatively complex and expensive.

The mining industry was shut down in 1921 and has not been maintained since 1927. Within three months the tunnels were full of water. The mountain house was then taken over and operated as Fraganter Hütte by the Alpine Association.

Location and route

The mine is about 1800 m above sea level. The ore that was broken underground was processed by stealers near the mouth of the tunnel . It was then brought to Grafenberg on the 4.5 km long taxiway, which was laid almost horizontally . From there it was lowered about 1000 meters downhill to the bottom of the Mölltal using a material cable car . Then it was brought to the valley station of another cable car in Raufen on an 8 km long taxiway , from where it was pulled up about 300 meters to the Obervellach station of the Tauernbahn .

Themed hiking trail

A themed hiking trail set up in 2019 informs hikers about ore extraction and the working conditions in mining and ore processing, for which women, children and Russian prisoners of war were also employed from 1915 to 1918.

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  Round panorama from the runway, Großfragant, 1915–1918

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Siegmund Prey: The former large fragile copper and pebble mine. In: Communications from the Geological Society in Vienna. 54th Volume 1961, pp. 163-200 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Lang, Alexandra Kimmer and Gerhard Baumhackl: Alm and hut hikes Carinthia: 51 tours between Großglockner and Koralm. With GPS tracks.
3. ↑ Large question photos in the Austrian State Archives, War Archives (1915–1918):
   582 war mines, miners, houses ,
   583 Russian barracks ,
   584 round panorama from the taxiway ,
   585 round panorama from the taxiway ,
   586 round panorama from the taxiway ,
   587 panorama from the taxiway ,
   588 panorama of the runway ,
   589 Russians barracks ,
   590 Russians barracks ,
   591 Russians barracks ,
   592 production well filling location ,
   593 Old mountain house, officer accommodation ,
   594 treatment view ,
   595 Klaubhütte ,
   596 new Berghaus ,
   597 view of the mountain building and
   598 conveying Kappel in the pit .
4. ^ Hans Adam Stampfer - An inner Austrian trade life of the 17th century. (PDF) In: historerverein-stmk.at. Retrieved February 29, 2020 . 
5. ↑ limited preview in the Google book search
6. ↑ Adolf Salzmann: The importance of the Styrian-Carinthian trade family Stampfer, imperial counts in the empire of the Habsburgs and the Fuggers, from the point of view of the European cultural heritage . In: Geo.Alp . 2007 ( online at ZOBODAT [PDF; accessed February 29, 2020]).
7. ↑ Another report from the “Bezirksblatt Spittal ad Drau”: The taxiway in Großfragant becomes a themed hiking trail.

Coordinates: 46 ° 57 ′ 31.3 "  N , 13 ° 2 ′ 57.8"  E