Brine line (Bad Reichenhall)
From 1609, brine , which could not be processed due to a lack of capacity in the Saline in Reichenhall , was pumped to the Traunstein Branch Saline via the Reichenhall brine pipeline . Between 1808 and 1810 the line was modernized and extended to Rosenheim . Even after the Traunstein salt works closed in July 1912, the brine pipeline remained in operation and delivered brine to the branch salt works in Rosenheim until 1958.
Reichenhall - Traunstein
history
Planning and construction
A lack of wood was the main reason for the construction of the brine pipeline between the salt works in Reichenhall and the branch salt works in Traunstein . Although the saltworks were already being supplied with vast amounts of firewood from the surrounding communities and also from the Saalforsten in Pinzgau in Salzburg , the saltworks had already reached the limit of its capacity. After a strong and abundant source of brine could be tapped during repair work on the well shaft in 1613, the aim was not to allow the additional brine to drain away unused. Court Chamber Councilor Oswald Schuß suggested to Duke Maximilian I that the brine be directed to a second salt works in Siegsdorf . In addition to increasing production, a shorter route to the consumer was another argument. Instead of Siegsdorf, the decision was made to set up the branch saline in Traunstein. The city could be supplied with firewood from the surrounding forests and along the Traun . Like the Saalach in Bad Reichenhall, the water of the Traun was also used for the wood drift . In addition, the forests in Chiemgau were owned by the Bavarian Duke. After Tobias Volckmer had measured the route , it was decided to take the route via Thumsee , Antoniberg, Weißbach an der Alpenstraße , Inzell and Siegsdorf to Traunstein. The alternative route via Schneizlreuth and the Weißbach Gorge was discarded despite the better availability of impact water due to its proximity to the border with Salzburg. The third route north of the Chiemgau Alps ran between Piding and Neukirchen directly over the Salzburg region and was therefore not considered. The building contractor, Hanns Reiffenstuel , was commissioned to build the brine pipeline together with his son Simon Reiffenstuel from 1617 to 1619. At the same time, father and son Reiffenstuel built the Saline Traunstein with four brewhouses, four houses, workshops, magazines and houses for the saltworkers. The construction of the Trift systems in Traunstein, as well as the opening of the Roter and Weißer Traun and the construction of several Klausen also fell within their responsibility . The lead and bronze parts for the pumps were cast in Munich, the lead for the risers was obtained from Salzburg dealers and from a mine in Litzlfelden near St. Johann in Tirol . At the first Brunnhaus Fager , a lime kiln and a casting furnace were built to manufacture the lead pipes. In the first year, all of the fountain houses could be completed, all of which were built according to the same plan. Between the Fager and Seebichl wells , a mountain spur beneath today's Amerang tower ruins was broken through and secured by masonry. An additional pedal wheel was installed in the Brunnhaus Obernesselgraben so that the pump could also be driven by human power in the event of a water shortage.
A test of the line in May 1619 showed that the pressure in the dykes between the Obernesselgraben and Nagling wells was too great and the dykes burst, so Reiffenstuel also had the Grub well built. In order to maintain the necessary gradient from the elevated tank to the next well, a wooden tower, the “Pichlerturm”, was also built. Grub went into operation in December 1619.
When construction began in 1617, four master carpenters, 44 carpenters , several bricklayers and day laborers were employed. In addition, stone breakers , lumberjacks , carters and other workers were hired. Initially, the carpenters received 14 kreuzer daily wages, after they had stopped their work after five weeks of construction on the grounds that “staying in the frembd also had to buy lard and other high-value goods”, they received one more kreuzer. In order not to lose any time, the topping-out ceremony for the fountain houses was waived; after the work was completed, the carpenters received an additional sum of money instead of the usual first wine.
Since the line was laid above ground and partly in impassable terrain, avalanches , rockfalls and mudslides repeatedly destroyed parts of the facilities. The line also suffered from vandalism, in Inzell the residents often drilled the dikes in order to take brine for domestic use. The lead of the risers was also a coveted stolen property. In the 1750s the damage got out of hand, which is why the perpetrators were threatened with the death penalty for malicious damage to the line.
The brine pipeline performed its service without major problems for almost 200 years. Only at the Brunnhaus in Obernesselgraben did the saltworks commissioner Johann Sebastian von Clais have the riser extended, the pump modified and further streams fed in to supply water. For the Stabach coming from the Jochberg a 31 meter long rose was created.
Modernization from 1808
In the years 1808 to 1810 Georg Friedrich von Reichenbach extended the brine pipeline to Rosenheim and modernized the route to Traunstein. He now used his Reichenbach water column machine to transport the brine . With around 230 liters of brine per minute, it was able to convey around two and a half times the amount of the previous pumps. The new technology also made it possible to overcome greater height differences with a pump. Therefore the Brunnhäuser Obernesselgraben and Lettenklause could be closed. The lead risers were replaced by cast iron pipes. Von Reichenbach built an additional brine reserve in Zwing near Inzell in order to reduce the pressure in the line and to control the inflow of brine. In the course of the renovation of the brine pipeline, several wells were replaced by new buildings. The construction work for the 81 km long route was completed in 1810. Even after the salt production in the Filialsaline in Traunstein was discontinued in July 1912, the brine pipeline remained in operation. Until the 1930s, the brine from Bad Reichenhall was transported via the brine pipeline for the spa and bathing operations in Traunstein.
Use in the 1830s
The great fire in Reichenhall in 1834 destroyed the salt works and almost all houses in the city. In the days after the fire, the main focus was on the brine pipeline, which was poorly repaired and already two days after the end of the fire, on November 11, 1834, transported brine again to the branch salt pans in Traunstein and Rosenheim. During this time, they had to bear the brunt of the Bavarian salt production, which was an important source of income for the kingdom.
technology
The height difference was overcome as a technical innovation in seven wells with piston pressure pumps , which were operated by water wheels up to seven meters high . These bronze pump boots were a further development of the piston pressure pumps already known at the time, were designed by Simon Reiffenstuel and made the construction of the line possible in the first place. They transported the brine from the well through lead pipes up to a collecting basin, the high reserve . From there, using the natural gradient, the brine flowed to the low reserve of the next well, from where the brine was pumped on again. The only exception was the Brunnhaus Hammer , which only had brine reserves that were used to regulate the flow rate into the saline in Traunstein . The salt requirements of the Traunsteiner Saline could be stored in all brine reserves for a good week. The construction of the systems turned out to be difficult because the pipeline had to be laid in sections along steep mountain slopes and the drive water often had to be very laboriously brought to the wells. For the Brunnhäuser in the Nesselgraben west of the Thumsee , the water from several streams had to be pooled and transported to the two pumps via a 6 km long pipe network. Each pump was able to deliver up to 90 liters of brine per minute. A fountain warden was deployed per well , who was responsible for monitoring the machines and the brine pipes. Again and again the drawbars of the line had to be replaced, so there was a pond at every well that served as a drawbar pick . The tree trunks that had been prepared and stored in the water could not jump open. The brunnwarte also carried the so-called Brunnpost between the salt pans to the next Brunnhaus on their daily patrols . The delivery took about two days and was therefore significantly faster than the usual post.
The brine pipe itself consisted of approximately 4 m long spruce trunks . The drawbars with a bore of twelve centimeters were connected to one another by long iron sleeves . The 31-kilometer pipeline was built from around 9,000 drawbars, and the pumps overcame a total difference in altitude of 340 m. The highest point of the brine pipeline between Weißbach and Inzell - the elevated tank of the Lettenklause - was about 240 m higher than the salt works in Bad Reichenhall. The Saline Traunstein at the end of the downhill section was only 100 m higher than the Saline in Reichenhall. The brine pipeline ran underground within the city of Bad Reichenhall, otherwise above ground.
After the extension to Rosenheim and the modernization of the previous route to Traunstein by Georg von Reichenbach , the previous pumps were replaced by the Reichenbach water column machine. The Brunnhäuser Obernesselgraben and Lettenklause were shut down, the lead riser pipes were replaced by cast iron pipes and an additional brine reserve was built in Zwing near Inzell.
Well houses
The following wells were located between Bad Reichenhall and Traunstein:
| Fountain house | Height difference |
|---|---|
| Fager | 54 meters |
| Seebichl | 60 meters |
| Unteresselgraben | 48 meters |
| Obernessel gifts | 49 meters |
| Grub | 31 meters |
| Nagling | 54 meters |
| Lettenklause | 50 meters |
| Fountain house | Height difference |
|---|---|
| Fager | 54 meters |
| Seebichl | 60 meters |
| Unteresselgraben | 97 meters |
| Grub | 31 meters |
| Nagling | 104 meters |
Starting from the Bad Reichenhall saltworks at an altitude of 482 m above sea level. NN the brine became the elevated tank of the Lettenklause (from 1810 Nagling) at an altitude of 725 m above sea level. NN conveyed and flowed from there to the Saline Traunstein , which at an altitude of 580 m above sea level. NN lies.
Former Brunnhaus Obernesselgraben , above the high reserve (photo around 1870)
Brunnhaus Fager on Thumseestrasse in Bad Reichenhall
Brunnhaus Grub in Weißbach
Map of the brine pipeline by Adrian von Riedl (1796)
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Todays use
Between Bad Reichenhall and Traunstein there are several themed hiking trails on the route of this brine pipeline. The old route between Kirchberg and Weißbach is an uninterrupted hiking trail. You can find out more about the old brine pipeline on several display boards that are distributed all along the way. Remnants of the brine pipeline are still visible, but the wooden drawbars are now largely rotted or overgrown with vegetation that they can hardly be seen. Only Fager and Seebichl in Bad Reichenhall and Nagling in Weißbach and a building in Hammer are still preserved from the well houses. These are now privately owned or not accessible to the public.
The Salzalpensteig long-distance hiking trail, opened in 2015, leads along former brine pipelines.
Reichenhall - Traunstein - Rosenheim
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From 1808 to 1810, Georg von Reichenbach extended the brine line from Bad Reichenhall to Traunstein to Rosenheim. It branched off the Traunstein line at Siegsdorf , was 79 km long and was built from iron pipes. He used a water column machine he had developed as a brine lifting machine to lift the water for the brine pipes. Until 1958, brine was transported in these lines from the salt works in Reichenhall and Berchtesgaden for salt production to Rosenheim. In the community of Grassau, one of the last completely preserved pumping stations was converted into the Klaushäusl Museum . After 148 years of operation, it was closed on July 1, 1958.
Trivia
Adrian von Riedl wrote in his Reise Atlas von Baiern published in 1796 : "Every Baier patriot is guilty of praising such a great work for posterity".
literature
- Heinrich Kurtz: The brine pipeline from Reichenhall to Traunstein 1617 - 1619. A contribution to the technical history of Bavaria. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich, 1978. ISBN 3-48-621801-8
- Fritsch Landkartenverlag: Historic saltworks paths between Watzmann and Chiemsee. Hof / Saale, no year
- Fritz Hofmann : Reichenhall Salt Library. Published by the city of Bad Reichenhall, 1995
- Hubert Vogel: History of Bad Reichenhall. Published by the city of Bad Reichenhall in 1995; Druck Anton Plenk KG, Berchtesgaden; P. 75f
- Andreas Hirsch: Pioneer Management Overcomes Heights (pdf); Heimatblätter No. 2/2019 as a supplement to the Reichenhaller Tagblatt on heimatkundeverein-reichenhall.de
- Mathias Döring: 400 years of Upper Bavarian brine pipelines. Water management 4/2020, 12–18.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Andreas Hirsch: Pioneering achievement overcomes heights in the Heimatbl Blätter 2/2019 of February 25, 2019 as a supplement to the Reichenhaller Tagblatt
- ^ Heinrich Kurtz: The brine pipeline from Reichenhall to Traunstein 1617-1619. Deutsches Museum, 1978, ISBN 3-486-21801-8 .
- ↑ Herbert Pfisterer: Bad Reichenhall in its Bavarian history . Motor + Touristik, Munich 2000.
- ↑ Gernot Pältz: A building ensemble of a special kind in the Chiemgau-Blätter 3/2020 of January 18, 2020 as a supplement to the Traunsteiner Tagblatt
