Sulzbacher Mining Path
The Sulzbacher Bergbaupfad near the Upper Palatinate town of Sulzbach-Rosenberg is one of the stops on the Bavarian Iron Road . The Upper Palatinate has been one of the most important iron centers in Central Europe since the 13th century due to its deposits of iron ore and lignite (see also Mining in the Upper Palatinate ).
The mining nature trail shows the former daytime facilities of the ore mines , the work routes of the miners at the time and the "Max" exhibition tunnel of the field railway. The iron ore deposits in the Amberg-Sulzbach-Auerbacher area are located on a long geological fault line called the “ pile ”, which extends from the Bavarian Forest to Upper Austria.
Geology and conveyor technology
At the beginning of the Cretaceous Period - around 120 million years ago - the ores were deposited on the Jurassic limestone by ascending ferrous solutions , which today still characterizes the landscape west of the fault line. Later, sand and clay covered the ore deposits and thus protected them from erosion. The Eichelberg , St.Georg, St.Anna (Schützenheim and Galgenberg), Karoline, Etzmannsberg , Fromm, Karolinegrube and Grossenfalz deposits lie along the fault line .
The iron comes from the weathering of the granites and gneisses of the eastern basement . The Fe transport took place in solutions that settled as brown iron (FeOOH) when they hit the Malm limestone . The deposits are up to 40 m thick and contain an average of 46% Fe, as well as manganese and phosphorus compounds and silica. As quartz, the latter filled large parts of the “pile” earth crevice.
The ore was extracted in quarries , in which the overlying layers are collapsed after mining. After several "dismantling" from top to bottom, the terrain sinks, whereby the demolitions and pings - often filled with water - are still visible today. Important opencast mines were, among others, at Fromm, Etzmannsberg and the Karolinegrube.
Charles IV promoted ore and iron mining by exempting mining and customs duties; the first iron hammer was built in 1366 by Friedrich Kastner, who was allowed to use the "roses" as a landmark; this "Hammer Philipsburg" produced until 1738.
The ore was smelted without processing. It was initially less suitable for the steel production methods of that time because of the phosphorus, but has been usable since the Thomasstahl process of 1887.
To the mining history
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Upper Palatinate was a rich country, mainly due to the mining industry. The parish church of St. Mary in Sulzbach and the late Gothic town hall are witnesses to the prosperity . The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) almost completely destroyed this branch of industry, to which the emigration of Protestant hammer lords and mining experts also contributed. From 1717 the sovereigns ensured a revival of the economy, among other things by relocating a blast furnace to Weiherhammer , a foundation for the ironworks that still exist today . A private ore gallery was also operated at the Schwedenmühle in the 1720s.
The Upper Palatinate mining industry revived more strongly from around 1850 - when the innovations of the coke oven , the steam engine and iron rolling came from England - as well as in the 19th century through the construction of the railway and the material requirements of industrialization . The then operated Eisensteinzechen St. Anna and Etzmannsberg supplied over 30 Upper Palatinate and Bohemian smelters with ore from 1845–1866. In 1856, their purchase by the Kgl contributed to the boom of the Sulzbacher ore mines. Chamberlain Count von Poninsky with.
The Maxhütte , founded in 1853, also had a supply contract with the Count and in 1859 acquired the entire mine property. From 1860 the Sulzbacher pits delivered over 21 million tons of ore to the smelter. The annual maximum in 1959 was over 600,000 tons, the workforce 1,100 employees. In 2002, however, the Maxhütte had to be closed and was rededicated as an imposing industrial monument.
Individual evidence
- ^ Geology of Sulzbach / Rosenberg-Amberg: Genesis of ore bodies. Retrieved March 4, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Sulzbacher Bergbaupfad. ... on the trail of the miners. The Sulzbacher Mining Path. In: bayerische-eisenstrasse.de. Retrieved February 24, 2011 .
- ↑ a b c d Historical group Stiber-Fähnlein: Sulzbacher mining traces. Retrieved February 24, 2011 .