Whetstone tunnels
The Wetzsteinstollen is a mine in the Swabian-Franconian Forest near Spiegelberg .
The whetstone tunnel was created from a quarry in which sandstone was quarried for building purposes. In the area around Jux (now a borough of Spiegelberg), there were many such small workings and you hit it in the rocks again and again to a finger-thick layer of particularly hard and fine sandstone, the chunks you set aside laid and then working at home to grinding stones (whetstones ) processed and sold.
Dismantling such a thin layer on mountain slopes in open-cast mining is not particularly worthwhile, because the overburden from the hanging wall exceeds the useful rock many times over. So it was decided around 1880 to dismantle the whetstone underground and drive a tunnel into the mountain. Production ran with interruptions until 1920, when the entrance was closed by a blast .
In 2001 the mine was rediscovered and in 2002 the Spiegelberg Tourist Association opened the entrance. The visitor mine set up afterwards was inaugurated on September 30, 2012, it provides information about geology, history and the production of whetstones.
There are other sites in this area where mining has taken place or has been attempted. An educational trail about five kilometers long leads past quite a few on a circular course.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 1 ′ 18.1 ″ N , 9 ° 26 ′ 1 ″ E