Maximilian colliery

Maximilian colliery
General information about the mine
Chew and administration building of the Maximilian colliery, built in 1913/14
Information about the mining company
Start of operation	1904
End of operation	August 23, 1914
Successor use	1920–21 I. attempted resuscitation of the Röchling group; 1940–1944 Second attempt to revive Reichswerke Hermann Göring; 1952–53 British Army Training Area on the Rhine; 1953–68 fallow land, 1968 partial demolition; 1978 Well filling and preparation for the 1st State Garden Show in North Rhine-Westphalia; 1984 State Horticultural Show; From 1985 Maximilianpark
Funded raw materials
Degradation of	Hard coal
Geographical location
Coordinates	51 ° 40 '49 "  N , 7 ° 52' 57"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 40 '49 "  N , 7 ° 52' 57"  E
Location Maximilian colliery
Location	Werries
local community	Hamm
Independent city ( NUTS3 )	Hamm
country	State of North Rhine-Westphalia
Country	Germany
District	Ruhr area

The bill Maximilian was a coal - mine in Hamm . Their designation was derived from the name of the operating company, the Eisenwerkgesellschaft Maximilianhütte . This in turn was named after Maximilian II, King of Bavaria . Today the sports and recreation park “ Maximilianpark ” is located on the former colliery site .

history

Prehistory and construction of the mine

Shafts 1 and 2 under construction, June 1903

The history of the Maximilian colliery begins at the turn of the century 1899/1900 with eight deep boreholes in the former municipalities of Werries and Ostwennemar near Hamm. These boreholes went down to a depth of 840 m and provided evidence of rich coal reserves . The " Oberpfälzische Eisenwerkgesellschaft Maximilianshütte " from Sulzbach-Rosenberg then acquired seven and a half Prussian maximal fields (approx. 15 hectares) in order to establish a mine as a supply mine for the hut. As with most Hammer collieries, the operator's smelting works required coke as the main reason for the investment. This should achieve greater independence from the coal syndicate of the Ruhr area.

The company started the preparatory work on August 22, 1902 with only eighteen men to sink two shafts . The sinking itself began in December and January 1902/1903. The workforce had been increased to 200 for this. The sinking work was repeatedly hampered by water ingress and other problems.

In 1904, around 5 m³ of water per minute penetrated into shaft II at a depth of 419 m. Two months later, the same amount of water broke into shaft I, this time at 484 m. The cause was a brine-bearing rift system ; this also made the installation of water retention facilities necessary. In addition, a delivery bucket that could hold 12 m³ was purchased to swamp the shaft . The volumes of water extracted in this way were fed directly into the Geithebach , which was permanently damaged by the salty water. The shafts themselves received segmental lining to seal them against the water-bearing mountains . In addition, a new cement that also hardens in salt water had to be used. After the swamps in November 1904, work could be resumed.

Further water ingress followed in July 1906 in shaft I. The brine had an even higher salt concentration and the bulk quantity was also significantly higher at 8 m³ per minute. These new collapses took place at 588 and 619 m. After all these adversities, the workers of Shaft I reached the carbon , the seam-bearing layer, at a depth of 634 m in February 1907 . On February 21st the first coal could be mined, a total of 2,490 t that had accumulated in the shaft area. But the end of the difficulties was far from over, as parts of Tomson's water drawing device fell into the shaft. As a result, the sump was filled with rubble, so that the brine began to rise. So initially there was no question of continuing the work. The necessary repairs lasted until the end of 1908 before work on the shafts could continue. At this point in time, the new neighboring mines Radbod (founded in 1905) and De Wendel (founded in 1901) had already started their regular operations. At 767 m erteufte one another coal seam in shaft I and put the filling location of the second sole on. While things did not go entirely according to plan underground , most of the daytime facilities were built between 1905 and 1908. The colliery settlements also emerged during this time and changed the face of the rural communities of Werries and Ostwennemar, which were now significantly more urban.

The coal was not transported via the RLE railway line, which still exists today , but with a specially built standard-gauge connecting route between the southwestern colliery area via today's Neuenkamp road and on to the Hamm – Warburg railway line . There was a long parallel siding between Westtünnen and Rhynern station. Obviously this line was built because the former RLE line, which led past the colliery, was only meter gauge , it only became standard gauge in 1940. Thanks to bridges and routes, parts of this connecting route can still be traced in the landscape and on maps.

The Maximilian colliery continued to struggle with difficulties. On February 6, 1909, the first miners died. A gas blower hurled around 100 tons of coal dust into the southern cross passage . Any help came too late for four of the miners ; another was recovered seriously injured. In the next two years there were a total of twelve such gas leaks, the consequences of which, however, were less serious. As early as 1910 it was again the sole that interrupted the work and required the insertion of segments. They were installed at a depth of 451 m at the level of the penetrations, which this time had a thickness of 7.8 m³ per minute. That is why shaft II did not reach carbon until a year later. The alignment work produced 11,303 tons of coal.

Coal mining

Almost ten years after the start of work, the systematic coal mining could finally begin in 1912 . The annual production of this year was 16,000 t and was provided with about 600 men. By 1913 the workforce had grown to 2,063 men, 1,259 of them underground, and the annual production rose to 101,851 tons of coal. The Berechtsame the operator was split into two fields on February 7, 1913: Southern field Maximilian with 11 km² and northern Bavaria field with 4.4 km².

In 1912 the construction of the coal washing plant and the ancillary extraction plants began, which were completed in 1913. The coking plant , also started in 1912, went into operation in January 1914. The mine employed a total of 2,566 people that year, 92 of whom were salaried employees and the remaining workers. This upswing was stopped again by a flood. This time the brine broke into the mining operations from the overburden with such force that the water masses had to be pumped to the surface from the first level and later from the second level after unsuccessful damming attempts . The problem worsened when the riser broke in the second level on July 7, 1914. The seven piston pumps could barely hold the salty and carbonated water. There were no pipe connectors for the newly installed centrifugal pump . However, this was not due to a lack of planning, but rather to the beginning of the First World War . The material required by the Maximilian colliery could not be transported by rail because of the extensive troop transports. So the spare parts stayed with the manufacturer.

This then led directly to the literal demise of the mine. After around 500 men had been called up for military service, the mine could no longer be held. The water flow rose to 15 m³ / min on August 11, 1914 and finally overwhelmed the running pumps. The piston pumps were normally designed for around 1 m³. The overload led to their premature wear. After the buddies were ankle-deep and finally even up to their chest in the water, it came as it had to. The Westfälische Anzeiger reported on August 13: "The bill Maximilian drowned!" .

The brine flowing in at that time had a salt content of 9% and a temperature of 31 ° C. The existence of brine springs in the Hammer city area was by no means unknown at the time, after all, a brine spring was found in Werries as early as 1876 during test drillings for coal, i.e. in the immediate vicinity of the mine. The mining entrepreneur Friedrich Grillo bought the spring for 100,000 marks and directed it through Hamm to Unna- Königsborn. The Hammer managed to connect to this line and thus built the " Bad Hamm " in 1883 after the building of the bathhouse and the Kurhaus .

As a result of Absaufens the coal mine, the work was stopped underground, because the water reached not only the first floor, it was after four weeks even days out. The workforce was finally reduced to 15 men who were supposed to secure the daytime facilities . The other miners moved to the neighboring collieries of Saxony in Heessen, Heinrich-Robert (then still de Wendel ) in Pelkum and Radbod in Bockum-Hövel and the Westphalia in Ahlen . The Maximilian colliery was closed.

"Resuscitation Attempts"

Relics from Shaft III

On February 23, 1920, the general assembly of the Röchling Group , now the largest shareholder in Maxhütte, decided to make another attempt to get hold of the coal. Boreholes were started to the northwest of the drained shafts and a location that seemed more promising was found in the immediate vicinity of the Datteln-Hamm Canal, in the area between today's Marderweg road and an allotment garden, and water ingress was not expected here. Finally, the drilling of the Maximilian III and IV shafts began. The reason for the persistence was the huge coal reserve, which was estimated at a total of 200 million tons. The above-ground buildings and a wagon train to the old location were also built. At the beginning of April, depths of 40 and 70 m had already been reached. On April 7, 1921, however, due to a lack of money and the “opaque political situation”, it was decided to stop the work and the daytime facilities were sold for demolition. Instead, the Mont Cenis colliery in Herne was supported.

By this time the shafts had already been sunk to 40 m and a shaft building and foundations for a boiler system, two shaft towers and the hoisting machine had been erected. In 1925 the shafts were safely covered, and the area immediately south of the Datteln-Hamm Canal has been fallow ever since.

The fields "Maximilian" and "Bayern" as well as the mine itself were transferred to the Reichswerke Hermann Göring in 1940 . On November 29, 1941, in the middle of the Second World War , the coal union of the Reichswerke applied for a permit to build a double shaft in the "Bavaria" field (Bavaria I / II). The new location was north of the Datteln-Hamm Canal , about 1.5 km from the old facility. In 1943, the shafts were actually sunk and various above-ground buildings were erected. The depth had to be broken off in 1944 at 639 meters. The war made further work impossible. It was the last attempt to get to the coal under Werries and Ostwennemar with a separate mine. The buildings constructed so far for the Bavaria shaft were only demolished in 1969. Only a few foundations are reminiscent of the planned shaft system, the 3.50 m high ventilation pipe ( Protego hood ) on the site of today's riding club, which protrudes from the shaft that was filled in 1981, and a bus stop called Schacht Bayern .

After the war, the fields remained in the hands of the Zeche Sachsen until 1968 and then passed to Ruhrkohle AG . The Saxony mine was closed in 1976. Since then, mining in the eastern urban area of ​​what is now Hamm has also stopped underground.

After the end of the business

The wash house , like some other buildings on the site, was converted. She served u. a. as a furniture and joinery workshop and as a furniture store. The coal washing silos were used by the Reichs Grain Department as storage facilities; School classes were taught in the administration between 1922 and 1932. The stairwell between the Kaue and the administration was even used as a Catholic emergency church . The fairs there took place between 1927 and 1930. In 1952, the assets were confiscated by the British Army, the then two tanks in Hamm barracks maintained and the site as a training area for armored force used. For this purpose, the Alte Uentroper Weg and the access to Maximilianpark were expanded as a concrete slab road. However, this remained an intermezzo of only one year. After that, the site lay fallow from 1953 to 1968.

In 1968 the first plants are demolished. The municipality of Werries wanted to design a new center at the old colliery site and was speculating on funding, which it never received. The demolition of the two coal bunkers is the only remaining sign of this plan.

Maximilian Park

The landmark of the Maximilian Park in Ostwennemar

In 1975 the colliery came into being as part of the incorporation of Werries into the urban area of ​​the newly created city of Hamm. Since then it has belonged to the Uentrop district. From 1978 onwards, Hamm successfully tried to organize the first state horticultural show in North Rhine-Westphalia on the orphaned colliery site. Therefore, since 1978, the shafts were filled .

Due to years of non-use, the area, which was in free succession , had developed a shrub meadow character. Numerous trees have also grown here. The species-rich vegetation had become a retreat for countless endangered plant and animal species.

In 1980, the state horticultural show was finally awarded to Hamm, so that the city began mapping the biotope in order to be able to check whether it was worthy of protection. These protected areas should be preserved during the construction of the new amusement park . On October 1, 1981, the groundbreaking ceremony took place on the colliery site for the State Garden Show, which then opened its doors from April 14 to September 30, 1984. The administration building, the machine hall and the electrical center in historic brick architecture , which still exist from the founding time, are now integrated into the park. The glass elephant , which is one of Hamm's landmarks today, can be seen as a prime example of this integration .

The facility was named Maximilianpark after the colliery . Today it is a nationally important center for culture, local recreation and sport.

literature

• Stefan Klönne: Radbod, Maximilian, Heinrich-Robert, Saxony. Hammer mines through the ages. Self-published, undated (Bockum-Hövel) undated (approx. 2000).
• Wilhelm Hermann, Gertrude Hermann: The old mines on the Ruhr. 6th expanded and updated edition, Verlag Karl Robert Langewiesche, successor Hans Köster KG, Königstein im Taunus 2006, ISBN 3-78456994-3 .
• Peter Voss: The mines in Hamm: pictorial chronicle of the mines Heinrich Robert, Maximilian, Radbod, Saxony, Westphalia . Regio-Verl., Werne 1994, ISBN 3-929158-03-5 .

Web links

• Maximilian Park
• Industrial culture route: Maximilianpark

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See topographic map 1: 25,000 2435 (L 4313), Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme, 1927
2. ↑ Quotation from: Stefan Klönne: Radbod, Maximilian, Heinrich-Robert, Sachsen. Hammer mines through the ages. Self-published, undated (Bockum-Hövel) undated (approx. 2000), p. 23.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Heimatblätter Hamm, supplement to: Westfälischer Anzeiger July 2012
4. ↑ so Carl Röchling in a conference on April 30, 1921; Note in: Heimatblätter Hamm, supplement to: Westfälischer Anzeiger July 2012