In addition to the visitor mines in the neighbouring towns of Haslach-Schnellingen and Oberwolfach, Hausach also has a small open-air museum dedicated to mining. The facility was initiated and built with the support of the town of Hausach by the Dorfer Erzbrüder, an association founded in 1957 to preserve the mining history of the Black Forest town. It shows the difficult circumstances under which the mined ore was processed in the past. Stations on the tour include a pithead, the large smelting furnace, the ore washing plant and the mine forge. There is also an almost ten kilometre long educational mining trail, which is signposted with lots of interesting information about mining.
Even though the most important mine in the Hausach mining district is not mentioned in a document until 1455, the St. Bernhard silver mine in Hausach was undoubtedly one of the oldest mines in the Kinzig valley. At any rate, around 300 miners are said to have worked in this operation around 1520. The ore was reduced in two pothouses.
Husen Castle was also built around 1230, not only to protect the trade route, but also because of the flourishing silver mining in the surrounding valleys. The town of Hausach is said to have been founded a few years later due to the ore deposits.
The construction of the hammer mill (1740), the cradle of the Hausach industry, can also be traced back to mining.
The miners' first activity was silver mining (galena). Subsequently, they mainly mined heavy and fluorspar as well as iron ore. The steadily declining yield, but above all the cheaper foreign competition, caused the mines to gradually "fall into disuse".
The Prince of Fürstenberg exercised supreme mining rights in the Fürstenberg estates. The directory of the former Fürstlich Fürstenberg Mining Office in Wolfach lists a total of 396 smaller and larger mines in 1849. Despite intensive forest utilisation and numerous road construction measures, around 1000 traces of these mines and mining attempts can still be found today, such as pings (funnel-shaped depressions in the earth's surface caused by the collapse of old mine workings), dumps, adit mouths and shafts. Around 30 mines were of mining importance for a long time. These included the mines "Segen Gottes" near Schnellingen, "Bernhard im Hauserbach", "Erzengel Gabriel" in Einbachtal and "Clara" in Oberwolfach.
To date, there is no clear evidence of the beginnings of mining in the Kinzig valley. There is evidence of Celtic and Roman mining in various areas of the Black Forest. A document for silver mining in the Kinzig Valley dates back to 14 July 1234, in which King Henry VII granted Count Egeno of Freiburg mining rights in the Kinzig Valley and other Black Forest valleys. There is no direct mention of ore mines until the period 1455 - 1491. As in other Black Forest mining areas, the yield of the mines fluctuated considerably due to the irregularity of the ore veins and thus their importance. Mining was intensified at the instigation of Prince Anton Egon von Fürstenberg-Heiligenberg, who had served as governor of Augustus the Strong since 1697 and had thus become familiar with mining in Saxony. He induced the Fürstenbergs in Donauschingen to commission Saxon mining experts to assess the mines and veins in the Kinzig valley. The search for ore deposits in the Kinzig valley was particularly stimulated by the successes in the Wittichen mining district. By 1725, there were already 26 mines in operation near Wittichen, Schapbach and Haslach. For around 100 years, i.e. until 1825/1830, the Kinzig valley experienced numerous, albeit rarely constant, mining activities.
The area of the Kinzigtal and its neighbouring valleys has the largest number of known ore and mineral veins in the Black Forest. These are generally quartz veins, some of which contain silver-bearing ores of lead, zinc, copper and antimony.
The museum is signposted from the roundabout at the entrance to Hausach West.
The site is accessible and signposted at all times. An entrance fee is only payable for guided tours.
Guided tours and hire of the Pochenhaus: Rolf Holderer, Tel. ++4978311611
Interactive museum map: http://www.bo.de/lokales/kinzigtal/kinzigtaeler-museen-ein-ueberblick
