11 The Lipplesgraben – tunnel
Stud Name: "Obernberg - Stollen", original name as a new hill climb
above the Mitterberg tunnel in the Perneck salt storage facility.
"Lipplesgraben - Stollen", later name as locality designation.
Struck: 1567
Length: 236 m
Altitude: 1,001 m
In 1567, under Emperor Maximilian II, the "Alte Steinberg tunnel" in the Steinberg camp and the "Obernberg tunnel" in the Perneck camp were struck.
The Lipplesgraben tunnel, located at 1,001m above sea level, was the highest horizon on the Ischler Salzberg that led to the salt storage.
A mountain survey in 1575 found the field site of the Obernberg tunnel in the Tauben and a trial dig sunk from the back of the head, also in very poor mountains. Nevertheless, it was decided to drive the main shaft a further 110 stakes (119.5 m) in the hope that salt would be found again, albeit in vain.
In the Obernberg tunnel, later known as the Lippelsgraben tunnel, the Pernecker salt deposit was discovered only by chance. Since the tunnel was started at the outcrop of the Pernecker camp below the Reinfalzalm, only the mostly depleted Haselgebirge could be approached.
In 1577, after 14 years of searching and yet nothing special could be found, the mining experts of the Salzamt decided to only design the test dig from the Neuhauser - Kehr im Lipplesgraben - tunnel to a construction and to drain the brine below, a new one Stollen, the Matthias – Stollen, open.
Situation of the pumping pits in the Oberberg tunnel - building around 1600:
A total of 5 waterworks;
on the Neuhauser – bend of the St. Florian – , the Rettenbacher – and an unnamed burrow;
on the main shaft of the Spiller - burrow and an unnamed burrow.
The main shaft of the Lipplesgraben tunnel first went 128 bars (152.6m) through solid limestone, then 45 bars (53.6m) through barren, exhausted rock to reach the salt limit, where the Neuhauser bend was extended to the right.
On the Neuhauser turn there was an old probation pit that was built to investigate the depths of the salt mountains, then the St. Florian - and Rettenbacher - construction and another, unnamed construction. The field location of the 95-stabel (113.2m) long Neuhauser Kehr was in stone and since a stretch of 39-stabel (46.5m) had already fallen, freshwater penetrated there.
On the continuation of the main shaft there was the main quarry down the Archduke Matthias tunnel, because of the poor salt mountain 77 Stabel (92.0m) inwards the Spiller construction and another, unnamed construction, which were later undercut by the Archduke Matthias tunnel and have been prepared for discharge weirs. There was also an old test pit and a lettue weir at the site of the main shaft to prevent the inflow of fresh water.
The length of the Lipplesgraben tunnel - main shaft from the mouth hole to the field site was initially 424 4/8 Stabel (506.0m); but since 199 ½ poles (237.8 m) had fallen back from the field site, 225 poles (268.2 m) were still open. The two burrows on the main shaft collapsed as well.
There were also 4 trenches in the Lipplesgraben tunnel, namely three on the main shaft and one on the Neuhauser bend, namely the drainage trench from the "Lower Water Gallery", which was referred to as the "main treasurer Tusch - Schurf". In addition, there was a test dig from the main shaft and from the Neuhauser - Kehr to explore the salt mountains down to the Archduke Matthias - tunnel.
In order to introduce the fresh water required for watering, the "Nieder Wasserstollen" was installed above the Lipplesgraben tunnel at 1,024m above sea level on the Rainfalz. The Nieder Wasserstollen was driven 75 Stabel (89.4m) long in the Tauben Mountains and was connected via a 31 Stabel (37.0m) long watering pit with the Neuhauser - Kehr located in the Lipplesgraben - adit. The fresh water was collected from a spring located above the drainage pit during the day and brought to this pit through vertical wooden pipes.
Around 1654 the Lipplesgraben tunnel was almost completely drained. From this time on, the tunnel was only kept open to drain fresh water so that it could not cause any damage to the tunnels below.
In 1739 the "middle water gallery" with lateral openings at the Rainfalz and the extension of the drainage system between the mountains were built. Although some water was built with this new tunnel, the hoped-for success was not achieved because the fresh water was still penetrating the Streubel and Seutzen weir in the Frauenholz tunnel. It was not until 1769 that the access to the water was successfully contained by the water digging in the Lipplesgraben tunnel.
In 1769 Hofkammerrat Gigant found the surface water that had penetrated into the Frauenholz tunnel well summarized in the Lipplesgraben tunnel. To protect the salt storage against the sedimentation of rainwater, the daytime area at Rainfalz and between the mountains was criss-crossed by a dense network of drainage ditches and side channels, the constant good maintenance of which required great expense. In order to reduce this, the Verwesamt decided in 1795 to give up that part of the drainage system that ran over lettuce, i.e. water-impermeable ground, and where there was no fear of the ingress of surface water.
Around 1820, the Lipplesgraben tunnel was kept open for ventilation and for the drainage of the fresh water that had been built in this tunnel by creating several water openings.
Those connecting structures that had become superfluous after the drainage pipe was relocated in 1842 were left open. These included the "Niedere Wasserberg - Schachtricht" and the Wasserschurf (Niederer - water tunnel on Lipplesgraben - tunnel), the rear Lipplesgraben - and St. Johannes - tunnel, some stretches in Matthias - and Neuberg - tunnels as well as the Kößler - conversion in the Frauenholz - tunnel.
In 1892, the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Finance approved the construction of a workers' accommodation hut made of stone masonry in place of the wooden hut that stood near the Lipplesgraben tunnel opened in 1567. The construction costs amounted to 934 fl 70 Kr. for the land plaque - insert no. 1023, KG Perneck, BP. No. 18 with a size of 32 m².
Until 1950, the "Stone and wooden water channel on the Rainfalz and between the mountains" was repaired annually by the Ischl salt mine and the construction crew lived in the tunnel hut near the Lipplesgraben tunnel.
On December 31, 1933, the Neuhauser - Kehr and the Wasseröffen in the Lipplesgraben tunnel were closed and shut down. Finally, on April 3, 1934, the proper sealing off of the abandoned Lipplesgraben tunnel was completed and approved in the course of a main inspection.
Sources used:
Carl Schraml "The Upper Austrian salt works from the beginning of the 16th to the middle of the 18th century", Vienna 1932
Carl Schraml "The Upper Austrian Salt Works from 1750 to the time after the French Wars", Vienna 1934
Carl Schraml "The Upper Austrian Salt Works from 1818 to the end of the Salt Office in 1850", Vienna 1936
Johann Steiner "The traveling companion through Upper Austrian Switzerland", Linz 1820, reprint Gmunden 1981
Michael Kefer "Description of the main maps of the kk Salzberg zu Ischl", 1820, transcription by ThomasNussbaumer, as of 09/13/2016
Alfred Pichler "Lipplesgrabenstollenhütte", LFH Linz, 2003
Anton Dicklberger "Systematic history of the salt pans of Upper Austria", Volume I, Ischl 1807, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, as of 06.2018
