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Interessengemeinschaft Mitterbergstollen IGM IGM - I nteresseng emeinschaft M itterbergstollen Gesamtarbeitsaufwand Stollenportale restaurieren Errichtung Themenweg Via Salis 1 + 2 Wiederauffahrung Moosbergstollen Errichtung Dorfplatz Errichtung Themenweg Via Salis 3 - Soleleitung Errichtung Via Salis Schaustelle Maria Theresiastollen Erweiterung Via Salis Schaustelle Maria Theresiastollen - Kreiselwipper + Versturzgleis Renovierung Bergsäge Maria Theresia Stollen Aktivitäten 2025: Bergsäge Überdachung Kreiselwipper Aktivitäten 2024: 8.4.2024: A GMIATLICHE STUND 09-05-24 Max Neuböck 00:00 / 1:00:24 9.5.2024: 13.5.2024: Arbeiten 2023: Presse ViaSalis 2023.pdf Juli 2023 - Ischler Woche: Dunkle Momente am Ischler Salzberg - Kunstgüterbergung 1944/45 DMIS May 2022 - Upper Austrian news: IGM members were awarded the cultural honor certificate by the city of Bad Ischl Arbeiten 2022: Arbeiten 2021: July 7, 2021: New showroom "brine streak" May 12, 2021: "Pink Waterfalls" May 2021: The memory of the Salzkammergut June 2020: New shows on the VIA SALIS June 2020: Report on the 1920 Sandling landslide 2020 Tunnel mouth Elisabeth watering pit was uncovered for the VIA SALIS: 2020: 3rd season for "VIA SALIS" 26.10.2019 Ischl hiking day 26.10.2019 Opening ceremony 7.9.2019 Impressions of the opening ceremony VIA SALIS and village square Maria Theresia information board 2021 Various works Via Salis 2021 Work showroom brine pipeline 2021 Rosa's Waterfalls 2021 Repair village square 2020 Saw 2020 Elisabeth watering scour 2020 Mitterberg Tunnel 2013 Ludovica tunnel 2014 Lipplesgraben tunnel 2015 Women's wooden stollen 2016 Neuberg tunnel 2016 New Steinberg tunnel 2017 Marterl 2021 Cut free Maria Theresia Staircase 2021 Clearing Kirchenfeld 2021 Concrete element from Rinnwerk bergen 2020 Drainage 2020 Johannes tunnel 2014 Mathias tunnel 2014 Elisabeth tunnel 2016 Josefstollen 2016 Old Steinberg tunnel 2017 Rabenbrunn Tunnel 2017 Moosberg Tunnel 2018 Details work performance Moosbergstollen 2018 VIA SALIS path works Via Salis theme trail 2018 VIA SALIS press 11.2019 | culture report Upper Austria

07 The Empress Elisabeth – Stollen Stud Name: "Empress Elisabeth - Stollen" Wife of Emperor Charles VI, married on August 1st, 1708 in Barcelona Struck: 1712 Length: 750 m Altitude: 812 m The Empress Elisabeth tunnel was opened in 1712 in order to drive under the next higher Empress Amalia tunnel in order to be able to use the salt mountains below. After this stollen was first referred to as "New impact", it was given the name "Empress Elisabeth - Stollen" from 1730. In 1737, after 25 years of tunnelling, the salt limit was reached in the main shaft of the Empress Elisabeth tunnel. Next to the mouth of the tunnel there was a brick smithy and a dwelling for the hewers. But when the middle mountain house and the smithy were built next to the Empress Maria Theresia tunnel in 1783, the two now useless buildings at the Empress Elisabeth tunnel were demolished in the same year. Situation of the weirs in Elisabeth – tunnels around 1800: Length from the mouth hole to the salt boundary 620 mabel (739.0m), from there to the field location 440 mabel 4 hairpin bends and 6 usable weirs. A mountain thickness of 48m was chosen for the Elisabeth tunnel instead of the usual 30-35m. This made it possible to leach a more powerful salt mountain medium between the Ludovika and Elisabeth tunnels with less excavation effort. Because the mountains were too thick, the weirs arranged side by side spread so much during leaching that they threatened to intersect. The resulting, very large fortifications would have weakened the necessary hill forts so much that there would have been collapses. Great caution was therefore required during the leaching operation. In order to be able to avoid an unwanted intersection of the leach chambers, extensive intersection dams were built. The advantage of lower exploration costs for larger rock thicknesses was more than wasted. The water tunnel at the Elisabeth tunnel Due to the small thickness of the Haselgebirge massif in the upper horizons, the workers often reached out to the salt mountain limit, the exposed barren surrounding rock then led to fractures, which again triggered declines in the neighboring works. In 1839 the Nefzer plant in the Ludovika tunnel was lost as a result. Cracks in the sinkage of the Nefzer weir pointed to the imminent collapse of the mountain range above between the Freund works, which had already fallen on the Elisabeth horizon, and the combined weirs of Mohr and Schmied. The neighboring Wolfen weir in the Amalia horizon above had also fallen, so that the breach had already spread over three floors. So all measures to keep the united Mohr - and Schmied - work in the Elisabeth - horizon were still in vain. The destruction of such a large mining area put the Ischler Salzberg in a difficult position. Many workers had to be declared dead or celebrated in order to avoid the deeper decline and the Chotek - Kehr in the Ludovika tunnel, the Stüger - Schurf from Amalia - on Elisabeth - Horizon and Poniatovsky - Schurf from Elisabeth - on Ludovika - Horizon for derivation to be able to secure the looted waters. In 1849, 10 years after the collapse of the Nefzer weir in the Ludovika horizon, the sky of the combined Monsberg and Gerstorf works in the Elisabeth horizon also fell. The danger of new polluted water penetrating the Hasel Mountains and the collapse of the entire camp top threatened the existence of the entire Ischl salt mountain. All renovation work is described in the factory cleaning chapter. Situation of defenses in the Elisabeth tunnel around 1850: A total of 8 weirs, 1 pronounced dead and 1 usable. Freund - weir, Mohr - and Schmidt - weir (cut), Monsperg - and Gerstorf - weir (cut), Schlögel - and Wolfen - weir (cut); Quix - weir in operation around 1850. Sources used: 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 August Aigner "Salt mining in the Austrian Alps", Berg- und Hüttenmännisches yearbook, Vienna 1892 Leopold Schiendorfer "Perneck - A Village Through the Ages", Linz 2006 Johann Steiner "The traveling companion through Upper Austrian Switzerland", Linz 1820, reprint Gmunden 1981 Georg Chancellor "Ischl's chronicle", Ischl 1881, reprint Bad Ischl 1983 Michael Kefer "Description of the main maps of the kk Salzberg zu Ischl", 1820, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, as of September 13, 2016

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The mountain saw at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus on the Ischler Salzberg: A saw was of great importance for every salt mine operation, since the mine operation required large quantities of "Ladwerk" (thick boards) for the expansion and the brine production. Therefore there was at least one, but usually several saws at each salt mine, which is why they were also among the oldest systems of the respective salt mine. Three saws are known on the Salzberg in Ischl: as the oldest, the Steinberg saw with the "Schafferklause", the Grabenbach - or Graben - saw built near the Ludovika tunnel and a third, from 1867, at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus. The following report will mainly deal with the latter saw, also known as the mountain saw, since the other saws and the associated Klaus systems were already dealt with in detail in the 2012 article by Franz Federspiel "News from the old Ischler Salzberg". Situation of the mountain saws on the Ischler Salzberg in the 18th century: Originally there were two plank saws on the Ischler Salzberg, the one on the Steinberg and the Graben saw below the Ludovika tunnel. The Steinberg saw was probably built immediately after 1563 with the start of salt mining in the Steinberg district. According to a note in Dicklberger's "Salinen - Geschichte" (volume 1, p. 388), the Steinberg saw existed before 1586. Figure 1: Steinberg - saw, conversion plan, 1842, archive Salinen Austria Figure 2: Steinberg - saw, ground plan, conversion plan, around 1845, archive Salinen Austria Due to the concentration of salt mining on the Pernecker salt storage and the associated deepening of the mining tunnels, the ditch - saw at the Ludovika - Berghaus was built. The exact date of construction of this saw, which was probably built around 1700, could not be found in the files. The first known documentary reference from September 25, 1769 provides information that the ditch saw and the associated hermitage were rebuilt after a fire at the estimated cost of 292 fl 52 kr. In the course of the conversion, a new storage hut was built along the entire length of the hermitage to store the saw cuts. The Graben - saw along with the associated hermitage had completely decayed again in 1816 and was rebuilt in the three following years. In 1839 the woodwork of the hermitage was rotten again, and the water wheel and the river also needed replacing. Figure 3: Ludovika Berghaus, site plan with ditch – saw, 1839, Archiv Salinen Austria Because of the high repair costs to be expected, in 1839 the Ischl mining operations manager at the time, Franz v. Schwind to leave the Graben saw at all and instead expand the Steinberg saw to make it more efficient. When converting the Steinberg saw, Schwind succeeded in increasing sawn timber production fourfold compared to the previous ones by using an overshot water wheel and a belt transmission in the gearbox, the first saw drive of this type in the monarchy. As a result, the sawn timber requirement of the entire Ischler Salzberg could be satisfied by the sole operation of the Steinberg saw. Figure 4: Steinberg - saw, design of an overshot water wheel, 1840, archive Salinen Austria The operation of the ditch saw should only have continued on a smaller scale, since the cost of bringing the cut goods from the Steinberg saw to the Pernecker tunnels via a specially created goods route was very expensive. For this purpose, Schwind replaced the desolate Grabenbach hermitage with a wooden weir in 1839. After the Graben saw burned down again in 1856, it was finally abandoned. Figure 5: Trench - saw with Ludovika Berghaus, 1838, Archiv Salinen Austria Figure 6: Connecting route Steinberg - saw to Graben - saw, 1838, Archiv Salinen Austria Figure 7: Ludovika Berghaus, site plan after digging – sawing, 1859, Archiv Salinen Austria Transfer of the Steinberg saw to the old Maria Theresia Berghaus: After the new Steinberg tunnel was shut down as the last tunnel in the Steinberg district in 1775, the Steinberg saw only produced for the Pernecker tunnel, which was much further down in the valley. After the final closure of the Grabenbach saw in 1856, the entire sawn timber requirement had to be laboriously transported from the Steinberg saw down into the valley. For this reason, the plan was made around 1865 to move the Steinberg saw closer to the Pernecker tunnels. Various installation sites were tested: at the Grabenbach at the confluence of the Gaisbach opposite the Josef tunnel and directly at the Sulzbach or, connected to the Sulzbach via a river, at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus. Figure 8: Project transfer Steinberg - saw to the Josef tunnel, around 1865, archive Salinen Austria In view of the focus of the advance in the Empress Maria Theresia tunnel and the short transport routes, the decision was made to transfer the saw to the old Maria Theresia Berghaus. The transfer of the Steinberg saw to the new location took place in 1867. By using the old saw drive and parts of the old saw building, the costs were kept low at a total of 669 fl 81½ kr. Figure 9: Transfer Steinberg - saw to the old Maria Theresia Berghaus, 1865, Archiv Salinen Austria Figure 10: Transfer Steinberg - saw to the old Maria Theresia Berghaus, 1865, Archiv Salinen Austria Figure 11: Transfer Steinberg - saw to the old Maria Theresia Berghaus, 1866, Archiv Salinen Austria Description of the gear mechanism of the plank saw: With the report prepared by Franz Kreuzhuber, manipulation pupil Ite class, on March 14, 1868, there is a precise, contemporary description of the historical saw drive: "Where there is great hydroelectric power, undershot water wheels of 2 to 3 feet in diameter and 5 to 6 feet wide are usually used to operate the board saws. Here an overshot water wheel with a diameter of 12 feet and transmission is put into operation. A cog wheel of 6 feet diameter fastened to the base of the water wheel sets a driving wheel and with it a pulley of 6 feet diameter, - this by means of belts a second pulley of 1 ½ feet diameter, with it a wooden flywheel of 6 feet diameter and at the same time an iron winch in motion, whose arm carries a rod connected to the sag container /: Saggatern :/ in its circumference, which pushes the same up and down in a vertical guide. The Saggatern is assembled from 4 pieces of wood in the form of a door frame, to the short pieces of which the Sagblatt is screwed. Since the saw always makes its movement in the same place, a device is necessary for advancing the object to be cut in proportion to the power of the saw. This device /: Sagwagen :/ is a twenty-seven foot long frame movable on a horizontal slide and fitted with small rollers for ease of movement. To move it forward, the sagger carries a 7-foot-long horizontal rod on the lower crossbar, the end of which is fastened in a shaft Rings with indentations /: Thrust ring :/ gives an impact to the surrounding wheel of 3 ½ feet in diameter and as a result rotates the same slowly. During the retraction of the former, a second bar holds the thrust ring against slippage. The wheel, which is attached to the iron base of the thrust ring and is similar to the drive wheel, pushes the sag wagon through the combs attached to it along the entire length according to the power of the saw. A second overshot water wheel, 6 feet in diameter, is used to move the sag wagon backwards to its previous position, the shaft of which winds around a rope which runs over a small pulley attached to the end of the track and is attached to the sag wagon. As the sag wagon moves forward, it unwinds the rope from the shaft again.” In the following plan, the original work of the Steinberg saw is shown as it is described in the report by Franz Kreuzhuber in 1868 during the transfer. Only the second, smaller water wheel for moving the sag wagon backwards was added at the new location at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus. Figure 12: Gear mechanism of the Steinberg saw, 1857, archive Salinen Austria Saw - Fluder: After the transfer, the service water for the saw was no longer fed through a hermitage, but through a small cushion in the Sulzbach. The "Schmiedenfluder" from the Sulzbach, which has existed since about 1825, could be used for this purpose. This river had to be built for the operation of the mountain forge, since from 1825 larger amounts of water were diverted from the Grabenbach via the water scour into the Elisabeth tunnel in order to be able to provide the service water required for the Laistauss flooding in the Maria Theresia tunnel. The amount of residual water in the Grabenbach was often too low for the operation of the forge at the Maria Theresia tunnel. The river was designed as an open wooden channel made from cut posts, 72 m long and 0.6 m wide. As early as 1881, the river, which had been renewed in 1867, had to be removed due to damage and a new river channel including water catch and wheel hut had to be installed at a cost of 719 fl 81 kr. to be erected. Further repairs of this kind on the fluder were necessary in 1891, 1905 and 1933. Figure 13: Saw - fluder, 1904, archive Salinen Austria Performance of the two saw - water wheels: The overshot water wheel for driving the gang saw had a diameter of 3.7 m and a width of 1.0 m, depending on the water pressure, an output of 4 - 5 hp; the also overshot water wheel ("mold wheel") for reversing the saw carriage with 1.7 m diameter and 0.75 m width 1 - 2 HP. Figure 14: Saw - water wheels, 1866, Archiv Salinen Austria Figure 15: Mountain saw with old Maria Theresia mountain house, around 1930, Kranabitl archive Figure 16: Mountain saw at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus (upper left edge of the picture), around 1930, Archiv Salinen Austria Modification of the mountain saw's gearbox: In 1879, a circular saw was installed in the firewood store next to the mountain saw to cut the firewood better. This circular saw could be operated directly from the saw by means of a transmission transmission. In 1893 the gearbox of the mountain saw had to be repaired because it was defective. The complex maintenance of the saw fluder and the water wheels as well as the low performance of the mountain saw caused the management to convert this saw to electric operation in 1950. For this purpose, a stationary electric motor with 750 rpm was installed. From the 325mm diameter drive wheel of the electric motor, a belt led to a 1550mm diameter pulley on the main shaft. A second belt drive was placed on the main shaft on the stream side, which connected a belt wheel with a diameter of 900 mm on the main shaft to a belt wheel with a diameter of 730 mm on the water wheel shaft to move the saw gate. Another belt drive on the uphill side enabled the forward and backward movement of the saw carriage by means of a chain. Figure 17: Conversion of the plank saw to electric operation, 1951, Archiv Salinen Austria In the course of the electrification of the saw drive, a side saw was also installed. For this purpose, the sawing building had to be structurally extended. Figure 18: Installation of the board saw, project 1949, archive Salinen Austria Figure 19: Erection of the Ladwerkstadel, 1951, archive Salinen Austria Closure of the sawmill: The mountain saw at the old Maria Theresia Berghaus remained in operation until the mid-1980s. Since the migration of the mining industry from Perneck to the new site at the Kaiser Franz Josef Erbstollen in Lauffen in 1989, the saw building has been empty. Figure 20: Last shift arrival from Perneck, June 29, 1989, archive Salinen Austria Figure 21: Mountain saw after the cessation of operations, 1991, Kranabitl archive Figure 22: Old Maria Theresia Berghaus with a mule saw in the background, 1991, Kranabitl archive Mountain saw revitalization: In the summer of 2020, the Mitterbergstollen interest group (IGM) set itself the goal of preserving and opening up the mountain saw as part of guided tours along the Viasalis circular route. The historic sawmill is well-preserved and, as a unique technical monument that is otherwise rarely found in the Salzkammergut, is particularly worthy of protection. The main elements of the saw gear, which dates back to 1847 and is made of wooden gears, have been preserved to this day. In 2021, with the support of Salinen Immobilien AG, IGM would like to secure the building fabric, set up a showroom in the area of the former sawmill and have the technical history of the saw documented as part of diploma theses. Figure 23: Mountain saw, 2018, Kranabitl archive Figure 24: Saw carriage and saw frame, 2020, Kranabitl archive Figure 25: Saw gear, Kammrad, 2020, Kranabitl archive Figure 26: Saw gear, comb wheel with drive wheel and 1st belt pulley, 2020, Kranabitl archive Sources used: Franz Federspiel "News from the old Ischler Salzberg"; in: Messages from the Ischler Heimatverein, Episode 31, 2012, p. 18-25 Carl Schraml "The Upper Austrian Salt Works from 1818 to the end of the Salt Office in 1850", Vienna 1936 Michael Kefer "Hand Karten des Ischler Salzberges", 1829, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, Archiv Salinen Austria Josef Hütter "The Ischler Salzberg in words and pictures", manuscript, Bad Ischl 1938, Archiv Salinen Austria Franz Kreuzhuber "Relationship on the gear mechanism of the plank saw at the kk Salzberge Ischl", manuscript, Ischl 1868, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, Archiv Salinen Austria Ischler stock book no. 13 "Saw building" and no. 48 "Fluder for the saw", archive Salinen Austria Anton Dicklberger "Systematic history of the salt pans of Upper Austria", I. Volume, Ischl 1817, transcription Thomas Nussbaumer Plans from the Bad Ischl Salt Mine Plan Archives, Salinen Austria

14 The Neuberg tunnel Stud Name: "Neuberg - Stollen" as a new uphill climb below the Obernberg - Stollen, the later "Lipplesgraben - Stollen" Struck: 1586 Leave: 1879 Length: 994 m Altitude: 909 m Emperor Rudolph II set up a commission to stop widespread abuses in the chamber property and to ensure the implementation of the provisions laid down in the Reformation - Libelle of 1563. Therefore, in 1586, a mountain inspection was carried out at the Ischler Salzberg. The mining inspection recommended, for the required increase in salt production, the opening of a new tunnel, the Neuberg tunnel. Since the salt could be detected over the entire planned thickness of the mountain through the exploratory digging carried out by Archduke Matthias - tunnel, the tunneling of the Neuberg - tunnel began in 1586. The Neuberg tunnel was already being considered in the north-facing steep terrain of the Mitterberg. This would have made the main shaft much shorter than when driving from the west. The construction of a 300 bar (357.6 m) long section in hard limestone, the difficulty of delivering timber and the construction of a slag heap in the steep terrain were important reasons for starting the exploration from the west. In addition, the required pit and pole wood could be delivered effortlessly from the Steinberg saw. It was also possible to connect inexpensively to the Strehn, which had already been built by Archduke Matthias to drain off the brine extracted in the Obernberg tunnel. In order to speed up the exploration work, in 1589 a counter-construction was initiated from a pit sunk from the Matthias tunnel. However, great difficulties were encountered with this opposing structure, which was located in water-bearing limestone. The tunneling came to a standstill when 160 rods (191.2m) still had to be driven to the point of breakthrough. In 1590 further driving of the opposite building was even supposed to be stopped, but the Ischl mountain championship successfully resisted this. Until the breakthrough, however, the inflowing water and the rock that had been thrown out had to be drawn up into the Archduke Mathias tunnel using a hand reel, which was expensive. Situation of the Schöpfbaue in the Neuberg tunnel around 1654: A total of 11 pumping stations; Eder, Wildenhofer, Wolkenstainer, Daniman, Preuner, Wangner, Hintersteiner, Rossner, Urschenbeck, Lichensteiner and Mondseer or Manser - construction. In the continuation of the Neuberg tunnel - main shaft there were 11 burrows. As early as 1648, the Eder, Wildenhofer, Wolkensteiner, Daniman and Preuner buildings were united under one sky and had 22 rooms (2,490.4m³) of brine content, 11 bars (13.2m) down to the sole of the Neuberg - stollen to dry up. The cut burrows were driven under with a weir furnace in the Frauenholz tunnel, could be emptied via a discharge dam and were referred to as Graf Preuner weir. The Wagner and Hintersteiner buildings were also under the same sky, were prepared for an outlet weir and then combined with the five previous buildings in the Preuner and Raßfeldner weirs. The Roßner - Bau also united with the mentioned buildings in the Preuner and Raßfelner - weir. In 1730 the Graf Preuner weir broke through to the Rassfelner weir in the Frauenholz tunnel. After the now combined Preuner and Raßfellner weir had been provided with new dams in 1733 and new discharge boxes in 1734, it could now be leached up to the Matthias tunnel. To facilitate the cleaning, a cleaning pit was sunk from the Matthias tunnel. In 1744 the Preuner and Raßfellner weir had to be abandoned because it had come dangerously close to the overlying rock. The Preuner and Raßfellner weir then served for some time as an impact work for the Zierler weir located in the St. Johannes tunnel. The Urschenbeck, Lichtensteiner and Mansen The building also stood under one sky, contained 12 rooms (1,358.4 m³) of brine, and could be emptied as a weir with an outlet dam, the Klementen weir, through the Frauenholz tunnel. The Klementen weir was only watered down in the Neuberg horizon and left before 1800. Behind the Manser building there was still a drainage pit down the Frauenholz tunnel. The Neuberg tunnel – main shaft was also driven too far into the footing and had hit fresh water in the limestone air. After water ingress in 1641, a Lettendamm was built, the fresh water was collected and safely guided to the surface in wooden tubes. In 1707, the Neuberg tunnel contained 11 barrages divided into three groups, which were still operated as 3 dam weirs, but not much was to be expected from them. Situation of the weirs in the Neuberg tunnel around 1850: A total of 4 weirs, all pronounced dead around 1850; Seeauer - Weir, Lang - weir, Klementen - weir, Paul Müller - weir. In 1840 the first pit linings were carried out on the Ischler Salzberg in the Ritschner - conversion of the Neuberg - tunnel. Until 1933, the Albrechten conversion, the Ritschner conversion and the Schwind Schurf were kept open in the rear part of the Neuberg tunnel for the drainage path into the lower-lying horizons. 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 Leopold Schiendorfer "Perneck - A Village Through the Ages", Linz 2006 Johann Steiner "The traveling companion through Upper Austrian Switzerland", Linz 1820, reprint Gmunden 1981 Georg Chancellor "Ischl's chronicle", Ischl 1881, reprint Bad Ischl 1983 Michael Kefer "Description of the main maps of the kk Salzberg zu Ischl", 1820, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, as of September 13, 2016 Anton Dicklberger "Systematic history of the salt pans of Upper Austria", Volume I, Ischl 1807, transcription by Thomas Nussbaumer, as of 06.2018

23 Pernecker gypsum mining: Gypsum is a very common mineral from the mineral class of " sulfates " (salts of sulfuric acid). It has the chemical composition Ca[SO4]·2H2O and usually develops tabular or prismatic to needle-like crystals , but also granular to massive aggregates . In general, gypsum is colorless or white. However, it can take on a yellowish, reddish, gray or brown color due to the absorption of foreign ions or admixtures of various kinds ( sand , bitumen , iron). Gypsum is a chemically formed “sediment” (deposited rock) that deposits like salt when shallow sea basins dry out. Due to the formation of dolines and sinkholes, gypsum deposits are very easy to recognize, even if they are covered with soil on the surface. After rock salt, gypsum, which is closely linked to it in terms of deposits, is the second most important mining product in the Salzkammergut. Gypsum occurs mainly in the area around Ischl, Goisern and in the Ausseer Land either as a component of the leached salt cap or in the form of independent gypsum sticks, which at a depth of between 30 - 40 m turn into anhydrite, as the anhydrous form of gypsum. The exploitation of the usable types of rock found in the Salzkammergut was mostly left to private activity. It was subject to the approval of the Oberamt, which demanded a modest rent for it. This included, above all, the extraction of gypsum, which was openly exposed in many places in the Ischl district and whose mining and processing had reached a remarkable extent at the end of the 18th century. The Salt Office did not put any difficulties in the way of the gypsum ditch and approved it wherever it did not impair salt mining. It also ensured that the dismantling was carried out in an orderly manner and that the necessary precautionary measures were observed. In most cases, the landowners quarried and processed the gypsum themselves, helping many salt workers to earn a worthwhile extra income. Gypsum quarries initially existed in the vicinity of Ischl in the Schönmanngraben west of Kaltenbach, in Lindau near the Grabenmühle, in the rear Ramsau, in Roith and in the Kiliansgraben under the Jainzenberg, in Sulzbach at the southern foot of the Siriuskogel and in Perneck and Obereck. In 1824 the gypsum diggers on the Hundskogel dug out of a 30 fathom (57 m) long, old mining tunnel. In 1828 further gypsum quarries are mentioned on the Hießeben near Hallstatt, in Zlanbach near Steg and in the Strub in the Goiserer Weißenbachtal. In 1832 the Wildenstein Nursing Office was only able to lease six of the eight advertised gypsum quarries. After the upper layers had been exploited, the operation required a great deal of excavation work and was then only little worthwhile. In 1844, gypsum pits were still in operation in Perneck and in Goisern am Leisling, on Herndlberg and in Wiesleben. Gypsum was also mined at Hütteneck near Goisern, in a deposit discovered in 1839. In 1839 a rock fall had buried the large gypsum quarry in the Strub in the Goiserer Weißenbachtal. In Wienern am Grundlsee, a large gypsum deposit was discovered in 1844 and leased from the Salzamt in the same year. However, this small mining was quickly stopped because of the unfavorable delivery conditions at the time. However, this deposit has been used again since 1952. To date, the Rigips company has been quarrying around 300,000 tons of raw gypsum per year. Gypsum, which found good sales in the ground state above all as a fertilizer, was mined in the Ischl area, especially in Perneck. In 1847 the gypsum pits there were already quite exhausted and further quarrying was no longer worthwhile. It was therefore difficult for the Salzamt to find new leaseholders to continue operating the gypsum pits. In Perneck, gypsum was mined primarily as a side business. The activities were carried out by the farmers themselves and mostly only in the winter months. External workers were used only occasionally. The Kranabitl, Perneck 20 vulgo "Kranerbauer", Gschwandnter, Perneck 14 vulgo "Gschwandtnerbauer" and Schiendorfer families, Perneck 66 vulgo "Schuster" and the Schiendorfer families, Obereck 9, 11 and 16 operated gypsum mining. In order to get to the gypsum, up to 17 m deep opencast pits were dug and tunnels were driven. The lumpy gypsum rock obtained was delivered to the sal ammoniac factory in Nussdorf near Vienna and on to Hungary. The hacking was crushed into fertilizer in a separate gypsum ram located on the Sulzbach. The stamp mill, driven by an undershot water wheel, was equipped with 9 stamps. The building of the gypsum plant, which was in operation until the turn of the century, was demolished in 1944. JA Schultes reported in his "Travelling through Upper Austria" published in 1809 about the Ischl gypsum stamping. 'You can see the plaster stamps, which could be better equipped, as the trade in plaster is not insignificant here. One rams 15 - 16 centners (850 - 900 kg) in one day. The hundredweight of red plaster was worth 22 kreuzer in 1802, the blue 23 kreuzer, the white one being the most expensive, and was worth 24 kreuzer. You need the ordinary for fertilizing. The worker who stands by the rams all day long with his mouth bandaged receives 20 kreuzer.” The gypsum powder from the Pernecker stamp mill was transported to the towns around Lake Attersee by means of ox carts. There it was used as a sought-after mineral fertilizer for clover grass. The teams of oxen needed one day for the outward journey through the Weißenbachtal, and they drove back the next day. From 1852, the Schiendorfer families from Obereck and Perneck leased the "Mühlleitengrund" property for the purpose of gypsum extraction. At the "upper gypsum lacquer" a tunnel led eastwards into the mountain. This tunnel curved and emerged from the slope about 150 m to the south-east. The two tunnel entrances had a taxiway and were still passable up until the time before the First World War, later they were filled in. In the area of the southern tunnel exit, a landslide can still be clearly seen in the terrain. On the upper, western edge of the terrain of the "Mühlleitengrund" you can still see an extensive, about 5 m deep pinge, which indicates an underground mining chamber. In addition, gypsum in this area was extracted in two up to 17 m deep cut-and-cover pits (“lower gypsum coatings” at the soccer field and “upper gypsum coatings”). Over the years, the pits have repeatedly flooded due to flooding from the Sulzbach stream that flows past. Efficient pumps could not be used, so that operations in Perneck had to be abandoned around the turn of the century. In July 1954 there was a major flood in Perneck. Below the Maria Theresia tunnel, a large reservoir had formed due to the tunnel heap. The heap had grown excessively due to the expansion of the Maria Theresia tunnel. During the night of July 8, the entire stockpile slid into the flood-bearing Sulzbach and was swept away. The removed rock material completely filled the upper gypsum coating. With a depth of 17 m and an area of 700 m², the upper gypsum lacquer pit was the largest gypsum pit in Perneck. In the 19th century, gypsum was also quarried in the area around Perneck at the former Steinberg mining area . Gypsum outcrops on the Törlbach near the former "Schaffer saw" and extensive gypsum pinings in the area of the Steinberg tunnels still indicate this extensive mining. Gypsum mining in Obereck was continued by the Schiendorfer family, Obereck 11, in opencast mining and continued until about the First World War. The mining license for this mining was sold to the Linz entrepreneur Josef Flatz and subsequently a tunnel was dug. In 1944, on the basis of a site plan drawn up by Markscheider Rettenbacher, a tunnel was dug to underpass the former opencast mine. The starting point was 25 m lower than the open pit. Russian prisoners of war began driving the tunnel, which was designed to be 3 m wide for double-track mining. Unfavorable rock conditions and a lack of mining knowledge repeatedly led to collapses, so that work came to a complete standstill after around 20 m of advance. In the autumn of 1946 another attack was attempted. The single-track tunnel, now driven with a smaller profile, reached the gypsum block after 185 m. The device and the dismantling could be started. During the first 10 years of operation, the output amounted to an average of 4,000 tons per year. The main customers were the Gmundner cement works Hatschek, which needed gypsum as an additive for cement production. Part of the funding was even sent to the CSSR. The average workforce was 4 workers and 1 employee. In 1955, the "Linzer Handelsgesellschaft", whose sole owner was Lothar Flatz, was awarded the free-digging area including overshares. As a result, both the workforce and the production volume increased significantly. 6 to 8 workers and 2 employees were able to increase the raw gypsum production from initially 500 t/month to 1,000 t/month in the last few years of operation. From 1963, the funding went entirely to the Gmunden cement works Hatschek. The output of the pit was quite different depending on the needs of the Hatschek company, which was subject to economic and seasonal fluctuations. Despite this, the gypsum pit could not cover the raw gypsum requirements of the Hatschek cement works. In 1965, 3 additional Yugoslav guest workers were employed to increase performance. The small amount of deposit substance that remained and the increasing deafness to the depths, which made the construction of another civil engineering project appear to be less than successful, prompted the mine operator to hand over the operating facilities to the Austrian Armed Forces. June 30, 1966 was set as the handover date. As a result, the army built an ammunition store in the foothills of the gypsum deposit. The former civil engineering works were largely filled with jacking heaps. The relocation of the workings above the level of the conveyor tunnel was omitted because of the high costs. The old mine building was only used in exceptional cases, such as for the construction of emergency exits in the area of the old mining tunnel and the ventilation shaft. The amount of raw gypsum extracted during the 20-year life of the Oberecker pit between 1946 and 1966 was around 100 - 120,000 t. From a geological point of view, the Oberecker gypsum ridge, which lies in the course of a Juvavian overthrust zone, is genetically related to the Pernecker salt deposit due to isolated pieces of salt occurring in the gypsum. Due to the mutual distance between the two deposits of around 2 km, however, there is no direct spatial connection. The approximately 40 m thick gypsum body is embedded in red and gray clay slate, which belongs to the Werfen layers of the Neokom. Its strike is approximately east-west. The deposit body dips at 45° to the south. Up to 60 m thick layers of gravel and marl form the hanging wall of the deposit, while salty lattes form the bedrock. The banded raw gypsum rock has a whitish, gray appearance. Anhydrite nodules of irregular size and distribution are embedded in the gypsum body. In addition, one often finds clay - gypsum - inclusions. The transition between the body of the deposit and the outskirts is not sharply demarcated, but is characterized by a gradual increase in barren components. A borehole sunk above the production tunnel encountered red and gray clays at borehole meter 12 after penetrating through blocky moraine debris. Gypsum was applied from drill meter 35 to 43. The bore was stopped at a depth of 62.5 m in the marl. Another well drilled approx. 100 m SE of the gypsum pit encountered chert-bearing siliceous sandstone after a thin layer of moraine debris. The pit's feasibility limit was 70% gypsum content. The average gypsum content of the hewn was 76 to 78%. The only secondary material found was clay, for which there were no sales opportunities due to the low but disturbing salt content. The 185 m long exploration tunnel, which was started on the old Pernecker road at 580 m above sea level and whose axis pointed to the SW, penetrated tectonically disturbed layers of red, gray and black shale and marl. Due to the falling rock, the 1.90 m high and 1.30 m wide tunnel profile had to be completely lined with wood to reach the body of the reservoir. The single-track conveyor track, which had a gauge of 600 mm, had a gradient of 2.4%. At the level of the extraction tunnel, the excavation was initiated as a trend-oriented local construction. Four mining roads were laid in the E – W direction, each 60 m long, 5 – 6 m wide and 2.7 m high. Safety pillars with a width of 3 to 4 m remained between the individual mining roads. 3 mining horizons, each with a floor spacing of 8 m, were created above the production tunnel. The individual excavation horizons were connected by a 48 m long and 40° incline. A 25 m long weather tunnel, the distance of which was 25 m from the hoisting level, formed the 2nd day opening. In the area of the workings and drifts that were driven within the deposit body, no lining had to be brought in. The raw gypsum was obtained by shooting it in and filling it up manually in wooden boxes. The Hunte, equipped with cast-iron wheels, held approx. 1 m³ of heaps. In 1960, the specific consumption of explosives (Donarit I) was 310 g/t of debris recovered. The blast holes were drilled using electric hand drills. The whole mine building was naturally ventilated. The weavers moved in at the extraction tunnel, reached the excavation levels via weather tunnels and weather pits and pulled out again via the weather tunnel. Even in summer, the weather current frequently reversed its direction. Because of the unfavorable weather conditions, the shooting time was shifted to the end of the shift. The heaps won in this way were thrown down onto the hoisting floor via fall rollers, filled by hand in crate hoists with a content of 600 to 800 kg and brought to the surface by gravity. The crushing plant was located at the end of the track after crossing the old Pernecker Street. The heap was tipped from the conveyor hoist into a 10 t intermediate bunker and transferred from there to the crusher, which was installed as a simple jaw crusher for crushing the coarsest pieces of the heap. The mouth width of the discharge side was 32 x 25 cm. The output of the crusher operated with a 17 hp drive motor was 5 t/h. Below the crusher was a 40 t silo. The raw gypsum was transported to the Ischl freight station by 5-ton truck and loaded onto freight wagons by hand. Near the mouth of the tunnel there was a forge, material shed and arrival room. A barracks for 6 men was built at a distance. The buildings, entirely made of wood, were demolished at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1952 the 1st working level was cut. The 2nd excavation level was prepared. The upwardly tapering body of the deposit led to a reduction in the length of the mining road to a few 10 m on the uppermost mining level. When mining the third mining horizon, a borehole was drilled into old burrows that were connected to open-cast mining, and water was thus brought in. Despite the damming of the borehole, the ingress of water could not be completely prevented. A dewatering system had to be installed, which was not necessary in the otherwise completely dry pit. Since 1955, mining has taken place in two mining roads of the 1st underground mine, which was built 8 m below the mine level. The gypsum was mined in civil engineering in sloping chamber structures with a chamber width of 6 m and a chamber height of 4 – 5 m. The protective pillar width was an average of 4 m. The collected debris was removed by pulling up the filled box hoist over a 22° inclined bin level using an electric reel (traction force 1,000 kg, motor power 4 kW) onto the horizon of the extraction tunnel. At the end of 1961, the first civil engineering works were completely dismantled. The entire production was subsequently obtained from the remaining pillars of the production tunnel horizon. As a result of the excellent sales situation of the Hatschek company in the summer of 1962, 1,000 tons of raw gypsum could have been delivered per month. However, due to a lack of workers, the mine could not provide this funding. In the winter of 1962, work was started on the second civil engineering project. With a workforce of 6 workers and 2 employees, the monthly production amounted to around 580 t. The die reached the 2nd level of civil engineering in the spring of 1963. After the start-up of the reel conveyor, work began on the construction of the 2nd level of civil engineering from east to west. 9 workers and 2 employees were able to increase production to 800 t/month. In June 1963 production dropped again to below 600 t/month due to a shortage of workers (4 workers were laid off). The extractable substance had shrunk to 10,000 t in August 1965, with the same construction site size as in the first civil engineering. This corresponded to about one year's funding. In addition, investigations revealed that the deposit was becoming increasingly cloudy as the depth increased. For these reasons, the Oberecker gypsum mine was handed over to the Austrian Armed Forces on June 30, 1966 after mining activities had ceased. Table 1: Promotion of gypsum mining in Obereck (source Montanhandbücher 1953 – 1967) In the years that followed, the Federal Ministry of Defense (BLMV) built the "Perneck tunnel system" as a satellite storage facility for the Stadl-Paura army ammunition facility. In the autumn of 1966, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Defense, a tunnel under the former Oberecker gypsum mine was struck at Sulzbach - Strub. The road excavations were carried out by a consortium led by the Soravia construction company, which had previously built the road tunnel in Hallstatt. Up to 70 workers, mostly Carinthians, were on duty on the construction site every 10 days. A large concrete mixing plant, a compressor station and a transformer station were built near the Strub. The construction work lasted until 1969. After completion of the installations and facilities, the Stadl-Paura army ammunition facility took over the "Perneck tunnel system". Ammunition was stored in the mostly newly excavated underground chambers. As part of the restructuring of the Austrian Armed Forces, the BMLV sought to sell the tunnel system from 2002. The surface water penetrating the mountains constantly dissolves gypsum, which as a salt of sulfuric acid has good water solubility. Over time, the strongholds of the former gypsum mining chambers were weakened by the dissolving processes and large-scale subsidence and ping formations on the surface followed. Since the BMLV, as the successor to the mining authority, is responsible for protecting the surface of the ground, extensive renovations have to be carried out in the former pit of the gypsum mine. The 3 excavation horizons above the former main extraction tunnel were partly filled with sulphate-resistant lightweight concrete made from expanded clay granules ("Liapor") in order to prevent further subsidence at the surface. Furthermore, half-shells made of concrete were laid in the subsidence area for the rapid drainage of surface water. The former gypsum mine from the 19th century was also sealed. This restoration work continues to this day. Sources used: Reports from the Salzburg Mining Authority regarding gypsum mining in Oberecker from 1952 - 1967 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 Joseph August Schulte's "Travels through Upper Austria", Volumes I + II, Tübingen 1809, reprint Linz 2008 Leopold Schiendorfer "Perneck - A Village Through the Ages", Linz 2006 Hans Kranabitl "Oberecker gypsum mining", reporting work Montanuniversität Leoben, Leoben 1983

Salzkammergut Salzbergbau Sozialgeschichte Löhne Social – Wages: A comparison with the wages set in the second Libellus of 1563 shows that the daily earnings of skilled miners have remained fairly unchanged, while those of day laborers and other unskilled laborers have increased by about 50%. It can be seen that under the pressure of economic hardship the government had to at least boost the wages of the lower classes to keep them viable and able to work. However, the wages of the salt workers were still very meager. Employment conditions in the rest of Upper Austria were significantly more favorable. A journeyman and a day laborer earned a good 50% more than a salt worker. It should not be overlooked that the salt workers enjoyed many benefits in addition to their wages that were unknown outside of the Kammergut. They were exempt from military service and from military billeting, paid no taxes or levies unless they were homeowners, they had free medical treatment in the event of illness and constant care in old age. Covering the demand for bread grain was one of the most important tasks of the Salt Office, which was authorized in times of rising prices to sell it to relatives below cost price. The livestock production of an entire district, the Hofmark with the Viechtau, served exclusively to supply meat to the Kammergut, the meat prices were set by the authorities and the butchers were supported with subsidies so that they were able to maintain these prices even in expensive times. The salt workers did not have to worry about the future of their sons, even in the first half of the 18th century every able-bodied farmer found appropriate income. The low-wage miners often only worked short shifts and thus had the opportunity to earn an extra income. By enfeoffing infangs (peripheral parcels) and allocating timber, the government encouraged the development of extensive smallholdings. The purchase of firewood was free for all employees. The miners in Ischl were paid much better than those in Hallstatt, so their economic situation was more favourable. Unfortunately, the reasons for the unequal treatment of the two companies could not be derived from the documents used. This difference is all the more striking as the other provisions of the Mining Code are the same for both salt mines. Around 1690 the administrative offices in Hallstatt, Ischl and Ebensee had an excessively high number of men. Not only did they take in far too young workers aged 12 to 15, but also immigrant workers from other countries. In the Kammergut everything was trying to find accommodation in the imperial service. The salt office did not cause any difficulties, on the contrary, its applications for commissions, grace money, alms, doctor's wages, educational contributions, etc. were "tardy, light and unfounded, written according to whim". Commissions were requested for people who were not entitled to them. Instead of flatly refusing requests, the officials even supported the parties in doing so. The officials wrote the submissions for commissions themselves and thus acquired a considerable additional income. The number of old-age pensioners was also unnaturally high, because the workers took early commissions to make room for their sons or to sell the vacant position to a third party. At the end of the 17th century, state finances were in particularly bad shape, and going into debt became the norm. In order to satisfy the empire's financial needs, the income from taxes was no longer nearly enough, even for the operation of the salt works in the Kammergut there was sometimes a lack of cash. Going into debt had become the norm in Austria in order to get over the current shortage of money. The workers drew their wages at the weekend and the Salt Office had no greater concern than to send the Weeding Office the necessary cash for the payday. But he didn't always succeed, sometimes people had to return home empty-handed on Saturday because no money had come from Gmunden. In 1693 the Kammergutarbeiter sent an emergency cry to the Court Chamber for grain; In Ebensee, Ischl and Hallstatt there was hunger and dysentery, the pans could no longer be operated, the deteriorating coinage had devalued the money. The buyers, shipwrights and Stadlinger (shipmen) who worked in the manufacturing sector suffered even more than the imperial workers. In a petition written to Ischl, they complained that they had nothing left on their bodies and nothing to eat, in Laufen some had already died of hunger and the rest were about to emigrate with their wives and children and go begging. The finishers were also impoverished and could no longer pay them their wages. The year 1696 was one of the saddest in the eventful history of the Salzamt. The Hofkriegszahlenamt claimed all of his receipts for itself. The shortage of money was also so bad because the sales of salt fell noticeably as a result of the rapid succession of price increases in favor of smuggling. The Salzamtmann had to find outside money, which could no longer be obtained at an interest rate of 6 percent, in order to be able to secure the grain deliveries to the Kammergut. The financial crisis lasted until 1703; they feared national bankruptcy and the loss of good faith among the people. All available means were necessary to maintain the empire and the army, and yet the payment of interest from the Salt Office could not be omitted. The emperor himself urged the salt office to send money to Gmunden so that the Gmunden office could pay the interest and pay the workers. With the intention of increasing the number of people needed for salt work in the Kammergut, the sovereigns had favored the founding of families by allocating fiefdom, helping to build houses and granting a dowry. By the end of the 17th century, this goal had not only been reached, but also exceeded; the supply of workers had outstripped the need. Marriage was no longer made so easy for young people and required the consent of the salt clerk; this only had to allow marriage to one or the other "busy and caring" worker. The allocation of infants (peripheral plots) was stopped, and the construction of new residential and farm buildings was made more difficult because there was no longer a particular desire to start families and there was every reason to limit the use of timber and to protect the forests. From 1709 onwards, the construction of workers' houses was only approved on the condition that they were made of brickwork and that the wood required did not come from imperial forests. A main inspection of the salt office ordered in 1733 under the direction of Count Starhemberg was to investigate and eliminate these abuses. The perception was made that “almost the entire crowd there insists on it and proposes that everyone should be appointed ex ärario, so to speak, because the young people of both sexes no longer go into private service, neither learn a trade, but want to get married early . Instead of them only foreign servants were kept and many foreign people were bred into them and the chamber estate was therefore overpopulated.” The Salt Office was instructed to encourage young people to do other than salt work, to remove immigrant strangers from the country, to restrict marriages, and to give stubborn elements to the soldiers. The appointment of Johann Georg Freiherr von Sternbach as Salzamtmann in 1743 marked the beginning of a new era. Sternbach intervened firmly in the administration of the Salzamt. The greatest and most difficult task was to reduce the excessively swollen labor force to economically justifiable proportions. So far, all the instructions and orders from the court authorities had remained fruitless because the officials knew what tremendous resistance they would unleash and had neither the courage nor the will to take up the inevitable fight The workers, alarmed by the action of the Salzamtmann, sent deputations to Vienna to prevent the threatened dismantling, but found little to meet them. Laid-off workers who, because of their age or family, could neither move nor earn an income elsewhere received maintenance payments. The unmarried boys who could not be used for salt or wood work and who were expendable joined the military. The recruitment of residents of the Salzkammergut violated the age-old statute that they should be exempt from any service. The seriousness with which the layoffs and other austerity measures were carried out aroused the most violent resistance from the workers. This led to riots in Ebensee. Officials were physically attacked and injured. Ischl forest workers tried to regain their old rights by going on strike. In order to give Sternbach's measures the necessary emphasis, 300 infantry and 30 men on horseback were sent to Gmunden under the command of a sergeant. The movement had become dangerous because the majority of senior officials, who disliked Sternbach's harsh actions, sided with the workers and encouraged them. The bourgeois circles, on the other hand, especially the salt manufacturers, were worried about the workers' unrest because they feared that their trades would be disturbed and they could not know what extent the unrest would become. A commission of inquiry was set up to urge the continuation unchanged of the measures introduced by Sternbach and approved by the government, and proceeded with the greatest severity against all who opposed them. Most of the participants in the uprising quickly showed remorse and there was no fear of a repeat of the unrest. Complaining officials were questioned by the commission of inquiry without involving the salt official. Their verdict was devastating for the applicants. Without exception, the commission found all objections to be unfounded, incorrect, impudent and of such a nature that the ignorance and negligence of the informants was proven and one was completely convinced of their recalcitrance. With this report, the fate of the complainants was decided, they were dismissed from the service. After the suppression of the workers' uprising and the removal of his most dangerous opponents, Sternbach was able to continue and consolidate his reform work undisturbed from 1744 onwards. Until 1753, the salt workers were regularly paid their wages on Saturdays after the weekly raitung (weekly payroll). In 1753, Salzamtmann Sternbach introduced four-week wage payments to save on paperwork and clerical work, and in the meantime gave the workers official slips with which they could buy from the millers and other tradespeople on Borg. The workers, whose economy had always been based on weekly pay, fought back and persuaded the investigative commission present to quickly withdraw Sternbach's decree. The closer it got to the turn of the century, the greater the need in the Kammergut and the more dissatisfied the workers, whose wages had remained almost unchanged for 80 years. A commemorative document written in 1797 by the spokesmen of the Hallstatt workers and presented to the Court Commission in Gmunden was extremely sharp in tone and openly expressed the ferment among the workers. The mountain carpenter Josef Pfandl, spokesman for the deputation at Count Aichold, said that the revolutionary ideas coming from France were fulfilled: "Things will be the same here in France as in France and in Vienna things are already going so well that no citizen would look at His Majesty pay more attention". The commission, outraged by Pfandl's language, found the authors guilty of defamation and attempted sedition and handed them over to the courts for trial. Pfandl was imprisoned in Ort near Gmunden for 388 days before he managed to escape. He then wandered erratically abroad and in November 1800 applied to Vienna for permission to travel home. At the request of the Court Chamber, which knew that the entire workforce was committed to him, the Emperor complied with his request. In the course of the 18th century the salaries of civil servants increased only partially and not significantly. The low wage increases have also permanently lost value due to the introduction of paper money alongside the metallic currency. In 1761, bank notes were first put into circulation as paper money. The people weren't happy about it. Paper currency declined sharply between 1808 and 1810. As a result, the need for the staff increased. In the years 1808 and 1809 the printing press printed more and more paper money, by 1810 this had almost completely replaced cash. On December 11, 1810, Austria stopped cash payments entirely, the bank notes were confiscated and replaced by redemption slips, which, however, only had 1/5 of the previous nominal value. Finally, in 1816, the rebuilding of the Austrian monetary economy began with the establishment of the National Bank. This alone was entitled to issue banknotes and obliged to redeem the current bill money. The wages of the miners were anything but good, mainly because of the devaluation of the currency. The management of their small estates was therefore a necessity in order to be able to provide themselves with the most important staple foods. On the other hand, working in the mountains offered a basic income that made it easier for the miners to survive times of crisis than other occupational groups – agricultural or non-agricultural – whose existence was often threatened by price fluctuations or crop failures. It was this system of "safe poverty" that made working in salt mines so popular. Austria's struggle against Napoleon required the utmost exertion of all forces and suppressed all other considerations. The imperial patent of October 25, 1804 granted exemption from military service only to executives and the most distinguished workers in the mines. With the strict application of this regulation, the Salt Office would have had to stop all operations that were not allowed to be interrupted because of the salt supply of the Reich. The Salzamt and the Verwesämter were constantly trying to get their people free from the Assentierung (conscription), but the recruitment commission instructed by the Hofkriegsrat made no exception for the Kammergut and called up 183 men from the Kammergut for the position in July 1805. After an objection from the Salzamt, the recruiting commission held back only 41 men from the Kammergut. The period of French rule from 1809 onwards was downright catastrophic for the salt industry. The income from the sale of salt in the country flowed into the coffers of the enemy intendancy, so the salt office could neither pay the wages of the salt workers nor procure the food they needed to feed themselves. During the summer months of 1809, Hallstatt workers waited seven weeks for their wages. Hundreds of them marched in front of the office building in Lahn and threatened to take the salt from the stacks as payment if help didn't come soon. A total of around 5,000 workers were probably employed in the salt industry around 1820. This number was already reduced by 1,058 men in 1825. In 1832, only 3,858 men served in the salt industry, 741 of them in Ischl. In 1851 the ministry set the peak of stable laborers at 3,739 men. The misery of the many dismissed workers was great, so their urge to be accepted back into the service of the salt office was understandable. The offices had to suffer a lot from the onslaught of job seekers and it was difficult to always make the right choice. In 1820, in addition to a shift wage of 45 Kreuzer, a worker also received farm grain and lard in exchange for the old limit price (purchase price). From 1829 onwards, in order to be able to continue operations without problems in the event of major sick leave, military conscription or temporary additional demands, for example due to construction work, the administrative offices were forced to take on temporary interim workers (temporary workers) beyond the normal status of permanent workers. The negotiations with the Oberamt led to a separation of the workers into three groups: 1. Stable workers entitled to commission and enjoying provisions (“full workers”). 2. Stable and commission-eligible workers without provisions ("incomplete workers"). 3. In non-permanent workers without a right to commission and provisions (“interim workers”). The winter of 1847 increased the misery of the workers to an unbearable level. The people sold their livestock, got into debt, couldn't get flour from the millers in advance, lost their strength and didn't have enough to clothe themselves. In January 1848, the Hofkammer began working out a new wage system that was intended to bring the workers a significant improvement in their income. The workers had always been used to bringing their wages home at the end of each week. In 1823, the court chamber wanted to introduce monthly payment to save on a lot of paperwork, but gave up due to the great resistance of the workers and finally stuck with the fortnightly payment. In 1848 the old wish of the working class for the reintroduction of weekly pay was fulfilled. For the payment of wages, it was customary for the clerk responsible for compiling the wage list to collect the necessary money from the till and for the foremen to make the payment. But no master was allowed to pay off his own staff. In order to be safe from fraud in shift calculations, the Hofkammer transferred this business to the cashiers in 1824. In 1848, the Court Chamber set the 48-hour week for all miners equally and wanted to break it down into six eight-hour shifts. However, she only found the approval of the Ausseer miners, while those in Hallstatt and Ischl insisted on the six-hour pit shift that had been granted to them in 1771. Mining lasted from Monday to Friday, leaving Saturday free for chores around the house. If the office needed farmhands, it encouraged marriages by providing marriage money, giving birth and giving away wood for building houses free of charge. When the fruits of economic policy had ripened and there were too many job seekers, the Oberamt again restricted marriages and denied the workers the necessary marriage permits. Maria Theresa's reforms had deprived the Salzamt of being able to enact marriage bans by legal means. Hofrat Schiller was faced with the hard and difficult task of not only adapting the excessive number of men to actual needs, but also of proceeding more strictly with the marriage permits that had previously been granted indiscriminately. In spite of the legal freedom to marry, the Oberamt still had effective means of discouraging the younger workers from marrying. It was within the power of the Salt Office to tie new marriage permits to the renunciation of the family grain. From 1830 onwards, the Oberamt denied marriage permits to all workers who were not yet eligible for a commission and had therefore not yet completed their eighth year of service. In addition, it no longer allowed them to receive the family grain. These measures, but especially the loss of the family grain, kept young people from getting married early, and by 1843 the number of marriage applications had already fallen sharply. A decree issued by the Emperor in December 1848 ordered leniency for sentences not yet executed and the termination of investigations. Furthermore, the reintroduction of the family grain, the reduction of the pasture interest by half, the reduction in the price of wood for the needy and the abolition of the long-service work. These government concessions were able to satisfy and reassure the workers. There was no real uprising movement in the Kammergut, but fears of such a movement prompted the authorities to take some precautionary measures. The Saline Ebensee had set up a fire station for a short time. A section of the National Guard had taken up position in Ischl. In October 1848, due to a shortage of firearms, the Board of Directors of the National Guard asked the Oberamt for the production of 120 pikes and for a contribution to the uniforming of the poor guards from the working class. The government had no objection to the production of pikes in the Ebensee court smithy, the salt works actually supplied the National Guard with 60 pikes. But she refused the uniform expenses, the workers should fall back on the funds of the brother shop. The long period of war, with its insatiable demands on men fit for arms, had eliminated the old privilege of the salt workers, who had also become conscripts and were subject to military laws. In November 1818, 124 men from the Kammergut were drafted to Kremsmünster for recruitment. In 1819, 168 Landwehr men from the Kammergut were ordered to move into Vöcklabruck for a fourteen-day weapons exercise and examination. It was important to the Salzamt to exempt people from military service who were indispensable for the company or who were difficult to replace. In response to their ideas, a joint commission consisting of representatives of the district office, the salt office and the military district command came together in 1820 to determine the categories desired for military liberation. According to this agreement, 1,385 of a total of 5,530 employees were to be released from military service for a limited period of time. Up until the 19th century, the salt workers in the Kammergut received “limito provisions”, a certain amount of grain and lard that could be purchased at fixed, reduced prices. This cheaper way of passing on food had made a significant contribution to alleviating the social hardship of the miners, especially in times of crisis, when the price of food rose sharply. On the other hand, even in the 19th century, the basic wages of salt workers were always below those of qualified factory workers. The system of "secure poverty" continued into the 19th century: working as a stable miner or salt worker was secure employment even in times of crisis, but cuts in pay had to be accepted. 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 Ischl home club "Bad Ischl home book 2004", Bad Ischl 2004 FX Mannert "Of Ischl and the people of Ischl...", Bad Ischl 2012 FX Mannert "From Ischl and the people of Ischl... 2.0", Bad Ischl 2016 "Mining - everyday life and identity of the Dürrnberg miners and Hallein saltworks workers", Salzburg contributions to folklore, Salzburg, 1998

Projekt Zahnradbahn aufs Hütteneck The project of a cog railway to the Hütteneckalpe near Bad Ischl Figure 1: Hütteneckalm rack railway, probable route, Google Maps, Franz Kranabitl Figure 2: A "typical" railway from that time: Gaisbergbahn, built in 1887, photo taken around 1890, from Harrer "Gaisbergbahn" Figure 3: Hütteneckalm, Dachstein view, around 1950 By Friedrich Wilhelm Kremzow, Upper Austrian homeland sheets 1987 The Hütteneckalpe is located in the Salzkammergut at the foot of the Hoher Raschberg on a saddle between the Zwerchwand and Kleberwand at an altitude of 1,240 m. You can climb it both from Bad lschl and from Bad Goisern. If you choose the ascent route from Bad Ischl, the path usually leads via Perneck, the lschler Salzberg and the Reinfalzalm. From Bad Goisern the ascent takes place - past the villages of Lasern and Riedeln - usually through the Stambachtal. Since a chairlift leads to the high-lying village of Wurmstein, you can reach the Hütteneckalpe on a comfortable hiking trail, which has its starting point at the mountain station of this chairlift and touches the Roßmoosalm . Due to its favorable location, the Hütteneckalpe is one of the easiest vantage points to reach in the Salzkammergut region south of Bad lschl. To the south, the view extends from Lake Hallstatt to the peaks of the Dachstein massif, to the east you can see the still untouched Landscape of the Rettenbach valley and the plateau of the Dead Mountains. If you turn to the west, the wide expanse of the Traun Valley near Bad Goisern opens up to the viewer, while the Hoher and Niederer Kalmbergs limit the horizon. Already in the early days of the spa town of Bad lschl (i.e. before 1848) the Hütteneckalpe seems to have been a popular destination; at that time they were probably climbed almost exclusively from Bad lschl. It had become all the more popular with tourists since the imperial family regularly spent the summer in Bad lschl. The Hütteneckalpe was also a favorite destination of Empress Elisabeth, who visited this area several times. This excellent vantage point of the Salzkammergut was now the subject of a railway project, which has since been forgotten, but which seems worth discussing in more detail; only the local likes it - and he railway historians have a professional interest. The motives for the construction of such a mountain railway can no longer be deduced from the files and documents that have been preserved. However, some conclusions can be drawn from the time when the project was to be carried out, the year 1890. At that time, the project planning and construction of the Salzkammergut local railway from Salzburg to Bad lschl and the mountain railway to the Schafberg had just started. It is therefore understandable that - due to the economic situation - an interest in the construction of other mountain railways in the Salzkammergut has arisen. It is also worth mentioning that the initiator of this railway project also dealt with a plan for a Schafberg railway, but obviously did not get a chance here. Ultimately, it should be noted that the expansion and development of the railway network in Austria was in full bloom at the time, which was not only due to the construction. but also the project planning, later of course not executed railway lines is proven. It is not without significance for understanding the fate that befell the cog railway project on the Hütteneckalpe. First of all, to briefly outline the legal basis under which a railway could be built at that time. In 1890, the railway concession law of September 14, 18548 was still in force in Austria. This law required special permits for the construction of a railway, namely one for carrying out the preparatory work (§ I Para. 2 lit. a. of the law) or the concession for the installation of the railway itself (§ 1 Para. 2 lit. b. of the law). By approving the preparatory work, the concession applicant only obtained the right under § 4 of this law to carry out the preliminary surveys for the future construction of the planned railway and the necessary surveying and leveling work on the spot in nature at his own expense. This right expired six months after the approval was granted. It should be explained here that an extension of this deadline was once requested for the present railway project. A special privilege to be granted a concession to build the railway line in question, let alone an exclusive power, was not obtained through the granting of such a permit. Finally, in order for the concession to be granted, it was necessary, according to Article 5 No. 3 of the Act, to demonstrate how the funds required for the execution of the project were to be raised. This provision was also alluded to in the last official settlement of this project on October 14, 1890; the lack of funds was ultimately also the reason why no concession was granted at all. According to § 2 of the ordinance of January 25, 1879, the actual concession procedure began with the submission of a detailed project, to which, among other things, situation plans, cost estimates and a technical report explaining the planned railway construction had to be attached. If the project submitted then proved to be executable, the then competent Ministry of Trade had to order the so-called route revision (this was carried out in the case of the project discussed on June 28, 1890). This revision was carried out by an ad hoc commission, which included representatives of the state authorities, the General Inspectorate of Austrian Railways and the municipalities involved. Their task was to check whether the proposed railway project could also be carried out under natural conditions. Only on the basis of the results of the track revision did the Ministry of Commerce decide on the admissibility and building worthiness of the railway in question and was able to discuss the conditions under which a concession could be acquired (in the present case this decision was the subject of the last official decision on October 14, 1890 ). If the concession was granted, the railway line could be laid out in detail in nature and then the political inspection could be carried out (§ 13 of the aforementioned ordinance). Its purpose was, on the one hand, to determine the extent of the necessary expropriation and, on the other hand, to examine the project from the point of view of public interests. After the inspection, the Ministry of Commerce then issued the construction consent that was required for the actual construction work to begin (Section 19 of the aforementioned ordinance). On May 6, 1889, engineer Eduard Miller submitted an application to the Ministry of Commerce for a "preliminary concession for a local railway with a mixed system from the right bank of the Traun near Ischl to the Dachstein view on the Hütteneckalp e". The Ministry first sent this request to the Upper Austrian Lieutenancy in order to ascertain the personal circumstances of the applicant and to procure an overview map from which the planned line design could be seen. The Upper Austrian governor's office carried out these surveys and then presented Miller's application with a report dated August 22, 1889, noting that in their opinion there were no objections to the granting of the preliminary concession. Her report was accompanied by a report by the Budapest magistrate on Miller's personal circumstances and statements by the Bad Ischl community council and the Gmunden district authority, which unfortunately have not survived in the ministry files. This is to be regretted because the report of the Budapest magistrate would have been the only determinable source for a more detailed assessment of the applicant. The Ministry of Commerce also obtained the opinion of the Ministry of the Interior and the Reich Ministry of War, which, however, also raised no objections to the railway project, and then finally granted the requested approval on October 13, 1889 to carry out technical preliminary work for a local railway with a mixed system from the right bank of the Traun lschl to the Dachstein view on the Hütteneckalpe within the meaning of the Railway Concession Act of September 14, 1854 ... for a period of six months ... Ing. Miller then began the necessary surveying work on site in 1889, since he obviously intended to start construction work as early as the next year. As can be inferred from a note in the "Ischler Wochenblatt" dated December 8, 1889 , the trace should ... from a point yet to be determined on the right bank of the Traun via Reiterndorf along the Perneckerstraße on the eastern slope of the Brunnerberg (Groß- or Hochleiten) The trail crosses the Sulzbach stream above the Rosa waterfalls and, climbing up the south-western slope of the Mitterberg, reaches the Reinfalzalpe, in order to end on the Hütteneckalpe on the path marked out there by the terrain conditions. The unnamed author also reported that the previous recordings had yielded an unexpectedly favorable result, since "the roadbed can be built without the aid of large, costly engineering structures ", and then concluded his article with the words: " Hopefully next spring will not be too long in coming wait and allow the weather conditions to start work again soon, so that the original intention of the gentleman concessionaire can come true, to go to Hütteneck in the autumn of 1890. The project meets with general sympathy in the widest circles and certainly deserves it from the local population Support as a company that specifically promotes local interests". In the meantime, Ing. Miller was already working on a detailed project, after the Ministry of Commerce had extended the deadline granted at the time by another three months on March 17, 1890. Finally put lng. Miller presented a detailed project to the Ministry of Trade, which first obtained a statement from the General Inspectorate of the Austrian Railways. In their statement of May 20, 1890, the project is described as suitable for execution and then executed: "The starting point of the approx. 7.7 km long track is projected on the right bank of the Traunf1usse next to the railway bridge and will be discussed by the high representative when the traces are revised, whether a more suitable, i.e. more easily accessible place next to one of the Road bridges over the Traun could be substituted. " Then it says with regard to the technical proposals in the detailed project: "The minimum radius of the arches is projected to be 100 m for both sections. There is no objection to the above-mentioned installation conditions, and the width of the substructure in the embankment chosen at 3.5 m also appears corresponding. In contrast, the projected width of only 3.3 m The substructure width in the incisions should be increased to 3.5 m in order to have enough space on both sides of the train for evasion either the usual Riggenbach splint or the two-lamella Abt gear rack can be implemented, depending on the price conditions being determined." The General Inspectorate of Austrian Railways commented on the financing of the project: "The proposed construction costs of 750,000 fl effective in total, that is approx. 97,400 fl per km. do not contain any items. for intercalar interest and reserve funds. With regard to the execution of this railway, which has not yet been made completely clear in several points, the assessment of the preliminary construction sum will not be included for the time being and the production of a corresponding cost figure will be reserved for a later point in time." length With regard to the financing, Miller had calculated a capital requirement of 750,000 fl., his summary cost estimate consisted of the following individual items: 1. Preparatory work and construction supervision 20,000 fl 2. Basic Redemption 25,000 fl 3. Earthworks 190,000 fl 4. Ancillary works, retaining and lining walls 60,000 fl 5. Art structures 55,000 fl 6. Ballast and superstructure laying 45,000 fl 7. Superstructure 150,000 fl 8. Building construction 50,000 fl 9. Miscellaneous 25,000 fl 10. Vehicle fleet 130.000,- f1 In view of this statement, the Ministry of Commerce entrusted the Upper Austrian governorship with the revision of the route by decree of June 4, 1890. As can be seen from the technical report , the detailed project envisaged the execution of a mixed local railway system with a gauge of 1 m. It then goes on to say: "The same is adhesion railway with a length of 2,333 m and with the maximum gradient of 22.67%o and cog railway with a length of 5,390 m with a maximum gradient of 18O%o. The total length is therefore 7,723 m. The minimum radius would be 75 m. Particularly noteworthy would be that all stops and the shunting yard are in the adhesion section, so ordinary switches and crossings are sufficient.The terrain to be cut through by the railway consists largely of limestone, while clay slate with marl occurs on the east side of the Mittelberg, which is why the trace had to be led along the western leaning of the same, which line, however, was longer is, however, landslides are avoided. There is only one larger structure across the Sulzbach at Pfl. 40 + 33; large not because of the span, which is only 4 m, but because of the height of 11 m. Only one railway station is planned, namely near Reitterndorf, where the official apartments, accommodation for the staff, locomotive depot and water station are planned. - At Ischl, a stop with a waiting hall and room for an official is necessary, but no points. - There are also stops, each 80 m long, at Perneck and on the Reinfalzalpe with double tracks and two points each. The terminus of the train is the Hütteneckalpe, where a hotel is being built. The stops are connected to each other and to the shunting station and hotel by telephone." The Upper Austrian governor's office set the date for the route revision as June 28, 1890. The hearing took place in the town hall. At the beginning, the representative of the General Inspectorate of the Austrian Railways suggested - as already mentioned above when reproducing their expert statement - to move the starting point closer to one of the existing bridge crossings over the Traun, with which the concession applicant agreed. On the part of the state forest administration ( the projected railway line was to be routed through state forest property for a length of approx. 5.25 km) no objection was raised to the railway project, but it was asserted: "It goes without saying that the management of that railway and/or after completion of the construction, the bringing of the forest products in individual parts of the forest, especially in the aerarian Kufbergwalde, is made more difficult insofar as the wood, which stands above the railway trace, can only be delivered at great cost. The request is therefore made, that on that route suitable devices, which make it possible to bring the wood, are already laid out when the railway is laid at the expense of the company in agreement with the forest authority Mitterberg, Geigenthal and Eisenerz., then Zwischenbergen, towards Hütteneck, mostly a b existing timber transport route, which serves to deliver forest products in winter. Since this transport route must be maintained, the company would have to build a suitable transport route along the railway track at its own expense, according to the forest authorities. Incidentally, it is noted that the kk Forstaerar lodged a deposit against any replacement performance expected from the title of the wood delivery or for any other reason from the outset and the express request is also made that the kk Forstaerar be acquitted of any compensation payment and the railway to carry out the bank protection and other security structures required for one's own security at one's own expense without forestry competition." The statement of the Imperial and Royal Hunting Line is interesting. Although the practice of hunting in state-owned forests was the Emperor's personal condition and it was pointed out "that the management of the railway would damage the hunt in them, because experience has shown that the game leaves such parts of the forest as a result of the prevailing unrest" , it was nevertheless opposed to the Execution of the track itself did not raise any objection, but merely made a reservation regarding any claims for compensation. The representative of the salt works administration did not raise any objection to the execution of the railway project, but said that mining should not be adversely affected by the railway construction and operation. Finally, the representatives of the AH. Finally, the "Commission's report" on the railway project says: "1. Regarding the statement by the representative of the kk Forest and Domain Directorate in Gmunden, it cannot be ignored that the execution of the projected trace will make it more difficult to bring the forest products out of the Aryan forests. However, it will be the subject of the political inspection to consider how this aggravation can be counteracted as far as is practical As far as the comments made by the representative of the kk Forstaerars regarding the compensation for bank protection and other security structures are concerned, the official provisions existing in this case will apply Regarding the remark made by the representative of the Imperial and Royal Hunt Management that the projected track would significantly reduce the value of the very highest huntability, it should be remembered that based on the experience made, this fear does not appear to be justified! and that it is up to the construction company will, in this case, with de r kuk court hunting management to settle 2. The requirements of the representatives of the kk Salinenärars generally appear to be based on the existing laws, but it will also be up to the political inspection commission to consider to what extent the requirements made must be taken into account. 3. With regard to the concerns raised by the representative of the Imperial and Royal Directorate General of the Austrian State Railways regarding the variant at the starting point of the Localbahn in Ischl, the following must be noted: As far as the fear of a close contact between the two railway tracks is concerned, the justification of the same will only be determined after submission of the Detailprojectes a final report can be made. However, insofar as the present situation and the variant drawn in blue paint give a picture of the future station layout, the two railway bodies should be far enough apart from each other. As far as the intended expansion of the existing lschl station is concerned, the space that is envisaged for this, according to the representative of the Imperial and Royal Directorate General of the Austrian State Railways, is hardly sufficient, since this area lies between the existing railway bridge and the tunnel has a length of 200 m and, by the way, the track there is in a strong curve. On the other hand, an extension of the projected station system of the Localbahn will not be necessary at all in the foreseeable future. – The question regarding an extension or relocation of the station facilities of the state railway cannot be the subject of today's discussion at all. 4. No objection was raised by interested parties against the projected trace taken into negotiation, nor against the projected stations and stops, and the Commission therefore advocates that the concession negotiations should be initiated on the basis of these negotiations and the assigned project. As far as the variant discussed by the representative of the kk General Inspectorate is concerned, with the exception of the representative of the kk General Directorate of the Austrian State Railways, all other interested parties agree with it and the Commission also unanimously endorses it, especially apart from those already mentioned by the Commission For the reasons given, the fears of signal interference expressed by the Designated Agent appear unjustified after the applicants have considered the establishment of a telephone line." On July 13, 1890, the "Ischler Wochenblatt" also reported on the result of the route revision. After describing the negotiations, the report continues: "Meanwhile the staking of the approved line has already begun and in the direction towards Perneck you can see white poles with red and white flags everywhere, which mark the trace. Now that this railway matter has taken another step forward, we hope that construction could begin this fall.As far as profitability is concerned, it is undoubtedly the same if we consider similar, already existing railways in Austria, not to mention Switzerland, especially with the one to be expected due to the cheap tariff rates great tourist traffic, which will be significantly increased by the imminent expansion of the direct lschl-Salzburg line.We take it for granted that the community of Ischl and the neighboring communities will support the undertaking in every direction and that the papers later submitted for subscription will be excellent system are welcome." The day before, the report from the Upper Austrian governor's office dated July 5, 1890 on the result of the route revision had reached the Ministry of Commerce. The ministry first obtained a statement from the General Inspectorate of Austrian Railways. In the meantime, the detailed marking out of the railway line took place, and lng. At the same time, Miller began to seek funding for his railroad project. A report in the "Ischler Wochenblatt " of September 21, 1890 provides information about this as well, which states, among other things: "The detailed stakeout work for this railway is now almost completely finished, so that the necessary plans for submission to the political inspection can be completed in the course of the winter. The political inspection commission should take place at the beginning of next spring, but it is necessary to regulate the financial question at the same time. Above all, it is in the interest of the municipality of lschl to contribute as much as possible to the realization of the project, because lschl must strive, because the spa has to withstand the competition from all sides, to add artificial attractions to the natural ones(!). but unfortunately lschl is not one of the most prosperous elite bathing resorts, as we have heard, the concessionaire Mr. Engineer Miller made the following suggestion to make it easier for lschl to be able to lay the financial foundation for the railway and to enable the concessionaire to continue developing Mr. Miller wants namely that the community for 50,000 fl shares accept the five-percent interest guarantee and continue to contribute the very modest amount of 500 fl to purchase the 50,000 fl; with this small sum, interest would be calculated on interest, the shares would be purely the property of the community in about 50 years, which would have been easily acquired, and the guarantee would then also be void. Let us now assume that there could be years when the shares would yield only four percent, then the community would then have one percent, that would be 500 fl to cover; However, this case is unlikely to occur, because the frequency of Ischl, especially after the expansion of the Ischl-Salzburg railway connection and the zone tariff, will be so enormous that the profitability of the railway will be very good. Apart from the new points of attraction that are created by the railway and contribute to further prosperity, there are also very favorable, direct material advantages: the payment during the operating hours should go annually to the management, officials, railway maintenance, engineers, conductors, Heizer certainly an amount of 5 to 6,000 fl, as necessary to show what amount circulates in lschl and benefits the local tradesmen. Of particular importance for the population during the construction period is the circulation of around 200,000 fl, a large part of which is accounted for by the use of carts, since large cuts have to be made. Even if the entire construction could not be carried out by local workers, almost the entire amount remains here, since, as is well known, railway workers usually save nothing or only very little. " Meanwhile , on September 26, 1890, the General Inspectorate of the Austrian Railways issued their report . After that, no objection was raised either to the routing or to the planned stations and stops. By decree of October 14, 1890, the Department of Commerce notified lng. Miller that with regard to the favorable result of the route revision, the route of the projected local railway will be approved with the following "comments": "The elaboration of the detailed project will be based on the general project that has undergone the route revision, of which a copy will be returned below, and the variant desired by the interested parties and also applied for by the Commission for execution, in the project blue marked variant at km 0 to 0.1 has to be carried out, especially since the relocation of the train transport system from km 0.6 to the Ischl exit station seems more appropriate and, according to a message received recently from the kk General Directorate of the Austrian State Railways, the latter also has no objection to it. -I will therefore have no objection to initiating negotiations with Yours to provide evidence. So I put it to Ew. Well born at home, if necessary, for the purpose of the planned official act, to present himself personally at the Ministry of Commerce, or to send authorized representatives there. Because of the timing of the nursing negotiation is sohin with the ho. Department VII in the shortest possible way to maintain agreement." Once there were no longer any technical or legal obstacles to the railway project, the designer had to try to secure the financing. Nothing could be found out about details of attempts at financing, apart from the fact that Ing. Miller had contacted the municipality of lschl ; he wrote to them and suggested, among other things: "The municipality of lschl participates firstly by providing a guarantee of five percent for 50,000 fl years pass into the ownership of the community of lschl, whereupon the interest guarantee ends. The community therefore comes into possession of the shares with a nominal value of 50,000 fl. by paying in a total of 50 times 500 fl the respective 500 fl to be paid in are calculated with interest on interest ... The basis for the future construction sum is the lump sum to be approved by the High Imperial and Royal Ministry of Commerce, of which two-fifths ordinary shares and three-fifths priority shares are issued according to the usage the honored community can of course only after the political inspection and from the day of the definitive concession, which by the Hohenk. k. Ministry of Commerce not earlier, before the building capital is proven, can be claimed by the company of the lschl-Hütteneckalpe-Bahn." The community deliberated on these proposals on October 8 and 15, 1890, initially electing a committee to begin negotiations with Ing. Miller. As can be seen from the minutes of the consultation, there was no objection in principle to the railway project in the municipal council committee, but two committee members doubted the profitability of the railway by stating that other restaurants suffered a loss of earnings as a result of the hotel planned on the Hütteneckalpe. Another committee member requested a different route as the current line passes through many very small properties, reducing them even further and making management almost impossible. On October 15, 1890, the mayor then reported on the outcome of the negotiations with Ing. Miller and stated, among other things, that he had reported "that the cost of the railway including the hotel to be built was 750,000 fl., i.e. the interest 35,000 fl. and the annual Operating costs will amount to 15,000 fl, so annual expenses of around 60,000 fl should accrue with amortization, etc. The revenue would amount to the amount after the assumed 45 full days of operation with a fare of 3 fl from 60,000 fl, i.e. direct interest appears to be covered." The mayor remarked on this: "Since, however, with this composition, income from the railway seems somewhat uncertain, the committee came to the conclusion that it could not recommend a guarantee from the municipality, although it was convinced of the importance of this railway for lschl, all the more so since Austria has so few high-altitude hotels. " In the ensuing discussion, the committee members stated that the railway should be built anyway. The community councilor Kuhn said that the committee should think twice before voting so that the construction of the railway would not be made completely impossible by a hasty decision. We are health resort representatives, and as such have the duty to always keep an eye on the improvement of the health resort, and we must be all the less slacking off, as in recent years a decline in the health resort has been noticeable anyway. However, since the creation of the projected mountain railway is likely to raise interest in Ischl again, the municipality must not refrain from supporting the company with all means possible. On the other hand, municipal councilor Wiesinger said that there must first be clarity about how to raise money. He said he agreed with Mr. Kuhn word for word, but could Mr. Kuhn also state how he intends to raise the money, whether he had perhaps thought of the possibility of increasing the community contribution? He fully sympathizes with the rail project, but he doesn't want the community to jump headlong into an undertaking. The funds of the community were so scarce that there was absolutely no money for anything beyond the ordinary administrative expenses, and so long as he had the honor of being a member of the finance committee he felt it his duty to guard against any new burden talk before you are clear about the coverage. The municipal committee finally agreed to offer the designer half of the desired sum, while the remaining sum should be raised by the three institutes Wirerstiftung, Kurfonds and Ischler Sparkasse, whose survey the mayor wanted to take over. About the further fate of the railway project there is only one file later - a submission by Ing. Miller to the Ministry of Commerce dated June 28, 1893 , in which he asked for approval of a project change ( conversion to electrical operation, design with a gauge of 76 cm instead the previous track gauge of 1 m) . It also says there: "Until now it has not been possible to finance the projected steam cog railway ... " It is therefore clear that the execution of the railway plans failed due to the impossibility of financing them. One cannot at all say that the implementation failed because of the attitude of the municipality, especially since, despite corresponding research, it was not possible to determine what attitude the Kurfonds, Wirerstiftung held and Ischler Sparkasse responded to the mayor's request. Of course, it is also conceivable that the lack of willingness to finance is due to other reasons; like when you visualize yourself. that the railway should lead through a personal hunting ground of the emperor. However, there is no documentary or even literary evidence for such influences or assumptions. So the execution of this railway project was omitted, while the further fate of Ing. Miller is lost in the dark. Whether one should regret that this railway remained unbuilt is difficult to decide; On the one hand, the railway - like the one on the Schafberg - would be a real tourist attraction today, on the other hand, it and the projected hotel construction on the Hütteneckalpe would have destroyed another piece of nature. List of Sources: The railway project was only mentioned by Prolraska (History of the bathing resort Bad Ischl1823-1923. Linz 1924. p. 55) - as far as can be seen right now. He used the Ischler Woche, the municipal council minutes of October 8, 1890, but not the sources mentioned in note 7. I. The following relevant files of the Ministry of Commerce are in the traffic archive: 19.236/889 - long. Miller applies for pre-concession for Hütteneck railway. 36.469/889 - Report of the Upper Austria. governorship. 14.709/890-Lng. Miller, submitting the detailed project, applies for the route revision to be ordered. 30.328/890 report of the Upper Austria. Lieutenant's Office for the route revision (the detailed project including all plans and documents are included in this file). 34.615/890 - Prime Minister Graf Taaffe wg. Naming of the railway as Archduchess Marie-Valerie Railway. 39.33 7/890- oö. The governor's office submits a supplementary statement to the court hunting management (the last three HMZI. form a single, otherwise jointly completed bundle of files). 50.558/890 - Inspection file Zl. 4683/890 of the Ministry of the Interior regarding the naming of the railway. 34.199/893 - long. Miller for possible electrification of the railroad. II. 1m 00. Landesarchiv is also a collection of files from the former Upper Austria. Lieutenancy, consisting of the following documents: 7721/889- Department of Commerce for survey of the personal circumstances of the lng. Miller (= settled in HMZI. 19.236/889). 9524/889 - long. Miller presents map of railway project. 10.5001889 - Magistrate of Budapest reports on Miller's personal circumstances (original submitted to the Ministry of Trade, but no longer available in HMZI. 36.469/889). 11.771/889 Gmunden district authority reports on the railway project of the governor's office to the Ministry of Commerce (- HMZI. 36.469/889). 14.504/889 - long. Miller indicates that with the preparatory work the lng. Haas and Klein-Neusiedl were entrusted. 4177/890- Department of Commerce approves extension of deadline for completion of preliminary work (corresponding Department of Commerce act no longer exists in Transport Archive). 8437/890 - Ministry of Commerce issues an order for route revision (= completed in HMZI. 14.709/890). 8454/890 - Gmunden district authority reports on the announcement of the local appointment. 8786/890 - Report of the Upper Austria. Lieutenancy regarding carrying out the route revision (- HMZI. 30.328/890); with the original of the commission report. 10.058, 10.282/890 - travel invoices. 13.385/890- Submission of the court hunting management, original submitted to the Ministry of Trade (- HMZI. 39.337/890). 15.342/890- Ministry of Commerce approves routing (= HMZl30.328/890). In the town archive of Bad lschl there is a fascicle (volume 1 of the general files) with the designation • Eisenbahnkorrespondenz lschl - Salzburg, Schafberg, Hütteneck etc: and the year 1886 written in blue pencil. The fascicle has no special order; some of the letters, notes, etc. are of a private nature, have no log number or entry notes and are mostly addressed to the mayor personally. There is only one undated letter from lng. Miller, whose settlement is not apparent from the documents. From the exhibit protocols and repertories of the years 1889-1891 there is only one statement in the year 1890: 28 I 2/890 Miller, construction company, requests subscription of regular shares. There is no settlement in the log book; the search for the act was unsuccessful. - The municipal council committee minutes are bound in their own books. The two meetings of October 8th and 15th, 1890 deal with the Hütteneckalpe railway. After that, there are no more references in the minutes.

financial support

Opening ceremony 7.9.2019 Via Salis - words of blessing from Franz Peter Handlichner: Dear Pernecker - dear men of the Mitterbergstollen interest group Dear Mr. Mayor, dear Mr. Executive Director Dear sisters and brothers in faith we are not god We are not rulers of the earth, but part of creation. The earth was there before us and was given to us. That is the message of the environmental encyclical "Laudato si" - With sentences like these, in the first environmental encyclical in church history, Pope Francis makes a radical break with an unfortunate tradition of exploitation that is based on a misunderstood interpretation of the Bible verse from the creation story Make the earth subject to you . As the Pope concedes, many people have grown up with the conviction that the earth is man's property and that man can therefore exploit its treasures. This is not the case – the Pope warns in clear words in “Laudato si”: “This is not a correct interpretation of the Bible as the Church understands it.” What sets this encyclical apart from others is the new location of man in creation - what is the place of man in creation? Man is not the ruler of the world, but only a part of the whole - the Pope makes clear. You too aptly express such a view of creation in the hiking guide that you created on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the VIA SALIS themed trail and the blessing of the Perneck village square: "The history of salt begins an unbelievable 250 million years ago with the deposition of the salt layers in the primordial sea , the so-called Tethys. This time is for us people of the 21st century. in the deepest darkness of history and we can only guess at it from the story of creation. The salt has always been present in the mountain and it required inventiveness, combined with courage and diligence, to make it usable for the people. Salt production has survived wars and revolutions, global economic crises and dictatorships and is still an economic factor in our region today. The rise of Bad Ischl from a village at the confluence of the Ischl and Traun rivers is based solely on the treasures of the mountain. This is thanks to many generations of hardworking, brave miners who have shown renewed courage, drive and tenacity in their dangerous work every day.” The small village square of Perneck and the VIA SALIS would like to remind us and future generations of this mining tradition. In his environmental encyclical, Pope Francis also expressed his great concern for the ecological balance and the world climate, which is a common global good that must be protected. The Pope criticizes the effects of environmental degradation, the consumerist throwaway culture and a capitalism that destroys social relations. The consequences of climate change hit the world's poor the most. Pope Francis is in solidarity with the poor countries that are demanding financial support from the rich countries in the international climate negotiations. And he calls for an ethics of international relations: “Because there is a real, “ecological” debt – especially between the North and the South – related to the imbalances in trade and their consequences in the ecological area as well as in the course of history disproportionate consumption of natural resources practiced by some countries.” It is fortunate that today's celebration is part of the so-called CREATION TIME takes place. If we walk the VIA SALIS, we also find the little mountain church. In 1751, Empress Maria Theresa ordered the construction of this little church: Luther's forbidden teachings were widespread among the miners - this church was intended to strengthen the Catholic faith among the working class again. Today, the little mountain church is a place where it is repeatedly evident how the ecumenical togetherness of the churches is lived as a matter of course. We thank our evangelical brothers Leopold senior, Leopold junior and Hermann Schiendorfer for their concern for the preservation of this church. I close, before the blessing of the new town square and Via Salis, with the words of the unknown miner who many years ago said: Ischl salt - God gave it, God preserves it. Franz Peter Handchner