The Graben Tour (german: Grabentour) is a
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
history
footpath
A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...
in the north of the former district of
Freiberg in the German
Free State of Saxony
Free may refer to:
Concept
* Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything
* Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism
* Emancipate, to procure ...
. It follows the course of an old mining water channel, in the valley of the
Bobritzsch, from
Krummenhennersdorf to
Reinsberg.
History
The name of the walk is derived from the artificial water channel or ''
Kunstgraben
A ''Kunstgraben'' is a type of man-made water channel that was once used by mines to drive the water wheels needed for power, mine drainage and a host of other purposes. The term is German (plural: ''Kunstgräben''). Similar ditches supplying ...
'' that was laid here between 1844 and 1847 to supply water for the mining industry, ''Graben'' being German for "ditch". The channel was used to make water available for
overshot wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...
s (''
Kunsträder'') and
reversible wheels (''
Kehrräder'') at the 4th Shaft (''IV. Lichtloch'') and the two Schwamkrug turbines at the 5th Shaft (''V. Lichtloch''), which were used to transport the rock extracted from the ''Rothschönberger Stolln'' mine and for water management.
[Lysann Petermann: ''Der Rothschönberger Stolln.'', In: Reihe Bergbauhistorie der Klosterregion Altzella., Reinsberg, 2005., pp. 7 – 24]
File:Grabentour.jpg, The Graben Tour walk. Left: the old water channel
File:Mundloch.jpg, Oberes Mundloch der Reinsberger Rösche
File:RSSt IV.Lichtloch Treibehaus Radstubenkaue (05-1).jpg, Pithead stocks (''Halde''), engine house (''Treibehaus'') and wheelhouse (''Radstubenkaue'') of IV Shaft of the Rothschönberger Stolln mine.
Literature
*
*
References
External links
{{commons category, Grabentour (Freiberg)
IV Shaft Society (''Verein IV. Lichtloch'')
Hiking trails in Germany
Culture of Saxony
Ore Mountains
Freiberg
Mining in the Ore Mountains
Protected landscapes in Germany
Kunstgraben
History of mining in Germany