From 1311 until today
Although almost nothing is known about medieval salt mining before 1311, it can be assumed that mining activity in Hallstatt gradually increased to reach a level comparable with that in prehistoric times. In 1311, mining and brewing were placed under state control and remained so right through until 1998.1311 Reorganization of salt production by Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia
1524 “Hallstaetter Ordnung” reform
1750 – The Great Fire
Hallstatt’s special status until 1850
World War One and the Great Depression
1952 The miners move down to the valley
1974 Brine production technique
1979 Foundation of the Österreichische Salinen AG
1997 End of salt monopoly and privatization
1311 Reorganization of salt production by Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia
Around AD 1311, Queen Elisabeth reformed the salt industry; salt mining and brine boiling were put under state control and remained so until 1998. On 21 January, St. Agnes’s Day, the queen handed over documents to the citizens of Hallstatt conferring them market rights, various powers (brine pan sites) and posts at the pan house in the form of castle guard tenures. Among those privileged in the salt industry were the salt producers known as ‘Salzfertiger’, who were in charge of the trade, the packingand the sale of salt.
1524 “Hallstaetter Ordnung” reform
Due to a decline in the economic situation at the end of the 15th century, the salt industry was used to help fill the state coffers. The mountain’s salt deposits were leased several times, a fact that proved extraordinarily detrimental to the condition of the mining facilities. It was Emperor Maximilian I who eventually stopped the lease and who put the resource again under control of the government authorities. ‘Dedicated valleys’ were created to ensure the supply of the salt production centres, by committing the municipalities of those valleys to deliver all surplus food exclusively to the Salzkammergut.The Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I enforced control over the saltworks in the ‘Kammergut’ (the part of the land property under the immediate control of the sovereign, administered by his chamber of finance). He introduced ‘ordered visitations’ in the course of which experts appointed by the landlord conducted close inspections of the works and issued extensive reports. Their comments and their suggestions for improvement were consolidated in ‘regulations’ to be implemented by the works management. The Hallstatt Regulations of 1524 were to enter the history books of the Austrian salt industry as the first reformation charter. Three years later, the salt mine was for the first time completely surveyed. The survey results were shown at a scale of 1:1 in the ‘Regerfeld’ in Obertraun or on the frozen lake in cold winters. At the end of the 16th century, wood had become scarce in the forests of the Hallstatt mine district, and a new salt plant was proposed in well-wooded Ebensee. The project required the construction of a 40 km pipeline to transport the brine.
1750 – The Great Fire
One of the major events in the turbulent history of Hallstatt and the Hallstatt saltworks occurred on 20 September 1750, when a blaze hit the Hallstatt market town. All buildings belonging to the state and nine salt producer houses burnt down. Four people died.Hallstatt’s special status until 1850
For a long time, the Salzkammergut had a special status, becoming almost a ‘state within a state’. This status showed in a number of privileges absolutely unique in the Habsburg Empire. The region was exempt from all taxes and duties, from military billeting, war charges and land imposts. All men working in salt-making were exempt from military service. The Salt Authority also provided welfare benefits in the form of social contributions such as wedding bonuses, the allocation of building sites, construction grants, and hospitals to house the old and sick. The sanitary conditions were amazingly modern; there were free public baths for the staff and free medical treatment was provided in case of illness. Since the beginning, the ‘Salzamt’, the Salt Authority, had held an exceptional position in the Kammergut, subordinate only to the court chamber in Vienna. The Salzamt was responsible for the management of the salt and logging industries, and for the production and sale of the salt. Entrusted with the custody of the manors of Wildenstein and Ort, it also exerted juridical sovereignty over the Kammergut. It had the final say in all issues relating to safety, duties and advowsons.The reform of the state administration and the tax system under Maria Theresa (1749-1761) first curtailed the omnipotence and the autonomy of the Salzamt authority. The provincial government was granted substantial influence on the police force, on tax and levy issues. By imperial decree, the ‘k.k. Salinenoberamt’ (Salzamt) had ceased to exist by September 1850 and became the ‘k.k. Salinen- und Forstdirektion für das Kronland Österreich ob der Enns’. 1850 also saw the end of the guild-designated trade of ‘salt producer’ that had existed since Hallstatt had been granted market rights in 1311.
World War One and the Great Depression
At the beginning of the 20th century, some 250 workers were employed at the salt mine. They were divided into three wag classes, each subdivided into three levels, and worked in eight-hour shifts below ground or twelve-hour shifts above ground. The workers were almost exclusively recruited from the local population of Hallstatt, Obertraun, Goisern and Gosau. The saltworks remained the most important employer in the town, and a job with the royal and imperial public enterprise was considered highly desirable.World War I brought drastic changes, with first an enormously increased demand for salt, followed by a complete collapse in demand. The company announced in 1925 that three or four pan houses would be closed and that activities would be consolidated in the remaining sites. Just two or three salt mines would be used to produce the brine, while the remainder were threatened with closure. Because of its unfavourable situation, Hallstatt was particularly at risk. In 1926, the first official tourist mine was established in Hallstatt. A section of the access tunnel known as the Katharina-Theresia Adit was opened to visitors and those who came in summer had the opportunity to visit the brine extraction sites. The tourist mine attracted 6630 visitors in its first year.
1952 The miners move down to the valley
A long term plan aimed at the extension of the plant was implemented in 1947, when a new adit was driven four metres above Lake Hallstatt. A drainage adit or sough, the ‘Erbstollen’, had been proposed by Chief Bergmeister Kner as early as in 1795. It was to undercut the salt deposit and provide the best possible solution with respect to the further deepening of the mine works. A new access to the upperhorizons was opened in 1952 via the vertical Beust shaft (more than 400 metres deep). This connection ended the ageold practice of providing accommodation for miners in the High Valley as it was now possible to reach the workings within a short time from the mouth of the Erbstollen.
After the office of the Director of Works in the Rudolph Tower had been transferred to the administrative building in the valley in 1960, the tower was freed to be used for tourist purposes. The last commercial salt-boiling took place in Hallstatt in 1964. The demolition of the Pan House five years later ended the direct trade that had been in existence for so many centuries and that had so influenced the development of the town.
1974 Brine production technique
In 1974, brine began to be extracted through bore holes. Thanks to the borehole brine extraction, the labour-intensive work of ‘advance heading’ underground could be reduced to a minimum. Since the new methods are not only superior to the traditional leaching methods with respect to physical laws and solution kinetics, but also regarding the time between two regenerations, flow rate and safety, they have proved remarkably cost-effective.1979 Foundation of the Österreichische Salinen AG
In 1978, the entire business and accounting administration of the salt monopoly was transferred to the Österreichische Salinen, thus replacing the regulation by customs and state monopoly dating from 1835. As from 1st January 1979, the Österreichische Salinen AG (ÖSAG) was established as a company with its own legal status with an authorised capital of 330 million Austrian shillings with 100% of stateownership of shares. To meet the requirements of an increased number of visitors to the tourist mine in the high hanging valley, the gondola lift installed in 1955 was replaced in 1985 by a modern funicular railway.With the setup of the central monitoring station in 1984, the mine found itself brought into the ‘electronic age’. Until then, the brine production had been supervised by the ‘Wässerer’ in three-shift operations around the clock. Now the data acquired by electronic measuring instruments could be transferred to the monitoring station and assessed by technically trained personnel. In order to ensure sufficient brine production at Hallstatt for the decades ahead, drifting for a new extraction system was started in 1994, with a planned total length of 2,700 metres. For the first time in thousands of years, tunnel boring or roadway drivage in this mine was done not by hand, but by means of a mechanical roadheader.
1997 End of salt monopoly and privatization
When Austria joined the European Union, the Österreichische Salinen lost its salt monopoly. In 1996, the ÖIAG (Österreichische Industrie AG Holding) was charged by the Republic of Austria with the sale of the Österreichische Salinen AG. It was sold in 1997 to a private consortium. The business that had been almost uninterruptedly state-owned since AD 1311 was taken over with ist mines, saltworks, properties and tourist facilities. The new owners drew up comprehensive forward-looking strategies. A few years after the sale of the Österreichische Salinen AG, the company has fully adapted to the changed situation in the market. The strategy adopted by the new owners right from the start has revived the long-lost awareness of a great tradition among the employees, a tradition that had conferred on them a special status in the working world. Even today, in modern industrial society, the mining sector is dependent to a large extent on individual personalities; here, humans have not yet been reduced to anonymous figures.(Urstoeger, H. J.)
