Bean ore in Rhinehesse
In many places in Rheinhessen, e.g. also in the slopes above Harxheim, iron ore can be found in the form of floor ores. In the 19th century, these deposits of bean ore were mined and smelted in the course of industrialization and the development of heavy industry.
If you hike from Harxheim to Ebersheim through the vineyards, you will pass an area shortly before reaching the heights of Ebersheim, which is still known today by the local population as the Eisenkopf. If you wonder where this name comes from, the answer is surprising:
There was once a deposit of bean ore here, which was mined in the 19th century.
The iron head between Ebersheim and Harxheim
©GeoBasis-DE / LVermGeoRP (2021), dl-en/by-2-0, http://www.lvermgeo.rlp.de, the marking of the iron head and the designation “Harxheim” were added
Floor ores from the Harxheim district
Bildquelle: Birgit Korte
The ferruginous wrought ores are roundish structures, usually a few millimeters to a few centimeters in size, and often have a reddish-brown color. They were formed after the sea retreated from the Mainz Basin more than 15 million years ago and are a weathering product of the limestone sediments near the surface. They are concretions, i.e., as with an onion, further layers accumulated around an initial core for each clump of floor polish. The iron content is usually between 30 – 50 percent.
Mining of floor ores in Rheinhessen at the beginning of the industrial age
Bean ores occur in Rheinhessen in many places mostly on the limestone plateaus. With the onset of industrialization in the 19th century and the development of heavy industry, the demand for iron ore grew. Thus, the mining of the floor ores became interesting. Since they were mostly stored close to the surface, this was possible in opencast mining. The pioneer in this field was the Gienanth company, founded in 1735 in Eisenberg in the Palatinate. In 1804, Ludwig von Gienanth had the first exploratory diggings for Bohner ore carried out on the Kloppberg near Gau-Heppenheim. In 1805, an ore washing plant was set up and in 1808 he was granted a concession to mine the ore, which was now operated for several decades. In 1822, Ludwig Gienanth obtained another concession for mining floor ores on the Wißberg and began mining on the southwestern edge of this plateau in 1828.
The scale of excavation activities was considerable. The mining area at Kloppberg extended over 33 hectares around the middle of the 19th century. In the 1830s, around 1,500 tons of ore per year were mined in each of the two pits at Kloppberg and Wißberg. This covered about half of Gienanth’s needs. The ores were cleaned in ore washes on site and then transported by horse-drawn carts to the Gienanth ironworks in Eisenberg and Hochstein.
A third major mining area in Rheinhessen, for which an excavation concession was not applied for until 1859, existed at Westerberg near Gau-Algesheim. The mine belonged to the German-Dutch Actiengesellschaft, which in the same year started up the Johannishütte in Duisburg with initially one blast furnace. (1) The floor ores were transported to Duisburg via the Rhine. It was not until 1906 that the mining of fbean ore at the Wißberg was stopped.
Cover page of the prospectus for the establishment of the Rheinhessen Ludwigshütte in Mainz, 1856
Archive HeidelbergCement AG, ZWW 21
In 1856, the Mainz entrepreneur Christian Lothary, together with five other Mainz entrepreneurs, also wanted to enter the smelting business on the basis of Rheinhessen ores on a fairly large scale and planned to build an ironworks under the name “Rheinhessische Ludwigshütte” on the site of the later Mainz freight station in Weisenau. As was customary, a joint stock company was set up to finance the construction of the steel mill by selling shares. Plans included the construction of initially three blast furnaces with a capacity of 7,000 tons of pig iron per year. The iron ores were to come from Rheinhessen, where mining rights had been secured over an area of 6,000 hectares between Oppenheim and Monzernheim. In 1856, the young metallurgical expert Julius Römheld was also involved in the project and moved from the Duisburg metallurgical site to Mainz. The project was ultimately not implemented because the sources of floor wax proved too unproductive. However, Julius Römheld founded an iron foundry in Mainz-Weisenau in 1859, and Christian Lothary established the cement works in Mainz-Weisenau in 1864. Both foundations became important companies that still exist today
The Rheinhessen Ludwig smelter was not built, but nevertheless the activities for the mining of floor polish ore in Rheinhessen must have been very active in the 19th century. This is shown by a look at the notices of the Hessian Central Office for State Statistics from 1867, according to which 26 “permits and concessions” for the mining of floor ores were granted in the then “Province of Rheinhessen” in that year alone, including for Gau-Bischofsheim, Ebersheim, and Zornheim.(2)
Bean ore at the Eisenkopf between Harxheim and Ebersheim
But what was the situation with the floor ores at the Eisenkopf between Harxheim and Ebersheim? We learn something about this in the geological writings of the folk teacher and very knowledgeable amateur geologist Anton Grooß from Ingelheim, who intensively explored Rheinhessen geologically in the 19th century.
He had received his information about the iron head from a Steiger, a supervisor in the mining industry. According to this, a layer of up to 1.25 meters thick with clay ores was deposited under layers of loess, clay and lime at the Eisenkopf.
Further information can be found in the 1940 published book “Die Bohnerzablagerungen in Rheinhessen und ihre Entstehung” by Joachim Bartz, in which he summarized current research results on Bohnerz deposits in Rheinhessen at that time. The following figure is also found here, although it is presumably also deposits that have already been exploited.
Distribution of the ore deposits on sheet Mainz
Source: Joachim Bartz. The Bohnerz deposits in Rheinhessen and their formation. Berlin. Reichsstelle für Bodenforschung. 1940, p. 12, Fig. 3
Bartz explains that in former times, corn ore was mined at the Eisenkopf, the Gewann would still be called “ore pit” by the winegrowers. However, during an on-site inspection, he hardly found any clay ores there due to high overlying loess layers. On the way to the east in the direction of Gau-Bischofsheim, sporadic evidence of ores could be found.
Prospecting rights for ores in the Harxheim district
Have mining rights for ores been requested and granted for the Harxheim district? Yes, corresponding documents can be found in the state archives in Speyer. Johann Breithacker V. zu Sauer-Schwabenheim (today’s Schwabenheim) had apparently submitted an application to the authorities around 1857 “for the granting of a permit for iron and manganese ores in the Harxheim district”. With the date of November 2, 1857, the Grand Ducal Mayor’s Office of Harxheim writes in this connection to the Grand Ducal District Office in Mainz. On the sheet there is a note that the applicant has made attempts to find ore, but the pit was thrown back. What resulted from this in the further course is not known.
In 1873, Johann Breithacker V. – this time with two other gentlemen – again sought mining rights in the Harxheim district. The following document has been preserved in this regard 3):
Announcement of the excavation request for iron and manganese ores in the Harxheim district dated June 30, 1874
Speyer State Archives H53 1880
“Announcement,
of a concession application of Johannes Breithacker V. zu Sauer-Schwabenheim, W. Lang zu Gräveneck and Berginspecktor Carl Ludwig Münster zu Limburg an der Lahn on iron and manganese ores in the district of Harxheim Kreis Mainz.
The above-mentioned petitioners have applied for a concession to mine iron and manganese ores in the Harxheim district of Mainz by means of a presentation dated August 30 of last year. In accordance with Art. 6 and 42 of the Mining Act of April 21, 1810, the applicants offer to pay the owners of the aforementioned mine field an annual land compensation of one pfennig pr. acres and also to compensate any damage caused by the operation. On behalf of the Grand Ducal Chief Construction Directorate in Darmstadt, we bring this request and offer, in accordance with Articles 23 and 24 of the aforementioned Mining Law, to the public’s attention by insertion in the Darmstädter Zeitung and the Mainzer Journal, as well as in the Mainzer Kreisblatt, and this will also be done on the part of the Grand Ducal District Office in Mainz by four-monthly notice for announcement in Mainz and Harxheim.
Those who wish to raise objections to the application in question must file them with the undersigned authority within the four-month notice period.
Theodor Hall, on June 30, 1874
Grand Ducal Salt Works Theodor Hall
Hunter”
Previously, the Harxheim municipal council had already given its approval to the request and noted the following in a protocol of June 4, 1874 4):
“The municipal council of the municipality of Harxheim, assembled in lawful number, has, in accordance with the enclosed order, decided on the property described in Rubr. (?) for the granting of a concession for the extraction of iron and manganese ores in the district of Harxheim, in the county of Mainz, provided that the inhabitants of the community are held harmless against any possible disadvantages and that the existing legal provisions and regulations are strictly observed.
The Mayor and Municipal Council
Frieß, A. Götz, Rösch, Michael Ackermann III, Michel Ackermann II, Martin Happel, Joh. Ph. Happel, Joh. Ph. Ackermann, Georg Reichert”
Excerpt from the minutes of the meeting of the Harxheim municipal council of June 4, 1874
Speyer State Archives H53 1880
The concession was then actually granted by the Grand Ducal Ministry of Finance in April 1875. Unfortunately, there is no information when and in what way the concession was used. Also, it is unknown where floor ores from the Harxheim district might have been smelted.
Can one still find floor ores in the vineyards above Harxheim? Yes, in some places they appear openly. However, those involved with this issue had to take quite a few walks before they actually succeeded.
References:
1) Schönfelder (1861): Die Johannishütte der Deutsch-Holländischen Actiengesellschaft bei Duisburg. In: Die baulichen Anlagen auf den Berg-, Hütten- und Salinenwerken in Preussen. Supplement to the Zeitschrift für das Berg-, Hütten- und Salinenwesen (Volume 9). 1st ed. 2nd delivery. Berlin. S. 5.
(2) Mittheilungen der Großherzoglich Hessischen Centralstelle für die Landesstatisik. 3rd ed. January 1866 – December 1867. Darmstadt. S. 39.
(3) Speyer State Archives, H53, 1880
(4) Speyer State Archives, H53, 1880
Bartz, Joachim (1940): The Bohnerz Deposits in Rheinhessen and their Formation. Berlin. Reichsstelle für Bodenforschung.
Cramer, Dietmar (2014): The History of the Mainz-Weisenau Cement Plant. Heidelberg. HeidelCement AG.
Grooß, Anton (1867): Geologische Specialkarte des Großherzogthums Hessen und der angrenzenden Landesgebiete. Darmstadt.
Hinkel, Erich (2004): Mining of Bohnerzen on the Westerberg between Ingelheim and Gau-Algesheim. In: Heimatjahrbuch Kreis Mainz-Bingen. 2004. p. 209 f.
Scholl, Herrmann; Bauer, Hans-Dieter (2010): Iron ore from Rheinhessen: Bohnerzabbau bei Gau-Heppenheim und Gau-Bickelheim. In: Heimatjahrbuch Landkreis Alzey-Worms. 2010. S. 98 – 103.
