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History
It isn’t
known when exactly digging for gold started in the area of Lower Silesia. It
might have been the Cret who were the first miners, then the Celts. Around the
10th century AD gold was mined in the gravel of the rivers flowing
down the Sudety Mountains. Even Bolesław Chrobry derived profits from the gold
mines in the region of Silesia, Czech and Morava. There are some opinions that
the body of St. Wojciech was bought with the gold from these lands. In the 12th
century there started gold rush. To the most powerful gold mining centres
belonged the neighbourhood of Złotoryja, Lwówek ¦l±ski, the Karkonosze
Mountains, the Izerskie Platean and the region of Złoty Stok i Głuchołazy. A few
attempts were also made in the Tatra Mountains.
Złotoryja
In the
region of Złotoryja there are gold bearing sands along the Kaczawa Valley. The
first area is the north-east part of the town together with the Mieszczańska and
Mikołaj Mountains and Kopacz (the name has existed since in the Middle Ages).
Gold – bearing gravels are still in the Mikołaj church yard Mountains, and
that’s why there’s a saying that ‘the citizens of this town are buried in gold
after their death’. The other area is the neighbourhood of Jerzmanice Zdrój,
Sępów and Nowa Ziemia.
In 1211 the
mining settlement Aurum received the municipal rights. In the following years
its names are always connected with gold: Aureus Mons, Aurimoutium, Goldberg,
Złota Góra and Złotoryja.
The 13th
century is just gold rush. According to some sources there was about 19-25 kg of
gold mined weekly. As stated by one of the scientist Złotoryja miners within 200
years dug 1 300 000 m 3 of sands and gravels. The exploitation was stopped after
the year 1241, after the battle at Legnica. The Diggers who were taken prisoners
got to mines submitted to khans by sea and probably to Siberia. Throughout the
following years every how and then the exploitation and exploration revived. In
1812 some research were led with the use of shakers and vibration tables. In the
years 1842-43, 36 percent of grains of gold found was over 6,5 mm in diameter
(the Valley of Złoty Potok). In 1925 a firm from
Frankfurt on the river Mein bored a tunnel named St. Jadwiga tunnel in the
Valley of Czerwony Potok near Nowa Ziemia.
In the neighbouring woods there
are still same remains of old mining work – pits (shafts) and waste – heaps.
Legnickie Pole
The
greatest rush hour in the region of W±droże, Legnickie Pole and Mikołajowice
occurred at he end of the first half of 14th century.
Rich ledges were discovered in 1344. At that time Mikołajowice
was ihabited by 100 people. In 1345 the locality was given the municipal rights.
In its best time there were 15 thousand miners working there. Archeological
exploitations let us discover some traits of over 1500 exploratory shafts.
Wielisławka
In the 16th century,
near the village of Różana, gold was exploited from the slope of the Wielisławka
Mountain. Even today from the side of the road between Złotoryja and ¦wierzawa,
over the river – bed of the Kaczawa River, you can see an entrance to one of the
tunnels. Gold was found in pyrites, up to 18g per tone, among porphyries of
Wielisławka and silicic slates (silver was there, too-up to 64 g/t). First
mentions about work in that area come from 1556.
Lwówek ¦l±ski
In the
neighbourhood of Lwówek gold can be found in a few places. The first place is
east of the town, next to the road to Złotoryja. Another place lies in the
north. Archeological research led in the area of 35 ha let us identify about
1500 shafts. In their neighbourhood at the turn of 12th and 13th
centuries here was a stronghold inhabited mainly by diggers. In 12th
and 13th centuries Lwówek belonged to the richest and biggest centres
in Silesia. In 1217 it was given the municipal
rights. So called „golden right of Lwówek” comes from those times. It was one of
the oldest mining orders in Europe, stating miners’ privileges and duties in
Europe.
The Kaczawa Mountains
Gold was found in the region of
Jeżów Sudecki and Dziwiszów in the past centuries. In 1479 there was a mine
nearby Płoszczyna. In 1498 the first exploitation started. In the years
1850-1865 they tried to rivive the exploitation. There are some traits of shafts
which can be seen even today. Since the 15th century mining work has
been done near Radzimowice. In the second part of the 20th century
near Dziwiszów a tiny brook called Złotucha became Polish Eldorado.
The Izerskie Platean
One of the richest, primitive
ledges of gold in Poland are in the west of Wleń especially in the area of
Klecza, Golejów and Radomice. In the period of 1922-1933 the local mines
provided about 600 tones of raw ores containing 28,6g Au/t and 10 tones of
concentrate containing 64g Au/t. At the beginning of the 20th century
in that area the mines existed in four mining fields of Dennoch, Gluckauf,
Wunschenort, Hussdorf I and Hussdorf II.
The Izerskie Mountains
In this region gold was found
in the localities of Izerka, in Hala Izerska and in Jagnięcy Potok. They
discovered this ore also in Czerwony Potok – a tributary of Mała Kamienna.
Vestigial amounts of gold were also found in the brooks flowing from cut with
quartzes the Izerki Garby.
Rudawy Janowickie
Gold was exploited in the 18th
century. Further attempts were led in the years 1801-1802. The ore was
discovered in the conglomerates in the north-east of Leszczyniec. Its confents
went up to 5g per tone. Quite a lot of gold was found in the area of Czarnów.
The Karkonosze Mountains
The ore was sought near
Kopaniec in the Valley of Mała Kamienna. Still in the 19th century
the evident traits of a mine called Goldgruben, situated in the north off the
railway leading from Piechowice to Szklarska Poręba. Gold was found in the
alluvium of the Valley of Biała, Bieleń and also Czarna Góra. Small pieces of
gold could be seen in the lower parts of Złoty Potok, Szrenicki Potok, Płócznik
and ¦nieżne Kotły. Gold – bearing is also the eastern part of the Karkonosze
Mountains (Płóczki, ¦cięgny, Wilcza Poręba, Sowia Dolina). The muds of Łomnica,
Łomniczka and Złoty Potok were scoured. Gold was also discovered in Równia pod
¦nieżk± and in the area of Mały Staw. The Ore was washed out i the region of the
Valley of Choinc near Chojnik (Złota Jama – Goldloch)
The Sowie Mountains
It is supposed that the old
name of this Sudety Mountain range doesn’t derive from an owl (Eulengebirge). „Eure”
is to be the malformity of a Celtic word „Jilova” which means gold. A similar
argument is used in case of the Valley of Owls (Sowia Dolina – Eulengrund) in
the Karkonosze Mountains, famous for gold and precious stones explorations.
The Golden Mountains
The
first document concerning the right to ores exploration comes from 1273. The
development of gold mining dates back to the beginning of the 16th
century. In the years 1545-1549 there were 190 tunnels and excavations. The
amount of the gold production is estimated for about 60kg a year (the maximum up
to 140kg). It is 8% of European production. In the second half of the 16th
century mining stared to deteriorate. In 1565 the main shaft called Goldener
Esel (Golden Donkey) collapsed. 59 miners were
killed under the rocks. The following years were full of ups and downs of Złoty
Stok. In 1949 a new firm was founded named Przemysł Arsenowy, later changed into
Zakłady Górniczo – Chemiczne Złoty Stok. The mine was focused on arsenic and
arsenic trioxide. Gold was excavated from post – arsenic cinders (up to 30kg a
year). On the 1st of April the mine was closed.
Głuchołazy
In the neighbourhood of
Głuchołazy there is gold in quartz and feldspar lodes which spread as far as the
area of the Czech Republic. The best known gold – bearing gravels of the
meanders of Biała Głuchołaska in the area of Góra Parkowa. Even today the traits
of old mining work from the 12th – 14th centuries are seen
in the form of waste – heaps and filled up shafts (pits).
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