Kupferabbau am Mürtschen
In the area of the Mürtschenstock, miners mined copper ore from the Middle Ages until about 1918. The hammering and knocking has long since ceased and the pits are empty. On a hike through the beautiful nature park, you can still find some witnesses of this exciting time.
Copper was mined in Mesopotamia as early as 10,000 years ago, making it the metal used by humans for the longest time. On the Mürtschenalp, copper and in small quantities silver were mined for over four centuries. The copper ore mines on the Mürtschenalp are located in a side valley of the Murg valley, east of the Mürtschenstock/Ruchen at an altitude of 1620 to 1810 metres. Local names also provide clues to ore sites such as the Silberspitz southeast of Alp Tschermannen. Southeast of the Tschermannen alpine hut on the way to the Gspon valley were the Erzbett and Hauptgrube mines.
Due to a shortage of raw materials during the First World War, the Swiss entrepreneur Gustav Weinmann extended the main tunnel at the ore bed and the main mine in August 1916 and built a cable car that overcame the height of 425 meters between Gspon and Merlen. Due to insufficient copper content and the too small ore potential, the work was stopped in autumn 1918 and the installations were demolished (source: B. Moser - Witnesses of an exciting mining period).
Remnants of the former copper mine on the Mürtschenalp, such as a Pochstuhl or the old cable car station on Gspon, can be found on a hike from Merlen to Unter Mürtschen. If you would like to discover the former tunnels on your own responsibility, you can find an excursion description on the website of the SGHB or by Werner Bindschedler. Mountain experience, good equipment as well as helmet and headlamp are strongly recommended.
