Slate Mining Tunnels on Strimmiger Berg

After the Prussian government had banned traditional straw roofing in the 19th century because of the high risk of fire, roofing slate gained economic importance on the Strimmiger-Berg. The municipalities granted mining permits to individual operators, who in turn employed farmers as day laborers and thus enabled many men to earn additional income until the early 20th century. Horizontal tunnels were manually driven into the mountain in order to break slate blocks and to bring them to the surface with the help of carts. The tools that were available for this were only hammers, chisels and saws, the only light source in the tunnels was carbite lamps. It was therefore a very laborious and very dangerous job, to which there was no alternative for many large families.

At the tunnel entrances in the split huts (some of the ruins are still there today), the slate blocks were split into thin slates (layers). The material that cannot be used as roofing slate (“deaf rock”, in some cases over 90% of the extracted material) was deposited in heaps in front of the tunnels and thus allows conclusions to be drawn about the size of the tunnels. In the last months of the war, the slate tunnels served the population as protection from air raids. Today the tunnels are closed with grids because of the danger of collapse, but bats provide welcome protection for wintering. The spoil heaps are an ideal habitat for heat-loving species such as snakes and lizards.