Historic Lehstengraben Water Channel Path

Built by Italian workers at the end of the 19th century.
What many no longer know today is the fact that this ditch is the rest of a company that must have been colossal in size and from which almost no documents have been preserved. At the end of the 19th century, two entrepreneurs from Saxony opened a colloquially called "paper mill" right next to the Lehstenmühle, which specialized in the manufacture of pulp products. To operate the plant, several turbines were built that were powered by hydropower; but where did the cool water come from? The Lehstenbach could not be tapped because the flow rate was sufficient to operate the Lehsten mill, but not for an entire factory. In 1901, the decision was made to use 100 workers from Italy and a small Lorenbahn along the course of the stream to build the moat that eventually led to a small house, of which only the foundations have been preserved. From here, the water was led through a natural elevation to the factory using a nearly 1.5 meter wide downpipe made of riveted steel plates. What nobody expected, however, happened: Due to the immense pressure, cracks formed in the ditch after a short time and the factory had to be closed again just two years later. It fell into disrepair and so in the 1950s there was only the demolition of the foundations. (Source: Jahn, Hans: "The Lehstenmühle near Schauenstein", in "The Narrators", February 25, 1956)

Saxon merchants founded a paper mill at the end of the 19th century next to the Lehstenmühle near Schauenstein. This required several hydropower turbines for operation, for which the flow velocity of the Lehstenbach alone was not sufficient. Thus, about 100 Italian workers began in 1901 with the construction of a masonry moat (Lehstengraben) of about 1.6 km in length.Already after two years, however, it was found that the amount of water that supplied the ditch fell significantly due to construction defects. The attempts to seal the ditch failed and the factory had to cease operations. After the Second World War, the factory was finally demolished. Only the partially filled moat has been preserved on the edge of which the Museum and the Fuchsbau path have been preserved.

Historic moat, a detour is worthwhile.