Pluto colliery
The colliery is named after the eponymous god of the underworld. At Schacht 1, named after the founder Heinrich Thies, in 1857 began the first Abteufungsarbeiten. In 1875 another weather shaft was sunk, later designated as shaft 6. In 1873 Schacht Kaiser Wilhelm 1 was added.
At the end of the 19th century an extension to the double shaft shaft 1/4 and shaft 2/3 took place. With the conveyor shaft 7 then the maximum stage was reached. In a blow-up explosion in 1882 died 67 miners. At the beginning of the 20th century, Pluto had become one of the Ruhr region's most productive mines. For example, 955,000 tonnes of coal were mined in 1900. From Pluto 1/4 was a cable car to the blast furnaces of the Schalke Association in Gelsenkirchen. From 1927, the promotion was then focused on Schacht Wilhelm for rationalization reasons. Shortly after the end of World War II, Pluto was again promoted. In 1953, a modern Doppelbockstrebengerüst was erected via Schacht 3 according to the plans of Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer. With the formation of Ruhrkohle AG, the coal mines Pluto and Consolidation were combined. This plant promoted in 1970 with 2100 employees a total of 977,000 tonnes of coal. In 1976, Pluto was shut down, affecting 1650 miners. The imposing Doppelbockstrebengerüst over shaft 3 is today under monument protection and is easy to visit.