The Beginnings of Lignite Mining in the Western Mining District
Carl Freiherr von Goltstein, born in 1790 at Merödgen Estate, where he died in 1868 and was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Inden, served as mayor of the Pier municipal district from 1821 to 1849. He conducted his official business from his home at Merödgen Estate.
Carl Freiherr von Goltstein of Frenz, Merödgen and Beeck – to give his full name – played a special role in the history of our municipality. He laid the foundations for lignite mining in the west of the Rhineland.
In 1819, whilst digging a well on Lucherberger Berg, his workers came across lignite. Consequently, in 1821, von Goltstein applied for a concession for the ‘Goltsteingrube’ field, situated south-west of Lucherberg.
Between 1826 and 1867, lignite was mined both above and below ground at the ‘Goltsteingrube’.
Two to four workers used the lignite to produce ‘Klütten’ – hand-pressed, bucket-like moulds made of lignite.
The venture’s success was modest, and so the Klütten were produced almost exclusively for the personal use of the Merödgen estate and its associated brickworks.
The former ‘Goltsteingrube’ continued operations from 1899 under the name ‘Tagebau Lucherberg 2’ until the seam was exhausted.
With the construction of the Lucherberg briquette factory in 1895, coal production entered a new phase.
The three opencast mines around Lucherberg – Lucherberg 1, 2 and 3 – as well as the Konzendorf and Düren mines (now the Echtzer and Dürener Badesee lakes) supplied the factory with lignite until 1960.
Lignite extraction via opencast mining since 1826 has completely transformed the landscape of this area. This process is still ongoing today.
In April 2006, members of the local history society discovered the gravestone of Carl Freiherr von Goltstein, which had been re-erected here. Together with other stones, it had formed part of the embankment reinforcing the banks of the Altdorf mill pond.
In April 2006, members of the local history society discovered the gravestone of Carl Freiherr von Goltstein, which had been re-erected here. Together with other stones, it had formed part of the embankment reinforcing the banks of the Altdorf mill pond.
On the KulturGeschichtsPfad Lucherberg you can trace the briquette factory and the early opencast mines in detail.