Mining history hike in Freiberg's northern mining district

The tour starts and ends at the "Einigkeiter Kunst- und Treibeschacht" of the "Alte Hoffnung Gottes" mine. The shaft was operated until the 20th century and reached a depth of 550 meters. It was initially operated with a water wheel system and in 1878 was equipped with a steam engine, which had previously been used at one of the light holes of the Rothschönberger Stolln.

Following the Steigerweg, you reach the administration building and the "Alte Hoffnung Gottes" mine's hat house, built in 1769. At the crossroads, turn left onto the road "Am Silberberg" and follow it to the junction with the road "An der Hohle", which you follow to the right until you reach the junction with the path "An der Wäsche". Before crossing the hollow, you will see the ore wash of the "Alte Hoffnung Gottes" mine on the left, on the site of which you will find the mouth hole of the impact flume that supplied the water wheels in the shaft with water.

After crossing the hollow, follow the course of the hollow to the right. The last of the three houses is the former hat house of the "Berg Zion Erbstolln" mine. On the opposite side of the Mulde, you can see the course of the ore channel of the "Alte Hoffnung Gottes" mine, which was originally designed as an ore channel for barge transportation.

Continuing along the path, which in places leads over boulders directly on the banks of the Mulde (slight scrambling), you reach the mouth of the "Tiefen Jacob Erbstolln", which once drained the "Gottvertrauter Daniel" mine near Hohentanne. Follow the course of the Mulde to Hohentanne and cross the village on the Muldenweg and Lindenstraße. Turn right at the Hohentanne fire station and follow the path straight ahead over the Kohlberg.

Back in the Mulde valley, you reach the mouth of the "Freiberger und Dresdner Gesellschaft Stolln" mine on the right behind the small wood. Above the mouth hole, you can still guess the course of the ore vein mined here. Further south towards Großschirma, the mouth of the Anna tunnel, the most important drainage tunnel of the Halsbrück mining industry, can be seen on the meadow by the Mulde. Following the Muldenstraße to the Mulden bridge on the main road, you pass the former cardboard factory on the other side of the Mulde, whose buildings once belonged to the "Churprinz Friedrich August" mine.

After crossing the Mulden, you cross part of the former Churprinz ore canal, which was once used to transport ore on barges to the smelter in Halsbrücke. Then turn right from the main road onto the meadow path and follow its course. On the fenced-in area on the right-hand side, you can discover many buildings of the former "Churprinz Friedrich August" mine, such as the hat house and shaft buildings.

Following the path straight ahead takes you back into the Mulde valley to the hat house of the "Treue Sachsen Stolln", which runs here at some depth below the level of the Mulde and used to drain the Churprinz mine and other mines along the Mulde in the northern district. The mouth of the "Treue Sachsen Stolln" is located several kilometers to the north near Obergruna.

You now follow the road between the Mulde and the Christbescherung ore channel to the Christbescherung barge house and the subsequent ore washing of the Christbescherung mine. The barge lifting house was used to lift the ore barges from the level of the Mulde to that of the ore canal. It functioned in the same way as the much better known Halsbrücker Kahnhebehaus. The ore washing building was also the hat house of the important "Christbescherung" mine. Behind the dilapidated building, you can still see the mouth hole of the mine's open pit, which was also used to transport ore to the wash.

Follow the course of the Mulde on Lindenstraße and turn left before the bridge onto the field path leading up the slope. This takes you back to Kleinvoigtsberg and the starting point of the tour.