Besucherbergwerk Ypsilanta

Useful Information

Location:	(50.741520, 8.368320)
Open:	MAY to OCt 1st Sun 14-17. [2022]
Fee:	free, donations welcome. [2022]
Classification:	Iron Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	L=280 m.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Bergbau- und Feldbahnverein Schelderwald e.V., Hans-König-Weg 1, 35688 Dillenburg-Oberscheld, Tel: +49-2771-23681. E-mail: Hartmann, Tel: +49-2771-21193.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1839	Ypsilanta mining district awarded to Ludwig Seibel from Oberscheld on iron ore.
31-MAR-1873	registered to the company J. C. Grün.
1885	Shafts I and II sunk.
1885	operations cease due to water ingress.
1904	sinking of a new machine shaft.
1905	engine and boiler house built and winding machine installed.
1906	shaft 146 m deep.
1907	adit completed.
1909	low ore prices and lack of sales lead to closure.
1934	closed for good.
1990	the association decides to excavate the gallery and make it accessible to the public.
1992	opened as a show mine.

Geology

Description

The Besucherbergwerk Ypsilanta (Ypsilanta Show Mine) is the adit of a disused iron ore mine. The beautifully restored entrance is particularly beautiful. The 140-metre-long gallery is used as a mining museum, with demonstrations of lighting and gear, as well as the conditions under which miners had to work underground at that time. The exhibition shows the typical tools used by the miners and a collection of different ores. The visitor gallery is a GeoPunkt of the Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus Geopark.

The show mine is run by the Bergbau-und Feldbahnverein Schelderwald e.V. (Schelderwald mining and light railway association). As the name suggests, the association has various other interests, all of which relate to local mining. The association offers guided mining history walks in the Schelderwald. The association's light railways are located at the Altes Stellwerk (old switch tower) of the former blast furnace in Dillenburg-Oberscheld. These are narrow-gauge railways that were used above and below ground during mining operations. On a section of the old railway embankment of the former Scheldetal railway, they are building a light railway line that will be used for trips. The clubhouse is also located in the Altes Stellwerk.

Another object they look after is the mining bunker in Dillenburg-Niederscheld. This tunnel was driven into the mountain in 1943 as an air-raid shelter for the approximately 400 employees of the Schelderhütte. The inhabitants of Niederscheld also sought refuge here, so that at times 800 people stayed here day and night, sitting on primitive benches. By March 1945, the village had been almost completely destroyed, but thanks to the tunnel, only 40 people died. The entrance was bricked up in 1948 and reopened by the association in 2005. It now houses a mining museum and an exhibition on air raids and the destruction of Niederscheld,