Rudolph Mine

The Rudolph Mine (Rudolph-Grube, also Rudolphsgrube) was an underground bituminous coal mine in Przygórze, historically Köpprich, near Nowa Ruda, historically Neurode, in Lower Silesia. It belonged to the Neurode coal district and was one of the district's four remaining collieries before the First World War.^[1] In the mid-19th century, Rudolph became the first deep mine in the Neurode field and played an important part in the district's technical modernization.^[1]

The Rudolph Mine was founded in 1793, during the phase of expansion that followed the codification of Silesian mining law in 1769.^[1] Piątek lists Rudolph among the 17 mines established in the Neurode district between 1770 and 1800.^[1] By 1801, it was one of 21 coal mines operating in the district.^[1]

Like the other early collieries of the area, Rudolph was initially worked by adits and by vertical or inclined shafts connected with adit or middle haulage levels.^[1]

According to Piątek, Rudolph was the first deep-working coal mine in the Neurode region.^[1] After the Wiesenschacht had been sunk deeper in 1847, a new deep level was opened about 54 m below the previous adit level.^[1] The works associated with opening that level included the driving of underground roadways and the purchase and installation of steam-powered equipment.^[1]

Rudolph also figured prominently in the introduction of new mining techniques in the district. Piątek notes that the first steam pump used in the Neurode coalfield was installed in 1847 in the Wiesenschacht of the Rudolph Mine.^[1] On the same new deep level, mine cars running on proper iron rails were introduced in 1847, replacing earlier forms of underground transport.^[1]

As the Neurode district moved from numerous small workings toward fewer but larger and better-capitalized collieries, Rudolph survived the wave of consolidation. By 1858, it was one of only ten remaining coal mines in the district and one of the four that produced more than 10,000 tonnes annually.^[1]

The arrival of the railway connection between Neurode, Glatz and Waldenburg in 1880 improved marketing conditions for the district's mines, including Rudolph, although it also exposed the local collieries to stronger competition from Upper Silesian coal brought in by rail.^[1]

By 1914, only four mines remained in operation in the Neurode field: Wenceslaus, Ruben, Rudolph and Johann Baptista.^[1] In 1912, Rudolph had three shafts, of which two were hoisting shafts, and had reached a hoisting depth of 240 m.^[1] The mine's coal output in that year amounted to 57,576 tonnes, and the workforce numbered 325 men.^[1]

Piątek's summary of technical data for 1912 also records eight electric motors at Rudolph, with a combined 335 horsepower, and identifies the mine as one of the district's four principal collieries, although by then it was markedly smaller than Wenceslaus, Ruben and Johann Baptista.^[1]

In comparison with the other Neurode collieries, Rudolph was the smallest of the four major mines in 1912.^[1] Piątek gives production costs of 11.00 marks per tonne for Rudolph, significantly above those of Ruben, Johann Baptista and Wenceslaus, indicating a less favorable economic position on the eve of the First World War.^[1]

The former Rudolph Mine is reflected in the historical toponymy of the area. In Poland's national geographical names register, Bolesław in Przygórze is identified as a former mine.^[2] The locality of Przygórze itself is likewise recorded in the official Polish register of geographical names.^[3]

Ruben–Rudolf Material Ropeway

• Zygfryd Piątek: Der Steinkohlenbergbau im Neuroder Land von der Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts bis 1914. In: Der Anschnitt, vol. 57 (2005), no. 2–3, pp. 80–90.