Tuesday 27th September 2022 – Plainfaing

It rained for a good part of the night and the prospects for the planned drive through the mountains did not look encouraging. Fortunately, I had found a silver mine that we could visit and this was to be our first stop on the drive.
We set off north over the Col Haut de Ribeauvillé to Sainte Marie aux Mines, the hint being in the name – it is in a mining area! Just a few kilometres south-west of the town is the silver mine of Tellure. We arrived at the mine just after noon and decided to have an early lunch in the van before going in.
We started the visit with a 10 minute film in French and then went through to the museum where an English language audio guide told us about the exhibits. We had been told that the guided tour of the mine would be in French and English for the six people in our group. However, when Adrian collected us from the museum, he explained that the other four people (three Germans and one French) were happy to have the explanations in English. We were very grateful (as was Adrian) because we would get more detailed explanations. Adrian was very good – enthusiastic, knowledgeable and willing to answer any questions – and the fact that we were such a small group meant that he was able to point out things that he couldn’t with large groups. The mining started in the 16^th century and the miners were paid for the progress of their tunnelling rather than a share in the minerals extracted. This was just as well as they often only progressed 4 cm in a day and it could take years before they found the vein of ore. Even when they found the vein, it contained only a small amount of the copper/silver ore and only 4% of that was silver. In the 16^th century being a silver miner was considered to be a very good job. The mining was relatively safe as there were no dangerous gases and, as the rock was very stable, the risk of tunnel collapses was very low. The miners only worked an eight-hour day, had one or two rest days a week and even had a social fund to help injured workers and to pay for schools etc. This compared very favourably with other workers in the 16^th century who worked much longer hours for much smaller rewards. The amount of mining in the area can be judged by the population of Sainte Marie aux Mines – 250 people at the beginning of the 16^th Century but reaching 35,000 by the end of the century. Copper, cobalt and lead were also mined in the area.
Our Michelin Green Guide driving route took us over the Col de Sainte Marie, through La Croix aux Mines (yes, another mining town) and down to Fraize. We did a supermarket shop there before driving a few more kilometres to Plainfaing and its very pleasant aire.

Photos: A view from near to the Col Haut de Ribeauvillé during a rare respite from the rain; A 16^th Century miner pushing a ‘dog’ – a cart used to remove the waste or ore; A partly excavated 16^th Century gallery – one miner dug out the top part of the gallery (completed) whilst another miner followed him, digging out the bottom part (incomplete).