The Ronchamp colliery shafts (French, Les puits des houillères de Ronchamp) are a series of collieries undertaken by the various mining companies in the Ronchamp coalfield between the early 19th and mid-20th centuries at Ronchamp, Champagney, and Magny-Danigon, in the Haute-Saône département of France.
History From 1760 to 1810, coal was extracted by galleries and bures. From 1810 to 1900, twenty-six increasingly deep shafts were dug. In 1950, the twenty-seventh was dug in the Etançon forest. Two of these belonged to the independent Mourière concession, which also dug on a geologically different deposit from the one at Ronchamp. The Société civile des houillères de Ronchamp (SCHR) dug France's deepest shaft twice in succession: the Magny shaft (694 meters) in 1878 and the Arthur de Buyer shaft (1,010 meters) in 1900.
Background
The Ronchamp coalfields were officially discovered in the mid-18th century in the woods above the villages of Ronchamp and Champagney. Two concessions were granted in 1757: that of the Lords of Ronchamp for the commune of Ronchamp, and that of the Prince-Abbots of Lure for Champagney. These were subsequently merged to form a single concession in 1763.
Another concession was granted in 1766 to the Prince of Bauffremont at Mourière, a hamlet to the northwest of the coalfield. However, he did not exploit the coal, and it was not until 1844 that Monsieur Grézely fils, in partnership with Messieurs Conrad et consorts, began mining coal, which he continued until 1891, after a change of ownership in 1872. The Compagnie des maîtres de forge was founded in 1847, and in 1862 obtained a concession to the south of the Ronchamp mining concession. But both companies had spent their money to obtain the Éboulet concession and were forced to merge in 1866. In 1919, the société civile des houillères de Ronchamp changed its legal form to become a société anonyme. When the French coal industry was nationalized in 1946, Électricité de France (EDF) became the owner of the mine until the last shaft was closed in 1958. The concession was relinquished in 1961. The various shafts sunk in the coalfield are increasingly deep due to the inclined slope of the coal beds. Most shafts are used for coal extraction, but they can also be used for other purposes, such as ventilation, dewatering, or service.
Life of the 27 shafts The shafts are colored according to their respective concessions: darker shades indicate periods of coal extraction, and lighter shades indicate other functions or mothballing.
Saint-Louis shaft
47.706895°N 6.653493°E / 47.706895; 6.653493 (Puits Saint-Louis)
The Saint-Louis shaft was the first true mine shaft sunk in the coalfield, south of the hamlet of La Houillère. The shaft was the site of the basin's first firedamp explosion, which occurred on April 10, 1824; it killed 20 people and injured 16 others. Later, on May 31, 1830, a second and even more deadly firedamp explosion killed 28 people. The pit was abandoned and backfilled in 1842. After closure, one of the buildings was preserved as a casino and ballroom before being demolished in the 1960s. At the beginning of the 21st century, almost no trace of the installations remains, and the shaft is located under a pavilion at the foot of a hill. A decorative monument built in 2012 recalls the site's mining past.
Henri IV shaft 47.708993°N 6.654105°E / 47.708993; 6.654105 (Puits Henri IV)
Shaft sinking began in 1815. In October 1816, it reached the first layer at a depth of 21 meters and a thickness of 1.30 meters. It is used to draw water from the lower workings and discharge it at the level of the large drainage channel; the water is removed from the galleries by hand pumps and then brought to light by ox-driven pumps. These pumps operate at a rate of twelve to fifteen pulses per minute, with a flow rate of 1.5 liters per piston stroke. Finally, other hand pumps were used to convey water to the gully. On May 12, 1823, he crossed the second layer some twenty meters below the first. This layer is 1.6 meters thick, including 0.3 meters of sterile rock. It is mined by the Cantine and Carrière galleries, despite a limited mining area. On June 15, 1830, the Henri IV shaft reached a depth of 61 meters. It serves as an air return for the Saint-Louis shaft. In 1830, production at the latter was 7,200 tons, with a workforce of 35 miners and 29 laborers. In 1833, just as the second layer was about to be exhausted at the Henri IV and Saint-Antoine wells, a third vein (a schistose and pyritic vein), 1.80 meters thick, was mined. Work was abandoned in 1835. During the Etançon disaster in December 1950, this shaft and the Petit-Pierre shaft reopened under water pressure. A plum tree was completely swallowed up in the hole formed by the Henri IV well. Both shafts were backfilled with shalek. At the beginning of the 21st century, the well was located in the courtyard of a house.
Samson shaft 47.708116°N 6.64646°E / 47.708116; 6.64646 (Puits Samson) The location of the shaft was chosen to the west of the Basvent gallery (located in the hamlet of La Houillère) and 140 meters southwest of the orifice of the large drainage channel. Sinking of the shaft began on October 1, 1822 in the Etançon valley. It was stopped at a depth of 17 meters due to a heavy influx of water, requiring 225 to 250 60-liter water skips to be hauled up every 24 hours, representing a flow rate of 13.8 m3 per day. The well is 3.6 meters long and 1.6 meters wide and is equipped with ladders. When abandoned, the well cost 200 francs per meter dug. Sinking resumed in April 1824 and the first layer reached 18.66 meters. The shaft was stopped at a depth of 19 meters and abandoned the same year due to the poor quality of the coal and the influx of water. In fact, the shaft fell on an uplift in the ground that compressed the two layers of coal to the point of bringing them almost into contact and flattening them.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the well site was invaded by the Fourchie pond, fed by the large drainage channel. A house built on the site was also invaded but later destroyed by fire in the 1930s. The ruins remained until the 1970s. In 1952, the Samson shaft (a gallery built from the surface) was dug not far from the old well, bypassing the old drowned workings. At the beginning of the 21st century, the shaft was located in a swamp not far from the outcrop mining circuit.
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