Cart track to the treasure of gold
An astonishing find occurred in 1630: on the Rohrberg, high above Zell am Ziller, a rich find of gold was made, which promised to greatly exceed the very lucrative gold mining that had taken place on the neighbouring Hainzenberg since 1506.This again fanned the flames of the conflict between Salzburg and Innsbruck concerning the fifty-fifty share of the mining profits in the Zill valley, which was agreed upon in 1427. Angry Salzburg miners destroyed several Tyrolean smelting plants in the Zell/Ziller area. Moreover, the highly welcome find of gold on the Rohrberg emphasised and old strategic weakness. The Zill Valley belonged (until 1803) to the independent Archbishopric of Salzburg. But the only road for traffic from the bishopric into the Zill Valley led through the "foreign states" of Bavaria and Tyrol.
This all strongly fostered the plan for an "inland" connection from Salzburg into the Zill Valley. Thus in 1630 old plans to extend the solitary 30km pack-animal trail from Wald im Pinzgau over the Gerlos Pass to Zell/Ziller were suddenly reviewed for rebuilding the trail to make a cart track. The gold ore from the Rohrberg and Hainzenberg could be transported over the Gerlos on the track to the efficient smelting plants in Mühlbach bei Bramberg and in Lend.
In a single year 70 workers completed this little 3.5m-wide road, so that in the summer of 1631 a four-in-hand coach was able to undertake the bumpy, opening drive over the Gerlos. But over the years floods and landslides destroyed this old Gerlos Road to such and extent that only a footpath remained, the so-called "Ronach Trail". Plans in 1868 for a mountain railway - from the new Inn Valley railway in Jenbach through the Zill Valley over the Gerlos to Mittersill were also rejected, as was the plea for an urgently needed railway line from Salzburg to Innsbruck.
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