Active mine-water pumping shaft installation of the former Zeche Heinrich in the Holthuser Tal near Essen-Überruhr, preserving its small headframe and pumping works as a functioning industrial monument and trinkwasser reserve.
The Schacht Holthuser Tal is a ventilation and water-management shaft of the former Zeche Heinrich, located in the wooded Holthuser Tal (Holthausen Valley) on the former site of the Zeche Sandbank in Essen-Überruhr-Holthausen. Zeche Heinrich, whose origins lie in the consolidation of the Stollenzechen Hoffnung, Wolff, and others on 24 September 1809, was one of the four Tiefbauzechen in Überruhr. The Gewerkschaft Heinrich began stollen operations in 1810 and first received approval for Tiefbau in 1845; Schacht 1 was sunk from January 1847 and entered production in 1852.
The colliery grew into a substantial operation: Schacht 2 was sunk in 1916–18 with a Hammerkopf-Förderturm, and Schacht 3 was sunk 1957–58 as the new central Förderschacht with a Koepescheibe. The Wetterschacht Holthuser Tal was sunk between 1951 and 1954 beside the former Zeche Sandbank site as a joint project with Zeche Heinrich, to improve ventilation of the extended workings. The entire colliery, including all Förderschächte, was closed on 1 April 1968.
Schächte 1 and 2 were backfilled; Schacht 3 and Schacht Holthuser Tal remained open and continue to operate for mine-water pumping as part of the RAG's Ewigkeitslasten (perpetual legacy obligations), draining water from the former Heinrich, Dahlhauser Tiefbau, Pörtingssiepen, Carl Funke, and Langenbrahm fields from a depth of 514 m and discharging it into the Ruhr. The water quality is rated as suitable for use as a trinkwassernotreserve (emergency drinking water reserve) for the city of Essen. The Schacht 3 headframe and further installations were listed as Baudenkmale in March 2022.
The earliest predecessors of the Zeche Heinrich were small drift mines and shaft workings in the Überruhr area, whose recorded history stretches back to at least 1755 when one of the stollen-mines was established. The Gewerkschaft Heinrich was formally constituted on 24 September 1809 through the consolidation of the Stollenzechen Hoffnung and Wolff (and probably also Sandknappen). In 1810 a stollen was driven eastwards in the Flöz Sandknapp, producing 7,262 tonnes in 1811.
Following alternating periods of operation and suspension, the Gewerkschaft was liquidated in 1834 when repeated applications for permission to sink a deep shaft were refused by the Bergbehörde; part of the field was exchanged with the neighbouring Zeche Vereinigte Charlotte. In 1837 the Gewerkschaft was reconstituted and the Geviertfelder Hoffnung and Wolff were formally granted. In January 1847 sinking of Schacht 1 (5.42 m × 3.63 m) began; the Carboniferous was reached at 15.7 m depth through the Ruhr terrace gravel.
Schacht 1 entered production in 1852. In 1884 Schacht 1 received an iron Strebengerüst as its headframe. By 1895 the colliery was employing 352 Bergleute and producing 100,889 tonnes — already pure anthracite coal from the Überruhr seams.
An 1892–93 auxiliary shaft (Bulkersteig) was sunk to develop the Heisingen direction and serve ventilation. In 1900 the Gewerkschaft Heinrich incorporated further field acquisitions; detailed field records from this era are preserved in the Historisches Portal der Stadt Essen. Schacht 1 subsequently received a Koepeförderung.
In 1916–18 Schacht 2 was sunk and equipped with a Hammerkopf-Förderturm. Annual output grew through the interwar years and reached its maximum of 965,897 tonnes in 1966 with 3,057 workers. In 1952 the Gewerkschaft Heinrich was converted into the Heinrich Bergbau-AG.
Between 1951 and 1954, simultaneously with the main Heinrich operation, the Wetterschacht Holthuser Tal was sunk as a ventilation shaft on the former site of the Zeche Sandbank in the wooded Holthuser Tal, a small valley running down to the Ruhr. This shaft serves both as a ventilation and water-management point and lies in an area of former early mining activity. From 1957 to 1958 Schacht Heinrich 3 was sunk alongside Schächte 1 and 2 at the Langenberger Straße installation as the new Zentralförderschacht with a modern Koepe-Fördermaschine; it took over the entire production from 1960.
Schacht 1 then remained as Seilfahrtschacht and Schacht 2 was retained only for ventilation. In 1964 a Förderverbund was concluded with the Zeche Theodor, though production remained at the Heinrich shafts. The total colliery was finally closed on 1 April 1968 — Schächte 1 and 2 and the Theodorschächte were backfilled or otherwise secured.
Only Schacht Heinrich 3 and the Schacht Holthuser Tal were retained open for mine-water pumping as part of the Zentrale Wasserhaltung of the RAG. From a depth of 514 m the pumps lift water from the accumulated groundwater of the former Heinrich, Dahlhauser Tiefbau, Pörtingssiepen, Carl Funke, and Langenbrahm mining fields and discharge it into the Ruhr. The water quality has been assessed as suitable as a trinkwassernotreserve for the city of Essen.
The Schacht Holthuser Tal installation in the woodland valley is relatively modest in scale — a small headframe with real rope-pulleys over the shaft, the pump house below, and a metal security fence around the operational area — but is distinctively situated in the mature woodland of the Holthuser Tal nature area. In March 2022 the Ausschuss für Stadtentwicklung, -planung und Bauen of the city of Essen resolved to enter the Zeche Heinrich Schacht 3 installation and further surviving structures into the Denkmalliste der Stadt Essen following an application by the LVR-Amt für Denkmalpflege im Rheinland. The resolution described Zeche Heinrich as a traditionsreiches Exempel for the historical development of mining in the Ruhr from stollen operation through Tiefbauschacht to Großschachtanlage.
The 40-metre headframe over Schacht 3, and the continued functioning of both Schacht 3 and Holthuser Tal for water management, were among the factors cited in the Denkmalbegründung.