The jounrey of salt on the Traun
Salt transport on the Traun from Gmunden to Stadl-Paura
Exhausted and tired, early in the morning, after attending mass and asking for a safe journey - the boatmen porbably couldn't swim - the journey begins, a feared journey due to the shallows of the Traun. In the afternoon, the salt pans reach Zizlau and on the same day, the 220 Stadl boatmen set off on foot on the 42-kilometre return journey to Stadl, which took them five to six hours in their heavy shoes.
Even in ancient times, the Traun was an important trade route for Hallstatt salt. During the 500 years of Roman rule in Austria, salt was transported on the Traun to the Roman camps and civilian towns of Ovilava, today's Wels, Lentia, Linz and Lauriacum, the legionary camp of Lorch near Enns.
In 1273, the Habsburgs took power in Austria. They recognised the importance of salt as a rich source of money for their politics and private coffers. Queen Elisabeth I, with 21 children also the progenitor of the Habsburg dynasty, founded the new, modern salt mining and salt works industry in Hallstatt in 1311.
As a result, the salt trade on the Traun also experienced a huge boom. Ezzeling an der Trattenfurt, today's Stadl-Paura, became the centre of salt shipping on the outer Traun. Several reforms of the salt industry and new markets in saltless Bohemia and Silesia led to an increase in salt production and shipping.
"This imperial salt industry is a jewel and, after deducting all costs for labourers and officers (civil servants) alone, brings the emperor 22 million guilders in profit and surplus. May God continue to preserve it", wrote Maximilian Pagl, Abbot of Lambach Abbey, in his diary in December 1711 after a visit to the salt mine in Hallstatt, and with good reason, as the income from the salt trade is an essential basis of the abbey's wealth.
After the vat salt was produced, the vats, each weighing 7.5kg, were loaded into barges and brought to Stadl by Gmunden boatmen through the navigable canal at the Traun Falls. The load of a seven-barrel salt barge consisted of 4,000 casks, or around 30 tonnes.
From Stadl onwards, the river channel of the Traun changed completely. The Traun now flowed in a wide riverbed with many tributaries and was much shallower from here onwards. For this reason, the cargo of the ships coming from Gmunden, had to be divided between 22 barges in Stadl: One Siebnerin was now only loaded with 2,800, about 22 tonnes.
In order to provide the necessary fairway, the sluice gates in Gmunden were opened two hours before the departure of the salt barges. So that the barges also had more water available on the outer Traun through the Welser Heide, the so-called Stadlinger Wasser was provided for this stretch in Gmunden. The rise of the Traun was monitored at the March, a marker on the Stadling bridge, and once the water level had reached its maximum, the salt pans were allowed to leave Stadl.
