MÜHLENTHAL (MILL VALLEY)
The Confluence of Two Streams
Although it may not be obvious at first glance, Jáchymov lies at the confluence of two streams. The Jáchymovský potok (Veseřice), which has flowed beneath the town’s surface since the sixteenth century, is joined in the spa area by the Klínovecký potok (Černý), descending from Klínovec via Zálesí (Zeileisengrund).
Along both streams, not only mining water wheels but also mill wheels were constructed. The valley between their confluence and Horní Žďár has therefore long been known as Mill Valley (Mühlenthal).
Mills and Specialised Production
The valley did not host only grain mills but also specialised facilities such as wire works and paper mills. In addition, there were amalgamation works, smelting furnaces, a cobalt paint factory and sawmills.
Horní Žďár was historically part of Jáchymov’s property, which is why the mills located there are also considered Jáchymov mills.
The mills did not emerge all at once but gradually over several centuries. Many changed their purpose over time – a grain mill could become a wire works or a paper mill. Some structures survive today; others are represented only by remnants of water channels, foundations or subtle terrain traces.
Mills on the Klínovecký Stream
Mills once stood on the Klínovecký stream at the edge of the suburb. One example is the present building no. 1045 (metalworks), where the bricked-up opening for the mill wheel axle is still visible in the streambed. A short distance upstream stands the partially collapsed vault of the water channel of another vanished mill.
Mills Along the Jáchymovský Stream
Travelling downstream along the Jáchymovský stream, further sites can be identified:
– At the site of today’s parking area below Radium Palace stood the flour mill Karl Schneidenmühle.
– The former Schneidenmühle (Manor Mill) now houses the maintenance facilities of the spa company.
– Mader’s Mill was located between a villa and today’s wastewater treatment plant.
– Peter’s Mill, considered the oldest surviving mill in the Czech Republic, stands as a ruin below the railway tunnel. Its turbine basin has been preserved. Later it served as a pharmaceutical warehouse and a plastics workshop.
– Trinkmühle – a paper mill, now the restaurant U Vlčků. At the end of the nineteenth century, paper produced here was exported to Leiden, where it was used to manufacture banknotes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
– At the confluence of the Jáchymovský stream and the Suchá stream stood a wire works, with its water channel still preserved.
– Further downstream, at the present-day MUT restaurant, operated Pairmühle – another paper mill later converted into a sawmill.
– Another wire works stood where the Jáchymovský stream flows beneath the road from Jáchymov (near today’s Silo-system).
The current restaurant U Václava in Horní Žďár was also originally a mill (Grünesmühle), and Hotel Subterra (formerly a special school) stands on the site of the former Semerád Mill.
Peak and Decline
The peak of milling activity in Mill Valley occurred at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Mills had existed here long before and in some cases continued later, but gradually they disappeared or were converted to other uses.
Today, Mill Valley appears quiet and unassuming. Yet for centuries, it was the beating industrial heart of Jáchymov.
