Oderteich

The ditches and storage ponds were important for the mines in the Upper Harz. The water was needed for the many water wheels in the mines. The ore extracted underground had to be hoisted to the surface. And water that had seeped into the mines had to be pumped out. At the time this was only possible using water power.

The Oderteich is the largest of all the water storage ponds in the Upper Harz. It was built between 1715 and 1722. The water from the Oderteich was used in the mines in Sankt Andreasberg. The dam is 20 m high. This is higher than any of the other historic dams in the Upper Harz. For 170 years the Oderteich was the largest reservoir in Germany.

The special feature: Normally, the dams were built using stones and earth with clumps of grass as a sealing material. But here there are no meadows where grass clumps could be dug up. Instead, granite stone and sand were used to seal the dam. When the water level in the Oderteich is low, you can see the big blocks of granite in the dam.

The water from the Oderteich still flows down the Rehberger Graben ditch to Grube Samson Mine in Sankt Andreasberg. There it drives turbines in a water power station under the ground.

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