Högbo gruva

Högbo mine has two main mine shafts. The oldest dates from 1684, when the mine was first opened by Högbo Mill owner Daniel Tilas.

It is easy to believe that Högbo mine has been responsible for the iron produced in Högbo Bruk's hammer forges. But the ore from Högbo mine usually went to Valbo blast furnace, a mile away. Most of the ore processed by Högbo Bruk's own blast furnace in Edsken came instead from nearby mines in Dalarna. It may sound strange to choose iron from Dalarna when you have your own mine around the corner, but there is a logical reason. A short distance between the iron mine and the blast furnace made transportation more efficient because the blast furnace freed the iron from the ore. It turned a bulky load of ore into a neat pile of pig iron that cost only half as much to transport the long way to Högbo.

A major problem for the Högbo mine was that it was being flooded by the surrounding soft ground. They therefore set up a "horse art", a pumping device driven by horses that walked in a circle and drove a machine shaft. Even today, a ring can be seen in the ground where the machinery probably stood. But it soon became too difficult to drain the mine and it was destroyed in the early 18th century.

In the 1750s, a completely external stakeholder came to Högbo. Peter Bergqvist from the Sala silver mine wanted to mine iron here. To drain the mine, Bergqvist brought in German engineers. They built a water wheel at Högboån and a so-called bar passage to transfer the water power to the mine pump two kilometers away. A barrage was a mechanical power line made of wood whose upper part was moved back and forth. In this way, kinetic energy was transferred, for example to mine pumps from water wheels.

The mine was closed down again after a heated court case just a few years later because the dam at the water wheel in the river disturbed Högbo Bruk's Lower Hammer. Without the pump driven by the power of the water wheel, the mine again became impossible to process. Since then, no one has been able to extract ore from Högbo Mine.