The first plans The salt trade between the
Salzkammergut, or rather
Salzburg, and the inhabitants of the Bohemian basin can be traced back to the
Bronze Age. The important mineral, which was initially carried on the back, was later towed by horses along narrow
mountain paths such as the
Goldenen Steig (The Golden Path) or the Linzer Steig (The Linzer Path) on the
Vltava River. In the
Middle Ages, as the need for salt grew, roads were built. In 1530, the
House of Habsburg banned the hitherto dominant salt import from the
Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg in the Austrian hereditary lands, as they wanted to promote the production from the imperial
salt works in the Salzkammergut. Moreover, since the salt trade was brought under state control, the "White Gold" marketed in České Budějovice in the 17th and 18th centuries also came predominantly from the salt works at
Hallstatt,
Bad Ischl and
Ebensee. From there it was transported by water along the
Traun and the
Danube to
Linz and
Mauthausen, where it was loaded onto horse-drawn carts of the (mostly Bohemian)
Salt Farmers (Salzbauern) and taken via
Freistadt to the depot at České Budějovice. With an annual transport volume of 17,000 tonnes, by the end of the 18th century there were around 350 vehicles in operation every day. From České Budějovice, most of the salt reached
Prague and sometimes beyond along the cost-effective waterway via the Vltava and the
Elbe. Since transporting the product by horse-drawn wagon made the product much more expensive, there were already plans in the Middle Ages to link the Vltava and Danube with a navigable canal.
The possible solution The reasons for the failure of the historic canal project were due not least to it being difficult to exactly calculate the costs of such a project in a mountainous region. To correct this shortcoming, the
Bohemian Hydrotechnic Society (
Bömische Hydrotechnische Gesellschaft) was founded in 1807, and the professor of higher mathematics in Prague, Franz Josef Ritter von Gerstner, was given the task of making more precise level calculations and presenting a solution for the route with cost estimates. After many months, Gerstner came to the conclusion that a canal system would be uneconomical, even along the most reasonable route proposed by Josef Walcher. He suggested instead to make the Vltava navigable from České Budějovice to Joachimsmühle and from there to make a
railway leading to Katzbach (near Linz). More than a decade passed before the Viennese
Kommerz-Hofkommission (i.e. the Ministry of Economy) took up this transport project again. The reason for this was a petition from ten states along the Elbe, which asked the Emperor to build a Vltava-Danube canal, after they had agreed on free navigation on the Elbe. Franz Anton Ritter von Gerstner, the son of Franz Josef von Gerstner, was issued with the task of realising this project in 1820. Gestner firstly resigned from his professorship at the
Vienna Polytechnic Institute. After he had familiarised himself with the conditions at the site, he took an educational trip to
Great Britain in order to learn more about the latest in canal and railway construction from the then leading industrial nation. In his report to the Imperial Court, he dismissed all canal projects, just as his father had. Likewise, he suggested constructing a railway. In 1824, he requested a concession for the construction and operation of a
Holz- und Eisenbahn (Wood and Iron Railway) from České Budějovice to Mauthausen, which would be granted to him for a period of 50 years. In order to generate interest in co-financing this innovative project, he published a brochure. Moreover, he had a 225m long test track erected in the Viennese
Prater park, which attracted great interest from the public and the press. It also succeeded in winning the bank houses Geymüller,
Sina and Stametz for the project, which led to the founding of the
k.k. privilegierten Ersten Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (lit. Imperial-Royal
Privileged First Railway Company) as a
joint-stock company in 1825. The company was able to raise 850,000
guilders, which was just under the estimated construction cost of 900,000 guilders. The equivalent of one guilder from that time is around 15 euros. == Construction ==