Forestry and Timber Transport

The visitor's glance will undoubtedly be drawn to the striking model of the Idrija water barriers and the rakes. To ensure its undisturbed operation, the mine required enormous quantities of wood, which had to be transported from the abundant, yet almost inaccessible surrounding forests. Wood was used to support mine shafts, to heat steam boilers, and in metallurgy as a fuel for smelting furnaces.

For the purpose of transporting wood to the town, the mine used a unique system of water barriers known as klavže, through which the accumulated water from the Idrijca River or the Belca stream was released. The force of the water carried the prepared wood all the way to Idrija, where it was stopped by wooden water barriers known as rake, which were erected at Lenštat, at the confluence of the Nikova stream and the Idrijca River. Using this method, up to 30,000 m3 of wood was floated each year.