The Story of the 1833 Fercher Survey, Postojnska Jama, Continues: An Additional Document and Newly Discovered Inscriptions

Abstract

Publications, archived documents and inscriptions help with the reconstruction of the history of Postojnska jama. Until recently, the circumstances of the first mayor cave survey ever undertaken were not well known. It is the so called Fercher Survey conducted in winter 1833; a cooperation between the Mine Office in Idrija and the Cave Administration that surveyed the entire cave known at the time. Documents from the Archive of the Karst Research Institute and an inscription in the Tartarus of Postojnska jama gave a first insight into this story (Kempe, 2005). The survey suggested that (in what is now Male jama) a connection could be blasted to shorten the visitor route. Now a further letter dated 5th September, was found shedding light on this mining attempt begun in summer 1833. In the letter the Cave Administration massively attacks the Mine Office. They claim that either the survey was not accurate or that the breakthrough was attempted at a wrong site. In consequence they demanded their expenses back, threatening with an investigation by the precinct administration. We also found three more inscriptions of the Fercher Party, in Pisani rov and in the Old Cave, one by Fercher and two by the miner Tracha.