The geological and mining activities of Friedrich Krumpel in the western region of the Kingdom of Poland

The paper deals with the history of the geological exploration of the industrial Western Region of the Kingdom of Poland, and the activities of Friedrich Wilhelm Krumpel (1792 - d. after 1855). The current study deals only with the territory of the Western Region, which existed until 1869 and which had been developed successively from the Olkusz-Siewierz inspectorate, functioning in the years 1816-1833. The development of the geological and mining exploration of the Western Region of the Kingdom of Poland was connected mainly with prospecting for, and making available, deposits of coal, as well as zinc and lead ores. After graduating from the Mining Academy at Freiberg (Saxony), where he had also been born, Friedrich Krumpel came to the Kingdom of Poland, probably as early as in 1816. His work embraced several projects of key importance for documenting geological and mining exploration. For many years, Krumpel's work formed the basis for supplements as well as for new studies in the field. On the basis of archival material that has been preserved until today, we can state that Krumpel was involved, as author or co-author, in the drawing of 131 geological and mining plans and maps, including 114 projects of his own. In the beginning stages of establishing industrial plants (coal mines, zinc ore mines as well as the 'Huta Bankowa' steelworks and a zinc processing plant) and workers' housing estates in the Western Region, the task of drawing maps of the sites was a major priority. Making measurements as well as mapping industrial buildings and dwelling houses, and thus also delimiting the boundaries of particular plots, were above all the responsibility of Friedrich Krumpel himself, who was engaged in documenting the first stages of the development of dwelling house quarters in Dabrowa Górnicza.