The discovery of Hall's salt-mine

The famous Hall Valley saltworks continued in operation until 1967. According to legend, the unusual circumstances surrounding the discovery of salt in 1275 are attributable to the knight, Nikolaus von Rohrbach.

The knight was hunting high up in the Hall valley. While they were taking a rest, he got into conversation with his hunting companions. They explained to their master that they had for a long time watched deer grazing by a rock, but also eagerly licking the stones. They said there must have been something special about this rock, because for as long as anyone could remember the game in the Hall valley had always thrived. The deer licked the salt as if it was a sweetmeat.

The knight listened carefully, while continuing to watch the deer at the rock, then went there himself and touched the stone with his tongue, which he immediately identified as very salty. The knight's belief that deep inside the mountain there was even better salt-rock than at the surface was confirmed and soon after Hall saltworks started operations. For centuries, Hall saltworks supplied large quantities of the vital preservative.