In the Austrian mining town of Eisenerz, local legend tells of a merman-like creature called the “Wasserman,” or “Waterman,” which was said to inhabit a grotto in the surrounding hills.

As the story goes, the people of Eisenerz often spotted the Wasserman around the grotto, and believing that he owned great treasure, one day decided to catch him. Baiting him into a nap with food and drink, they succeeded, nabbing him as he lay sleeping along the shore of a pond.

But the Wasserman did not go quietly, fighting and thrashing as the townspeople took him away. Eventually, the Wasserman relented, and in exchange for his release, offered the townspeople their choice of gold for 10 years, silver for 100 years, or iron forever.

The locals chose iron.

And with a point of a finger, the Wasserman declared that the iron could be found in a nearby mountain, a mountain that would become the largest open-pit mining operation in Central Europe. Today, the Erzberg (literally “ore mountain”) is a landmark facility producing more than 3 million metric tons of iron ore for Voestalpine’s Linz and Donawitz plants. 

Wednesday Who