Salzkammergut
SALZKAMMERGUT, a district of Austria in the S.W. angle of the duchy of Upper Austria situated between Salzburg and Styria. It forms a separate imperial domain of about 250 sq. m. and is famous for its fine scenery, which has gained for it the title of the " Austrian Switzerland "; but it owes its name (literally " salt-exchequer property ") and its economic importance to its valuable salt mines. It belongs to the region of the Eastern Alps, and contains the Dachstein group with the Dachstein (9830 ft.) and the Thorstein (9657 ft.). In the Dachstein group are found the most easterly glaciers of the Alps, of which the largest is the Karls-Eisfeld, nearly 2$ m. long and ij m. broad; the Ischler Alps with the Gamsfeld (6640 ft.), the Hollengebirge with the great Hollenkogel (6106 ft.), and the Schafberg (5837 ft.), which is called the " Austrian Rigi." Then comes the Todtes Gebirge, with the Grosser Priel (8246 ft.) and the Traunstein (5446 ft.) on the E. shore of the Traun lake; the Pyhrgas group with the Grosser Pyhrgas (7360 ft.) and the Sengsen or Sensen group, with the Hoher Nock (6431 ft.). The chief lakes are the Traun-see or Lake of Gmunden (1383 ft. above sea -level, 9 sq. m. in extent, 623 ft. deep); the Hallstatter-see or Lake of Hallstatt (1629 ft. above sea-level, 35 sq. m. in extent, 409 ft. deep ); the Atter-see or Kammer-see (1527 ft. above sealevel, 18 sq. m. in extent, 560 ft. deep), the largest lake in Austria; the Mond-see (1560 ft. above the sea, 9 sq. m. in extent, 222 ft. deep) and the Aber-see or Lake of St Wolfgang (1742 ft. above sea-level, si sq. m. in extent, 369 ft. deep). Salzkammergut had in 1900 a population of over 18,000. The capital of the district is Gmunden, and other places of importance are Ischl, Hallstatt and Ebensee (7656), which are important salt-mining centres. The salt extracted in Salzkammergut amounts to nearly 30 % of the total Austrian production. Cattlerearing and forestry form the other principal occupations of the inhabitants.
See Kegele, Das Salzkammergut (Wien, 1897).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
