Tajch "Hrončok"
Tajch "Hrončok" was built in 1881 and designed as water reservoir that allowed to transport timber by water from the Hrončok dam, a rocky “Kamenistý potok” tributary, the Čierny Hron brook, until the Hronec village, or the sawmill at Štiavnička. “Kamenistý potok” tributary has been intensively used since the 1880s to transport timber, and adapted to the stream banks with wooden braces. Leftover and rotten bracing system were preserved in the 1940s. The tributary became the original water structure used for transport on wooden rafts. The Hungarian inscription on the original stone board read: “The Gábor Kemény dam, built in 1881, during the governance by Albert Bedö of Kálnok.”
The dam construction followed the drawings by Jozef Pausinger. The predecessor of today's dam was made of wood. Today's stone dam is 76.1 m long, 5.3 m wide, and 10 m high. The reservoir volume is 123 863 m3 of water. It is filled in 24 - 48 hours depending on the water level in the “Kamenický potok” tributary. However, the importance of Tajchs gradually vanished as the forest railways started to be constructed. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Čiernohronská railway was built in this valley. Its final stop was in the Sihla village.
The upstream face of water dame wall is made of granite blocks and cement mortar. The main gate was wooden, sized 2.25 x 2.00 m, and operated with an iron “helix”. The discharge gate was sized 2.30 x 2.53 m. The state-owned enterprise “Lesy Slovenskej republiky” (Forests of the Slovak Republic) reconstructed the Hrončok dam in 2001-2003 and included it in the outdoor exhibition of the Forestry Open-Air Museum.
GPS: 48.70755439290962, 19.524103674181926
