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Villages / Valais / Westlich Raron district / Goppenstein

Goppenstein

Canton of Valais · District: Westlich Raron · No published figure for the locality. The municipality of Ferden has 248 inhabitants (31.12.2025, provisional FSO figure)
Part of the municipality of Ferden
Origin of the name Founding Historical timeline Must-see historical sites Remains Sources and references Nearby villages

Origin of the name Goppenstein

Goppenstein lies on the territory of the municipality of Ferden. The meaning of its name has not been explained.[1][10]

Founding of Goppenstein

Goppenstein was first a mining place. A vein of galena, a lead ore, runs along the Rothenberg from the Lonza valley towards the Schönbühl, and it was worked from the 15th century by a long series of concession holders. In the early 20th century the place changed: the Lötschberg railway planned to bring its tunnel out here, with a stop for the Lötschental. The works brought a workers' village, mostly of Italian labourers. Goppenstein belongs to the municipality of Ferden.[1][2][3]

History of Goppenstein

15th century. Lead mining begins.[1]

1544. Josias Simmler reports that lead ore is mined in the Lötschental.[2]

1638. Landeshauptmann Mageran of Leuk, who had taken over the mines in the early 17th century, dies. They are then leased to Stockalper of Brig.[2]

early 18th century. A chapel is built at Goppenstein. In the early 20th century the priest of Kippel still says mass there.[2]

1742. Colonel Burgener of Visp resumes mining. Ten years earlier the Diet had handed the mines to an Englishman.[2]

1846. Baglioni of Milan, who has been mining since 1842, opens the main mine on the Rothenberg.[2]

1902. The Schweizerische Bergwerkgesellschaft Helvetia, with two million francs of capital, takes over the mine, bought in 1897 by the mining engineer Tiebel of Goslar.[2]

1906. Work on the Lötschberg line begins. The workers, mostly Italians, live in workers' villages at Kandersteg and Goppenstein.[3]

1906-1913. During the tunnel works Goppenstein briefly becomes the most populous place in the canton after Sion.[1]

1908. On 29 February an avalanche released 1'000 metres higher up buries Goppenstein, where many tunnel workers are gathered in a wooden building. Twelve miners die.[4]

1908-1933. The BLS builds hundreds of dry-stone walls on the Faldumalp above Goppenstein to protect the line from avalanches.[4]

1913. On 28 June the Lötschberg line opens. Its main structure is the 14.6 km tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppenstein. Regular service starts on 15 July.[5]

1960. The BLS introduces a scheduled car-carrying service through the tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppenstein.[3][6]

2025. Just under 1'150'000 cars cross the tunnel between Kandersteg and Goppenstein by car train.[6]

Historic sites in Goppenstein

Car-loading station. The BLS car trains arrive here from Kandersteg through the Lötschberg tunnel. Each train carries 72 cars and the crossing takes just under 15 minutes.[6][10]

Remains in Goppenstein

Former lead mine. During the operations before 1907 the mine yielded about 300 tonnes of lead and 150 kilos of silver a year. The medieval and early modern mine, with its ore-processing plant, is listed in the cultural property inventory as an object of regional importance (B).[2][7]

Memorials to the tunnel dead. Modest memorials at Kandersteg and Goppenstein recall the workers killed in the inrush of water and debris on 24 July 1908 on the tunnel works.[8]

Sources

  1. Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz (version allemande originale), « Ferden » (Werner Bellwald, version du 11.01.2005)
  2. F. G. Stebler, « Am Lötschberg. Land und Volk von Lötschen », Monographien aus den Schweizeralpen, Zurich, Albert Müller, 1907 (RERO DOC)
  3. BLS, Olivier Bayard, « Der Lötschberg und Italien, eine bewegte Geschichte » (BLS Inside, 2025)
  4. BLS, « Steinerne Wächter » (murs en pierre sèche de la Faldumalp, BLS Inside, octobre 2025)
  5. BLS, communiqué de presse « 100 Jahre BLS Eisenbahnfest » (2013)
  6. cash.ch (AWP), « Lötschberg-Huckepack: Vor 100 Jahren wurden erstmals Autos verladen » (17.10.2026)
  7. Office fédéral de la protection de la population (OFPP), Inventaire PBC, liste cantonale du Valais (objets A et B, état au 1.1.2026)
  8. Walliser Bote, « Eisenbahn: Der Durchstich am Lötschberg », supplément « Wallis 1815-2015 » (4.4.2015)
  9. Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS), STATPOP, chiffres provisoires au 31.12.2025, via citypopulation.de
  10. geo.admin.ch, service de recherche de swisstopo (Goppenstein)

Other villages near Goppenstein

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