In 1902, Sarajevo Jews Rafael Zadik Finci, Elias Baruh, and Isak Jak Baruh established a company for timber exploitation and industrial wood processing called Rafael Z. Finci and Co. The company, in partnership with Franz Steinmetz, signed a long-term contract in 1901 for the exploitation of the Preslica – Lapov Dol – Lanište forest area. Rafael Z. Finci and Co. built a forest railway line extending 13.0 km, which ran from Tarčin through Guvnište to Lanište and Lapov Dol. This route was a combination of an adhesion railway (13.0 km) and a gravity railway (carioles) of about 3 kilometers. The rolling stock included one locomotive with a power of 30 HP and 25 pairs of two-axle truck wagons. Simultaneously, the company erected a steam sawmill in Tarčin powered by a 200 HP engine, equipped with four saws and all other machinery and devices.
In 1911, the company Rafael Z. Finci and Co. was transformed into a joint-stock company called the Share Company for the Exploitation and Export of Wood “Jela.” The new firm built another kilometer of railway track but without locomotive traction and continued operations until 1914, as all work was suspended during the war (1914–1918). Additionally, the company “Jela” Ltd. exploited the collection of firewood from Ivan Mountain, which was transported along the constructed railway from the main line near Raštelica. For the supplementary supply of its sawmill facility in Tarčin, starting from 1912, it purchased coniferous and beech lumber cut in the Ravne Mountain forest area from the company F. Neuberger, and most of it was exported abroad.
During the research at the Historical Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we were unable to find technical documentation or data related to the construction of this forest railway. The only information we found dates back to 1908, 1911, and 1914. The first document pertains to the extension of the railway by approximately 1.2 kilometers from Lanište to Lapov Dola, where the investor Rafael Z. Finci and his company submitted an application to the district office, the forestry administration in Ilidža, and all interested parties in the community (private landholdings), so that everyone could participate in the procedure.
During the design of the announced route, a Record was prepared in which the designer Mustajbeg Mutavelić, technical expert Ivan Kriesehe, representing the forestry administration overseer Mr. Aleman, as well as the parties Salih Japalak, the community head (elder of the community), and Arif Japalak from Korče participated.
The second document from 1911 discusses the construction of a track approximately 250 meters long, accompanied by a technical drawing. It includes a Report where the representative of the company “Jela d.d.,” Isak Baruh, provides his testimony, stating that there are no interested parties who would join the process, except for the State Treasury. The third available document is a submission from the company “Jela d.d.,” and since it is written in German Gothic script, it was difficult for us to read or translate anything.
You can view the original documents in the photo gallery attached to this article.
Literature:
- Branislav Begović, Razvojni put šumske
privrede u Bosni i Hercegovini u periodu (1878-1918) sa posebnim osvrtom na
eksploataciju šuma i industrijsku preradu drveta, str. 84 i 85. - Arhiv Bosne i Hercegovine, ZVS-Šumske i
industrijske željeznice, 1908.,1911.,1914.
