White Main

The White Main ( or ''Weißmain'', not to be confused with the Weismain), is the larger and shorter of the two headstreams of the river Main. It rises in the Fichtel Mountains and merges near Steinenhausen, southwest of Kulmbach, with the left-hand, southern headstream, the Red Main, to form the Main. The length of the White Main is 51.7 km. The source of the White Main lies on light granite rock, which lends it its white colouration.

Sources

The source of the White Main is a wellspring located at 887 m above NN on the eastern slope of the Ochsenkopf. Margrave Frederick fixed it and had it enclosed in granite blocks in 1717. He also had the Hohenzollern coat-of-arms carved into the granite. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the spring in 1785, but reckoned the Seehausbrunnen southeast of the Schneeberg as the source of the Main, for he wrote: "''...the source of the Main, which rises close to the house here and where the stream here amounts to a no more than a tin washtub, ...''".

Although the Red Main is a few kilometres longer, the source of the larger White Main is seen as that of the Main.

Course

Initially, the ''White Main'' flows steeply downhill towards the northeast. After about it feeds a small lake near Karches in the municipality of Bischofsgrün. Shortly thereafter, it changes direction abruptly to the northwest and cuts its way through a narrow valley. Just before Fröbershammer it leaves the granite of the central massif. Near Fröbershammer it meets the ''Kroppenbach'' which enters from the right. Near Rangen it turns towards the southwest and flows through a very, narrow, wild, scenic gorge. At the far end it reaches a mill, the ''Glasermühle'', where it is joined from the left by the ''Brombergsbach'' and, shortly thereafter, by the ''Lützelmain'', also known as the ''Lützelmainbach''. After that it also picks up the little ''Steinbach''. Near Bad Berneck-Schmelz the ''Schmelzbach'' and the ''Zoppatenbach'' enter it from the left. The ''White Main'' now turns northwest, passes through the village of Frankenhammer before reaching Bad Berneck. Here it is joined from the right by the '' Ölschnitz'' and the ''Rimlasgrundbach''. It then passes north of Blumenau, where it merges with the ''Obere Wiesenbächlein'' and, immediately afterwards, the ''Untere Wiesenbächlein'', from the left-hand side.

Near Kremitz it meets the left-hand tributary of the ''Kronach'' coming from the southeast. It passes through Lanzendorf und Himmelkron, where it is met from the right by the ''Streitmühlbach'', near Neuenmarkt-Schlömen and then the ''Laubenbach''. Next it alters course towards the west, until it reaches Trebgast, where it picks up the stream of the same name coming from the south. It then swings northwest and flows past Feuln, collecting the waters of the ''Feulnerbach''; then the ''Veitsgraben'' near Ködnitz and the ''Mühlgraben''. It travels through Fölschnitz and Kauerndorf, where it is joined by the Schorgast. It now runs in a southwesterly direction past Aichig, where it is fed by the ''Teufelsgraben'', and enters Kulmbach. There it is met by the ''Purbach'' and the Dobrach from the right and the ''Kinzelsbach'' from the left. At the western edge of Kulmbach, near Steinhausen Castle, the White Main finally merges with the Red Main to form the River Main.

Fauna

The ''White Main'' is home to the eel, grayling, brown trout, brook trout, barbel, perch, carp bream, pike, carp, rainbow trout, roach, rudd and tench.Anglermap Gewässersteckbrief: White Main
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Geography

Tributaries

* Paschenbach (''right'')
* Kroppenbach (''right'')
* Brommbergsbach (''left'')
* Lützelmain (''left'')
* Steinbach (''left'')
* Schmelzbach (''left'')

* Zoppatenbach (''left'')
* Ölschnitz (''right'')
* Rimlasgrundbach (''right'')
* Oberes Wiesenbächlein (''left'')
* Unteres Wiesenbächlein (''left'')
* Kronach (''left'')

* Streitmühlbach (''right'')
* Laubenbach (''right'')
* Trebgast (''left'')
* Feulner Bach (''right'')
* Veitsgraben (''left'')
* Mühlgraben (''left'')

* Schorgast (''right'')
* Teufelsgraben (''right'')
* Purbach (''right'')
* Dobrach (''right'')
* Kinzelsbach (''left'')

Towns on its banks

* Bad Berneck
* Kulmbach

See also

*List of rivers of Bavaria

Sources

Bogner, Franz X. (2006). ''Der Obermain. Ein Luftbildporträt von Bayreuth bis Bamberg.'' Ellwanger-Verlag, Bayreuth, 2006.

References

External links

''Main River''
Website on the River Main by the Tourist Board of Franconia.

{{Authority control

White Main
White Main

Bayreuth (district)
Kulmbach (district)
Rivers of Germany