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Exploring Gadabay's history : A Hub of Potato Cultivation and Historic Copper Mining

The Gadabay district is famous for its rich potato cultivation and gold fields. However, the region faces challenges with poor drainage. The district is home to several significant rivers, including the Akhinja, Zayam, and Shamkir. Its varied terrain includes mountain-forest, mountain-meadow, and other landscapes, with extensive mountain shrublands and rare forest meadows in the midlands. The highest parts of the district are dominated by broad-leaved forests and subalpine and alpine meadows.

The town of Gadabay, located in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, has a deep historical connection to the German Siemens brothers and their involvement in copper mining in the late 19th century. Although a copper mine existed in Gadabay prior to their arrival, the Siemens brothers modernized the operation by introducing advanced mining techniques. They also built a 28-kilometre railway that connected the mines to a copper smelting plant in Galakend, a remarkable engineering achievement considering the challenging mountainous terrain.

Today, visitors to Gadabay can still see remnants of the German-style brick housing left behind by the Siemens brothers, who abandoned the area after World War I. Key structures to look out for include the old miners' administrative building, which now houses the Agricultural Seed Office, and the Culture House, which has been repurposed as a library. For those willing to travel about 30-40 kilometres deeper into the mountains, the remains of the arched bridges from the Siemens brothers' narrow-gauge railway can still be found, though it's advisable to explore these with a local guide.