In the 18th and 19th centuries, many mines arose around Eßweiler. Of greatest importance to Eßweiler, however, were the hard-rock deposits on the Schneeweiderhof, where citizens from Eßweiler first established quarries beginning in 1870. The main product was paving stones. In 1914, Basalt AG, Linz am Rhein bought up the quarries. A transport problem lay in the stones’ having to be laboriously carted overland to the railway stations in Kreimbach or Altenglan, but this was solved in 1919 with the opening of a five-kilometre-long ropeway conveyor to Altenglan. From time to time, up to 500 people from the surrounding villages were working at the quarries. Work permanently ceased there in 1970.