GASTEIN

gastein, in the duchy of salzburg, austria, a side valley of the pongau or upper salzach, about 25 m. long and 11⁄4 m. broad, renowned for its mineral springs. it has an elevation of between 3000 and 3500 ft. behind it, to the s., tower the mountains mallnitz or nassfeld-tauern (7907 ft.) and ankogel (10,673 ft.), and from the right and left of these mountains two smaller ranges run northwards forming its two side walls. the river ache traverses the valley, and near wildbad-gastein forms two magnificent waterfalls, the upper, the kesselfall (196 ft.), and the lower, the barenfall (296 ft.). near these falls is the schleierfall (250 ft.), formed by the stream which drains the bockhart-see. the valley is also traversed by the so-called tauern railway (opened up to wildbad-gastein in september 1905), which goes to mallnitz, piercing the tauern range by a tunnel 9260 yds. in length. the principal villages of the valley are hof-gastein, wildbad-gastein and bockstein.