Gadmen

Gadmen is a former municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. On 1 January 2014, the former municipality of Gadmen merged into the municipality of Innertkirchen. The name Gadmen comes from the Old High German "gadum," meaning barn or small house, and was first mentioned in 1382. The municipality is in a municipal partnership with Volketswil in the Canton of Zürich. Gadmen is first mentioned in 1382 as im Gadmen. During the Middle Ages, the Gadmen area was part of the Vogtei of Hasli and part of the Meiringen parish. In 1334 the entire Vogtei was acquired by Bern. During the Middle Ages a chapel was built in the village. In 1713 Gadmen became part of the parish of Innertkirchen and in 1722 the chapel expanded into a filial church. In 1816 the church became a parish church and Gadmen became an independent parish. The residents of the village generally lived on farming, seasonal alpine herding and from traffic over the Susten Pass. During the 19th century, the farms became increasing mechanized and many residents were forced to emigrate to North America for jobs. The construction of the Susten Road in 1939-45 opened up the village to tourism and provided additional jobs. During construction and after its completion, the Oberhasli AG power plant became the largest employer in the municipality. Before the merger, Gadmen had a total area of . As of 2012, a total of or 8.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 16.7% is forested. The rest of the municipality is or 0.6% is settled (buildings or roads), or 1.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 73.1% is unproductive land. During the same year, housing and buildings made up 0.1% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.4%. All of the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 1.7% is pasturage and 6.5% is used for alpine pastures. Of the water in the municipality, 0.4% is in lakes and 0.9% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 13.3% is unproductive vegetation, 33.