 The Eisenkappel citizens had to rely on forestry and summer tourism around several mineral springs, promoted by the opening of the Vellachtalbahn narrow gauge railway line in 1902.Eisenkappel and Vellach finally merged in 1939.In the late days of World War II the remote Peršman farm in Koprein Petzen was a strongpoint of the Slovene Partisans, the only ever-existing Anti-Nazi military resistance of Austria.