Quarrying activities started in this region in the late 19th century in response to the great demand for the stone. Limestone was used mostly in industries, to refine sugar from sugar beet, in blast furnaces for producing iron and in manufacture of glass, among others. Mining activities increased again after the first World War, and the quarries at Mořina became deeper and longer, until Velká Amerika became an 800-meter long and 100-meter deep gash on the landscape. After mining operation ceased in 1963, rainwater flooded the hole forming a lake at the bottom.
