[citation needed] In 1799, Russian General Alexander Suvorov and his troops stayed the night in Elm before crossing Panix Pass to Pigniu on their retreat into Austria.
On September 11, 1881, an avalanche caused by excessive quarrying of slate killed 114 and buried 83 structures in the municipality.
[2] In 1892, the owner of a spring in Elm that had long been hailed as beneficial was found to be rich in iron.
In 1929, the company Mineralquellen Elm AG was founded to bottle the spring water, and this continues to this day.
This impacted the local economy, and various proposals were brought forward to provide rail service to the Sernf valley.
[5] The village of Elm is situated at an elevation of 977 m (3,205 ft) on the left bank of the Sernf river.
[1] Elm lies at the entrance to Panix Pass, which crosses the Alps into the canton of Graubünden.
Of the rest of the land, 0.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (46.7%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
Several times during Spring, 12 and 13 March and 30 September and 1 October in Fall, the sun shines for about one minute onto the area around the church attracting many observers.
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, beef cattle were pastured in the Alps in summer for export to Italy.
[7] The Sernftalbus operates an hourly bus service linking Elm with other communities down the valley of the Sernf river as far as Schwanden railway station.
[2] Part of the geologic UNESCO World Heritage Site, Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona is a mountain cliff called Tschingelhörner located between Elm and Flims.