Towards the Mills

Inherited from the icebergs which covered the Jura ten thousand years ago and left behind moraines with water-tight bottoms, a peat bog formed from the accumulation of stagnant water full of cold-resistant plants. The moving soil in peat bogs are made up of a thick carpet of peat moss, on which a few well-adjusted plants are able to grow (cranberry, cottongrass, andromeda, drosera, mountain pine, etc.) These fragile environments are of biological interest and must therefore be preserved.

Spread across 1873 hectares, the Mont Noir massif is one of the largest Jura forests. It is currently made up of dark-leaved trees, such as fir, spruce and beechwood, hence its name. Stags, boar and roe deer live here alongside the lynx and the western capercaillie. Wood exploitation is an important economic activity for our mountains. However, the forest also accommodates hikers wishing to take long works on the waymarked paths, both during summer and winter. Share this area and be careful if you come across forest works.

As from the 18th century, cheese specialisation and the pooling of milk in cooperative structures - “fruitières” - brought farmers out of a self-subsistence economy. Cheese production, which became more and more organised, also became more profitable thanks to the trade networks promoted by “rollers” (road hauliers) in particular. Traders would deliver cheeses to the main French cities, including Lyon.

This raptor is easily recognisable due to its long, indented tail. With its impressive size, this bird is a wonderful glider. It looks for its food in-flight. An opportunist, it watches the ground attentively to find rodents, lizards or the carcasses of other dead animals. Small prey (insects, earthworm or reptiles) can be hunted by walking through the meadows. Therefore, you will often see the red kite above freshly-cut meadows.

First appearing in the Middle Ages, mills were initially used to grind grain. They were later progressively used to extract oil, run the smithy, hammer iron, saw wood and tan leather. Using a vertical driving wheel became more widespread and gear systems multiplied their power and their production. To operate, mills only needed a waterway and soon set up along the smallest rivers such as here and along the Lemme. (PNRHJ - Collection patrimoine, “Heritage collection”)

Apparus au Moyen-Age, les moulins ont d'abord eu pour fonction de moudre le grain. Peu à peu, ils furent utilisés pour extraire l'huile, souffler la forge, marteler le fer, scier le bois, tanner les cuirs... L'utilisation de la roue motrice verticale se généralisa, et les systèmes d'engrenages démultiplièrent la puissance et le rendement. Pour fonctionner, les moulins se contentaient désormais du moindre cours d'eau et s'installaient aux abord des plus petites rivières comme içi et comme au long de la Lemme. (PNRHJ - Collection patrimoine)

La lemme et ses affluents ont, à cet endroit, fait l'objet d'un vaste chantier de restauration écologique en 2012 pour permettre au marais du Chatelet de retrouver son rôle de régulateur naturel de cours d'eau. Un panneau d'interprétation explicite les dysfonctionnements hérités des aménagements passés, présente les travaux de restauration et leurs bénéfices, et enfin, quelques espèces de faune et de flore attachées à ce milieu.

Here, the Lemme and its tributaries were subject to major ecological restoration works in 2012 to allow the marsh in Le Chatelet to regain its role as a natural waterway regulator.An interpretive sign explains which malfunctions had appeared due to previous developments, presents which restoration works were carried out and their advantages, and lists a few wildlife and plant species that live in this environment.

At the start of the 20th century, the Jura mountain was equipped with 400 kilometres of metric railway lines completing the main general interest lines such as the Andelot-La-Cluse line. Winding between the rivers, chasms, precipices and ridges, the tram lines marked the Jura’s history and its landscape with their often-spectacular developments and infrastructures such as the Douanets viaduct in Foncine-le-Bas.