Classic Tractor Tales: Le Taillanderie - Greenmount Press

Few vehicles pass along the winding road which meandersthrough the village of Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne. One is more likelyto encounter a tractor than a car. (Photo IMJ)from one valley to the next. A manufacturingindustry of significant importanceto French farmers had commenced in thevillage and was to continue uninterrupteduntil 1969.The history of this industry was thelure which had enticed us to the village ofNans-sous-Saint-Anne.LE LISONIt was Tuesday morning. We had hastenedto the bread van, attached ourselvesto the queue of the local wives with theirbaskets and obtained our metre long crustybaguette. Despite having breakfasted earlierwe could not resist breaking off a coupleof large chunks and smothering themwith fresh village butter and a healthy sliceof local four year old ham cured cheese.Un repas très bien!Appropriately fortified and wearingstout shoes, we left our cottage and followeda walking trail alongside the swiftlyflowing Lison river, which led to the headof a deep gorge. Here we were confrontedby a truly amazing phenomenon of nature— the source of the Lison river.There is considerable speculation amonggeologists exactly where the Lison has itscreation. But certainly it is likely to bedeep below the forested Doubs mountainsmany kilometres underground from whereit surfaces, on the outskirts of Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne. So the term ‘source’ actuallydescribes the cavern through which itveritably explodes from the sheer rock faceinto the valley.This is no gentle trickle or even a chucklingbrook. It is a gigantic outpouring whichinstantly becomes the swiftly flowing tumultuousLison river of considerable depth anda breadth of around thirty metres. It surgesthrough the centre of the village, containedbetween grassy banks and bridged by agraceful three arched medieval pont. Inseveral places the river bursts into lesserbut rapidly flowing streams, before curvingback and rejoining the main flow.Two centuries ago, one of these breakawaystreams was channelled into a shortPictured is the canal tributary, excavated 200 years ago, whichpasses under La Taillanderie and provides power to the giantwater wheels within the factory. (Photo IMJ)canal and directed to a flat area whereArsène Lagrange, an engineer of greatvision, harnessed the hydraulic energy topower his newly constructed edge tool factory— La Taillanderie. Which raises thequestion — what is an edge tool?Possibly the very first agricultural tooldevised by man was a form of large curvedsharp instrument with which he could cutswathes of grass and straw. Eventually ironreplaced stone and gave birth to the sickleand scythe.Without doubt these cutting, or ‘edge’tools, were for centuries the most importantimplements on any farm. But until thedawning of the 19th century brought abetter understanding of metallurgy, theseimplements were crude and prone to shatteringand easily blunted.Lagrange’s new factory required a greatamount and continuity of energy to driveits massive 250 kg tilt hammers. Thesewere the hammers, striking 150 timeseach minute, that shattered the silence of…48sThe village is bisected by the rushing Lison river which is bridgedby this grand Medieval three arched stone structure. (Photo IMJ)A spectacular phenomenon of nature. The Lison river is createddeep below the surface within the Doubs Mountains and burstsforce from this subterranean cavern in a dramatic fashion. Photoshows Ian perching precariously on a rock at the side of theswiftly flowing newly born river. (Photo Margery Daw)AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN COTTONGROWER — 47