Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/831

LOIRE 807

1783 a double line of dykes or turcies 23 feet high was completed from Bee d Allier downwards. This great work had, however, the serious defect that the channel was so much narrowed that the embankments are almost certain to give way as soon as the water rises 16 feet (the average rise is about 14, and in 1846 it was more than 22). In more modern times the importance of the water-way from the sea to Nantes led to the embanking of the lower part of the course; but instead of a depth of 16 feet being secured, as the engineers anticipated, there is no more at full tide than 13 feet. One of the practical results of this state of matters has been the commercial development of Saint Nazaire and Paimbœuf, and the comparative decline of Nantes as a great shipping port. Besides the general embankments of the river, several of the towns along the Loire have constructed special works to defend themselves against the floods; Tours, the most exposed of all, is surrounded by a circular dyke. Various schemes for the systematic regulation of the Loire have been discussed. It has been proposed to construct in the upper valleys of the several affluents a number of gigantic dams or reservoirs from which the water, stored during flood, could be let off into the river as required. A reservoir of this kind, formed by the engineer Mathieu at the village of Pinay, about 18 miles above Roanne, and capable of retaining from 3500 to 4500 million cubic feet of water, has greatly diminished the force of the floods at Roanne, and maintained the comparative equilibrium of the current during the dry season. There is a canal (157 miles) along the left bank of the Loire between Roanne and Briare; and the Canal du Berri connects this with the navigable part of the Cher. The Canal du Centre extends from Digoin on the Loire to Châlon on the Saône; the Canal du Nivernais and the canals starting from Orleans and Briare communicate with the Seine; and the Nantes canal opens up the way to Lorient, Brest, and Dinan. The canals of the Sauldre and the Dive (20 and 26 miles respectively) are mainly for irrigation purposes.

See H. Blerzy, Torrents, fleuves, et canaux de la France (Paris, 1878), and his papers in Rev. des Deux Mondes, February and March 1875.

LOIRE, a department of central France, made up of the old district of Forez and portions of Beaujolais and Lyonnais, all formerly included in the province of Lyonnais, lies between 45° 15′ and 46° 3 15′ N. lat. and between 3° 40′ and 4° 45′ E. long., and is bounded on the N. by the department of Saône-et-Loire, on the E. by those of Rhône and Isère, on the S. by Ardèche and Haute-Loire, and on the W. by Puy de Dôme and Allier. Its extreme length is 78 miles from north-west to south-east, and its extreme breadth from east to west is about 43 miles, the area being 1838 square miles. Until 1790 it constituted a single department along with that of Rhône. About an eighth part of the whole area belongs to the basin of the Rhone. The Loire, which has a fall within the department from 1365 feet to 886 feet, traverses alternately a series of narrow gorges and of broad plains, the beds of ancient lakes, including that of Forez between St Rambert and Feurs, and, lower down, that of Roanne. Of its affluents the most important are the Lignon du Nord, the beautiful valley of which has been called " La Suisse Forezienne," and the Aix on the left, and on the right the Ondaine (on which stand the industrial towns of Chambon-Feugerolles and Firminy), the Furens, and the Rhiri. To the Rhone the department contributes the Gier, upon which are situated the industrial towns of St diamond and Rive de Gier, and which forms a navigable channel to the Rhone at Givors. From Mont Pilat descends the Deome, in the valley of which the workshops of Annonay begin. In the west are the Forez mountains, which separate the Loire basin from that of the Allier; their highest point (Pierre sur Haute, 5381 feet) is 12 miles west from Montbrison. They sink gradually towards the north, and are successively called Bois Xoirs (4239 feet), from their woods, and Monts de la Madeleine (3600 to 1640 feet). In the east the Rhone and Loire basins are separated by Mont Pilat (4705 feet) at the north extremity of the Cevennes, and by the hills of Lyonnais, Tararo, Beaujolais, and Charolais, none of which rise higher than 2950 or 3280 feet. The climate of the department varies according to the elevation: on the heights it is cold and healthy, unwholesome in the marshy plain of Forez, mild in the valley of the Rhone. The

annual rainfall is 39.37 inches on the Forez mountains, but only 24.79 at Roanne. More than half of the area consists of arable lands; one-seventh is occupied by forests, and one-seventh by meadows.

The plains of Forez and Roanne are the two most important agricultural districts, but the total production of grain within the department is insufficient for the requirements of the population. The pasture lands of Forez support a large number of horned cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Fairly good red wine is also grown within the department; potatoes, leguminous plants, beetroot, hemp, and colza are also cultivated. Poultry are reared, and bee-keeping is a considerable industry. Among the hills replantation has been set on foot. The Bois Noir forests yield good-sized pines and large quantities of wood for mining purposes. The so-called Lyons chestnuts are to a large extent obtained from Forez; the woods and pasture lands of Pilat yield medicinal plants, such as mint. The chief wealth of the department, however, lies in the coal deposits in the St Étienne basin, the second in importance in France. The basin, which stretches from south-west to north-east between Firminy and Rive de Gier, is about 20 miles in length and 5 in breadth. In 1881 the output amounted to 3,454,612 tons of coal and anthracite, giving employment to 12,000 workmen below and 5000 above. The presence of coal has naturally encouraged various forms of the metal-working industries. At St Étienne there is a national factory of arms, in which as many as 6000 have been employed; apart from other factories of the same kind carried on by private individuals, the production of hardware occupies 7000 persons; locks, common cutlery, chain cables for the mines, files, and nails are also made. Cast steel is largely manufactured, the aggregate production of all sorts of steel amounting in 1880 to 114,629 tons; the Loire workshops supply the heaviest construc tions required in naval architecture. The glass industry has its centre at Rive de Gier. St Étienne employs more than 60,000 persons in the fabrication of silk ribbons, to an annual value of £4,000,000; over and above this must be reckoned the manu facture of elastic ribbons and laces, and the dressing of raw silks. The arrondissement of Roanne manufactures cotton stuffs upon 11,000 looms, each employing three persons. That of Montbrison produces table linen. In the mountains between Haute-Loire and Puy de Dome the women make black laces and embroidery. The department has numerous flour-mills, paper works, tanyards, boat building yards, silk-spinning works, and velvet, plush, and hat factories. There are three arrondissements – St Étienne, Montbrison, and Roanne. The capital is St Étienne. The population, 290,903 in 1801, was 590,613 in 1876.

LOIRE, Haute-, a department of central France, made up of Velay and portions of Vivarais and Gévaudan, three districts formerly belonging to the old province of Languedoc, of a portion of Forez formerly belonging to Lyonnais, and of a portion of lower Auvergne, is bounded on the N. by Puy de Dome and Loire, on the E. by Loire and Ardèche, on the S. by Ardèche and Lozère, and on the W. by Lozère and Cantal, and lies between 44° 40′ and 45° 25′ N. lat. and between 3° 5′ and 4° 30′ E. long., having an extreme length of 68 miles, a maximum breadth of 54 miles, and an area of 1916 miles. It belongs almost wholly to the Loire basin, but a few square kilometres to the north of Mont Mezenc are drained by the Erieux, a tributary of the Rhone. The highest point, Mont Mézenc, on the borders of Ardèche, is 5745 feet; it belongs to the Cévennes system, which sends ramifications throughout the entire department, giving it a mean altitude of 2950 feet. Reckoning from east to west are the Boutières, the Mégal or Meygal, the Velay lulls, those of La Margeride, and finally the Luguet. The first mentioned ridge separates Haute-Loire from Ardèche, and ranges from 3280 to 4590 feet; it has a crust of lava thrown out from Mont Mézenc; efforts towards replanta tion are being made. Meygal presents a series of jagged peaks, recalling the Pyrenees on a small scale. It also has been covered by an immense flow of lava some 37 miles long and 490 feet thick, through which the Loire has forced a passage by means of gorges more than 1600 feet in depth. The highest point of the Meygal properly so called is upwards of 4590 feet. The Velay hills, which separate the Loire from the Allier (mean height about 3300 feet), consist of granitic rocks overlaid with the eruptions of more than one hundred and fifty craters, one of which