Bassin de Champagney

When one circulates on the Trunk road 19, between Belfort and Lure, one can discover by some escaped through the trees, a reserve d' extended enough water, limited by a wall in masonry: it s' acts of the Basin of Champagney. One reaches it most easily starting from the hamlet “the Round of applause of Champagney”, by a narrow communal way which carries out right to the stopping and then skirts it to its foot. The storage dam of Champagney was built to be used with the food of the Channel as Montbeliard to the Haute-Saône, from which it is the essential work. Indeed, the shortly after the war 1870, after the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, and thus the interruption of the continuity of the inland waterways of an economic interest quite higher than that of now (Channel of the Rhone in the Rhine and Canal of the Marne in the Rhine), one decided to restore the communication by the construction of the Channel of the East which was carried out in record time (1875-1887), and of a Montbeliard-Nancy connection which had l' favours to serve the coal basin of Ronchamp. The project of the Channel of Montbeliard the Haute-Saône was thus approved in 1882. The channel a 85 km length was to connect the channel of the Rhone to the Rhine (in Fesches Châtel) in the Saone (in Conflandrey). The summit pond of this channel developed, as for him Chalonvillars enters (Haute-Saône) and the exit of the underground of Chérimont to the South-east of Ronchamp (Haute-Saône) over a length of almost 10 km. At this altitude (374,75 M), it n' do not exist course d' water d' a flow sufficient in all times for its food. Only a river with a torrential mode: Rahin, going down from the Vosges, being able d' to bring a certain volume of water. The solution of a feed basin was adopted and carried out by barring the high part of the valley of the brook of Seruillot, in a place located at a suitable height to receive and put in reserve a volume of water evaluated at 13.000.000 cubic meters. A drain of supply of 3 km 500 length and a section being able to provide a flow of 7.000 liters/second ensures the food since the stopping of the catch d' water located on Rahin at Floor-Low. The basin tank is put out of water in 1927 and is used to feed the section of the channel located in the Territory of Belfort. But very quickly of big problems of sealing appear in the level due to “the deplorable quality of the ground” and especially to ripe of the tank where it was necessary “to inject 7000 tons of cement in the cracks appeared in the sandstone of foundation”. It is also necessary to make the repair of the vaults of the undergrounds. In 1932, the municipal council of Champagney asks for last once " that l' State resumes the building work of the Channel of Montbeliard with High-Saône". But there are no more many people to accept the Channel… on 85 km envisaged, 28,600 km only were finished. Only the oriental party was usable. For this reason the lock, the tunnel of the chérimont, the tunnel of the Forest, the port of Frahier did not never see passing only one barge and disappear more and more under the vegetation. Fishermen, the curious ones, spéléos return sometimes visit to these young vestiges imposing and full with nostalgia.