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Origin and history

The Salins-les-Bains Saumoduct at Arc-et-Senans was built at the end of the 18th century to link the Salins-les-Bains saline (Jura) and the Arc-et-Senans saline (Doubs). He was 21 km long, carrying the brine extracted from Salins to the new royal saline d'Arc, without salt sources. This project, led by the surveyor Denis François Dez, was designed to save wood by concentrating brine through a 500-metre graduation building, prior to storage in a 900-m3 tank.

The pipes, initially in hollowed fir trunks, were replaced by cast iron in 1788 to limit losses. Locked in to avoid freezing and theft by the false-salters, the Saumoduct was monitored by six "control houses" where the gabelous (salt customs) measured flow and salinity. The brine, lowered from 104 to 109 metres above sea level, was transported at a daily rate of 135,000 litres.

The masonry remains of the Saumoduc, listed as historical monuments in 2009, include bowls (Monplaisir, Perrichon) and a passage under the road from Lyon to Rennes-sur-Loue. The cast iron pipes were dismantled during World War I for the war effort, and the graduation building was deconstructed. Today, the Gabelous Trail, built in 2013, traces its route with informative signs.

The two salines, classified at UNESCO (1982 and 2009), illustrate the ingenuity of pre-industrial techniques. The saumoduct symbolizes the adaptation to geographical and economic constraints, while at the same time testifying to the conflicts related to the gabelle, tax on salt. Its route, following the Furiause and Loue rivers, crosses communes such as Port-Lesney and Rennes-sur-Loue, where protected remains remain.

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