SALSON MILL

This mill, built in 1790, was constructed and used by several landowners in the Salson valley. It was the largest in the valley and ingeniously built: thanks to a carefully designed water system, it could power several millstones simultaneously. It was used to make groats (crushed cereal grains with the bran removed) while one millstone ground rye or buckwheat into flour, and another ground walnut kernels into oil. In a separate building, pieces of woolen cloth were fulled. Water from the stream (the Gardon d'Alès) was captured and held in a millpond to power the mill's horizontal wheels. Upon exiting, the water was channeled into irrigation canals. One canal, 2 km long, irrigated the meadows and chestnut groves as far as the hamlet of Le Grenier.