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49-770: The Janon is a tributary of the Gier , which in turn is a tributary of the Rhône . It is 13.9 kilometres (8.6 mi) long. The Janon from Terrenoire to Saint-Chamond, and then the Gier from Saint-Chamond to Givors, create a valley in the coal basin between the Pilat massif to the south and the Riverie chain of the Monts du Lyonnais to the north. The catchment basin of the Janon is 33 square kilometres (13 sq mi), with

98-459: A 149 km (93 mi) section of the Rhône was made navigable for small ships up to Seyssel . As of 2017 , the part between Lyon and Sault-Brénaz is closed for navigation. The Saône, which is also canalized, connects the Rhône ports to the cities of Villefranche-sur-Saône , Mâcon and Chalon-sur-Saône . Smaller vessels (up to CEMT class I ) can travel further northwest, north and northeast via

147-528: A capacity of 2,600,000 cubic metres (92,000,000 cu ft). The main axis of the Gier valley today holds an almost continuous urban and industrial area from Terrenoire in Saint-Étienne to Givors on the Rhone. The main towns from west to east, with their 2010 populations, are Saint-Chamond (35,793), La Grand-Croix (5,070), Lorette (4,498), Rive-de-Gier (14,996) and Givors (19,118). The 12 towns along

196-447: A depth of 1 to 2 metres (3 ft 3 in to 6 ft 7 in) in some streets, and many shops were flooded. In Roman times the river was used to supply water to Lugdunum (old Lyon ) through the aqueduct of the Gier . The opening of the Givors canal from Rive-de-Gier to Givors in 1781 contributed to the early industrialization of the valley. The Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway

245-426: A half. The full line from Saint-Étienne to Lyon was open for goods and passengers on 4 April 1833. The steep section from Rive-de-Gier to Saint-Etienne was beyond the power of steam traction engines of the day. Horses continued to be employed for several years on this section, with a slope of 14 mm/m. It was not until 1 August 1844 that horses were eliminated when a tender locomotive designed by Claude Verpilleux

294-489: A huge toothed "claw"wheel 6.5 metres (21 ft) across to grip the river bed in the shallows to supplement the paddle wheels. In the 20th century, powerful motor barges propelled by diesel engines were introduced, carrying 1,500 tonnes (3,300,000 lb). In 1933, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) was established to improve navigation and generate electricity, also to develop irrigated agriculture and to protect

343-560: A maximum in November followed by a second peak in May. Flow is lower in summer, from July to September, with a decrease of the average monthly rate to the level of 1.14 cubic metres (40 cu ft) in August. Flow can drop as low as .03 cubic metres (1.1 cu ft) in a dry year. Significant floods are quite common. J. B. Chambeyron, the historian of Rive-de-Gier , talks of a flood in 1684 where

392-485: A mean altitude of 610 metres (2,000 ft). The Janon rises in Mont Pilat at an elevation of over 1,300 metres (4,300 ft), and soon reaches the built-up area of Terrenoire  [ fr ] in Saint-Étienne , where it feeds the "Basin Janon". This pool was once used for industrial water supply, but today is used for fishing. Where the river passes through Terrenoire it is channeled and covered. The Massardière,

441-586: A series of dams and diversion canals, with a navigation lock beside the hydroelectric power plant on each of these canals. The locks were up to 23 metres (75 ft) deep. After building the Génissiat dam on the Upper Rhône (with no lock) in 1948, designed to meet the electricity needs of Paris, twelve hydroelectric plants and locks were built between 1964 and 1980. With a total head of 162 m (531 ft), they produce 13 GWh of electricity annually, or 16% of

490-563: A sizable stream of water from the mines of Saint-Étienne, enters the Janon here, providing 10 to 20 litres (2.2 to 4.4 imp gal; 2.6 to 5.3 US gal) per second. The Janon flows east from Saint-Étienne through Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds to Saint-Chamond , where it joins the Gier. The Ricolin is the largest tributary of Janon. It receives effluent from the sewage treatment plant in Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds, which had about 2,800 inhabitants in 2010. The Janon's other tributaries are

539-512: A total area of about 420 square kilometres (160 sq mi). There are dams on the upper Gier, the Dorlay and the Couzon. The throughput of the Gier was observed over a period of 45 years (1964–2008) at Givors , a city of the Rhône department located at the confluence of the Rhône. The watershed of the river is 406 square kilometres (157 sq mi). The average rainfall in the Gier watershed

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588-521: Is 218 millimetres (8.6 in) annually, much lower than the overall average for France. The average flow of the river is 3.16 cubic metres (112 cu ft) per second. Gier has seasonal fluctuations typical of rivers of the French Massif Central that are partly fed by melting snow. High waters are in winter and spring, and the average monthly flow is 3.54 to 4.37 cubic metres (125 to 154 cu ft) per second from November to May, with

637-567: Is 251 cubic metres per second (8,900 cu ft/s). Below the dam, the Rhône receives the waters of the Arve , fed by the Mont Blanc massif, with a visibly higher sediment load and much lower temperature. After a total of 290 kilometres (180 mi) in Switzerland, the Rhône continues west, entering France and the southern Jura Mountains . It turns toward the south, past Lac de Bourget , which

686-846: The Centre -Loire-Briare and Loing Canals to the Seine , via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône (recently often called the " Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne ") to the Marne , via the Canal des Vosges (formerly called the "Canal de l'Est – Branche Sud") to the Moselle and via the Canal du Rhône au Rhin to the Rhine . The Rhône is infamous for its strong current when the river carries large quantities of water: current speeds up to 10 km/h (6.2 mph) are sometimes reached, particularly in

735-893: The Po and the Nile , one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge . The name Rhône continues the Latin Rhodanus name ( Greek Ῥοδανός Rhodanós ) in Greco-Roman geography . The Gaulish name of the river was * Rodonos or * Rotonos (from a PIE root * ret- "to run, roll" frequently found in river names). Names in other languages include German : Rhone [ˈroːnə] ; Walser : Rotten [ˈrotən] ; Italian : Rodano [ˈrɔːdano] ; Arpitan : Rôno [ˈʁono] ; Occitan : Ròse [ˈrɔze, ˈʀɔze] ; and Romansh : Rodan . The Greco-Roman as well as

784-835: The Swiss Alps , at an altitude of approximately 2,208 metres (7,244 ft). From there it flows southwest through Gletsch and the Goms, the uppermost valley region of the Valais before Brig . In the Brig area, it receives the waters of the Massa from the Aletsch Glacier , the longest glacier of the Alps, and shortly after, it receives the waters of the Vispa , the longest affluent in Valais. After that, it flows onward through

833-689: The Alps. From Lyon, the Rhône flows south, in its large valley between the Alps and the Massif Central . At Arles , the Rhône divides into two major arms forming the Camargue delta , both branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea, the delta being termed the Rhône Fan. The larger arm is called the "Grand Rhône", the smaller the "Petit Rhône". The average annual discharge at Beaucaire is 1,700 m /s (60,000 cu ft/s). The main tributaries of

882-577: The Combe Noire and Langonand. The Romans built aqueducts to carry the waters of the Janon and of the Gier to Lyon. The two aqueducts join into one at Saint-Chamond to form the Aqueduct of the Gier . Remains may still be seen in many places. The watchmaker and engineer François Zacharie proposed to connect the Loire to the Rhône by a navigable canal 56.2 kilometres (34.9 mi) long that would begin at Givors on

931-507: The Gier at 45°25′32″N 4°31′38″E  /  45.425632°N 4.527321°E  / 45.425632; 4.527321 near La Valla-en-Gier between 1953 and 1955, with a capacity of 1,900,000 cubic metres (67,000,000 cu ft). It is no longer in service and is kept permanently empty. The Barrage de Soulages, another dam, was built on the Gier at 45°26′17″N 4°30′44″E  /  45.437934°N 4.51221°E  / 45.437934; 4.51221 between 1968 and 1970, with

980-529: The Gier from Saint-Chamond to Givors, create a valley in the coal basin between the Pilat massif to the south and the Riverie chain of the Monts du Lyonnais to the north. The right (south) side of the valley is mountainous, mainly covered with trees or pasture, with relatively few people. The right bank streams flow from the Pilat massif . They are the Janon, upstream Gier, Onzion, Dorlay , Egarande, Couzon , Grand Malval, Mezerin and Combe de l'Enfer. The largest are

1029-653: The Langonand, which flows into the Janon, Mornante, Ruisseau des Arcs, Faverge, Durèze, Collenon, Féloin and Bozançon. The largest are the Durèze with a basin of about 29 square kilometres (11 sq mi) and the Bozançon with a basin of about 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi). The Bozançon defines the border on the Jarez side between the Loire and Rhone departments. The Gier basin has

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1078-418: The Loire. The Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway was the first French railway open to travelers. The railway follows the path of the Janon from Terrenoire to Saint-Chamond, and then the Gier to the Rhône. At first the wagons were pulled by horses. In early 1831 the steam locomotive Seguin came into operation, able to tow seven cars loaded with 21 tons or up to 28 empty cars from Givors to Rive-de-Gier in an hour and

1127-813: The Morge and Hermance, the lake is divided by the two countries along its centreline, with the left bank in France. The remainder of the lake is Swiss, including the entire right (north) bank. Here, the tributaries are the Veveyse , the Venoge , the Aubonne , the Morges , among other smaller rivers. Lake Geneva ends in the city of Geneva , where the lake level is controlled by the Le Seujet dam  [ fr ] . The average discharge from Lake Geneva

1176-583: The Perdrix mountain at about 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) in the Pilat massif . The "Saut du Gier" waterfall near the head of the river is in the Pilat Regional Natural Park . The river runs for 40.3 kilometres (25.0 mi) before joining the Rhône at Givors . The Gier receives the Janon from its left at Saint-Chamond . The Janon from Terrenoire (now part of Saint-Étienne ) to Saint-Chamond, and then

1225-639: The Rhône are, from source to mouth: The Rhône has been an important highway since the times of the Greeks and Romans . It was the main trade route from the Mediterranean to east-central Gaul . As such, it helped convey Greek cultural influences to the western Hallstatt and the later La Tène cultures. Celtic tribes living near the Rhône included the Seduni , Sequani, Segobriges , Allobroges , Segusiavi , Helvetii , Vocontii and Volcae Arecomici . Navigation

1274-605: The Rhône drains via the Canal de Savières . Continuing generally westward, the Rhône then receives the waters of the Valserine , enters the reservoir created by the Génissiat Dam , and is then joined by the Ain . Reaching Lyon , the most populous city on its course, the Rhône receives its biggest tributary, the Saône , with an average flow of 473 m /s (16,700 cu ft/s), compared to

1323-591: The Rhône's 600 m /s (21,000 cu ft/s) at this point. From this confluence, the Rhône follows a southward course. Along the Rhône Valley, it is joined on the right (western) bank by the rivers Eyrieux , Ardèche , Cèze , and Gardon coming from the Cévennes mountains ; and on the left bank by the rivers Isère , (with an average discharge of 333 m /s (11,800 cu ft/s)), Drôme , Ouvèze , and Durance (188 m /s (6,600 cu ft/s)) from

1372-451: The Rhône, mount the Gier and its tributary the Janon, cross the watershed at Saint-Etienne and descend the Furan to reach the Loire near Andrézieux . He filed his proposal early in 1758. Letters patent were issued to François and Guillaume Zaccharie on 6 September 1761 giving them the right to build and then use the canal for forty years, after which it would revert to the crown. However, Zacharie

1421-531: The adjective derived from the river is rhodanien , as in le sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhône"), which is the name of the long, straight Saône and Rhône river valleys, a deep cleft running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif Central . Before railroads and highways were developed, the Rhône was an important inland trade and transportation route, connecting

1470-443: The cities of Arles , Avignon , Valence , Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean ports of Fos-sur-Mer , Marseille and Sète . Travelling down the Rhône by barge would take three weeks. By motorized vessel, the trip now takes only three days. The Rhône is classified as a Class V waterway for the 325 km-long (202-mile) section from the mouth of the Saône at Lyon to the sea at Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône . Upstream from Lyon,

1519-509: The country's total hydroelectric production (20% if the Upper Rhône schemes are added). There have been significant benefits for agriculture throughout the Rhône valley. With the Lower Rhône project completed, CNR turned its attention to the Haut-Rhône (Upper Rhône), and built four hydropower dams in the 1980s: Sault-Brénaz, Brégnier-Cordon, Belley-Brens and Chautagne. It also drew up plans for

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1568-614: The historical region of Chablais . It then enters Lake Geneva near Le Bouveret , where the water flows west. On the left (south) bank of Lake Geneva, the river Morge joins at the village of Saint-Gingolph , and also marks the French-Swiss border. Westward, the Dranse (unrelated to the Drance) enters the lake with its preserved delta , and then the Hermance marks another French-Swiss border. Between

1617-487: The large glaciers of the massifs of Monte Rosa , Dom , and Grand Combin , but also from the steeper slopes of the Bernese Alps to the north, and the Mont Blanc massif to the west. As a result, the Rhône Valley experiences a drier climate than the rest of Switzerland , being sheltered by the three highest ranges of the Alps, making Valais the driest and largest wine region of the country. At Martigny, where it receives

1666-650: The reconstructed Gaulish name is masculine, as is French le Rhône . This form survives in the Spanish/Portuguese and Italian namesakes, el/o Ródano and il Rodano , respectively. German has adopted the French name but given it the feminine gender, die Rhone . The original German adoption of the Latin name was also masculine, der Rotten ; it survives only in the Upper Valais ( dialectal Rottu ). In French,

1715-736: The river divides into the Great Rhône (French: le Grand Rhône ) and the Little Rhône ( le Petit Rhône ). The resulting delta forms the Camargue region. The river's source is the Rhône Glacier , at the east edge of the Swiss canton of Valais . The glacier is part of the Saint-Gotthard Massif , which gives rise to three other major rivers: the Reuss , Rhine and Ticino . The Rhône is, with

1764-582: The river valley totaled 88,974 inhabitants in 2008. The Gier is partly covered over in Saint-Chamond. Citations Sources Rh%C3%B4ne The Rhône ( / r oʊ n / ROHN , French: [ʁon] ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and Southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea ( Gulf of Lion ). At Arles , near its mouth,

1813-501: The riverside towns and land from flooding. Some progress was made in deepening the navigation channel and constructing scouring walls, but World War II brought such work to a halt. In 1942, following the collapse of Vichy France , Italian military forces occupied southeastern France up to the eastern banks of the Rhône, as part of the Italian Fascist regime's expansionist agenda. In 1948, the French government started construction of

1862-464: The stretch below the last lock at Vallabrègues and in the relatively narrow first diversion canal south of Lyon. The 12 locks are operated daily from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. All operation is centrally controlled from one control centre at Châteauneuf. Commercial barges may navigate during the night hours by authorisation. The Rhône begins as the meltwater of the Rhône Glacier in Valais , in

1911-412: The upper river used barques du Rhône , sailing barges, 30 by 3.5 metres (98 by 11 ft), with a 75-tonne (165,000 lb) capacity. As many as 50 to 80 horses were employed to haul trains of five to seven craft upstream. Goods would be transshipped at Arles into 23-metre (75 ft) sailing barges called allèges d'Arles for the final run down to the Mediterranean. The first experimental steam boat

1960-425: The upstream Gier with a basin of about 52 square kilometres (20 sq mi), the Dorlay with a basin of 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi), the Couzon with a basin of 34 square kilometres (13 sq mi) and the Janon with a basin of 33 square kilometres (13 sq mi). The left (north) side of the valley is hilly, sandy terrain. The left bank streams flow from the Monts du Lyonnais. They are

2009-430: The valley which bears its name and runs initially in a westerly direction about thirty kilometers to Leuk , then southwest about fifty kilometers to Martigny . Down as far as Brig , the Rhône is a torrent; it then becomes a great mountain river running southwest through a glacial valley. Between Brig and Martigny , it collects waters mostly from the valleys of the Pennine Alps to the south, whose rivers originate from

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2058-482: The waters from Saint-Chamond to Givors rose to the first floor above ground level. The maximum instantaneous flow recorded was 338 cubic metres (11,900 cu ft) per second on 2 December 2003, while the maximum daily value was 208 cubic metres (7,300 cu ft) the same day. During the night of 1–2 November 2008 the center of Rive-de-Gier was devastated by flooding, as were many surrounding towns such as Saint-Romain-en-Gier and Givors . The water reached

2107-421: The waters of the Drance on its left bank, the Rhône makes a sharp turn towards the north. Heading toward Lake Geneva ( French : Le Léman ), the valley narrows near Saint-Maurice , a feature that has long given the Rhône valley strategic importance for the control of the Alpine passes. The Rhône then marks the boundary between the cantons of Valais (left bank) and Vaud (right bank), separating two parts of

2156-433: Was built at Lyon by Jouffroy d'Abbans in 1783. Regular services were not started until 1829 and they continued until 1952. Steam passenger vessels 80 to 100 metres (260–330 ft) long made up to 20 km/h (11 kn) and could do the downstream run from Lyon to Arles in a day. Cargo was hauled in bateau-anguilles , boats 157 by 6.35 metres (515.1 by 20.8 ft) with paddle wheels amidships, and bateaux crabes ,

2205-404: Was difficult, as the river suffered from fierce currents, shallows, floods in spring and early summer when the ice was melting, and droughts in late summer. Until the 19th century, passengers travelled in coches d'eau (water coaches) drawn by men or horses, or under sail. Most travelled with a painted cross covered with religious symbols as protection against the hazards of the journey. Trade on

2254-470: Was formerly heavily industrialized with coal and iron mines and factories. The word "Gier" derives from the Latin Jaresis , which also gave rise to the name côté Jarez for the north side of the valley of the Gier, and is included in the names of several municipalities: Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez , Saint-Paul-en-Jarez , Saint-Romain-en-Jarez , La Tour-en-Jarez , Saint-Christo-en-Jarez , Rive-de-Gier and Saint-Romain-en-Gier . The Gier rises at La Jasserie on

2303-442: Was only authorized to build the Givors canal as far as Rive-de-Gier . In December 1788 King Louis XVI approved construction of a reservoir to supply water to the canal in dry periods. François Zacharie had proposed a site for the reservoir high up near Saint-Etienne, but the chosen site was low down on the river Couzon near to Rive-de-Gier. This decision ruled out the plan to continue the canal up to Saint-Etienne and then down to

2352-405: Was opened in 1833, the first French railway open to travelers. It follows the path of the Janon from Terrenoire to Saint-Chamond, and then the Gier to the Rhone. In the 19th and 20th centuries the Gier brought water and energy to many factories in the Gier valley. In the 19th century these ranged from factories making silk and lace products to steel mills. The Barrage du Piney, a dam, was built on

2401-428: Was put into service. Citations Sources Gier (river) 45°35′13″N 4°46′27″E  /  45.586846°N 4.774071°E  / 45.586846; 4.774071 The Gier ( French pronunciation: [ʒje] ) is a French river that flows in a northeast direction through the Loire and Rhône departments. It is a tributary of the Rhône , which it enters from the right bank. The Gier valley

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