Beaver (river)

The Beaver except Paris

One can identify two sections:

Upstream of the Park Heller of Antony, the Beaver runs with open sky and is an appreciated site of the walkers. It is maintained there by the Intercommunity association installation the valley the Beaver (SIAB). In Guyancourt, it crosses the ponds of the Mine located in the national forest of Versailles.
Starting from this park Heller d' Antony, the Beaver is channeled and buried on almost all its course. It then forms part of the networks of the Syndicat interdépartemental for the cleansing of the Paris and its suburbs (SIAAP).

The Beaver in Paris

Geology

In Paris, the Beaver formerly followed the current course of the Seine of the Pont of Austerlitz to the Pont of Alma; the Seine, it, in its old course followed the line of the grand boulevards, then the Matignon avenue and the Avenue Montaigne. Probably at the time of successive risings, it looks further into its current bed, and the dead arm which enclosed the Marsh was gradually filled; on the other hand with the current confluence Beaver and the Seine were formed in the east of the Montagne Holy-Genevieve, a marsh left bank which will be filled little by little by successive accumulations of alluvia; but the district of the Gare of Austerlitz is always considered easily flooded.

History

This marsh left bank is perhaps that whose Titus Labienus speaks in its attempt about conquest about Lutèce (52 before J. - C.).

At the 12th century, coming from Saint M3edard's Day, the Beaver crosses the Faubourg Saint-Marcel and the grounds of the Abbaye of Holy-Genevieve, curves in the middle of Marais (between the Rue Poliveau and the Rue Buffon current) and is thrown in the the Seine on the level of the Pont of Austerlitz.

The 26 Fructivor of year III, Oberkampf became purchaser of the old royal farm of Bouviers to Guyancourt, its objective being to control the water quality of the Beaver whose source was on the grounds of this farm. Until the 17th century, the grounds downstream from the source of the Beaver were marshy zones . The Carte of Cassini does not mention the ponds; only the layout of the Beaver appears. A first pond, called pond of the Mine, appears within intendance of the parish of Guyencourt in 1787. The ponds will be built with the wire of time. The problems of the silting of the ponds and the maintenance of the banks and the dams are permanent. For example in 1819, the Council of Healthiness of Paris, chaired by the Prefect, entrusts a study to Mr Pariset in order to seek the causes of permanent low waters of the Beaver in Paris. This one indicates in his report/ratio: “One can deny only, in its upper parts, the bed of the Beaver is not extremely neglected. Since its first source to the village of Buc, '' this bed is stuffed of an extraordinary quantity of coarse and parasitic pastures, which consume by their vegetation a volume of considerable water. '' in all the valley of the Mill-Fox, there are drowned portions of ground, quagmires, marshes, where the water which them form remains to no purpose. '' by the cracks which were done in the banks, water flees of its bed ''. ”

Historically, the river is diverted of its natural confluence, the Seine, at the level of current the Botanical garden to feed the old Saint-Victor abbey, located inside the Enceinte of Philippe-Auguste: the postern of passage under the enclosure always exists (visit one Wednesday per month) under the post office located to the corner of the street of the Schools and the Rue of Cardinal-Lemoine, with - 10 m, altitude 17 m, which gives an idea of the erosion of the Montagne Holy-Genevieve. The discharge system of the river was then street of Beaver (Paris 5th). This channel “victorin” was not gradually eliminated, it was not any more but one sewer.

The channel of Victorins, after having crossed the wall of Philippe-Auguste, formed a right angle on the level of current the church Saint-Nicolas-of-Hanging-post, followed the current street of Bernardins, turned to right angle at the entry of the street of Beaver and was thrown in the Seine with the Great Degrees, vis-a-vis the archbishop's palace.

The same fate was reserved for the upstream part, invaded by the stenches of the Abattoir S, the hospitals, the sewer S, the tanners, blacksmiths, mégisseurs and Teinturier S, which all complained about the Moulin S which caused grinds interruptions on such a low flow on a so weak slope.

The toponymy of the 5th district, and especially of 13th, is indissociable existence of this river, which disappeared only because of the reasons of hygiene due to its overexploitation, improvident of the environment, at the 19th century.

Let us quote the Poterne of the Poplars, vault of passage under the “fortif one”, the long street of the Moulin - of-Meadows, the street of the Moulinet ; in the West, grounds of the district Refrigerator, where the water frozen in winter was stored to be used as ice in summer; the street Croulebarbe (of the name of the mill), the Goblins (of the name of one of the many families of dyers , “the scarlet” of the Goblins), the street of Cordelières, the street of the Iron-with-Mill, etc

The Topographie of the 13th district of Paris was completely upset by an immense building site of filling of the valley towards the Rue of Tolbiac. Thus, the Église Holy-Anne of the Ridge-with-Ruails is built on 18 fill meters. Useless to say how much it is difficult to today follow the “valley” in Paris. Nevertheless, much of the lost inheritance can be recovered; to give again with the environment of the Seine the natural affluent wasted by industrial civilization would be a pledge of wisdom for the future.

Projects

… “a extra-municipal commission of the mayor of Paris and its assistant in charge of the environment, water, cleansing and valorization of the site of the Seine, submitted to residents' associations, on February 1st, 2001, a plan of rebirth of the Beaver. ” It would be a question of remaking to live in the light of the day the Beaver in three places in particular on the level of the additional grounds of the national Muséum of natural history (between the street Buffon and the Rue Poliveau), on 400 meters.

The studies being continued, the Town hall of Paris presented, Thursday, June 7, 2007, the project of installation selected to perpetuate “ the memory and the wire of the Beaver ”.

Indeed, taking into account the cost required by the construction of a purification plant of the river at its entry on the communal territory, of the works of crossings of the underground lines or other works of roadway system (more than 100 million euros), the project to make reappear the Beaver with the postern of the Poplars, with the public garden Rene it Gall, the foot of the Manufacture of the Goblins and along the Botanical garden was abandoned.

The new project, worked out by the town-planner Benoit Julien and of Norman research department AEP, includes/understands the realization of seven halt-fountains, markings out of the ground, a bluish lighting of the bridges and historical borders, as well as a junction on the way of great excursion GR. 11 (which makes the turn of Paris) in order to make it possible to walk on of the postern of the Poplars to the Pont of Austerlitz.

These installations should be realized in 2008. In addition, association Lézarts of the Beaver organizes each year a course of redécouverte of the Beaver, marked out, in 2007, by Franck Duval (FKDL) who painted on the walls of the thread-like silhouettes materializing 6 routes:

slopes of the Mouffe,
the Botanical garden,
the Hillock with the Ruails,
the arch of the Beaver,
the valley of the Goblins,
the valley of the Refrigerator.

To see

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