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JURA MOCKTAINa 



JURA MOTTNTAINS. 



U» 



.MTMal handKiw frantaiDi. In the northarn angla of Uia town an 

 important Mlt-apring% fkom wUoh tlw brin* U conatantJy pumped 

 up into « wooden eanal that oonTeyi it to the great lalt-workt at 

 Montmorot, about a mile dUtant from the epring. The town ia the 

 Mat of tribunals of fint inetanoe and of commeroe, of oommunal and 

 aeoleiiaitieal ooUegas ; it haa alao a public library, a muaeum, and a 

 tl w tW L The mannfaoturia oonairt of hosiery, polaah, and leather; 

 tba oommeroe i* cooaiderable in aalt, iron, timber, wine, brandy, 

 e h eeie, iUL SL-Awtoir, 18 miles 8. from Loni-le-Saulniin-, has marble- 

 ■awing-milla, naileries, tan-yards, anil 2o27 inhabitants in the coni- 

 mona. AMWie4«»-Jfesnrar*, 6 miles from Lon«-le-Saulnier, is a Bmkll 

 place of 770 inhabitants, situated in a wild rocky gorge on the Seille, 

 and is famous for its ancient Benedictine abbey, the church of which 

 is in tolerable preaenration, and contains tombs of the counts of 

 Bourgogoe. 



2. In the second arrondissement the chief town, Poligny; is situated 

 at the extremity of an eztenaive plain, and at the foot of a spur of 

 the Juim chain, near the source of Uie Olantine, at a distance of 

 18 miles N.K. from Lons-le-Saulnier, 1064 feet above the level of the 

 ■ea, and has a population of 6615. It consists chiefly of four well- 

 built streets, parallel to each other, and to the direction of the 

 mountain. It is well supplied with excellent water from the numerous 

 fountains that adorn the town. Poligny has a college, manufactures 

 of pottery, casks, saltpetre, and oil ; iron-works, dyehouses, tan-yards, 

 and hydraulic aaw-miUs. Marble aud alabaster are quarried in 

 the neighbourhood. The tribunal of iirst instance is at ^r6ow, a 

 pretty town 5 miles to the northward, the birth-place of Pichegru. 

 Arbois has a college and TOGO inhabitants, who manufacture paper, 

 oil, and leather, and trade in the excellent white wines of the district. 

 There are iron-works, hydraulic saw-mills, nitre-works, and nurseries 

 at Arbois. dumpagrnoU, a well-built town, with 3276 inhabitants, 

 situated at the foot of Mont-Rivel, on the right bank of the Ain, and 

 near the village and extensive iron-works of Sirod, is a place of some 

 commercial activity. It has a large iron-wire factory, hydraulic 

 saw-mills, naileriea, &o. Salitu, 8 mUes N.E. from Poligny, situated 

 on the slope of a hill above the little river Furieuse, a feeder of the 

 Iioue, and near a narrow goi^ between two high mountains, has a 

 oollege, a handsome church dedicated to St-Anatole, and 7481 

 inhabitants. In the centre of the town are numerous salt-springs, 

 and one of the greatest salt-works in France, which are inclosed by 

 thick walls, flanked with towers, and extending 806 yards in length 

 by 100 yards in breadth. Sulphate of sodn, brandy, and leather are 

 also manufactured, and in the neighbourhood there are gypsum- 

 quarries, paper-mills, and iron-works. 



8. In the third arrondiasement the chief town, St. Claude, situated 

 between three wooded and rocky mountains, at the confluence of the 

 Taoon with the Bienne, which is here crosaed by a suspension-bridge, 

 and at an elevation of 1432 feet above the level of the sea, 28 miles 

 S. by E. from Loos-le-Saulnier, has tribunals of first instance and of 

 commerce, a college, and 6835 inhabitants in the commune. The 

 town, which is the residence of the Bishop of St-Claude, is well 

 built, and ornamented with some pretty promenades and handsome 

 fountains. The cathedral church of St-Piorre is the principal 

 building. The town is famous for turnery in bone, ivory, horn, and 

 wood ; buttons, tobacco, and musical boxes, wind instruments, combs, 

 hardware, pins, crape, cotton-jrarn, leather, paper, tiles, and pottery 

 are also manufactured. Morer, on the Bienne, is situated in a gorge 

 formed by two mountains, which rise almost perpendicularly to the 

 height of 1200 feet, and scarcely leave room between their naked 

 aides for two rows of houses and the street that separates them. 

 The population amounts to 2726, who maintain themselves by manu- 

 boturing iron, iron-wire, ootton-yam, leather, and watoh and clock 

 movements. 



4. In the fourth arrondiasement the chief town is Dtle, which is 

 d s ac ri bed in a separate article. [DAle.] The other cantons of this 

 anoodiassoient are named from mere villages. 



The department forms the see of the Bishop of St-CIande, is 

 ineladed in the jurisdiction of the High Court of Besanjon, and 

 beloDga to the 7th Military Division, of which Besanfon is head- 

 qoartera To the LegiaUtive Body of the French Empire it used to 

 retom two members. 



(Victionnaire lie la France; AnnuairepowVAnliiZ; Official Papcii.) 



JCRA MUt'NTAIN'S, the name given to a mountain system which 

 oooaista of several parallel chains extending along the frontiers of 

 Tnaoa, Savoy, and 8witserland, in a direction from south-aoutb- 

 wost to north-north-east from the RhAne and the Lake of Qeneva 

 to the left bank of the Rhine, towards the north, where it is con- 

 nected by some lower elevations with the Vosgea. The length of 

 the syst«n is about 180 miles; the brearlth varies from 80 to 60 

 miles. The highest summits of the Jura Mountains are found in 

 the most eastern chain, which extends between France and Swititer- 

 laod ; the other chains diminish in height towards the west, and do 

 not form oootinoous ranges, but rather consist of isoUted elevations 

 coo a a ato d at their bases. Very few of the valleys among these 

 Boonlaina ars tianaverml; most of them run in the direction 

 of the length of the chains. The highest points in the crest 

 of ths eastern chain are those of Reoulet, TeiiHre, LalMIe, and 

 Colombier, which rise reapectirely to 6969, 6648, 6613, and 6494 feet 



above the sea-level ; the mean height of this ohain is about 4800 feat. 

 The highest point in the aaoond chain doea not much axoaed 4800 

 feet The highaat part of thasa mountaina, which is full 8000 feet 

 lower than the line of perpetual snow on the Alps, is covered with 

 forests of pine and other resinous trees ; farther down, the baeoh, the 

 ash, the lime, and the oak flouriah ; and the lower slopes ars oooupiad 

 with vineyards or cultivated for the production of m^e or barley. 

 The mountains also abound in excellent pasture, on which great 

 numbera of cattle are reared and fed, and a great quantity of cheese 

 is made. [Jura, Department of.j Wolves are common ; the brown 

 bear and the wild cat are said to l>e met with, but rarely. 



On the eastern side the chain of the Jura Mountains presents in 

 general steep abruptsides, but on the west they slope down by almost 

 insensible degrees. They are composed of a hai^d gray limestone, 

 mixed with alternate beds of marl and clay ; in some places alabaster, 

 gypsum, asphalte, coal, marble, and petrifactions of various kinds, 

 especially those called oolites, which are characteristic of the Jurassic 

 system, are found. Iron-mines, sulphurous and salt springs abound ; 

 stalactitic grottoes and waterfalls are numerous ; among the latter is 

 the magnificent Saut-du-Douba [DoOBS.] An important and inter- 

 esting feature of the Jura system is the number of erratic stone-blocks 

 that are found high up the eastern slopes, at points opposite the 

 opening of the great valleys which descend from the high Alps. 



The region just described is that which is usually known as the Jura 

 Mountains, but the name among geologists has s wider acceptation, 

 the continuation of the same limestone country through Suabia aud 

 Franconia being distinguished as the Qerman Jura, rising in the 

 Rauhe-Alb, near Ulm, to 2400 feet above the sea. The general 

 'direction of all these calcareous mountains is north-eastward, but in 

 Franconia it changes to northward ; their boundaries are little 

 sinuous : their breadth averages about 20 miles, and from the vicinity 

 of Bamberg to the passage of the Rhdns the length exceeds 400 miles. 



Nearly parallel to the Swiss and Qerman Jure on the south calca- 

 reous rocks, belonging to the same geological era, range in front of 

 the primary rocks of the Alps, from Chambery to Vienna, more than 

 500 miles; and similar ranges of the same strata occupy the right side 

 of the Sadne and the left of the Meurthe and Moselle, and connect 

 themselves with the oolites which encircle the basin of Paris. Thus 

 the Swiss Jura described above occupies a nearly central position with 

 respect to an immense and ramified system of elevated limestone dis- 

 tricts all belonging to one geological system ; and hence it has become 

 the almost imiversal practice of the continental geologists to designate 

 that series of rocks by the title of the 'Jura formation,' a term 

 exactly equivalent to the oolitic system of English geologists. 



The mountains of the Qermau, Swiss, and French Jura, regarded 

 in a general point of view, may be described as inclosing between 

 their ranges an immense basin, which contains the greater portion of 

 Burgundy and Lorraine, the whole of Alsace, Suabia, Franconia, and 

 Hesse. Against this inclosed region the oolitic ranges present bold 

 and abrupt descents, while toward the exterior the slopes are gentle. 

 The chalk formation partially surrounds the Jura ranges on the 

 French and Qerman sides, but in the iuterior of the basin not a traoa 

 of it is to be found. 



In the Swiss Jure the streta are thrown up at high angles of 

 elevation, and consequently form long extended ridges and chains ; 

 the Suabian region is formed of rocks which lie in regular and nearly 

 liorizontel layera, and constitute an extended and uniform plateau ; 

 in Franconia dolomite abounds, and crowns the heighte with pic- 

 turesque rocks resembling the towera and pinnacles of ruined castles. 

 The mineral composition of the Jura ranges is everywhere similar, 

 and fonn a series comparable to the larger divisions of the oolitic 

 series of EngUnd and Morraandy. The Qerman Jura contains the 

 Bubdirisions of the oolitic series from the lias upwards to the combrash. 

 The dolomites and lithographic slates constitute a distinct upper band 

 of the JuTA formation, corresponding to the Portland oolitea. 



The determination of the geological epoch of the elevation of ths 

 Jura ranges to constitute dryland is important, especially in reference 

 to two phenomena which are witneaaed in these mountains, namely, 

 the ossiferous caverns of Franconia, and the dispersion of emtio 

 blocks from the High AIim. The opinion of John Hunter that the 

 caverns of the district of Muggendorf were filled by beara which 

 voluntarily retired thither, has been confirmed by the resoarehes of 

 Buckland and Von Meyer. The geological era of their existence is 

 perhaiw subsequent to the whole tertiary period ; but Von Buch's 

 view of the origin of the Jurassic limestones seems to imply their 

 prominence as islands in the ancient European sea before the depo- 

 sition of the chalk. The erratic blocks mentioned above as lying in vast 

 abundance on the eastern slopes of the Jure, and ascending towards 

 their summiU even to the height of 1000 or 2000 feet above the Aar 

 and the Lake of Qeneva, which now interpose their waten between 

 the Jura and the mountains whence the blocks were drifted, are 

 disposed in such a manner that ordinarily those which came from a 

 partioular district are distinct from the others aud seem to have 

 bean brought by a distinct channoL Blocks from the Orisons have 

 descended the valley of the Rhine; those found on the shores of the 

 Lake of Zurich and in the drainage of the Limmat are derived from 

 the mountains of QIanis ; while in the valley of the Aar and on the 

 slopes of the Jura lie fragments fix)m the Bernese Alps. 



