The manufacture of paper Valley takes its name from where it was built: at the bottom of a valley. The site was so important that we built a dam downstream of the river in 1920. The factory employed 250 workers and had 1000 people living in the region. The production was 4000 tons of paper per year. In 1965, the business closes because of European competition.

The quarry Montesson was used (as often) for the cultivation of mushrooms. Long abandoned, the quarry of building stone has been cut in half during the construction of the highway A14. In 2010, further work has finally destroyed this beautiful part of the quarry.

Quarries of Herblay are over 14km wide and some hundreds of meters deep, on hillsides along the Seine.

In 1776, the exploitation of new underground quarries in Paris was forbidden. People had to take the stone elsewhere. It is for this reason that the quarry was known as "Imperial quarry" or "Quarry of the city of Paris". They built many monuments in Paris with this stone because it was high quality (the famous Royal stone).

Among the monuments built, there was The Pantheon of Paris, Department of Marine Place de la Concorde, the Gare de l'Est, the mint as well as many statues at Versailles.

The network's quarries has been excessively exploited in Herblay. The ceiling is fragile and the walls separating the tunnels are very thin. To reinforce the quarry, they have added many pillars and reinforcement structures.

Later, like many underground quarries, they served to mushroom plantation in the 1980s. The workers have dug additional corridors between small quarries networks.

A few years later and they were gradually abandoned. The latest mushroom plantation closed in 1995.

Since 2003, the association "Herblay heritage" has undertaken to make public visits to the part of the "English entry" with the famous double-arched vault and pretty ponds.

In the underground quarry Ouache in Saint-Maximin. Mushroom cultivation.

In the underground quarry Ouache in Saint-Maximin. A red writing on the wall: 1907, the cellar of the stars.

Hotel-Dieu d'Etampes is a hospital founded in 1195. In recent centuries, the hospital has been enlarged many times. But a new hospital Etampes, much more modern, is going to compete. In 1991 the hospital is closed. The clinical Juine Valley, near, will suffer the same fate ten years later.

First steps in quarry until his last run, each cataphile notes an improvement in his behavior in the undergrounds. The route passes through several phases where his attitude toward the place, other individuals and especially in relation to itself will evolve.

Step 1: The disease of quarries.

It starts with a proposed descent. Through a friend or media, the neophyte becomes aware of the existence of a city under the city. Torn between the desire for exoticism and fear of the unknown, he went to the rendez-vous. In front of a bar or in front a subway, a diverse group waiting for him. They have all worn and dirty uniforms, each carrying packs of beer in hand, the other monstrous sacks on their shoulders. During the walk to the quarry, the main game is to scare again, both by sadism but also to test it and avoid it falters once inside.

Because everyone knows the strange disease that threatens the neophyte: The disease of quarries. As one who fears seasick when he sets foot on a boat, the apprentice will distressed by the entrance of the cave. Only after twenty meters underground to think he tons of rocks that overlook and threaten. Add to that the narrowness of the galleries, the disorientation and the inability to find the exit in this hellish labyrinth and you get a malaise that will fade with the times. At the exit, greatly relieved to be whole, the beginner will be happy to have survived such an adventure. Most will never return and not deviate from the quarry. Some however will want to repeat the experience and come away with the attack of subterranean depths.

Step 2: Thirst discovery.

Finally, the long-awaited map is formally placed in the hands trembling with emotion of the beginners. The first explorations where the latter takes the responsibility for guiding difficult: The errors and half-turns are frequent. Few were self-taught in this area, learning to move in an underground quarry is not obvious. But the excitement of discovering a new world is huge: There are so many things to see that often runs beyond the required time. At this stage, the cataphile often integrates a group of friends who will evolve. This is the beginning for some the desire to be recognized by his peers.

The catacombs of Paris are actually municipal ossuaries. In fact, in the late 18th century, Parisian cemeteries were saturated. They moved the dead from mass graves in former quarries under Paris. Thus were born the catacombs of Paris.

The sky train, the train on air cushion. Bertin The company developed several prototypes of this type of train. The test tracks were built in 1965. The smallest to the Gometz Chatel and the largest near Orleans, over 20 kilometers long.

The concrete track is shaped like an inverted T. The world record speed for a vehicle air-cushion was established March 5, 1974. The record speed is 430 km / h. In June 1974, the company Bertin sign a contract for the construction of a high-speed line between the town of Cergy and business district "La Défense". A few months later, the French government reversed its decision and abandon the project.

The failure of the project has several assumptions:
- The oil crisis of 1973.
- Lobbying by the company National Railways (SNCF) and the metallurgic industry.

The engineer Jean Bertin died December 21, 1975. In 1978, the permanent cessation of testing. The prototypes are still 14 years in the hangar. Then the hangar is the victim of arson. The test track Gometz le Châtel no longer exists. It has been replaced by a tunnel bypass to relieve the downtown traffic jams.

Orleans-Saran line still dominates the fields of the campaign. That would be too expensive to demolish it, especially since it nobody.

source: Wikipedia

This photography was shot from the ground. In the center, you can see one of the highest room in the monument.