Forges de Syam

The Forges de Syam (Syam Forges) are forge works and sheet metal mills which are still active in 2005, although the buildings were erected in the 19th century and part of the machinery from that time is still in use. The factory was built at the confluence of the rivers Ain and Saine to the south of Champagnole in the French département of Jura.

History of the site

A tilt hammer is mentioned here in 1757 and 1788 and had been present 'from time immemorial'. According to the record of a law case of 1763, it had been working in 1690. It is reasonable to imagine it as having been part of the big expansion in the metal-working industry of the region in the 16th century, after the establishment of the first smelting furnaces in the Saône valley.

The basic business was in making scythes which had a good reputation all through the region and the making of them was a finely honed skill. In the 18th century, only a few forges had mastered the technique of using a mechanical hammer for the job. So much was this a problem that French producers were unable to keep up with the demand for this essential tool. They were imported, particularly from Styria, in the south-east of modern Austria, beyond the Tyrol. It was possible to develop this very skilled craft here, in the Jura owing to the expertise of immigrant workers from the Tyrol (just beyond the far end of Switzerland)

In conjunction with this skill, there was the presence of very extensive woodland on the Jura mountains around the town. This produced the vital ingredient of charcoal, a form of carbon which is free of sulphur and other impurities which make most coal unsuitable for use in iron working. Extensive woodland was an asset as it takes a lot of trees to make a relatively small amount of iron goods. In 1763, the owners, the Péry family, produced more than 15,000 scythes and more than 60,000 iron tyres for the wheels of vehicles.

Nineteenth century

After the French Revolution, the production of good-quality scythes having become an important opportunity for investment, other industrialists of the Jura, of the Vosges and Alsace gladly threw themselves into the manufactory, constraining Charles-Joseph Péry to declare himself bankrupt on 24 July 1810.

The unit was bought the same year by Claude Jobez (1745–1830), of Morez. He was already the owner of a fine fortune from the merchandizing of clocks from the Franche-Comté region in the whole of Paris and from financing several iron workshops. Also in 1810, Etienne Monnier who had married Adélaïde, the daughter of Claude Jobez in 1800, put capital in the company alongside his father-in-law and the latter's son, Emmanuel. Between 1811 and 1820, they would build a new factory downstream from the primitive tilt hammer. This included a notable novelty for France at the time, a reverberatory furnace. From 1820, 400 tonnes would come out of the works each year and the tonnage would be doubled by 1840.

Competition from coke-smelted cast iron from the United Kingdom, cheaper than that produced using wood at Syam, led to the poor health of the business. Alphonse Jobez, the son of Emmanuel, set up a nail works in 1864 which gave a new life to an enterprise which had been in a state of collapse. The workforce would go from 40 to 70.

Social and domestic life

From 1825, Emmanuel Jobez developed the project of building a Palladian villa, the Château de Syam to replace the old house beside the original forge. He was not to see its completion having died by accident in 1828. Alphonse, his son, took up the cause of Fourierist theory. He applied it at Syam by creating a cité ouvrière (compare Saltaire), adjoining the factory, encouraging the setting up of a school and a dispensary. A post office with telegraph was added in 1885.

In parallel with this, he introduced exotic livestock to the estate farm and to others which he owned. A very cultivated man, Alphonse also fitted out a library of 30,000 volumes on the first floor (American second floor) of the villa. Alphonse's granddaughter, who had married the son of Sadi-Carnot in 1910, would often stay at Syam.

Twentieth century

The nail works closed in 1914. Syam limited its range of products, specializing in those where there was limited competition. This enabled it to survive the two World Wars.

In 1945, the firm of UMAS, from Arc-et-Senans, a specialist in making files, became the main stakeholder in Syam. The group went bankrupt in 1976. From 1969, a workforce would come from Morocco, from the village of El Hajjyenne.

In 1976, the forges were bought by Experton-Revollier, a group from Isère. A process of modernization which was absolutely necessary in view of the absence of a travelling crane, and of electric motors on machinery, (belt transmission was still in use). It would go hand in hand with the retention of the steel rolling mill, the last of its type in France and one of the last in Europe.

Present-day activity

Today, this remnant of the iron industry of the 19th century feeds the market in short-run products, particularly in the fields of locksmiths' work, motor cars and lifts (elevators).

See also

External links

Coordinates: 46°42′21″N 5°56′33″E / 46.7057°N 5.9424°E