Mills in Altoaragón

by Bernardo Molinero

Introduction

Ask most people I know to describe you a mill and they will come up with one of those enormous machines making the Netherlands a tourist trap. Others will remember the slender enemies of Don Quijote. Mention water-mill and Mississippi steamer-like contraptions emerge on the horizon.

Mills seem to love to dominate the landscape.

Mills in Altoaragón are different.

Although some mills are big and house several production units (e.g. Almazorre), most are humble constructions, with sometimes only one multi-purpose room (e.g. Sarsa da Surta).

There are no sails showing you the way: none is wind-driven. The first water-mill I visited in 1989 (Lacort) was the only one with the familiar external wheel.

(The Christmas display in Boltaña features a wind mill.)

Almazorre (1994)

		All other water-mills have the wheel mounted on a vertical axis, hidden in a cavity under the mill. Most olive crunching mills were powered by muscle-energy: they lack the wheel. Modern time came and was strongly against the mills. The construction of better roads made it possible to bring bread from the city up to the mountains. This, together with the industrial production of flour and olive oil made life for the small village mills impossible.
Alquezar (1994)

Just as with traffic-signs, the job starts at home.
Read Pallaruelo. Study recent and old maps. Maps based on twenty-year-old data are still readily available in the local shops. Search for abandonned villages. Most likely there is a mill in a valley nearby. Learn about old customs and old tools: visit the Sabiñánigo and Ainsa museum.

Practice in gardening: the vegetation can be very dense and thorny. Should you prefer to stay scratch-less, then explore this testimonial of Aragóns recent past.

I hope you enjoy this visit as much as I enjoyed the field work. (wittingly applied cliché)

Some tried to survive with better mill-stones, or the production of fodder, or even the production of electricity. They didn't succeed.

Today the mills are forgotten, many lie in ruins, but they haven't lost their charm.

Obviously you need some sort of explorers-mind to find the constructions in the landscape. Contrary to the trends in the tourist-industry, there are no carefully planned adventurous trips to the mills. You are on your own.

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Mills in Altoaragón

Introduction

Contents:

Mills in Altoaragón are different.