Prosper Demontzey, "Hercules" of Cauterets

In each village, each region, there are people who mark history.

Prosper Demontzey, undeniably, is of this caliber. By directing  the gigantic consolidation works of Mount which threatened to collapse on the thermal baths of Cauterets, at the end of the 19th century, Demontzey saved the economic future of the village.

By this blow of radiance and other sites of the same type, this engineer of genius was the precursor of the techniques of restoration of the land in the mountains.

1884, the future of the spa station in danger

From the 1820s, thermalism took off in the Pyrenees . Cauterets opened its first modern thermal baths to La Raillère in 1828 . The thermal baths of Cesar (1844), the thermal baths of Pauze-Vieux (1853) and the neo-onlymes (1879) followed. The thermal stations become a holiday resort for high society , and spa guests fill the palaces.

But in the spring of 1884, the future of the Raillère thermal baths suddenly darkened. For several days, large blocks of granite stand out from Mont Péguère , and come to hole the roof of establishments like cannonballs. Of course, spa guests flee ...

The steep slopes which overlook the thermal baths of the Raillère, made of limestone and granite, are indeed subject to frequent falls of stones and avalanches .  Natural instability aggravated by deforestation (for firewood) and regular ice samples in this area near the village.

Engineer Demontzey called to the mountain bedside

The engineer Prosper Demontzey , head of the general inspection of the restoration of mountain land (RTM). is urgently dispatched to examine the situation.

He recommends a simple principle remedy, but which requires enormous work: it is a question of stabilizing the terrain , by combining the reforestation and the creation of stored grassy lawns , on stands supported by huge stone walls. For reforestation, he recommends planting larches, non -endemic but very solid conifers.

Fortunately for Cauterets, since the laws of Napoleon III of July 1860 on mountain reforestations, and thanks to the taste of the Emperor for the Pyrenees, Demontzey has all the authority and the funds necessary to carry out his work.

He will also exhibit a model at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889. His project will have a strong impression, then earning him the visit of many celebrities, on the site.

A Herculean project

Like other major Pyrenean works at the end of the 19th century, such as the Napoleon bridge in Luz or the Pic du Midi de Bigorre , the consolidation of Mont Péguère is worthy of the works of Hercules!

The work begins in 1885. First of all, an access path is fitted out: it is no less than 78 laces (still numbered!) Which thus come to mesh on the southeast flank of Mont Péguère, supplemented by a shelter in stone for workers.

The Combe Storing Staked work began in 1886. The surrounding rock was used, carved on site and transported to the back of a man or by a small cable car fitted out by the RTM. Dry stone retaining walls are created, nursery bands are developed for reforestation and commitment.

The grassy cover is taken from the Cambasque slope : squares of herbs are thus cut and replanted in the north east valley. The beginnings of lawn transplantation!

This painful and slow work motivates in 1888 the installation of a mini railway. This, brought into spare parts and mounted on site, allows the circulation between the two slopes, of wagons carrying grass plates and blocks of stone.

This titanic project will last more than 10 years, until 1892, creating colossal walls, fed 7 km of Muletier path and 14 km of forest trails.

The Cauteresian scholar Alphonse Meillon will write about Prosper Demontzey:

“He pansed the injury of the mountain. There he made the blocks left that wanted to go away; Here, he "under mura" those who still held; Further on, he planted grass on sandy surfaces; Elsewhere, he built stone coverings ”.

Precursor of modern reforestation techniques, author of several treaties on the subject and renamed far beyond our borders, Demontzey was truly a benefactor for the thermal station of Cauterets. The hiking trail at the foot of Mont Péguère, and a stele on the edge of the forest near the Ceriset cascade, today honor its memory.

Mount Péguère and Raillère today

The buildings designed by Demontzey are still very present and still hold , even if during the 130 years that followed, it was necessary to continue them: it was first by concrete formwork, later by concrete injected under pressure, and Steel nets stretched on the wall upstream of the trace of the Raillère. Even today, the administration is still closely monitors this mountain!

Las, faced with the risk of persistent landslides, it was necessary to resolve to permanently close the thermal baths in 1997.
The building of 3,200 m2 was however preserved, witness to the thermal history of Cauterets and the Art Nouveau architecture. La Raillère also retains its small station, testimony to the old tramway.

In 2019, the Saint-Savin union commission sold the Russian artist thermes to the Russian artist Andrei Molodkin, already installed in Hautes-Pyrénées since 2014, in the former foundry of Maubourguet, which has become the place of experimental art "The Foundry ”.

For the same security reasons, since 2008 a municipal decree has prohibited hikers access to the Péguère pegue . This decree is still in force today. Too bad because, from up there, the 360 ​​° view is absolutely incredible! See the photos were taken before the ban, by Jean-Paul and by Mariano : from the top of the peak, we admire the entire Lac de Gaube valley to the north face of the vignemale!

Hopefully that one day, the Demontzey laces can be climbed again, to the delight of hikers!