Mills in Alto Aragón - molino harinero

Salinas de Sín

Salinas de Sín is on the main road from L'Ainsa to the tunel de Bielsa and France. From the village you'll see the mill on the opposite bank of the Río Cinca.
(1) The molino de Salinas de Sín on the left river bank of the Río Cinca — 2008

The mill of Salinas de Sín was a grain mill, and a saw mill and also a power station and consisted of two adjacent constructions. The second part which doesn't exist anymore was erected on top of the columns which are protruding into the river bed.
It is probably best to start with a walk around of the site in order to better understand the situation. Pictures 2 to 5 cover the construction from every side.

(2) a cubo or a drain? — 2011
(3)

Picture 2 is taken from inside the channel which is rounding the cliff in pict. 1. This canal featu­res a short and broad side branch (2) reminding of a cubo but it is not clear how the connection (if there was one) was made with the mill. It is not the drain which is visible in the old pict. 6 (compare with 5).
The cárcavo is situated at the right side in (1) and therefore the mill proper must have been located in the section nearest to the camera in (3). There was probably a separate entrance from the rest of the building (4). The huge window from (6) is now closed without leaving a trace.

(4)
(5) — 1997

(6) Molino de Salinas — Archivo Iberdrola
The situation is probably best to appreciate from the river bed. There is a easy path running down and then it's only a few steps back to the spot of pict. 5. Page 249 of the book Miradas desde Tella () carries a nice picture of the site when the mill was still running.

Pictures 6-8 come from the Iberdrola Archives and were taken for the Sociedad Hidroeléctrica Ibérica. They are dated between 1919 and 1934.

Picture 7 is obviously several years earlier than 6 and 8 and shows that the stilted annex was rebuilt in the meantime.

(7) Salinas de Sín with the molino against the left border — Archivo Iberdrola
(8) Salinas de Sín with a new incarnation of the mill — Archivo Iberdrola

The description coming with the pictures says:
Opposite of the village, at the other side of the river, are the buildings of the saw and the grain mill which — from 1918 or 1919 onwards — was converted into a small electricity station by the Sociedad Hidroeléctrica Ibérica. The station provided for SHI's installations during the construction of the hydro-electric system of the Río Cinca.
This leaves me a trifle suspicious about the date ranges.
The last stretch of the canal (9, 10), although severed by a gravel road, is clearly defined and can be followed along the hill side for quite a while before it is eaten away by the waters of the Río Cinqueta (tributary of the R. Cinca). We could therefore not locate the beginning with the azud.

(9) Channel arrives at the mill
(10) Supply channel rounds the hillside

 

  Lasaosa Susín, Ramon y Miguel Ortega Martínez — 2003 — Miradas desde Tella
 Ayuntamiento Tella-Sín, E-22336 Lafortunada (Huesca) - ISBN: 84-88518-61-7

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