Fiscal

Fiscal is situated near Ordesa National Park. Find Fiscal on the main road between L'Ainsa and Broto – Torla. Cross the river towards the village centre. You'll find the mill next to the village side of the bridge. The open air museum for the batán of Lacort lies opposite. The mill takes water from the Río Ara.

When we first visited the mill locks and bars kept people out but rain and wind had free reign through the broken windows. Since then maintenance and improvements have been carried out and the mill is now open as a tourist information center during the summer months.

Pictures: 26.xii.2001, 22.viii.2006

Take a look at the front wall before you enter the Tourist Information Center through the left door. Try to decipher the reddish blots of the old company name running centered below the middle window.
The door-head carries the year Año 1907 (exactly 100 years later than the molino of Sieste).

Once inside you'll find the millstones against the front wall right from the entrance. While some essential parts are missing (e.g. the hopper to load the grain) the unit in general is very well preserved. We've noticed a nice stone case (guardapolvo) and a peculiar crane (grua).

It is the first time that I have seen a crane of this type. The word cabra (goat) is really appropriate (6). In all other mills the arms which will lift the runner stone are bolted together and can therefore move only in one plane and not taken away easily. The arms here can move with much more freedom and taken from their hook in an instant.

It was possible to control the water flow from this floor. The wheel (4) is via pinions and a long pole connected with the gauge in the basement.
Belts ran from the basement to a distribution system consisting of axles with wheels of different sizes. Parts of this system are still visible against the ceiling (7). It kept the stones but also other tools going (e.g. a corn sifter 8, 9).

The electricity part of the mill didn't survive that well. A board with some dials and fuses was resting against the wall at that's all.
A tag reads General eléctrica Española (11).

The back wall of the mill is amply provided with insulators. Old maps (1950s) show powerlines reaching towards Asín de Broto, Lardiés and on the right riverbank as far as Liguerre de Ara. Earlier on, several villages in the Solana (e.g. Muro, Sasé) got also their light from Fiscal (see Baselga Abril).