Loporzano

Loporzano is a village in the Hoya de Huesca region. Loporzano is easily reached from Huesca city taking the main road (N-240) for Barbastro. After a while You'll find a branch for Loporzano (A-1227). Once there, do not enter the village but drive straight on till you reach the bus shelter. Turn left to the municipal swimming pool and find a parking spot. From there you can walk the path to the viewpoint (mirador) and the old washing place (antiguo lavadero). Do not miss the branch (after about 800 m) where the lavadero path goes to the left. You'll reach the lavadero after about 1.3 km. Continue and follow the track down into the valley of the Río Flumen. After about 1 km more you'll reach the mill (1).

Pictures: 03.iii.2019

Molino harinero

Central eléctrica

(1) The site of the mill: the building at left is the former power station.

The power station was stripped from all of its equipment (10, 11). What remains is one large space with a support pilar in its center. In one of the corners opposite the entrance a couple of consoles can be seen: this must have been the where the alternator was located (left in 10, right in 11).

From the wall at the back, and from the floor two tubes are protruding and showing the place of a turbine.

In the same corner some steps are leading up to a narrow platform which end in a passageway to the grain mill. The passage is bricked up with large gray blocks. The other side of this passage is also visible in photo 7 of the grain mill.

The roof and walls are severely affected by penetrating moisture. As in many other mills, the white plaster of the walls has also been used as a scratch pad. Some scribbles are still legible.

(12)

One of the more interesting ones (12) reads:

Loporzano — Huesca

Central Eléctrica de Palacin

The mill is often mentioned as molino (de) Palacin, referring to its owner José María Palacín. I don't know when exactly he became owner. There certainly must have been earlier owners: see (2) where a Sebastián Bescós is named. The site was the theater of fierce fighting during the Civil War.

(13)

Other scribbles refer to the maintenance of a piece of equipment present at the site. It is a list of dates when, and how much, lubricating oil was applied.

??? lata de ???
Mayo del año 1956

Día 19 de Enero del 19??
????

Día 12 de Agosto del 1957
Lata de aceite de engrase

Día 4 de Febrero del 1958
Lata de Aceite de ENGrase

Día 8 de Agosto del 1958
Lata de Aceite de ENGRASE

Día 23 de Diciembre del 1958
2 y medio litros de aceite de engrase

It probably concerns the diesel engine, which is the only device that has not yet been completely dismantled (14).

(14) Remains of a Ruston 6XHR a single cylinder horizontal diesel engine.

It is a Ruston diesel engine with a single horizontal cylinder. Ruston was one of the mayor British manufacurer of industrial equipment, and based in Lincoln, England. One of the parts carries the type: 6XHR.

From the 1920s Ruston was represented in Spain by a company from Sabadell, La Electricidad S.A. which we have met also in Acumuer and Ribera de Castanesa. Model 6XHR outputs 34hp at 300 rpm and was first produced in June 1930.

(15) Boxes with drill cores, marked Pantano de Loporzano – sondeo

Next to the entrance door a stack of wooden boxes can be found. The boxes are labeled Pantano de Loporzano – sondeo followed by the number of the probe and then the word caja and the sequence number of this box within the same probe.

The samples undoubtedly date from the period 1964–1967 when soil drilling was done here for the construction of a new dam on the Río Flumen (†).

The conclusion of the investigation was that this place was not suitable for building a dam. It was recommended to do this elsewhere, more upstream of the mill.

Finally a site was chosen about 2 km as the crow flies north of the mill. Work on the dam started in 1993. They encountered many problems that required repeated interruptions of the work. The costs were skyrocketing.

Molino harinero

Central eléctrica

† Various authors — 1967 — Trabajos realizados en Presas Españolas, por el Servicio Geológico de Obras Públicas (años 1964 a 1967); Servicio Geológico, Boletin N° 27; Número dedicado al IX Congreso Internacional de Grandes Presas (Estambul, Septiembre de 1967); Madrid, Ministerio de Obras Publicas, Direccion General de Obras Hidraulicas, 139 pp.

The Molino de Loporzano is discussed on page 106.