“Grand Maison” history

The land offers the possibility of building the largest dam in France, which will be named Grand Maison after the big house that existed in this valley in the past.
In the 1970s, the first engineers arrived to identify the site and the possibilities. The worried inhabitants had many questions about what was going to happen to their village. The land offered the possibility of building the largest dam in France, which was named Grand Maison after the big house that used to exist in this valley. Behind the Sabot pass, the Grand Maison lake, named after the big house that existed in the valley at the time, is now covered by water. The work will take place from 1980 to 1985, and will involve connecting the future Grand Maison reservoir to the Verney lake, via the Rissiou massif. To do this, a tunnel boring machine will work to dig a gallery in the heart of the massif. A pipe will be installed in this gallery.
The titanic undertaking will bring in the "work mercenaries", people of different nationalities living side by side. Vaujany was transformed into a city where workers were welcomed. The Vaujaniats will participate in the work for some, others will work to feed them thanks to a canteen that will provide meals for all these people. It was the time of the Far West, as the dust replaced the quietness of this small rural village.

A train will be built during the time of the work to bring the rubble from the mountain to the place (below) called today the Collet. You can see the tennis courts which are situated on a flat area, all the embankment of the dam was stored there changing the original structure of the place. At one time this place was called près des près and was marshy.