The
Preservation of Local Heritage
Many who visited the exhibitions suddenly realised - sadly
sometimes too late - that they possessed a wealth of heritage
themselves : stories and anecdotes, post cards and photos,
account books of the boatmen, boat carpentry tools, equipment
from the boats... Les Pesqueyroux took on the job of cataloguing
all this information - recording the stories, photographing rare
artefacts, reproducing documents etc.
Decauville Wagon
The exhibitions
being only temporary, a request was made at the town hall for
premises where all the material could be stocked. Roger Besse,
the mayor, was enthusiastic about the idea and in March 1985 the
local council offered the association the first floor of the
former presbytery (which had also formerly been home to the town
hall) who set about restoring it straight away. The association
still uses this building.
Les Pesqueyroux is very interested in industrial archaeology and
became very involved in the protection and preservation of the
Tuilières dry dock where the gabares were caulked. A petition
was addressed to all the canal-side town halls for the dry dock
to be taken into account during the temporary draining of the
canal in 1985. A number of interventions took place in a bid to
preserve this unique site.
Mast of the «Ladia»
Old artefacts are
also of great interest to members of the association. Various
items have been acquired including, in 1985, a Decauville wagon
which was used in the building of the Mauzac dam and which can
be seen on several post cards of the Tuilières dam. Henri
Gonthier, the last person to work the boats on the Dordogne
River, and faithful friend of the association, donated the winch
and mast of his yawl, the « Jean-Georgette ». The raising of the
mast at the entrance of (what is called without modesty !) the «
River Transport Museum » provided the occasion for a pleasant
ceremony and a moment for ‘Capraisiens’ to reflect upon their
past.
However, the most ambitious project so far was to install a
gabare at St Capraise. The project was an old one; from its
founding moment Les Pesqueyroux envisaged buying the last gabare
in the Dordogne, the Beney yawl, grounded at Calès but the
Mauzac Nautical Club beat them to it. In 1986 there was talk of
building an Argentat but by the late 1990s the chance of
becoming proprietors of the yawl (rechristened as the ‘Merlandou’)
presents itself again. Having changed hands frequently and
undergone restoration work and a number of transformations (not
always for the better) the gabare is abandoned, sunk between the
two Mauzac locks. With the passionate dedication of Henri
Gonthier, backed by an enthusiastic group including the Boullier
husband and wife team, the « Merlandou » is brought back to St
Capraise by brute force. Financial backing for the operation
follows best it can but the grinding administrative cogwheel
paralyses the situation. In 1996 the new mayor makes a request -
duly accorded by the General Council - for the gabare and once
again the Beney yawl slips through the fingers of Les
Pesqueyroux.
Disillusioned though they are, the members are not discouraged
and continue to work upon, and finish, the restoration work of
the dry dock (last restoration work carried out in 1997). This «
Museum » is accorded the status of « Permanent Exhibition » just
in time ; a lack of easy access would otherwise have given it
the sorry title of « Depot ».
