Pierre de Montgolfier
Downstream from the village of Tence, department 43, the Lignon Vellave slips between the arches of an old bridge, close to the place known as "La Papeterie". Here, on February 23, 1700, Pierre de Montgolfier was born in the paper mill run by his parents. A few years later, the family moved from the Utiac mill in Tence to the mill in Vidalon-les-Annonay, Ardèche, on the banks of the Déôme river.
Among Pierre de Montgolfier's many children were the inventors of the famous hot-air balloon. On October 19, 1783, the two Montgolfier brothers, Joseph and Jacques, sent an aerostat filled with three layers of paper into the skies over the Faubourg Saint Antoine in Paris. Goodness knows no lies! For the first time, two men, François Pilâtre de Rozier and André Giroud de Villette, soared into space.
Summer fishing with the family
During the 1950s-1960s, the Lignon course at La Papeterie was a favorite destination for fishermen from Saint-Etienne. During the summer season, many of us would come with our families to bring home a frying pan of gudgeon and minnow. When I was a child, you could still see remnants of the old workshops. My brother and I loved to play in this maze and sometimes get lost in the canals.
Today, not much remains of the original building in Tence, as it has been rehabilitated several times, sometimes for painful purposes. But the place is still known as "La Papeterie".
More sophisticated fishing
Today, the Sunday fishermen, their wives and their noisy kids have disappeared from the landscape. Their straw hats, metal drums and old rubber boots will no longer be seen on the banks of the Lignon. Angling for fried fish has gone out of fashion. It seems that fishing for these little fish no longer has many followers; too popular, no doubt.
In the twenty-first century, fishing in first-class rivers has become sophisticated. The angler evolves as a solitary. He dons a new uniform-like costume: long-visored cap, glasses (preferably polarized), vest with numerous pockets filled with accessories: scissor clips, spools of line, boxes of lures or flies, etc... And don't forget a landing net slung over your back, neoprene or other synthetic waders and a good pair of non-slip shoes.
Time has passed, and the shadow of Pierre de Montgolfier still hangs over the old paper mill in Tence. Perhaps he dreamed, like his children later, of soaring into the air to better observe the world below from the air.
