Surviving 22-metre metal headframe of the Société des Mines de la Bouble at Youx, freely accessible in a rural setting as a visible remnant of the Saint-Éloy coal basin.
The Mine de La Bouble takes its name from the river Bouble, which runs through the coal basin of Saint-Éloy-les-Mines in the Puy-de-Dôme département. Coal was already known in the area from the eighteenth century. The southern part of the basin — the concession La Bouble — was prospected by a syndicate in the later nineteenth century.
The Société des Mines de la Bouble sank puits n°2 on 20 May 1895. A wooden headframe was erected over the shaft in 1898 and replaced in 1909 by a metal structure built by the firm Derobert et Compagnie, which stands today at 22.20 metres. The shaft was 3 metres in diameter and reached a depth of 475 metres below surface.
It functioned as a pumping station, return-air and ventilation shaft for the mining galleries. By decree of 26 August 1898 the Syndicat de Recherche became the Société anonyme des Mines de la Bouble. Following the nationalisation of the French coal industry in 1946, the La Bouble workings were grouped with those of Saint-Éloy under the Houillères du Bassin d'Auvergne.
The La Bouble operations were halted in 1954. The headframe survives freely accessible.
Coal was already known in the Saint-Éloy basin from the eighteenth century, exploited informally by local peasants from around 1768. In the southern part of the basin, the concession La Bouble was explored in the later nineteenth century by a Syndicat de Recherche. Despite opposition from the neighbouring Compagnie des Forges de Châtillon-Commentry, the Syndicat obtained its concession by decree of President Félix Faure signed at Le Havre on 26 August 1898.
The entity had already become, on 22 February 1898, the Société anonyme des Mines de la Bouble. The concession covered the southern part of the Saint-Éloy basin, the area known as the "Nouvelle Mine" as distinct from the northern "Vieille Mine" operated by Châtillon-Commentry. Sinking of puits n°2 — later referred to also as the puits de Youx, since it was located in the commune of Youx — had been started by the Société des Mines de la Bouble on 20 May 1895, before the formal concession was granted.
The shaft had a diameter of three metres and ultimately reached a depth of 475 metres (level 48, being 48 metres above sea level). An auxiliary bure was also sunk to reach the level of minus 100 metres. A first wooden headframe was constructed over the shaft in 1898.
In 1909 this was replaced by the metal structure built by the firm Derobert et Compagnie which stands today at 22.20 metres height. The shaft served as a pumping station (puits d'exhaure) and for return air and ventilation of the exploration galleries. Puits n°1 of the La Bouble operations, known as puits Tollin after the engineer who conducted the initial surveys, was sunk in 1895 and eventually deepened to 400 metres; it confirmed the coal seam that led to the construction of the puits Saint-Joseph by the neighbouring Châtillon-Commentry company.
Other shafts in the La Bouble division included puits 4 and puits 5. The Bouble concession produced coal, including charbon maigre. By the first decade of the twentieth century, production from the La Bouble mines reached 231,000 tonnes in 1917 with 890 miners.
Following the nationalisation of the French coal industry in 1946, the La Bouble concession was grouped with the Saint-Éloy mines under the Houillères du Bassin d'Auvergne, forming the "Groupe de Saint-Éloy/Bouble" and combining the Nouvelle Mine to the south with the Vieille Mine to the north. A decision was subsequently taken to concentrate all operations on the Saint-Éloy side, in particular on the puits Saint-Joseph. The workings of the La Bouble division were halted in 1954.
Puits n°2 at Youx was scheduled for demolition after closure but the strong presence of firedamp rising to the surface prevented the demolition contractor from carrying out the work. The metal headframe consequently survived. It stands today as a freely accessible reminder of the mining past of the commune of Youx, which had become the second mining town in the Nord des Combrailles between 1883 and 1954, with its population multiplying threefold during this period.
From 1898 Youx was significantly shaped by the mining activity centred on puits n°2.
