The never starting canal

 Yesterday I speculated about the lack of Google Streetview updates.  We were, afterall on a majorish road - the A-126.  According to ‘sources; Streetview update cities yearly and other places every three years.  We headed out in 2012.  Today we will advance to 2015 and then 2018 and in all that time the road does not seem to have been repaired and renewed.




We are turning off the road and heading down the Tauste Canal.  It is the most exciting thing to look at today so here we go.





In 1252, King Theobald I of  Navarre  granted a concession to extract water from the Ebro River by building a dam and digging an irrigation ditch to the Order of Saint John and the Navarrese towns of Cabanillas and Fustiñana .





In 1444, the town of Tauste obtained a concession from Don Carlos, Prince of Viana , to take water from the Ebro River through a canal that crossed the Navarrese lands. The attempts to carry out the work were so unsuccessful that in 1498 the town of Tauste, abandoning its initial idea, requested permission from King Ferdinand II the Catholic to bring water from the Rio Aragon .


Finally, in 1552 the towns of Cabanillas, Fustiñana and Tauste decided to take joint action, signing the "Deed of Concord" by which Tauste undertook to reinforce the weir, to widen and improve the existing channel, while lengthening it.






It didn;t last. The situation deteriorated to such an extent that in 1775 the Tauste Town Council requested the intercession of D. Ramón Pignatelli y Moncayo so that the irrigation ditch, like the Imperial Canal of Aragon, would be put under Royal Protection.

In 1780 the irrigation ditch was practically unusable. Faced with this situation, King Charles III commissioned Pignatelli to resolve the situation and he carried out the necessary repairs and improvements, ensuring that the irrigation ditch irrigated the crops of 1781.

From this moment on, the Tauste irrigation canal was incorporated into the Crown, being added to the Imperial canal and subject to its regulations. Don Ramón de Pignatelli was in charge of increasing the irrigation canal's transport capacity and improving its layout, as well as increasing the irrigated area in a first phase, which went from 10,000 cahizadas (4,770 ha) to 14,000 (6,678 ha).


The Tauste canal takes its water from the Ebro in the municipality of Cabanillas (Navarra), upstream from the Imperial canal intake. It runs parallel to the Ebro, along its left bank, along its 44 km. Its capacity at source is 12.5 m 3 /s.

The area irrigated by it is 9,000 ha, distributed between the autonomous communities of Navarre (30%) and Aragon (70%).





We are crossing the canal and heading for the river.  While doing this we will pass Arihorma http://www.arihorma.com/  One person wrote a review of the gravel kings.  Jose Ramon Martinez left five stars and no words.  






We will gaze on the river and pass on. 


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