Loire
Loire names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Loire HAUTE, a department of Auvergne
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
HAUTE , a department of Auvergne, and the district of Forez, and mer province of Languedoc, the duchy of bounded on the S. by Lozère and Ardèche. The Loire crosses it going N., the Allier going N. W.; area, 1,930 square miles; pop. about 303,000. The surface forms courses; it ranges in elevation from 2,000 a plateau, deeply trenched by river to 3,000 feet and rises in peaks and domes up to 5,755 feet above sea-level (Mount Méznec). In spite of the ungenerous nature of the soil, agriculture is the chief of the inhabitants. But about 120,000 persons find employment ton, flax, silk, gold, and silver. Some at home in making lace from wool, cotthousands of the inhabitants leave their houses for a time every year, to work in other parts of France. Coal and building-stone are worked . Capital, Le Puy. bends roond to on to Tours; al, a W. course Bay of Biscay, miles from its miles. It beabove Roanne, The Loire is ve inundations er part of its rge dykes Or rincipal tribud the Maire Sazthe, its Mayenne) on Cher, Indre, The Loire is e stretches of ted with the e harbor of is extremely basin, 44,450 the S. E. of province of Foren, comof Montbri he, with St. ares, 1,862 10,000, The ad, and the in France. byed, 25,000 in the silk, industries. eather, etc., Wine, fruit, principal er and turine woods. t St. Galtment of If the forduchy of Forez, and Ardoche. the Allier are miles; ace forms by river rom 2,000 eaks and sea-level ne ungenare is the nts. But ployment wool, cot- F. Some ave their work in d- buld Le Puy LOIRE-INFÉRIEURE LOIRE-INFÉRIEURE (ang-fa-ryur'), century. By some, Walter Lollard, who a maritime department of the W. of France, formed out of the S. portion of the old province of Brittany , and comprising the arrondissements of Nantes, Ancenis, Paimbœuf, Châteaubriant, and St. Nazaire, with Nantes for its capital; area, 2,693 square miles; pop. 620,000. It has a coastline of 78 miles. The Loire flowing W. intersects it and forms a wide estuary; the Vilaine skirts its N. W. boundary. In the S. of the department lies the lake of Grand-Lieu, 26 square miles in extent. The interior is on the whole flat, and the soil fertile, producing cereals, potatoes, beet roots, hemp, and fodder. Bees are kept. There are fine oak and pine forests . Salt marshes are numerous along the shore. The vineyards yield annually about 30,000,000 gallons of wine, and the orchards some 4,500,000 gallons of cider. Granite, slate, and limestone are quarried. The industrial establishments include iron works, sugar refineries , glass works, factories for tinning fruits and sardines , etc. St. Nazaire has grown into an important seaport, having taken the place formerly occupied by Nantes. Shipbuilding is carried on at Nantes. The coast fisheries and general export trade are extensive.
Loire HAUTE far as Orléans
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
HAUTE far as Orléans, where it bends round to the S. W. and continues on to Tours; thence following , in general, a W. course to its embouchure in the Bay of Biscay. mouth; entire length, 620 miles. It be- It is tidal to Nantes, 35 miles from its comes navigable a little above Roanne, 550 miles from the sea. notorious for the destructive inundations it causes, though the lower part of its The Loire is levès, 20 feet high. The principal tribucourse is protected by large dykes or taries are the Nièvre and the Maine (which is formed by the Sarthe, its affluent the Loir, and the Mayenne) on and Vienne, on the left. The Loire is the right; and the Allier, Cher, Indre, its course, and is connected with the canalized along considerable stretches of Brest by canals. Its valley is extremely Seine, the Saône, and the harbor of fertile. Area of drainage basin, 44,450 square miles. France, formerly part of the province of
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the largest river of France. It rises in eastern France, 4,500 feet above the sea level, and flows westward, 626 miles, under the walls of Nevers, Orleans, Tours, and Nantes, into the Bay of Biscay. It is navigable by large steamers to Nantes, thirty-three miles from the sea. Smaller boats ascend another 500 miles. The basin of the Loire includes 44,979 square miles. At one point, the Loire and the Seine, like our Cumberland and Tennessee, flow side by side. The footpath from the Seine to the Loire is but seven miles in length.
Loire a department in the S
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a department in the S. E. of Lyonnais and the county of Forez, comprises the arrondissements of Montbri- Etienne for its capital; area, 1,852 son, Roanne, and St. Etienne, with St. square miles; pop. about 640,000. The mountains yield iron and lead, and the coalfields in the iron industries, 12,000 in the silk, Some 17,000 miners are employed, 25,000 and 5,500 in the cotton industries. Woolens, linen, glass, paper, leather, etc., fodder, and potatoes are the principal are likewise manufactured . Wine, fruit, pentine are yielded by the pine woods. agricultural products. Timber and tur- Mineral springs abound, as at St. Galmier, St. Alban, etc. are the richest in France. central France, formed out of the for-
Loire the longest river in France
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the longest river in France, rising in the Cévennes, in the department of Ardèche , at an elevation of 4,511 feet, flowing in a N. and N. W. direction through the center of France as
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 still called the coastal department "Loire-Inférieure," formed out of Brittany; it was renamed Loire-Atlantique in 1957 and in the 1950s-70s was attached administratively to the Pays de la Loire region rather than Brittany, a separation Breton campaigners still contest. The industrial picture Collier's gave has been inverted: the Loire department's coalfields, "the richest in France," saw their last pit around Saint-Étienne close in the 1980s, while shipbuilding moved decisively downstream from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire, where the Atlantique yard now launches some of the world's largest cruise ships. Haute-Loire's hand lace-making, which Collier's said occupied about 120,000 people at home, survives only as a heritage craft, and the department's population has fallen from roughly 303,000 to under 230,000. The river itself is no longer the working highway described here: commercial navigation has all but vanished, a dam project at Serre de la Fare was abandoned in the 1990s, and the Loire is now promoted as Europe's last great wild river, with much of its château-lined middle valley made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2000.
Written for this edition, 2026.