Since the ancient times the Loire river has had the major axis in the region for transportation, and its
stream bed made the
Val de Loire agricultural. Due to its strategical situation, Blois is an obligatory passage for all pilgrims who follow the
Way of St James through the Tours Route (on the
Via Turonensis starting in Paris and passing through
Tours). The flows of people and goods are thus constant, and justify the development of rudimentary strikes at several points of the banks of the river. During the
Middle Ages the river was rather different from today. Indeed, the
medieval bridge was covered with houses, towers, and even a chapel. To feed five water mills, a 650m-long submersible dike was built in the middle of the river around the 9th century (at the latest). Until 1606 both banks of the river were not parts of the same city, Blois. Indeed, the city was originally set up on the right bank. On the other side, this was actually a river island with a different manor that was under the Catholic Church's administration through
St Saturnin parish. The island was named
Insula Evenna, and the village standing there
Vienne. As such, La Creusille has always been part of
Vienne. Until this moment, Blois had its own harbor but it was abandoned after the addition of Vienne. From the 17th century on,
market gardening, river transport, fishing,
tanning, and the hotel business flourished, and their growth exceeded the capacity of the shoreline. Thus, a lean port with two access ramps to the shore was developed. After the fall of the medieval bridge in 1716, the port was reinforced as part of the reconstructions of the
Loire levees and the construction of the new
Jacques-Gabriel Bridge. All the remaining water mills were destroyed, but the submersible dike was readjusted to divert the river's flow to the right bank and thus away from La Creusille, making it easier to moor boats. In 1717, a dike was built in the extension of the harbor and towards the East: the operation dried up the
La Bouillie river channel and thus linked the
former Evenna island to the left bank. The arrival of the railroad in Blois in 1846 led the port to reinvent itself. Now that goods and people could reach Paris in a few hours (as opposed to several days by boat, the duration of which could vary according to direction, season, weather), La Creusille gradually became a shipyard. At the same time, a new activity appeared in the 19th century:
sand mining. Miners extracted sand and gravel directly from the steam bed of the Loire river, but the practice was sufficiently important to lower the water line, lower the alluvial water table, dry out wetlands and cause pike spawning grounds to disappear. Mining in Blois was therefore naturally abolished in 1995. == Traditional boats ==