Editing Mequinenza (section)

=== 20th century ===

==== The development of the Mequinenza coalfield ====
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The arrival of the twentieth century led to an increase in the demand for coal and the development of the [[Mequinenza coal basin]]. The first initial exploitations were totally underground through galleries and inclined planes depending on the coal levels. Originally, the wagons were used with animal traction until around 1920, when they began to be replaced by mechanical and electrical traction.

In 1880 Carbonífera del Ebro company was founded, which would become the most important company in the Mequinenza basin. The growth was focused on Mequinenza since it was the natural epicenter of the basin although it also grew nearby towns such as [[La Granja d'Escarp]], [[Torrente de Cinca]] or [[Fayón]]. In twenty years, from 1900 to 1920, the town grew from 2,400 inhabitants to 4,200, mostly men. An avalanche that was repeated again in the 1940s. The numbers are imprecise, but in 1945 the chief engineer of the Zaragoza district stated that the mining population, among workers and family, was 4,132 people. There were three main mining colonies called Virgen del Pilar, Previsión and Electroquímica de Flix. The mining colonies of Mequinenza came to host more than 900 people in 1945. Mequinenza became a mining town where Aragonese miners arrived (from [[Andorra, Teruel|Andorra]], [[Utrillas]], [[Montalbán, Teruel|Montalbán]], [[Alcorisa]] or [[Aliaga, Aragon|Aliaga]]) and also from [[Asturias]], Andalusia, [[Murcia]] and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]. Mining transformed the local community and modified also the traditional economic activity, based on [[rainfed agriculture]].<ref name=":0" />

==== Towpath ====
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[[File:Llauts01.jpg|thumb|Llauts in Mequinenza]]
Llauts, traditional wooden boats about 20 or 25 meters long, were essential to transport up to 30 tons of [[lignite]] on each trip. Constructed of local hardwood, the Llauts used the current of the river to make the journey south, and when they had to return to Mequinenza they could use wind extending the square sails that the skipper maneuvered. When the wind was not blowing enough or it was contrary, the Llauts had to climb the [[towpath]], that is, pulling them from the shore upstream This was known as "Camí de Sirga" (or [[towpath]] in English). Until 1914 the towpath was made by three men for each Llaut that were relieved every hour and a half or two hours. Carbonífera del Ebro made an attempt to incorporate steamships to transport lignite, but the Ebro's drainage and its complicated orography made its use too difficult. Flix Electrochemical Society (SEQF), which had mining concessions in Mequinenza, decided in 1920 to suppress the human force and change it for [[Working animal|animal traction]]. This was a unique transport system in the world, in which the coal that was extracted from the mines, led to different landings at the foot of the river and transported by river route to [[Tortosa]] or [[Fayón]].

==== World War I ====
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[[File:Aiguabarreig Segre - Ebre a Mequinensa.JPG|thumb|View of the old town of Mequinenza from the castle]]

The favorable situation during the years of [[World War I]] where the basin extracted up to 30% of the national coal, allowed to accumulate enough capital in the companies of the coal basin to start a second modernization between 1924 and 1925. Compressed air and electricity were introduced into the mines, a fact that allowed the coal extraction capacity to be further increased. In the late 1950s, the Mequinenza miners saw their jobs threatened in part by the construction of the [[Mequinenza Dam|Mequinenza]] and [[Riba-roja reservoir]]s, which would flood the mining galleries. In the mid-1970s, great changes were introduced in the coal exploitation systems, going from small galleries to much larger galleries, using new and safer systems that allowed higher extraction yields.

==== End of coal era ====
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[[File:Mequinenza.jpg|thumb|New town of Mequinenza on the banks of Segre river]]

In 2010, MIBSA (Minera del Bajo Segre), which shared coal mining operations on the border between the province of Lleida and Mequinenza, closed. At that time, the company had more than 130 kilometers of galleries in its concessions. In 2013, Carbonífera del Ebro suffered a serious economic setback due to [[Endesa]]'s refusal to burn the coal of Mequinenza at the Escucha power station, leaving the future of Carbonífera del Ebro and all the direct and indirect jobs in Mequinenza in the air. The staff of the mining company undertook various mobilizations actively participating in the Black March towards Madrid, remembering with pride "that since 1880 they had fed the factories of the industrial belt of [[Barcelona]]". After months of waiting in 2014, Carbonífera del Ebro announced that the situation was unsustainable and was closing its doors under the non-competitive Mine Closure Plan of the Ministry of Industry.

'''From the old town to the new Mequinenza'''

The construction of the [[Ribarroja Dam|Ribarroja]] and the [[Mequinenza Dam|Mequinenza]] dam meant the disappearance of most of the urban area and, consequently, the tragic end of the ancient town. Although the waters of the reservoir did not completely cover the urban nucleus, they did deny most of the riverside farmlands. The disappearance of the urban layout meant a radical change of life for its neighbors who, in addition to abandoning their homes and witnessing their demolition, also saw the disappearance of an economy based on industry, coal mining and fluvial commerce. The only building in the old town of Mequinenza that was preserved, was the María Quintana School Group that today it's the headquarters of the Museums of Mequinenza. Mequinenza was reborn when its inhabitants built a new town a few kilometers from the old town. Modern and touristic, the new Mequinenza offers active and sports tourism, as well as a cultural hub in the [[Bajo Cinca/Baix Cinca|Bajo Cinca]] region.