Saut de l'Ognon, Artificial waterfall in Servance, France

The Saut de l'Ognon is a 13 to 14 metre artificial waterfall on the Ognon in Servance-Miellin, formed where a masonry dam built at a glacial sill overflows. The water drops in a broad curtain over a straight lip, splits around a small central ridge into two white streams and falls into a foaming pool, with green vegetation on the rock to either side.

The fall is the overflow of a masonry dam built in 1835 by Joseph François Varelle to feed the water intake of his granite works. Two intakes and aqueducts supplied the saws and millstones of the factory, which operated until the mid-20th century at Pont de Miellin, 300 m downstream. The dam was placed on a glacial sill of the Ognon.

The name comes from the Ognon, a 213.6 km left-bank tributary of the Saône. The fall exists because of the granite works founded by Joseph François Varelle in 1835: its dam, built on a glacial sill, still holds the water that powers the drop.

The waterfall lies on the Ognon in Servance-Miellin, formed where a masonry dam built at a glacial sill overflows. The start of the aqueduct that fed the granite works is visible on the left bank. In low water the dam itself shows and only the now-blocked diversion canal spills over.

The fall exists only because a masonry dam built for the granite works holds the Ognon; once the flow exceeds a certain level the dam overflows and creates the drop. In low water the dam itself is exposed and water leaves only through the disused diversion channel.