Summer 1767.

Marie Payen, a young shepherdess from the small hamlet of Clots was watching over her goats up in the mountains of Chalanches, at an altitude of some 2000 m. Here the young girl picked up a stone to throw at a goat that was straying and to her surprise the stone felt very heavy. So she decided to return to the village along with the stone. Once at home in Allemont the local blacksmith noticed that the composition of the stone was of local silver...

Very quickly the news spread and soon the whole region was in a frenzy after hearing about this. The locals began digging for their fortunes without receiving any authorization to do so, collecting the local mineral as they went along. It was after the collapse of a mine which killed 16 people that the local authorities eventually woke up to what was taking place. The official working of the mines at Chalanches continued for a further 100 years until the mines were abandoned due to insufficient production.

During this period the Royal Foundry was established which today houses the Tourist Office in Allemont and Le Parc des Tilleuls with trees that are more than 200 hundred years old. The legend goes that Marie Payen married the blacksmith, had a large family and they both lived happily ever after...