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Le fonds d'archives de l'ingénieur des Ponts-et-Chaussées de Compiègne comporte des liasses de documents contenant des hauteurs d'eau relevées quotidiennement depuis 1855 sur plusieurs stations hydrométriques installées sur la rivière Oise et ses affluents. Cette banque de données, élaborée dans le but de mieux comprendre le régime des cours d'eau, a permis la mise en œuvre d'un service d'annonce des crues toujours opérationnel et totalement modernisé. Si ce fonds, riche de 150 ans d'observations et d'interprétations, est une source utile à la compréhension des dynamiques spatiales du risque inondation par l'Oise sur une longue durée, il n'en demeure pas moins hétérogène et sujet à caution en raison de l'évolution des principes de constitution, des techniques de mesure, des événements historiques et des pratiques d'observation. C'est pourquoi cet article retrace l'histoire de la constitution de ce fonds d'archives et expose certaines de ses limites que devront prendre en compte les chercheurs. Compiègne Public Roads Administration archival holdings contain important bundles of documen-tation including the daily logs of water levels since 1855 from several hydrometric stations built on the Oise river and its tributary streams. The goal of this database is to understand better the flow regime of waterways. It has led to the implementation of a flood warning service, still in use and thoroughly modernised. If these archival holdings, enriched with years of observations and interpretations, are a useful source for a better understanding of the spatial dynamics of the risk of flooding by the Oise river over a long period of time, the fact remains that they are heterogeneous and questionable, as a result of the evolution of the database constitution rules, measurement techniques, historical events and observation practices. This article thus shows how the archival holdings have been built and the limitations that scholars and researchers will have to take into account.

Considéré avant tout comme un architecte d’exécution, Pierre Le Mousseux n’a fait l’objet d’aucune étude particulière. Sa vie et son œuvre ne sont connues que pendant ses périodes de collaboration avec les architectes du roi : de1716 à 1724, il est en Normandie où il bâtit pour le roi le haras du Pin sous la direction de Robert de Cotte, de 1725 à 1730, il est à Rennes car Jacques Gabriel l’a choisi comme adjoint pour la reconstruction de la ville et, en 1733, il arrive à Dijon où l’architecte du roi fait de nouveau appel à lui pour le seconder dans l’édification de l’escalier et d’une aile du palais des États.Seen primarily as an “execution” architect, Pierre Le Mousseux has never been studied as an individual creator. His life and his work are documented primarily during the periods when he collaborated with the King’s architects: from 1716 to 1724 when he was in Normandy and built the royal stud farm of Le Pin, under the direction of Robert de Cotte; and from 1725 to 1730 when he was at Rennes, under the direction of Jacques Gabriel for the reconstruction of the city. In 1733 he came to Dijon where the King’s architect again called on his assistance for the construction of a staircase and new wing of the States Palace

Construire un pont pour éviter de passer les rivières à gué ; tailler une route à travers les Alpes ; creuser des canaux pour facilliter la circulation des biens et des personnes ; quadriller le territoire de lignes de chemin de fer pour désenclaver les villages ; percer de larges avenues pour donner aux villes une nouvelle clarté ; apporter l'eau, le gaz et l'électricité "à tous les étages" ; contruire des hôpitaux, des écoles, des marchés ; loger le plus grand nombre ; relier, aménager, équiper : les Travaux publics accomplissent depuis le XVIIIe siècle une oeuvre titanesque pour façonner la France. Deux siècles après la création du Conseil général des ponts et chaussées, cette histoire du territoire français, racontée par Bertrand Lemoine, témoigne d'une volonté collective de modernisation, d'un savoir-faire apprécié au-delà de l'Hexagone, et rappelle combien la vie, l'environnement et les parcours de chacun en dépendent.

The city planning of La Chaux-de-Fonds, they way we know it today, is the result of a long evolution. It starts the day after a fire which, in 1794, practically devastated the whole village. With the human and material loss which the fire caused, this disaster offered the possibility to reconstruct on a new basis. The fear of fire and the demands of the watch industry, will dictate the policy of city planners and architects. As of this event, the urban expansion of La Chaux-de-Fonds is characterised by three major stages. All three are continuous and interrelated. Each is the product of a particular person. Their coming corresponds to a precise period in time and a given context. The resulting "urban matrix", called massif, will serve for a long period of time as a model for the extension of the city. The continuous use of this model will serve until to the beginning of the 20th century and will only be abandoned at the end of the 1st world war. The present study comprises two distinctive parts, complementary and of equal importance: - A written part and - An illustrated part The choice of these two means for the research is to insure a better understanding of complex subject: - Stage 1: 1794-1795: The reconstruction of the burned down village is assigned to Moïse Perret-Gentil (1744-1815) with the introduction of the first elements of orthogonal planning. It initiates the system of the grid plan which will define future works. - Stage 2: 1831-1835: The continuous and accelerated development of the watch industry pushes the local authorities to hire the engineer Charles-Henri Junod (1795-1843) to plan an extension at a larger scale. The document is named the "General Plan of Alignments". Thanks to its singularity and its urban impact, the Junod plan occupies a significant place in this doctorate thesis. - Stage 3: 1854-1859: The arrival of the railroad, the Industrial Jura, will profoundly modify the urban configuration. The intervention of Charles-Frédéric Knab (1822- 1874) is based on the works of his predecessor. It includes the railroad as a complete part of his Plan of Alignments. It results from this study that the city plans of La Chaux-de-Fonds conceived by the engineers Charles Junod and Charles Knab are not just a simple grid plan applied at random. Their characteristics are far from the image of a checker board plan to which La Chaux-de-Fonds is usually associated to. Instead, these plans result respectively from a combination of refined imbrications of grids which perfectly connect to the existing urban tissue. Behind their apparent regularity, the Junod and Knab plans, hold a series of irregularities which insure at the same time their complexity and their richness. The works of these two engineers constitutes an exemplary case of an urban transformation, a model for a remarkable case of city planning.