JURA, a department of France, on the eastern frontier, formed from the southern portion of the old province of Franche Comte. It is bounded N. by the department of Haute-Saone, N.E. by Doubs, E. by Switzerland, S. by Ain, and W. by SaOne et-Loire and Cote d'Or. Pop. (1931) 229,109. Area, 1,951 sq.m. In the south-east the high Jura (Cret Pela 4,915 ft.) runs north to south; parallel to the above, west of the Ain, is the forested Jura plateau ; next follow the vine-clad hills beyond which, towards the SaOne, is the fertile plain of northern Bresse, called the Finage. The department stretches across the lower Doubs, but both banks of the SaOne are in COte d'Or. There are many lakes among the mountains. The climate is, on the whole, cold ; the temperature is subject to sudden and violent changes, and among the mountains winter sometimes lingers for eight months. The rainfall is much above the average of France.
Jura is an agricultural department : wheat, oats, maize and barley are the chief cereals, potatoes, tobacco and rape also being grown. Vines are largely grown. Woodlands occupy about a fifth of the area : the oak, hornbeam and beech, and, in the mountains, the spruce and fir, are the principal varieties. Natural pasture is abundant on the mountains. The wild boar still survives in the forests. There are salt mines and stone-quarries. Peat is also worked. Lons-le-Saunier and Salins have mineral springs. In
dustries include the manufacture of Gruyere, Septmoncel and other cheeses (made in co-operative cheese factories or fruitieres), sparkling wines, metal founding and forging, saw-milling, the cutting of precious stones (at Septmoncel and elsewhere), the manufacture of nails, tools and other iron goods, paper, leather, brier-pipes, toys and fancy wooden-ware and basket-work; and clocks, watches, spectacles and measures at Morez. The depart ment is served chiefly by the P.L.M. railway, the main line from Paris to Neuchatel traversing its northern region. The canal from the Rhone to the Rhine, which utilizes the channel of the Doubs over portions of its course, traverses it for 25 m. Lons-le-Saunier is the chief town of Jura, which embraces three arrondissements named after the towns of Lons-le-Saunier, Dole and St. Claude, with 32 cantons and 585 communes. The department forms the diocese of St. Claude and part of the ecclesiastical province of Lyon, it comes within the region of the VIIth army corps (Besancon) and the educational division (academie) of Besancon, where is its court of appeal. Lons-le Saunier, Dole, Arbois, Poligny, St. Claude and Salins are the more noteworthy towns. At Baume-les-Messieurs, 8 m. N.E. of Lons-le-Saunier, there is an ancient abbey with a fine 12th cen tury church.