SAONE (son), a river of E. France, 3o1 m. long, rising in the Faucilles mountains (Vosges), 15 m. S.W. of Epinal at a height of 1,30o ft. and uniting with the Rhone at Lyons. The name is derived from Sauconna, a 4th century name. Rising in the Vosges Hercynian massif, it meanders in the wide depression on Jurassic and Tertiary rocks between the Plateau of Langres, the Cote d'Or and the mountains of Charolais and Beaujolais on the west, and the western slopes of the Vosges and Jura and the plain of Bresse and the plateau of Dombes on the east. Near Allerey the SaOne unites with the Doubs (left), which rivals it in volume and exceeds it in length at this point. At Chalon-sur-Saone it turns south, and passes Macon. Below Treveux its valley narrows, winds past the Mont d'Or group and joins the Rhone at Lyons. The Saone is canalized from Corre to Lyons, a distance of 233 m., the normal depth of water being 61 feet. At Corre (confluence with the Coney) it connects with the Eastern canal, at Heuilley (below Gray) with the Saone-Marne canal, at St. Symphorien (above St. Jean-de-Losne) with the Rhone-Rhine canal, and at St. Jean-de-Losne with the canal de Bourgogne and at Chalon with the Canal du Centre. (See RHONE.) a department of east-central France formed from the districts of Autunois, Brionnais, Chalonnais, Charollais and Maconnais, previously belonging to Burgundy. It is bounded north by the department of COte d'Or, east by that of Jura, south-east by Ain, south by Rhone and Loire, west by Allier and Nievre. Pop. (1931) 538,741. Area, 3,330 sq.m. The department extends down into the valley of the Loire on the west and into that of the Saone on the east, both with Pliocene de posits, from a high, but discontinuous, central north-to-south axis, stretching from the Cote d'Or (Jurassic) to the Beaujolais (largely granitic). The chief break in the highlands is used by the railway through the Charollais from Dijon through Beaune to Digoin on the Loire, and by the canal from Chalon-sur-Sake to Dijon. On the east the department extends beyond the SaOne to include a large part of the region of Bresse which focuses chiefly on Chalon. The heights of the Morvan (2,959 ft. in the department) rise on the north-western border.
The average temperature at Macon (52° or 53° F), the most temperate spot in the department, is slightly higher than at Paris, the winter being colder and the summer hotter. At the same town the yearly rainfall is about 33 in., but both the rigour of the climate and the amount of rain increases in the hilly districts.
Agriculture prospers in Saone-et-Loire. Wheat, oats and maize
are the chief cereals ; potatoes, clover and other fodder, and mangold-wurzels are important, and beetroot, hemp, colza and rape are also grown. Excellent pasture is found in the valleys of the Saone and other rivers. The vine, one of the principal re sources of the department, is cultivated chiefly in the neighbour hood of Chalon and Macon. Of the wines of M5.connais, the vintage of Thorins is in high repute. The white Charollais oxen are one of the finest French breeds ; horses, pigs and sheep are reared, and poultry farming is a thriving occupation in the Bresse. The industrial importance of the department is great, chiefly owing to its coal and iron mines; the chief coal mines are those near Creusot, Autun and Chapelle-sous-Dun. A pit at Epinac is over , 2,600 ft. in depth. Iron is mined at Mazenay and Change, and manganese is found at Romaneche and there are quarries of vari ous kinds. There are well-known warm mineral springs containing chloride of sodium and iron at Bourbon-Lancy. The iron and engineering works of Schneider and company at Le Creusot are the largest in France. The department also has many distilleries, potteries, porcelain-works (Digoin and Charolles), tile-works, oil-works and glass factories, and manufactures leather goods, esparto goods, sugar and fecula. Its commerce between the north and the midi is facilitated by navigable streams—the Loire, Saone, Doubs and Seille—the Canal du Centre, which joins Chalon-sur Sake with Digoin on the Loire, and the canal from Roanne to Digoin and the lateral Loire canal, both following the main river valley. The chief railway of the department is the P.L.M.
Saone-et-Loire forms the diocese of Autun ; it is part of the district of the VIII. army corps (Bourges) ; its educational centre is Lyons and its court of appeal that of Dijon. It is divided into 4 arrondissements—Macon, Chalon-sur-Saone, Autun, Charolles —51 cantons, and 589 communes. Macon, Chalon, Autun, Le Creusot, Cluny, Montceau-Les-Mines, Tournus, Paray-le-Monial, Louhans and Charolles (qq.v.) are the chief towns in the depart ment. St. Marcel-les-Chalon has a Romanesque church, once attached to an abbey where Abelard died ; Anzy has a Romanesque church and other remains of an important monastery ; Sully has a chateau of the i6th century; and Semur-en-Brionnais and Varennes-l'Arconce fine Romanesque churches. Prehistoric re mains of the Old Stone Age have been found at Solutre near Macon, and have given the name Solutrian to a period of pre historic time.