L'histoire secrète du bateau pousseur

The secret history of the pusher boat. The inventor of the pusher boat wasn't born on the banks of the Mississippi, but in the Bruche Valley: he was Alsatian and his name was Paul-Emile Jacquel. Born in Rothau (67570) in 1826, this engineer was the inventor of the pusher boat in 1877, and this exhibition aims to provide evidence with objects and documents from the period, re-establishing a historical truth. It is thanks to his descendants, notably François Jacquel, that this exhibition was made possible, and has already been presented at the headquarters of Strasbourg's Port Autonome and at the Musée de la Batellerie in Offendorf. It is also essential to be able to present it to the inhabitants of the Bruche Valley, because Paul Emile Jacquel was not only a genius inventor, but also an industrialist who, with his brother Gustave, developed the Jacquel spinning and weaving mills in Natzwiller.