The Zinsel du Nord (german: Nördliche Zinsel, also ''Moderbach''), also called the North Zinsel or Northern Zinsel in English, is a left tributary of the river Moder, which is long from the source of the Moderbach stream. The Zinsel du Nord and its tributaries drain northwest in the North

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...

, especially in the ''

Pays de Bitche The Pays de Bitche (, literally ''Land of Bitche'', german: Bitscherland or ) is a natural region located in the Moselle department of the Grand Est region of France. It corresponds to the present French part of the former principality of Zweibrü ...

'' in the east of the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...

. Its catchment area is .

Course

The Northern Zinsel begins at a height of about 225 metres above sea level at the confluence of the ''

Breidenbach Breidenbach is a municipality in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse, Germany. Geography Neighbouring communities *Bad Laasphe *Biedenkopf *Dautphetal *Eschenburg *Steffenberg Community divisions The community is divided into th ...

'' and ''Moderbach'', in the village of

Mouterhouse Mouterhouse (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Muterhüse'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche and to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Par ...

. Whilst the Breidenbach rises at the Breitenstein aka Pierre des douze Apôtres near

Goetzenbruck Goetzenbruck or Gœtzenbruck (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Getzebrikk'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche and to the Northern Vosges Reg ...

, the source of the Moderbach is at the Wasserfelsen (fr. ''Cascade des Ondines''), on the eastern edge of

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

. Its largest tributary is the Falkensteinerbach, which joins it at Uttenhofen from the left. The Northern Zinsel then flows through a very wide valley, surrounded by the endless Mouterhouse State Forest, in a south-easterly direction towards the Schmalenthal Pond aka

Baerenthal Baerenthal (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Bäredal'') is a commune in the Moselle department of the Grand Est administrative region in north-eastern France. The village belongs to the Pays de Bitche and to the Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park. ...

Pond and the popular holiday resort of the same name. At its exit from the Northern

into the

Upper Rhine Plain The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben (German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the s ...

is the Lower Alsatian village of Zinswiller. Near Gumbrechtshoffen it leaves the

Northern Vosges Regional Nature Park The Northern Vosges Regional Natural Park ( French: ''Parc naturel régional des Vosges du Nord'') is a protected area of woodland, wetland, farmland and historical sites in the region Grand Est in northeastern France. The area was officially de ...

and, from

Uttenhoffen Uttenhoffen is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. History Finds from the Neolithic Age and the Hallstatt culture period are as attested as the settlement in Roman times. After introduction of the Reformati ...

, follows the N 62 road and the

Niederbronn-les-Bains Niederbronn-les-Bains () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is positioned between Bitche and Wissembourg, close to the current frontier with Germany. Niederbronn-les-Bains is part of the Northern Vo ...

–

Haguenau Haguenau (; Alsatian: or ; and historically in English: ''Hagenaw'') is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department of France, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is second in size in the Bas-Rhin only to Strasbourg, some to the south. To the ...

railway line, crossing the Hagenau Forest from

Mertzwiller Mertzwiller () is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Notable people * Sam Marx, father of the Marx Brothers * Joseph-Paul Strebler, missionary and bishop in Togo See also * Communes of the Bas-Rhin depa ...

. Near

Schweighouse-sur-Moder Schweighouse-sur-Moder (, literally ''Schweighouse on Moder''; german: Schweighausen) is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Prior to 8 September 1949, the commune was known as Schweighausen. Twin towns ...

in the canton of

it empties into the Moder in the middle of an industrial estate.

History

In 1196 the river was called the ''Cinzele''. Other references are thought by Albrecht Greule to relate to the Southern Zinsel or the ''gunsinus rivus'', a stream that has not been clearly identified, and which appear in old boundary descriptions recorded by Maursmünster Abbey.Albrecht Greule: ''Vor- und frühgermanische Flußnamen am Oberrhein'', Heidelberg, 1973, p. 49, p. 95. {{ISBN, 3-533-02294-3, zugl. Diss. der Universität Freiburg/Br. 1971 In the 19th century, there was a lot of iron industry along the Northern Zinsel, that were owned by the

De Dietrich The history of the de Dietrich family has been linked to that of France and of Europe for over three centuries. To this day, the company that bears the family name continues to play a major role in the economic life of Alsace. De Dietrich is a h ...

industrial dynasty. This led to heavy deforestation which has since been recovered.

References

External links

Streams of the North Vosges
(French) Rivers of France Rivers of Grand Est Rivers of Moselle (department) Rivers of Bas-Rhin