Oetztaler Outdoor Museum
The Oetztaler flows north from the Italian border to join the Inn; since 1969 there's been a road up the hill and over the top of the Timmelsjoch Pass.
Down at the base of the valley there's some flat land, generally in pastures. Freestanding Catholic churches are common.
Hay is stacked around stakes that are themselves neatly arranged for safekeeping.
Cows need water; troughs need filling. It's only appropriate that a cow should do the work.
The trough is near a folk museum, one of many in Austria.
How does the water come to the cow? Through a pipeline of pencil-cored logs.
Carpentry shop and house.
Stairs to carpentry shop.
Top floor of house, with door to flower-trimmed balcony.
The stove that heats the house.
Hearth.
Behind the house is a large barn filled with implements.
Stalls.
Far upstream, a diversion channel is turned off for the moment.
There are many diversion points, mostly for mills.
Mill race.
Water running toward an overshot wheel.
The power's off.
A high-speed wheel.
The water returns to the creek.
Inside one of the mills, a water wheel sets this wheel spinning to create vertical motion.
Directly above, a saw.
Another mill, for grain.
A mill to beat flax.
From the hillside looking back to the flats.