Jeker

The Jeker in Kanne (municipality Riemst )

The Jeker (French Geer) is a 54 km long river in Belgium ( 50 km) and the Netherlands (4 km). It rises in the town of Lens-Saint -Servais in the community Geer and flows into the Meuse in Maastricht. Although two of the three most famous places on the river, Tongeren and Maastricht, part of the Dutch-speaking region, lies the greater part of the river, even between the two cities, in French. The third, first in the flow direction of the city on the river is Waremme. The largest tributary of the Geer is the Yerne, stretches, which rises in the town of Verlaine and Oreye: opens ( Ndl Oerle ). The slightly undulating catchment area of ​​Jeker belongs to Haspengauw and is characterized by farmland interspersed with small patches of forest. In the community Bassenge east of Tongeren the Geer valley is cut a little deeper. There is a very small wine -growing region for white wine.

With a height difference of 100 m, the river was used to power numerous mills. In the city center of Maastricht paper mills have been preserved from the 18th century.