THE KLONDYKE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 35, 20 November 1937, Page 3

THE KLONDYKE

NAMED FOR ITS BLEAKNESS. WHERE THE FIRST RACE RAN. IRRIGATION CHANNELS COMPARED. HISTORY OF 34 YEARS AGO. When one views the huge machines busy on the excavations in connection with the irrigation scheme in the Klondyke area of Ashburton County, sees the ease with which immense masses of material are uprooted, and notes how the spoil is disposed of, one begins to wonder about the work that was carried out in the same locality 34 years ago, when there were no roads, no diesel engines of immense power to haul loads of several tons, no telephones to bring aid for man or machine, no electric light or power, when there was no radio to brighten the evening hours, and no fast means of moving from one point Co another such as is now provided by powerful, smooth running motorcars. The differences in methods then and r.ow are vast; mechanical devices handle the work in a fraction of the time formerly required and the cost of doing it is reduced in even greater ratio. Interesting memories of the days in the early part of this century when tlio Klondyke water race was being put through were recalled the other day by Mr W. G. Gallagher, of Ashburton, when he made a tour of the irrigation works. Mr Gallagher has been closely associated with the region under review for many years. He saw the original work put in hand, and saw its development from the survey to the completion of the task, which was to get water out of the Rangitata river to supply the needs of stock on the plains to the north. A Name Given. ISomo facts relating to the work and the district were given to a “Guardian” reporter by Mr Gallagher, who told of the reasons for the name given to the locality by his brother. The survey of the intake for the race was carried out in winter, and that particular season was a bitterly cold one. The County Engineer (the late Mr William Baxter) carried out the -work, with the aid of a few assistants, and they suffered a good deal as a result of the cold. It was slow work, could not be hurried, and at the end of the day the men were chilled to the bone. On one occasion the horses used by the party were so numbed that they were unable to haul the gig back to the camp and the men had to drag the vehicle up the cutting fo the flat country. The camp was a primitive one, when the comforts of the present day are considered, . and there were only tents to shelter the party, who, naturally, did not spend many pleasant nights that winter. Tales of hardships suffered on the great gold fields of the Klondyke, in Alaska, were fresh in the minds of the surveyors and so it was perhaps natural that the locality should have been given the name of Klondyke, which it has retained ever since. The rigors of the American counterpart, however, are hot always to he found in duplication in the County district, for t(re days can be as pleasant there as in any part of the Dominion. Of course, placed as it is, at the foot of the ranges, it comes under the influence of the snow-clad slopes that surround it to the west and south in the winter season, and then the cold can be intense. This was so in the last winter, when a number of men were sent away sick because ' of the continuous cold, but there are comforts in the present Public Works Department camp that were not dreamed of in the' old days arid life is not so bad there, taking it on the whole, even in the cold months. The men have found, at least, that the climate is healthy for those of reasonably staunch physique and constitution. Origin of the Race. Forty years ago settlement in the Mayfield and Ruapuna districts was increasing rapidly with the cutting up of the big stations. The freezing industry was getting well under way and its valiro was being reflected in the advance in the sizes and numbers of flocks of sheep. Laud that was suitable for sheep fattening was being sought eagerly by settlers. The Mayfield and Ruapuna areas had been, till about that time, held to be not good for lamb fattening, but pioneers in the industry demonstrated, through cultivation, that the doubts were false. This caused a hastening of the growth of sheep raising. One of the essentials was an adequate water supply. Hie County Council had put through races from the Hinds Gorge and Limestone Creek, but these were not nearly large enough to meet the demand that set in. Therfore, 40 years ago, the settlers petitioned the County Council to provide a better water supply. The Council declined to bring water from the Rangitata river and charge it to the general rate. It fully investigated possible sources of supply; water could have been brought from the south branch of the Ashburton river, with a headworks above Mr Bland s homestead at “Woolmers,” Ashburton Gorge. Special Rating District. Finally, the settlers formed a special rating district and the properties included in it were loaded with the rate. The work was estimated to cost about £3OOO. The headworks were fixed at Klondyke, and the race was cut out of the terraces adjoining the Rangitata river for six miles before reaching the plains. Prominent Petitioners. Prominent among the names of settlers who made the petition to the Council were those of men who have

left their mark on the district which they adopted, a region that was not very hospitable when they settled in it, hut which, by dint of unceasing labour that aimed at an ideal, they turned into a locality that has been attractive to a large number of people who have since made tlioir homes there. Some of these men were John Ballantyne, D. Morrow, G. Gould, .7. Dolyc, J. MacLauchlan, the Baxter Brothers, W. J. Allen, E. Taylor and‘D. Fraser (of Shepherd’s Bush). The initial scheme, with the intake, was located on Dr. Moorhouse’s property, Shepherd’s Bush, where, incidentally, the first show ever held in Canterbury, was staged. Prices and Contracts, Somo interesting figures in regard to the construction of the race were given by Mr Gallagher in his chat to the interviewer. The width of the race was 6 feet, the depth 2 feet and the fall was 6 feet to the mile. The contract for the race along the river terraces was let in five sections, and these were taken up as follow: ■ No. 1 (intake), W. B. Compton (Ashburton); No. 2, I. Gallagher vMayfield); No. 3, D. Johnston (Wakanui); No. 4, J. Coskerie (Mayfield); No. 5, J. Pearson (Timaru). The price was Is a cubic yard, and the contractors, with the exception ol Compton, who had the intake section, made wages and some profit beyond. Wages paid to the men were Is an hour and their food was supplied. The men on the job were a splendid lot in the opinion of Mr Gallagher. The headworks contract proved to bo unpayable because of tlie heavy boulder formation encountered and the deep cutting that had to be carried out. The County Council had to complete that section. How different are the methods of handling the same country by the Public Works Department’s machines today ! Then, men, with picks and shovels, struggled with the boulders. Now, a diesel engined grab takes up boulders weighing lOOlbs as if they were pebbles and tosses them into, huge waggons, besides tearing down the bank into which it is cutting, as it goes. Damaged by Flood. No sooner had the race been completed than down came a heavy flood, and much of the arduous work was undone . Twenty chains of the outer embankment along the side of the r.ver went in the swirling waters that ere vomited out of the narrow gorge. No record of flood heights had been kept; none had up to then been s lfficiently interested in the question to mark off the rise and fall of the river under any circumstances and the engineer had to base his calculations on information gained by a questioning uf the people who had resided longest in the vicinity. This information, however, proved to be unreliable, as the river on this occasion rose in the gorge 4 feet higher than the safety margin that had been allowed. A repetition of the trouble was not looked for, so the engineer replaced the scoured out race with 3 feet concrete pipes which were made on the site, the shingle being brought over the river from the Mount Peel side. This task was a slow and difficult one in itself -for a- strong steel cable had to be run across the river. When it is remembered that this work was carried out by the late Mr P. Norman, it is not surprising to find that the concrete duct is still in use, functioning as well as ever it did. It has withstood the floods of 34 years, a tribute to the thoroughness that characterised all the 1 work undertaken by Mr Norman. Loans Soon to Mature. There were four loans *in connection with the work, and these amounts were £5072 4s lid, £IO3O 7s Id, £lOls 17s 9d, £206 Is 6d, a total of £7324 11s 3d. The interest and sinking fund for these > amounts to £256 7s 2d a year, and the water rate helps to pay this. The loans will liquidate themselves in 41 years, and the main loan expires on February 1, 1940. They have been a very small burden on the general ratepayer and a quite equitable one. Trie terms of the loan (41 years at 3-J per cent.) were very favourable, and were the result of the good work of the late Mr E. G. Wright, M.P., who was chairman of the County Council when the work was put in hand. A sum of £6OOO was put to the County Fund and the usual rate charged, placing the whole of the County on an equal footing of 6d a- chain, a rate against which Mr Gallagher said he had never heard a word of complaint. Getting the Water Down. It was one thing to build- the race, but another to get the water to run along it. Hie nature of the soil, full of boulders and shingle, was so porous that the water could not be made to flow for any great distance and it was only after the greatest trouble and the waste of nearly a year that the difficulty was solved. All manner of devices were suggested, but it remained for Mr John Lamble, of Kyle (father of Mr James Lambie, who is a member of the County Council at tlie present time) to suggest the remedy. There was a period when there were no floods and there was no silt to be carried down the race to fill the crevices. Mr Lambie suggested that straw chaff, finely cut, should be placed in the top of the race and sent down with the water. This expedient proved successful. The Opening Day. The opening of the race was made the occasion of some celebration, but it was not carried out without a- mishap, which might have been a serious one. Access to the intake was at best difficult. The work gangs and tlio surveying party had cut tracks on the open country and made cuttings up and down the terraces, but they wore rather < rough. (Those same cuttings, with < somo modification, are being used by the Public Works Department to-day). , There was a large attendance at the opening, the spectators and officials travelling in large 4-horse drags. There was a dinner and turkey featured on i the menu. A start was made at S 1 o’clock from Ashburton and the party were on the ground by noon. There

were speeches and a dinner in the open and a start was made for home. On one of the cuttings a drag struck a big boulder and overturned, the occupants, including Mr W. C. Walker, M.L.G., being thrown in all directions. Mr Walked 1 suffered cuts about the hands and face hut the others escaped with abrasions and bruises. The workmen who came to the rescue and righted the drag were rewarded from the debris, which included the remains of the repast, the turkeys being prominent! Tribute to Engineer. The race from the Rangitata crossed to Surrey Hills, and the now irrigation channel is crossing somewhere near tlie original site, showing that the walk of the engineer (Mr W. Baxter) so many years ago, was sound. A tribute to tlie work of Mr Baxter was paid by Mr Gallagher, who said the engineer bad exercised patience and great care and bad used iris ability in every endeavour to provide for the settlers, working long hours on waterrace schemes.

The value of the work he carried out could not be estimated. It had brought into better production a district that previously had been thought very little of, and which to-day compared favourably with any other. Electrical Generation. The value of irrigation intelligently applied was touched on by Mr Gallagher, who said that a tremendous area of the plains would enjoy the benefits of the work now being carried out. It would give the County something that would prove to be extremely valuable. Then there was tlie proposal for tlie generation of electricity by the water in the irrigation channels at the period of tlie year when irrigation was not required, say from March to November. It was in that period that there was the greatest demand for electric current and if the water scheme could be so devised that it could be transformed for this purpose of generation, it would have a greatly added value for the Countv.