THE RANGITATA RIVER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22335, 24 February 1938, Page 4

THE RANGITATA RIVER

MANY LIVES LOST IN EARLY DAYS CROSSINGS MADE BY FORD AND FERRY, riHE PRESS Special Service.] GERALDINE, February 23. The spending of £IOO,OOO within the space of the last two years to provide road and rail crossings over the snowfed Rangitata river recalls that in the early days the river was a formidable barrier to communication between north and south. Many persons lost their lives in its turbulent waters in the early days of the Canterbury settlement, and many of those who went through the river on horseback or fay bullock waggon experienced narrow escapes from drowning. Until last year the traffic bridge at Arundel, built in 1870 by Messrs Smith and Bush, Timaru, for £9645, was the only road bridge crossing the river. The railway bridge, also built in the seventies, was constructed by Mr E. G. Wright, of Christchurch, for £39,103. There was a suggestion at one time that the railway should be taken across the Arundel traffic bridge. Tolls were fixed for all vehicles, horses, cattle, and even sheep using the bridge. The stone abutments of the traffic bridge were carried atvay in 1876, together with a chain of bank, so that the bridge had to be lengthened at least 320 feet. Two shingle approaches, costing £2OOO, were washed away before the formal reopening of the bridge, in April, 1883. In the early days, great trouble was experienced in taking sheep across the river, and sometimes drovers had to camp for weeks on the bank before the river fell sufficiently to make the crossing safe. More Than 30 Lives Lost The early fording of the river cost many persons their lives, and a movement was made by the Government to establish ferries in 1858. “No satisfactory ferry was arranged until I 860." states Mr A. • Hewson, in his "Early Days in the Ashburton County.” In this year the upper ferry, opposite Cracroft, was started, and Marshall’s public house was built. A hotel had also been built about this time at the lower ferry (Ward’s) below Ealing. Both these ferries were used up till the time the traffic bridge was built. The lower ferry was not used much after 1860, because of there being two streams there. The south stream was called “the creek,” and was the more dangerous of the two. By 1883 more than 30 lives were known to have been lost in the Rangitata alone, but there were also many other fatalities of which the public never heard. "A great number of lives were lost in the river in 1864,” Mr Hewson states, “when the West Coast gold rush started. Hundreds of men, women, and children crossed the Rangitata from the south; they travelled in parties of six to 12. Nothing would stop these men. All wanted to be first.”