The 1868 flood
Sir, — Mr Gadd’s otherwise informative article on the engineering problems experienced in Canterbury (“The Press,” June 28) contains, I fear, one of our numerous legends. Or did the Waimakariri River really flow down Papanui Road in 1868? I have, in front of me, a copy of the report of C. Cuff, the City Surveyor (i.e. engineer), written on February 10, 1868. He details the effects on bridges and streets of flood waters in the Avon on Friday, February 4, when, at Victoria Bridge for instance, the water was eight feet above normal level; but nary a reference to Papanui Road. This was certainly “Waimak” water but it had broken into the Avon at Avonhead. Can any of your readers quote documented references to any river, at any time, running down Papanui Road? I feel this is just another case of humour by exaggeration stemming from the often very boggy state of lengths of Papanui Road. Ferry Road was much the same. — Yours, etc., W. J. A. BRITTENDEN. July 2, 1985.
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Press, 3 July 1985, Page 16
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173The 1868 flood Press, 3 July 1985, Page 16
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