CENTRAL OTAGO.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXVI, Issue 40, 2 November 1909, Page 3

CENTRAL OTAGO.

SOME STRAY NOTES,

*■- There are some great mountain ranges, with old associations. Rub . the fates that change the old names ■ for new is unkind, and robs the place of half its interest. Why was Ryan's f grossing changed to Kokoriga ? ! plucks or Ophir to Omakau I Rough: Ridge to Oturehua? No one in Cen- ; tral Otago knows. Perhaps someone rin some departmental office or another surrounded by yards of red-tape ( knows. Central Otago does not approve of it. It is all right to give a pfaori name to a place that has Maori associations, but to change the old£lll e names to Maori ones of doubtal meaning, very often at places that fever knew a Maori since the days of ge white mau, or even by tradition, j humouring the whims of officialism beyond reason. Fancy them tryjig to obliterate the "Old Man" ange and the Leaning Rock, on rfnch sits the "Old Woman," to some iew-fahgled Maori name ! Let u$ |bpe it will only be in fancy, and that t will never materialise. Who has ipt heard of the Old Man Range ? It i a landmark for miles and miles. It jj the dividing range between the Dunjtan and Switzers, and was the finger-. |ost for many a pioneer digger. Silas ! low many of them lost theii; I lives on its inhospitable heights, meet- | ing snowstorms and fogs, and perishingi f in the shelter of some friendly rock. I; The number of unknovfn graves tell I, their sad story. The Old Man and | the Old Woman look down majesticon the pioneer digging township of Clyde—Dunstan in the old days. ;The Old Man Range is 5,625 ft high, ? aiid the Old Man Rock stands lone , on its summit 88ft in height. The j Old Woman (Leaning Rock) rises to ! a height of 5,300 ft, and the "Old Woman," bowed and care-worn look- I ing, a majestic rock on its top,' towers I2sft high. There is no mis- j taking the Old Man and the Old Wo- J man as they face each other from hill to hill across the plain. The re-1 semblance is very true to name. I The summit <■ of the " Old,' ; Man" Rock has only beeix' scaled by one, or two, of a party of j surveyors and Mr Don, the Chinese!' Missionary, within the last year. They, I j had difficulties in getting up, but they, had greater ones in getting down, ; and had to call the aid of ropes. . There are many picturesque towns on the goldfields, but Roxburgh and ; Clyde are the two that attract the j traveller most. There is greater stir I and perhaps more business at Crom-1 well and Alexandra, but of them all ' Clyde offers the greatest interest. ItL 1 was the centre of early gold-mining 1 days. Who has not heard of the! : Dunstan rush, and of the fabulouSj l wealth that was taken out of the bed of the Molyneux a few miles above it in the gorge to Cromwell ? The town, : with its wealth of shrubs, its pretty 1 gardens and orchards, nestles cosily ! at the entrance to the gorge. it}' is well built, its streets well I kept, and its people have a natural pride in its history. In an early I morning walk round the town, one notes evidences of its antiquity in sub i rtantial stone buildings—Town Hall 1869, B. Naylor (merchant) 1870, Athenaeum 1874. The name of Yincent Pvke is indelibly associated with it, and in a later age that of Thomas Fergus, now for many years the Honourable. The County is called Vincent, and the headquarters of the County are in Clyde. Vincent Pyke had great faith in the Dunstan. In some respects he was visionary. There is no timber at Dunstan ; there was plenty over 011 the Switzers side. The 1 Old Man range was between. Vin- j cent Pvke had a road made over it; at a cost of four or five thousand I pounds. The trade he dreamed of ! did not develop. Tradition says that ! one drav passed over the road ! Ini passing, there is a large stretch of fiat land on top of the Old Man. One word more. Balclutha mightcopy Clyde in one respect. The population is 600 or 700. It has had for Many years a water supply scheme that cost £BOOO.

There are two things the visitor to : Clyde should not miss. He should look up Mr George Fache, and Mr Stevens the teacher. Mr Fache is one of the pioneer business men of Clyde. He came there from Australia over 40 years ago, and has Ken the place in all its vicissitudes "i fortune. To know of Clyde, you toust not miss Mr Fache. The visitory 8 assured of a hospitable welcomq a »d a store of interesting reminis- j rence. Mr Stevens has been teacher of the Clyde School for: tae long period of 37 years. It may w said to be his first and last school. He sought no other, and the character w the place is a lasting monument t0 the value of his work. He takes peat pride in his garden and orchard. Old residents tell -you it was origina barren, rocky waste. To-day is a thing of beauty, and blossoms M the rose. Little wonder he takes ' P'easnre in it. It has been his work J his pleasure, his hobby and re- j creation for his years of manhood. »t the end year Mr Steven's j retires voluntarily on superannuation. I leave the old house and the old ' Harden will be like going to a new ! country. May he and Mrs Stevens , « spared to enjoy many years of j l U| et happiness and enjoyment, sur- > ?°J n( led by the friends o£ more than I a life time, who esteem them for j their personal worth and qualities of ! "Hd and heart. , j Alexandra, a thriving town, is the ' centre of the gold-dredging industry, <'i<rht or ten dredges are at work, the town aa their centre, tuning over the "golden gravel." Up the' Uutha from Cromwell there are also *® v 'eral dredges, and from the window of the writer's bedroom thd , toned Hartly and Riley was sefin j™gt-'ing away in the rocky gorge of ! tne Molyneux. The towns of Alex- , a ™ra and Cromwell are in some reI B Pects similar. They are both built [ "J 1 ati elbow of land at the junction ; ?' two rivers. Alexandra at tha j junction of the Manuherekia and the | ®°lyneux, and Cromwell at the junc- ; Ji!' n of the Kawarau and the Clutha. j combination of the two latteri t ]?® s what was originally called the Molyneux, and is still by some, the Clytha js the name now ®ore generally applied to the river aa i 8 whole. Cromwell and Alexandra jumble each other in"another re- : Wet—they are both very dusty. At womwell the wad left fejr *7B

flood threatened to take possession of the town, It did, in fact, take! Eossession of the cemetery. Treest ave been planted, and breaks of manuka fences formed in attempts to stay the driving sand. But in manyi oases it has? covered the breaks, andl the drift blows right over them, Cromwell and Alexandra are bothbusy towns, and the residents havei confidence in their future. Indeed, Alexandra 's s..id to be the Chicago of Cent.„Lago. Both have very good water-supply schemes.