COBDEN’S HISTORY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1928, Page 5

COBDEN’S HISTORY

NOTES BY A PIONEER

Oil the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee Of the Cobden State School, it may be of interest to the present generation to hie back to the early days when the town of Cobden was in its infancy—when there were no picture shows, motor cars, wireless, or any of the many other privileges now en- .- joyed by this generation. The discovery of gold brought many thousands of stalwart miners and others to the West Coast from all parts of the Globe —lured by the fabulous accounts of gold reported to be obtained from the sea-beaches, creekbeds, apd terraces. New discoveries were being made daily, and even the population on the North Beach and Darkey’s Terrace was estimated in thousands. The Darkey’s Terrace lead was discovered by a colored man — hence its name. He had gone up the side of the Terrace to' fill his billy . from a small stream, and as he dipped his' billy in the stream, he saw that its bed was quite yellow with the precious particles. He followed the stream further up, and was rewarded by coming on to a terrace exceedingly rich in gold. Needless to say, he pegged out his claim and at once applied to the Warded for a prospector’s claim, which I understand was double the ordinary size claim, and the rest of the terrace was rushed by hundreds of excited miners. It was said that an unprincipled miner took advantage of the darkey by saying that he had pegged out more ground than he was entitled to, and insisted that it should be re-taped. The miner supplied the tape from which he had previously

cut out several feet of the centre portion add" then ; sewn the two ends neatly together, and that is how the darkey lost some of his ritehest ground. Like all embryo towns, Cobden and Greymouth must have sprung into existence like magic. The writer can remember when a boy coming to the Grey in the late sixties with ,his father, who had come to inspect a coal seam on the banks of the Grey, now known as the Brunner coal seam. Cobden was at that time a very. busy place, what with its numerous hotels, banks, stores, bakehouses etc., together with the Nelson Government Provincial offices., viz, the Court House, survey office, bonded and free stores, wharves, and last, though not least, Her Majesty’s gaol. The principal buildings were mostly clustered around and near the Cobden bluff, and a considerable extent of flat land on the opposite side of the road from the present Cobddn Hotel. Most of the business places were thickly studded on this alluvial land, which many years after was cut away by heavy floods in the fiver, encroaching right up to the present main road; but. as the Cobden quarry was being, worked, it was found to be a particularly handy place to deposit the surplus spoil, and so two birds were killed with one stone, as the contractor had nothing to pay for the dump, and the owners had to pay nothing to the contractors. Several cottages are now built on this reclaimed land. The greater part of Cobden was then a dense forest. In those early days the only method of transport, was by Shank’s pony, pack and riding horses, and boats. The cargo boats conveyed the goods up the Grey River as far as the junction with the Little Grey (now Ikamatua), supplying the needs of the many min-* ing camps on the way. This work was of a most dangerous and strenuous nature, particularly in getting. the loaded boats up and over the many shallow and rapid falls, and it was no uncommon thing to see a boat had been upset and its cargo floating down the river. On some occasions, one or more of the crew were drowned. Until the Brunner railway was completed, the coal was taken down the river in boats or barges of a capacity of from 15 to 30 tons. Frequently, when the river was low, the loaded barges often meet trouble on what was known locally as the Gentle Annie Fall, and at times nothing would induce that fickle dame to grant .. 1- rxn m'AIIC I’ll I? P’Ptl

c. pass OVtH urn muv * — bosom, until she had received tribute of.a liberal supply of Brunner black diamonds, many barges landing their cargo light in consequence. This fall is situated some little distance below the site of the present power house. At the time 1 am writing of, the dividing line between the two provinces of Nelson and Canterbury was the River Grey, Cobden being the chief town of Nelson, and Greymouth that of Canterbury. The first administrator for the Nelson South West gold fields was Mr T. A. Sydney Kynnersley, and a very able administiatoi he proved to be. With him was a full staff of officials, his headquarters beings at Cobden, where Courts were held, and justice dispensed by him. The first Clerk of Court was Mr AlfredHarris, later followed by Mr Rowley. The head of the police was Sergeant Maguire, and from all accounts, he was a real white man, or his patrons must have thought him so, as those, who behaved well, ho treated well. As Her Majesty’s hostel was a rather cold and dreary place, being situated under the shelter of the Cobden Hill, the Sergeant would, on special days grant permission to his well-behaved patrons to take a run across to Grey mouth for a bit of a, change. As the only means of transport was by ferrj boat, for which a charge of 1/- each way was made, those who needed it ho kindly secured them a pass both ways. There was but one stipulation, and that was they must on no account, fail to get back home before 6 pan., otherwise they would be locked out! I think there was only one instance of attempting to escape. Two men were in for, no doubt, a more serious offence, and wore evidently kept more closely guarded, or it was thought so. The couple of lodgers cut their way through the floor one dark night, spoiling the best carpet, and succeeded in making good their escape. In looking back, it has struck me that the Cobden crater may then have been “dry,” and it is possible they may have escaped down it. No one knows. Cobden has never been famed as an industrial town, being purely residential, but it once possessed a tannery, a rope-works, and a lime kiln. These have long departed. In the earlier days, Cobden took a. very active interest in urging the making of the port at Point Elizabeth, and at times the prospects looked very hopeful. At one time it was hoped the Brogdens would take it on, receiving in return the coal royalties