NEW ROUTE FROM NELSON TO MARLBOROUGH BY THE RAE VALLEY.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 120, 6 June 1868, Page 6

NEW ROUTE FROM NELSON TO MARLBOROUGH BY THE RAE VALLEY.

■The following is a copy of a Paper furnished to the Nelson Provincial Council : “Mr. Thomas Mackay, under instructions from his Honor the Superintendent, .has, with two assistants, explored the •country between the Wakapuaka River .arid the Pelorus, by way of Rae Valley, .and a report of his exploration has been laid before the Council. His party started from Brown’s, in Happy Valley, on the 1 11th March, and continued the work until . the 30th of that month. The report contains details of each day’s work, and a minute description of the country explored. The following are the “ remarks” with which the report concludes :—. ‘ln this exploration, I have carefully examined the country, and I am of opinion that a dtay road can be made to connect tue Happy Valley, Wakapuaka, with the Pelorus, at a moderate expense. The road would be longer, by about 13 miles, than by the present bridle-track over the Maungatupu, but then it would be a dray-road, which the other could not be made, except at an enormous expense, leaving out of the question the ascending a mountain range fully 2,500 feet in height. It will be seen by my report that the saddles connecting i the Happy Valley with the Wangamoa, and the latter with the Rae Valley, are very low and easy of ascent and descent, so there will be no difficulty in making a 1 dray road over them, and -the valleys are *'■Bo unexpectedly level that although the ; distance to be travelled over is greater, ‘ that in a manner would be reduced by the - advantage of getting along at a greater - speed and with less fatigue, on an almost • level road, where many good sites offer for hostelries. It is almost needless for me to point out the many advantages that this road would be to the provinces of Nelson and Marlborough, and I will confine myself to stating that by it a very large block of land, many thousands of acres, would be made available for settlement,, both in ' the Wangamoa and Rae Valleys, chiefly however, in the latter; and had time afforded, and our provisions been likely to have lasted,. I should have been glad to have appended to this report that I had also explored up the Opowrie, which appeared a considerable river, and evidently flows through a large valley, apparently quite equal to the Rae. * I was much disappointed with the size of the trees in the Rae Valley, having been led to. expect, from the bird’s eye I view I had of it some time ago, from the . top of Mount, Castor, that the - trees were. of a magnificent size. This, however, on lxexamination, turned out quite different to. - my expectations, and I could scarcely see a totai a tree at all ; nor could I find a v.itree, with the exception of birch, more oitjian from two to three feet through, and . these very far apart. There is a total , absence of supplejack, but abundance of : scrub. The Wangamoa I consider much; better timbered than the Rae Valley. '' - ‘ With respect to the branch roads to Wangamoa harbor, and from the Rae to ~~ the Croixelles, these could be made as the necessity', for-them arose; and to the latter it is most unfortunate that such an obstacle •£'a® a ; feW'lov?' hills intervene ; between a.' splendid, harbor and so fine a valley.’ Mr. Mackay gives.. the ‘following table of 1 ; , yi* From Nelson to Brawn’s, Happy Valley-' -11 ; 1;.::! :„• !Brown’s to Wangamoa saddle: by) I -■ . way of Bluff Rock river' ... ,4: . Wangamoa saddle to,junction of . ,jpolfinsriver : 7i J «, r , JUnction of Golfins-riyer to divid- - * h-jiiij ■ i-l--- ing, saddle' between-:it and' - |cBrown:River?

From Saddle to junction of Brown river with the Rae at Mount Barret? 3 ~ Thence to Pelorus Bridge ... 8 384 From Nelson to Pelorus Bridge, via the Maungatapu Saddle 25 Difference between the two routes ... 134 Deducting the 11 miles of made road from Nelson to Brown’s, leaves 27-J, of which 164 would require to be made by Nelson Province, and 11 by Marlborough Province. Then there are proposed branch roads, 9| from Wangamoa harbor to juntion of road leading to the Pelorus, and 4 miles from this harbor to join the main road at the junction of Wangamoa and Collins rivers, making a total of 41|- miles of main and branch dray roads to be formed. This is estimated by Mr. Mackay at the considerable sum of £6,597 10s. (which includes £1,500 for bridges), and of which Nelson would have to pay about £4,000, and Marlborough (which, by the way, has not a shilling to spare) about £2,600. The cost of a bridle track for the same district he estimates would be £1,593, of which Marlborough’s share would be £485, and Nelson’s about £l,lOO.” — Colonist.