A SKETCH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 10 April 1908, Page 1

A SKETCH.

DEATH OF A PIONEER.— JOHN ELLIS. AN OLD COLLINGWOOD CELEBRITY. (By G. H. Allan.) Only a few letters in a simple name — but death removed from oui midst on Saturdav. the 28th March, 1908, one- of the most interesting of those fast diminishing links which bind the old and the new Collingwood. It is fifty-three years since John Ellis came -to Collingwood to livo. Previous to that time he had walked all the way from the' "Wairau to Collingwood — no roads, no settlement, no guide, "no nothing, ". but friendly Maoris to camp with en route — to "spy out the land" — i terra incognita — which was to beeomo his future homo. Then he selected 150 acres two miles up the Aorere, which afterwards bocame known as " Greenmeadow, " and practically to his dying day became the home of his wife and family. Back he went to Wairau — mountains, rivers, tides, and circumstances notwithstanding — to Blenheim, and jhartcred a small vessel, • Captain ?eel, into which he dumped his wife, family, household goods, and a cow, ill of which duly lamied' iir "Colling•vood in those far off days, and to /if ap their temporary residence ' (bar the eow) in a small hut th_en -erected by the late W. Gibbs, er-M.H.8., fin tte ixtreme point near the present wharf — the only habitation existent. Eiren Maoris were .scarce in those d3ys — a few at the Parapara, and still fewer it Collingwood; one white settler was at Ferntown, the late Mr J. Riley (father of all the Riley's), and one at Pakawau, the ■ late Mr Job Flowers (father of all the Flowers') — widely divergent localities in those •■lays. A week or two hore, while a •hatched wharo was being constructed up the river, and the pioneer removed his belongings to "Gveenmt'adow" for a lifelong residence. Born at St. Nicholas, Glamorganshire, Wales, iu July, 1817, Ellis was reared to hard manual labour, and soon became an export sawyer in the Cardiff dock and timber yards. In IS4O he married a Welsh girl, wii.i afterwards became a most helpful wife, and the mother of a large family of daughters and one son, and who ore-deceased her husband only a few short months ago.. In 18JS the young couple emigrated, mil spent a few years at Wai-iti and Blenheim, then removing to Collingwood ss above related. In pursuance of his trade as a sawyer, and with his partner, one Forrester, Ellis boli'.y attacked the virgin forests of the \ororo, and soon Hewed out a shipload of pit-sawn timber, which was -ent abroad for sale in charge of Forrester. But, alas, neither Forrester, timber, ship, nor money ev^r icturnod — his mate w=s not loyal. A few months of quietude ensued. Neighbours were scarce. The juvenile members of the Ellis family (now Mrs J. Avory, of Spring Grovj) and if tho Riley family (tho late Mrs W. Scrimgeour) held converse across the -Vorere River, shouting their communications one to the other from ths bush retreats on either bank, and ' dug ont ' ' canoes were then hardly in vogue. Food was scarce — the six months' supply brought with him 'iad almost disappeared, and the ar--ival of the expected vessel was de'ayed. John Ellis had to dig up the >otato seed ho had sown to feed his family. He grew wheat, threshed it, milled it, and baked it into bread in one day I They were strenuous times. Meat was scarce. Tho wild iig was plentiful, but wary; and the ->ld "muzzlo-loader, " with self-mould-ed bullets, and valiant pig dog, were ifton called into requisition to provide food. It was on one of these pig-hunting irpoditions that John Ellis was the means of making Collingwood famous. Some time in 1856, accomoanied T>y his dog "Chum" and Messrs John and Ned James — who had meantime filled the place of the faithless Forrester In the • sawpit— wandered away across the "pakahis" into the hills beyond, where in a crepk "Chum" bailed up a pig, iTlilch was soon despatched by tho pioneers. While resting iji the creek there glittered in the rippling waters an unusual substance, now to these unsophisticated wanderers — there wore no "old diggers" in this country then. Curiosity prompted them to lift some of tho glittering specks. "I believo that's gold," said Ellis — \ni James could not argue; he didn't know. And gold it was, and in olonty; for that creek and that gully won became famous as Lightband's >eek and Lightband's Gully. Carrying horn? some of the interring specimens, Ellis kept them in his house for some time, and eventually sent them to Nelson by sailing vessel. Tho initiated in that town soon recognised tho valuo of the Ise very, and in a few short months hundreds of eager miners were flocking to the "diggings." Thus was the Collingwood Goldfiolds discovered. Strange to say, with the advent of the minor young Ellis wa9 not smitten by the gold fever. To all the excitement of the early gold rush, "lucky finds" and sensational returns, he was impervious — never was he known to take tip the pick and shovel in search of wealth. His ambition still trended towards the sawpit, from which ho reaped a good harvest in those extravagant times. N'early nil the first wooden houses in the district (a few of which are still standing) owe their existence to his sturdy arm, and it is said that when n those days his pit mate ran off to ►ho goldfields, he would tie a sack of stones on to tho other end of the pit iw and "cut out" a few thousand feet of timber "on his own." Rafting the timber down the river was an industry of those times— and a most dangerous and exciting industry it was. Flood time was the only time for shifting timbor by this means. Ellis, although unable to swim, wag among the most expert of these river workers, and many stirring adventures he had. One day, with the river in high flood, the timber raft of two men, Dron and Ogilvie, parted asunder in the midst of the raging torront, and the two men would have been swept into eternity. By skilful

manipulation of his canoe, and in imminent peril of- his own life, Ellia reached the drowning men and brought -them ashore. There was no Royal Humane Society's medal in those daysl In the late fifties the Nelson Provincial Government offered- a reward "for the diseovery of a coalfield with 70 miles of Nelson City." Them ) had been a reward offered for the diar eovery of gold. John Ellis never got , it; but as he Stood looking up at the f long, high range of Whakamaramara i mountains, beautifully clad with ■ dense bush, at the foot of which his - house wa9, he wondered Whether in > those precipitous fortressgs there 1 might.be coal. No ha'man being-had i ever been there before; even the Maori pursuing the wild pig never t penetrated far in to those, forbidding i regions. But Ellis went. With a 1 small swag of- "tucker" he struck - out into the bush, climbed the mountain side, exploring every creek and s crevice, camping under trees, jntil, e battling against wind and weather, 1 he struck coal. There, in tho head e waters of what is now Mataura Creek, •. was a fine 'four-feet seam of splendid , coal. He returned with news and samples of hia find; and thus was 1 eoal discovered in Collingwood! The ! ramifications of subsequent discover- ?, ies and developments in the coal in- ■ t dustry which tfiis led up to are no- . thing to do with this sketch — yet f Ellis did not get the reward. Ho 3 had no friends at court. 7 Time went on. The fortunes of 3 Collingwood brought into existence f by the discoveries of John Ellis flu6---i tuated from Pole to Pole. Crowds ! of men came and went; fortunes were , made and lost; bnt John Ellis rer mained with us always. Hardy, industrious, persevering, a man of woril derful physique, untiring energy, and , bold determination, he has withstood i the "slings and arrows of outrageous s fortune" for nearly a century. Only' t a few hours before his death he.call- . ed for his pipe (which he .had enjoyed . all his life) ' spoke cheerfully of what . he was going to do " next year, ' ' and at five o 'clock on that fateful Saturday morning he simply stopped . breathing, having placed to his credit I almost ninety-one years- of a life . fraught with ah excitement, an inter- | est, and adventure which is simply impossible in these highly civilised j da^s of our enlightened > Dominion. . Under present day conditions John Ellis would have been a great man. T The late Mr Ellis left a family of one son, Mr Richard Ellis, the wellknown settler, of Collingwood, and j seven daughters, who are: Mrs John Avery, of Spring Grove; Mrs O. \ Clear, of Kaituna; Mrs T. Brewer, of j Eockville; Mrs T. Calnan, of Westport; Mrs Johnson, of Huntley; Mrs Richards, of Ferntown; Mrs Parry, of Collingwood. There are also a number of grandchildren and several . great-grandchildren. Although bed-ridden for several months before his death, during which time he -was under the anxious care of his daughter, Mrs O. Clear, ' and his grandchildren, .Mr and Mra J. C. Hiekmott, the old man retained . his mental faculties to the 'last, and was provided with and seemed to re- " lish a good smoke two hours before 3 he passed away. The immediate cause of death was dropsy. 1