TO THE FALLS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13096, 8 February 1906, Page 3

TO THE FALLS

A start was next made for the Waitakerei Falls, and this was the mo-: difficult travelling of the whole journey, though i* was a stroll through All»ert Park in comparison with what it, must have Ix-on when the surveyors first M»t loot upon it. As already stated, the distance is two miles. From the tank site 35 chains of rmdo pipe track, nearly all clay formation and clay and conglomerate. cutting lead.- 1 tip to the big tunnel under (ieoige's Hill. This tunnel i* 2226 ft. from em! to end. and it i* now about, half completed, work being carried on at cither end by Messrs. >lohn McLean and Sons, who took the contract for £3760. The formation is chiefly a solid sandstone bar, where no timbering will be required. but, owing to the close groin of the rock. the contract is expected to take till August owl ! for completion. A steep climb up (leorneV Hill arid a journey across a piece of open country on a ridge- about 950 it alvive sealevel took the visitors to the other end of the tunnel. Here a magnificent view of j Auckland city, the Waif, mats Harbour. j Rangitoto. and the various other hills bask- ; ing in the warm -uiishine. was obtained. | From the tunnel exit round to the (alls the ! benching and cuttings have proved heavy j work. In one place a concrete wall 23't in i length ha.- been constructed to hold the foot i of an embankment, and a 20Qfr tunnel ha been driven through a spur. Curious »pec;mens of clay and conglomerate formation wore met with here. and the work of cleaving the bush from the Bft to 10ft pipe track was also arduous labour. Here the visitors found themselves in the heart of an almost tropical forest: tangled vegetation wa.- j everywhere. Great kauris reared their re;al heads and exposed their majestic boles on i all sides, great specimens of the kahikatea. ri in it. rata, and totura towered above the luxuriant wealth of vines and scrub, and. down below, the 510 p..- teemed almost carp.'ted with the graceful fronds of the treefern and uikau palm. Away, far down, could be heard the iimsio.il tinkle of the Waitakerei creek winding its way through the forest shade, and occasionally the ringing notes of the bcllbird sounded across the gorge. Presently the glistening veiU of the George's creek fall came into view, and then the aristocrat of the ranges, the Waitakerei Fall, showed itself in all its glory, taking its 300 ft lean into that glorious forest-clad gorge. Between George's crcck and the Waitakerei Falls the men engaged on Mr. Holt's £16,045 pipe track contract were busily engaged drilling and blasting out the hard conglomerate rock. Oil this track eight pipe culverts and three large concrete adverts have had to be constructed to carry off drainage from the hill slope above, and from (he present workings to the fall the cutting will be all heavy work, the formation being nearly all tho same hard conglomerate bar, over which the fall takes its leap, and it is expected that the contractor will require till April to complete. An object lesson in the working was afforded on the return journey, six charges of gelignite being exploded, and the shots shifted tons of rock into the gorge, one sending down also a large tree. From the workings a scramble tip some "golden stairs" took the party to the fall. STORAGE OF 250,000,000 GALLONS. * Just, back from the fall was a great clearing in the forest. This will bo the site for the big storage reservoir, which will submerge. about 65 acres of ground and contain upwards of 200.000,C00 gallons of water, while a. smaller dam further up will take some 50,000,000 gallons. A solid masonry wall rising 50ffc above the present crest of Waitakerei Fall and .running down to 15ft below it. with a bottom thickness of 15ft. will be constructed on the fall side, and men were seen at work cutting away a spur on the eastern end of the,dam. The dam will be 500 ft long, with a slight up-stream curve, and excellent rock formation has been found at 37ft for practically the whole 500 ft, while the two ends will lock into spurs on either side of the creek. At present nothing in the nature of construction can be attempted, as the cement, etc., for the dam and the pipes can only be brought up when the tunnel and track contracts are completed, it being the intention 10 run a tramway along the route from the break pressure tank to the fall. With those two impounding reservoirs upwards of 250,000,000 gallons of water can be conserved, and George's creek will also be intercepted. When the work is completed the artificial lake of 65 acres will he something well worth seeing, lying, as it. will, in the heart of a great kauri forest and above the magnificent Waitakerei Fall. Unfortunately, however, there is some prospect that the water diverted into the intake will materially diminish the beauty of the fall, especially in the dry season of the year. The site of the lig reservoir has been cleared, but the fallen timber, upwards of 200,000 ft of it, is still lying on the ground, and much of the fallen vegetation is very dry. Needless to say, great precautions will require to be taken in the burning off of the debris, as the soil is of a light, peaty nature, and, once getting out of hand, a fire might do enormous damage in the neighbouring forest, and even devastate a groat portion of the range. A space of 60ft back from high-water mark is to be cleared to prevent leaves, etc., falling into the reservoir, and it would be well to burn off the debris now on the site when the vegetation on the 60ft has been fallen and is still in a green state. The contractor, Mr. Black, has taken the £4771 contract for clearing the site and sinking for the foundations for the masonry dam, which will bo constructed by the City Council's own workmen. The- clearing contract entails the uprooting of all trees, etc., and the clearing oil of all vegetable mould to a depth of 9in, and at present great kauri trees are lying in all directions; one monster near the site for the darn measuring Bft 4iu in diameter. On the site of the reservoir a small sawmill is in course of erection for the contractor, who has also to supply 190.000ffc of sawn timber for the works, such as tramway sleepers, and the upper reservoir dam. . From the big reservoir down to the break pressure tank there will, of course, be enormous pressure. OVER 6,000,000 GALLONS A DAY. The Waitakerei Falls will give, with the various other little creeks, that will be included, an unlimited supply in winter and a splendid flow in summer of the purest drinking water on the Waitakerei flanges. As much as 11,000,000 gallons per diem have been recorded as going over the fall in winter, and 'in dry weather this scheme will . have over ' 1,500.000 gallons a day of running water as the minimum How during the estimated 90 days of dry weather per year. The storage reservoirs will provide for upwards of 90 days, which is a pretty safe estimate on the ranges, anil give, together with the running water, a minimum flow of four and a-h&lf million gallons daily. This, with the running flow of one and a-half million gallons daily as the minimum from the Nihotupu Falls, gives a. minimum of 6,000,000 gallons, while the consumption now i- 3,400,000 gallons per diem, obtained at Western Springs and from Xihotupu. It is estimated that with the impounding reservoirs at Waitakerei a supply for three months can be held, apart from running water, while an impounding reservoir at Nihotapu would add 3,000.000 gallons per day, so that, however dry a summer may be. Auckland will be amply provided with abundance of water for very many years to come. THE WATERSHED. The watershed for the Waitakerei scheme comprises some 2920 acres, and of this some 1700 acres are still to be secured by the City Council, and negotiations for the purchase are now proceeding. When the whole of this land has been obtained the city will possess a magnificent park and scenic resort, and it is to be trusted that the city will be able to preserve the kauri forest and the beautiful natural bush for all time.