EARLY WAGONING DAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26748, 17 April 1948, Page 9

EARLY WAGONING DAYS

e ir t have been interested in the letters those r who drove to and StrathT’niiari aq far back as 1070. -t inuugin J would mention a few of those warriors who heTped the settlers by carting wool Who ne Peu o bdek stores, coal. tSd g other necessaries® The roads were HnH in those days, long, steep hills to climb and no bridges over the streams. It was reckoned fairly good going if the.s went to Outran! and back in a week. Gladbrook had two teams on the road, a covered wagon with 10 horses and a bullock wagon "Billy ' Brensell diove thi horses ind Tom Potter the bullocks. Billy Brensell was killed on the Deep Stream Hill. He was taking a load of wool to outram, and the wagon capsized, and he was smothered. I forget just how the accident happened. Harry Welham drove the wagon afterwards, but I do not know who came after him or Tom Potter. W Brown, a farmer, also had two teams on the road, a covered wagon and aji open one. The drivers were W. Ropei, or " Yankee Bill ” a s he was known to all and Hugh Anderson, or ' The Bobby. They, too, were followed by other dnveis. Then there was " Billy ” Wallace, who drove his own team and carted tor Cottesbrook. On one occasion he brought Ins wagon over the Rock and Pillar jusl behind Gladbrook Station. He had been on the Maniototo for some reason, and to save the long journey round the mountain. as his wagon was empty, he thought he would just cross over the mountain. Dut he got the fright of his life. I have been told it was a great sight to see the wagon come rumbling down the mountain. His leaders were tied behind, and if he had not had two good shatters his chances were nil. . On another occasion in the winter of 1889 the frosts were very severe,- and the creeks were frozen over, also the Taieri River at the Long .Ford. " Billy ” was coming down from Cottesbrook, and loox the ford on the ice. About halfway the ice broke, and the leaders went aown Fortunately, the Stephenson brothers, who lived nearby, saw the accident, and came to his rescue with axes, broke the rest of the ice, and Biliy went on his way. Pat Spratt also drove a team on the road for some years. He had a farm at Sutton, but his brother worked it when he was away. When the High School governors opened their block of land above Middlemareii many of the fanners had teams of three or four horses and dray, and did their own carting. The railway opening in iß9i did away' with the need of a lot of carting. I think there must have been teams on the road before 1878, as when we went there Gladbrook and Cottesbrook Stations, Garthmyl, and a few farms and houses were established, so there had been carting done before that date.—l am, etc., One of the Early Birds. Sir. —I have been reading with great interest about the early wagoning days and drivers of Otago. Bob Ure carted wood from Morven Hills over the Lindis Pass, and on one trip to the Kurow there were three wagon-loads put on one wagon and taken down to Oamaru—9o bales in the load. Harry Watson drove wool from Hakataramea with bullocks in 1906. Fred Bee drove a bullock team from Outram to Middlemarch and afterwards from Heriot to the Dunstan. Johnnie Brensell took the biggest load of wool over the Crown Terrace with Jack Cherry's team. Bill Paul took 22 bales of wool from the Holme Station to Outram on a steamboat dray. From Outram the old wagoners I can recollect were Billy Wallace, Tom Potter, Harry Welham, Fred Neoard, Johnnie Leslie, " Yankee Bill,” Jack Drummond, Sandy Drummond. Bill Paul, Bob Grant, Jack McGregor, Billy Petrie (with bullocks) and Billy Brensell. Wattie Stevens drove a team from Morven Hills and Mount Pisa. Jack Dennison was also on the Wanaka road; Jack Callagan drove Jack Cherry’s team to Wanaka; Jack Perry drove bullocks from Heriot to Dunstan. Jack Tyson carted pipes to the Lammermoor claim with bullocks. Jack McGregor brought 33 bales of wool out from Oamaru to Outram. Billy Watson, Tom Johnston and Charlie Webb drove bullock teams from Outram to StrathTaieri. —I am, etc., Anon.

Sir, —Your correspondent David Dunn is still wrong about the date of the “ Old Man Flood.” This term has been loosely applied to all and any of the three great floods of the pioneering days—lß63, 1868, and 1878. The first was the cause of the greatest loss of life (estimated at over 100). The last was the cause of the greatest material damage, several of the Molyneux bridges being swept away. The 1868 flood was a big one; but not quite so bad as the other two; there was the loss of one life—a German at Wyiie’s Crossing. The term " old man flood ” was essentially a digger’s expression—a digger of the dish and cradle days. It was rightly applied to the 1863 flood, and it was so applied. The expression came from Australia with the diggers; perhaps earlier it came from California.

In my youth I heard this very question of the intensity of the three floods being discussed by my father and others, all of whom had had experience of all three. They all agreed that the 1863 flood was the worst. It was, in fact, the " Old Man Flood,” and so they termed it.—l am, etc., A Correspondent.