A BIT OF HISTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 97, 27 April 1933, Page 10

A BIT OF HISTORY

McKinnon pass RIVAL EXPLORERS WISDOM OF BIRDS. Thc current issue of thc New Zealand Railways Magazine, which > brought out on a bigger scale than hitherto, preserves and extends its railway interest, and also its leaning towards New Zealand open-air life, the call of thc wild, and Maori and pakeha records. Under the heading of “Famous New Zealanders,” “J.C.” begins a scries with Fiordland, and the' names of Donald Sutherland and Quinton McKinnon. Thcr<y is room here for somethig about the latter, who walked in October, ]BBB, from Tc Anau to Milford Sound over the. pass that bears his name.

A High Quest. It seems that while Quinton McKinnon was trying from the To Anau side to find a gay to Milford Sounl ; at. ’east one other pathfinder had his eyes on this high quest—high in every souse. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas Mackenzie ’’was an enthusiastic and courageous amateur explorer in those days. Ke, too, was ambitious to discover a pass to connect To Anau with the coast.” On the suggestion of the Chief Surveyor of Otago (Mr. C. W. Adams) he tried a creek that was found to offer no route. Later, following the observed flight of ’bird(black swans), Mr. Adams maintained (as is evidenced in a letter printed below) that adoption of thc second suggestion would have placed Mackenzie over the pass before McKinnon. In 1888 Mackenzie went with Adam’ to Milford Sound. Mackenzie had exploring interests, and tho chief sur veyor had various interests. Donald Sutherland, another noted explorer and discoverer of Southland Falls, had contracted with tho Government to cut a track aloncr the Arthur River from the head of Milford Sound. The chief inspector’s duties included the inspection of that track, and the measuring of the height of Sutherland Falls. yj.C.” states: “The rest of the story is told in a narrative which tho ]ato Mr. C. W. Adams (ho. was the father of the present Government Astronomer, Dr. C. E. Adams) wrote for me in the form of a letter, dated May 31. 1906;” Here is the narrative; A Little Friction. “I may state that there was a little friction between Tom Mackenzie and myself. He wanted to monopolise Donald Sutherland altogether to help him in his exploration. Now, I had to inspect Sutherland’s contract for cutting the track to the falls, and only a

limited time to do it in, so it was necessary that Sutherland should ac company me, as a good deal of his work was not up to the mark. Mackenzie used to express his contempt for surveyors as explorers. He sail they wore all right with a theodolite and chain, but when it came to exploring they were not in it. And Le lost no opportunity of ridiculing my faith in McKinnon, as I said if there was a pass I was sure McKinnon would find it. “And what made Tom Mackenzie more savage was thc fact that if lie had followed my advice he would have been the first over the pass. It was true that I advised him to try Joe’s River (at the head of the Arthur), but it was found to head in thc wrong direction. But one morning, one of the road men told me that he had seen ‘ three explorers’ come over the pass, and ho pointed up towards where Me Kinnon’s Pass is. So I said: ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well,” he said, ‘I was up this morning by daybreak, and 1 looked up and saw three black swan.* coming over to this side from th” other, and as birds generally fly over the lowest gaps in a range. I shnuM not be surprised if that is where thc pass is.’

Theodoliter’s Rejected Advice. told Tom Mackenzie of this, and strongly urged him to explore up in the direction of Roaring Creek—only it had not been so christened at that time. He refused point-blank, as he said he had taken my advice once and gone up Joo’s Creek, and ho saw enough then to convince him there wa. no pass in that direction except whal birds could fly over. But instead of trying where I advised, ho explore! the head walers of the crock that flows past thc foot of thc Sutherland Falls. I told him if he did find a pass in that direction it would not lead him into To Anau, but rather into one of the West Coast sounds. “You may perhaps ask why ] did not take a hand in the search for a pass, but I had my hands more than full of my own work. I had to make a sketch survey of thc track and the valley of the Arthur and fops of all tho country in sight, and measure the height of th« Sutherland Falls as well, and get back lo Milford Sound in time for tho coal steamer which was to call in for us. by a certain day. and we just managed lo get through in time.” A few days after that (October, 1888) McKinnon camo down the valley from the direction where the black swans had flown. He had penetrated the Clinton Valley, climbed the watershed between that gorge and the Arthur, and crossed the saddle that is now known as McKinnon’s Pass. Ho was all alone. So ho was the first man to find a way from Lake To Anau to Milford Sound.