to introduce steam traction. the first light steam locomotive started work on 1 February. 1871. From the photographs it was an unusual looking train engine, but it ...
NAMAQUALAND TRANSPORTATION SERIES by Graham L.D.Ross
A five-part series, which appeared in S o uth African Transp ort October & November/December 2000, and when that was incorporated with Transport World Africa the series continued in Transport World Africa March, July/August & September/October 2001.
Part
I: The Pathfinders
(the picture before 1850)
Part2; The Copper Riders (early road transportation: 1850-1876) Part
3: The Railway Interlude (rail transportation: 1869-1941)
Part
4; The Transport Riders (road transportation: 1927-today)
Part
5: Floating and Flying (water and air transportation).
lTHE STORY 0F TRANSP0RT
PART
ll{ I'|AMAOUAIAI'|D
I
How pathfinders added to Namaqualand
Namaqualand, the region 'in the top left-hand corner' of South Africa, is a fascinating area, writes Graham Ross in the first of a five-part series on the history of transport in this area.
boots on, their radios turned off, and - listen to the silence. Once Namaqualand has grabbed you, you will return time after time
to enjoy the enchantment of the region. This series of short articles will try to explain a few of the highlights of this fascinating region's transport history. It all started when the Dutch East India Company's refreshment station on the shores of Table Bay, wanted to acquire fresh meat for the ships which called there. They did this by bartering with the local tribesmen who grazed their cattle and sheep nearby.
ix weeks after rain
has fallen, the strip of veld that was lucky enough to receive this bounty will burst into
a kaleidoscope of colour, unequalled elsewhere in our country. The highways and byways of the region will become full of people admiring the show. Those who are able to look beyond the flowers will appreciate that the area has an entirely different basic beauty, which has no need of gilding to make it attractive. Most of the year Namaqualand has a stark beauty and a variety of attractions which can be realised and appreciated only by those who are prepared to get off the beaten track, keep their eyes open, their walking
However, these folk were nomads, and
when local grazing became scarce they trekked off to Berg River, and then much further, where the grass was greener. Jan van Riebeeck's men had to follow them, and this started a continuing series of explorations, which penetrated progressively further and further into the interior. ln 1512 two Jesuit fathers. Da Silveira
and Fernandez, worked inland from Sofala,
south of Beira (Walker, 1928:18,19). Over the years of their ministry they sent back
tales of the great wealth of gold in the Kingdom of Monomotapa, which appears to have been near Mutare in Zimbabwe. This kingdom was then marked vaguely in the interior of the southern part of the continent on rather indefinite maps of that time. Expeditions towards Namaqualand started in 1655, when Jan Wintervogel got as far as Malmesburg (Becker, 1985:32). In 1661 a small party of intrepid pathfinders under Corporal Pieter Cruijthoff got as far north as Graafwater, west of Clanwilliam, where he learned a lot from Chief Akembie of the Koperbergen in the north (Burman, \969:23-25). This, incidentally, was the first contact between the colonists and the Namaquas.
Nobody got too excited about this report: they were more interested in the meat-on-
GRAHAM R0SS was the resident engineer on the Cape Provincial Roads unit which in 1949 and 1950 constructed the first bitumen-surfaced rural road in Namaqualand, between Okiep and Nababeep. He has returned to Namaqualand many times since then. ln 1996 he published privately Namaqualand: a transport+elated chronology and Namaqualand: an annotated bibliography, and in 1998 he completed a PhD (Transport Studies) disseftation on the interactive role of transpon and the economy of Namaqualand at the University of Stellenbosch. He is currently working on research into and documentation of the history of mountain passes, roads and transport in the Cape Colony and the Cape Province.
sArnilSmRT .
00T08ER
18
Anll
page of the Trinity College copy of the
him, intending to shoot; but the blunderbuss misfired, the rear catch striking the
'Dach Register'.
August 1685 at 10 o'clock in the morning ... we marched from the Fort of
front one. And the furious animal, which we otherwise were sure would have devoured the commander in our presence, by great fortune ran past him brushing against his body... It ran forth at great speed, away
He says: 'On
25
Good Hope with our
from us. Several others, who were on
baggage, being in
horseback, were also unable to avoid it, and
number 57 whites... apart from a certain
quit their horses in great consternation,
Dain Mangale,
a
Prince of Macassar, with his servant; and furthermore three black servants belonging to the
Commander. Our transport consisted
of one carriage with six horses, and eight es, two field guns,
they became more resolute in answering to what was asked of them'. They reached the Koperbergen, east of
eight carts, seven wagons, one of which was loaded with a boat, 289
Springbok, on 2l October 1685. Carolusber, one of the biggest open-cast copper mines in South Africa, is now only a stone's throw from where he sank one of
draught and pack of oxen; and in convoy
his prospecting shafts. They collected samples, also visited Okiep, and departed on 5
with us were also the
November. Retracing their north-bound track, they noticed that several of the
asses,
Simon van der Stel's joumey
the-hoof which Cruijthoff brought back. However, skipping a few years and coming to Simon van der Stel's time, when in 1681 a party of Namaquas arrived at the Cape with, among other trading wares, some
number
of slaves
and
admire the man who
It was only a year later in 1982 that the first party reached Namaqualand. Ensign Olof Bergh (who, incidentally, was a Swede: the DEIC was full of mercenaries) did not follow the old route which scrambled over Piekeniers Kloof and down the Olifants River valley, but broke new
One cannof
but
had the audacity to take his carriage along - and
\-=---\-
the ability to bring it back again ! Eleven days out, near
Piketberg,'a rhinoceros of unbelievable size appeared which headed straight for the middle of our procession with
ground by travelling west of the mountains
great fury and anger; he
through the Sandveld, stopping at the
ran along
famous Heerenlogement cave, and getting as far north as the Groen River at Garies (Mossop,
Hon. Commander was with his carriage, on whom
Commander at the Cape. got permission to lead an expedition to the Koperbergen, and so began an expedition, unique of its kind and in its time, which will never be
it bore down. The Hon. Commander barely had time to leave the carriage, but jumped down from it all the same
equalled again. There are numerous
with a blunderbuss in
descriptions of his party in various chronicles, but I favour Waterhouse (1979), who included in his book reproductions of each
the beast which was
l93l). Three years later Van der Stel, the
streamlets had dried up. The Amacquas
were also 46 servants, a
thoughts of Monomotapa surfaced, and the bartering expeditions were told to look out
a way beyond Namaqualand!
hors-
Olifant's river.' There
interpreters.
as well as for meal Unfortunately for this idea, Mutare is quite
l4 riding
wagons of six freemen, each drawn by eight oxen, who will take leave of us at the
bright green stones (Becker, 1985:57), for that rich kingdom
injuring themselves in various places'. Another writer says that Van der Stel had a wheel of his coach carried off on the horn of the rhino! Never a dull moment!! When they got to the Kamiesberg, near Garies, they had difficulty getting guides from the local Amacquas until the commander had some arrested. He entertained others 'with food, strong drink and tobacco', after which 'one could clearly notice
(
,.i "., F-+'a .t \;JAEESFC,1 r' 'r''
..r,".*,'L---
.,
\
sPnriiGirox".
it to the rear
/
where the
t..,. .t -.t1t't t
A
:.'
:
(
his hand and aimed at scarcely six yards from
SA INAilSPORT
.
()CMBER 2ll(lll
19
Namaqualand
THE STORY OF TRANSPORT IN NAMA(IUALAND
told them that the past rainy season was the lirst 1o wct the area in fbr-rr years - this and thc conrrnander's fbrtitude ntade the success of the expedition possible. On their way back to the Cape they callecl at various places along the coast. looking withor-rt sLlccess fbr a suitable harbour site. Thcy were troubled by sofi sand. lack of water. lack of firewood and lack of fbr the oxen. On 26 January 1686 -srazin-q Van der Stel led his cavalcade back into thc Fort. with his carriage. and without the loss of a sin-cle hr-rnran lif'e - which. if one leads the accounts of other expeditions at that time. was a considerable accorrplishnrent.
I want to mention another expedition, which is nry favourite because of the sheer
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING BecxrR, Prrrn, 1985. The pathfinders: a saga ol exploration in Southern Alrica. England: PenguinA/iking. Bunmnn, Jose. 1969. Who really discovered South Africa? Cape Town: Struik. Mossop, E E (ed). 1931. Journals 0t the expeditions ol the Honourable Ensign 0lol Gerg (1682 & 1683) and lsaq Schrijver (1689). Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1.12. Mossop, E E (ed.). 1935.The journals ol Hendrik Jaclb Wikar (1799), and of Jacobus Coetse, Janz (1760) and Willem van Reenen (1791). Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society, 1.15. Wnrxrn, Enrc A. 1928. A history ol South Alrica. London: Longman Green. WnrrRnousr, GrLsrnr. 1979. Simon van der Stel's journey to Namaqualand in 1685. Cape Town: Howard Timmins.
By
177
I there wele 20 white stock fhrm-
ers in Namaqualand. ancl that nurrber steadily increased. The white tlekboers
nonchalance of the leader. Jacobus Coetse.
sor-rth lived in pelf'ect halntony with the black nornadic stock fhrrnels fl'ont the north: their lif'estyles wcre afier all sim-
Jansz (the son
i
ofJan). a -9razier. got restless on his 'leenplaas' near Piketbelg. and went nolth in 1760 to hunt clephant, leaving his
wife to mind the farm. He took no field gLlns or suchlike with hinr. no soldiels, no
boat. no fellow colonists; only l2 Hottentots of the Gri-eriqua tribe who went alon-l .just fbr the fun of it. They wandered r-rp
via Koekenaap throush NarraqLtaland
from the
lar.
Most settled in the Kantiesber'-9 or 'rrass rtrountains' which wele lclatively cool in sunlnrer. with perrnanent sprinr:s. In winter' they rroved down into the coastal aleas olthe Sandvcld. The unfortunatc sntallpox epidernics of l7l 3 and 175-5 had attacked the tribes in the inteliol as well as the fblk around Cape Town. and there was plenty ol'
lirnit oi white exploration in the regionl
roorl fbr everyone. It took about six weeks to travel by wzigon florn Cape Town to the Kantiesber-q. but this time could be considerably leduced if part of the trip could be done by
(Br-rrman, 1969: 1.1:l-1u18: Mossop. 1935)
sea.
and into Narnibia. and when he crossed the Oran-9e River rrear Goodhouse he just happened to be the tirst white man to do so. the river having until then been the nortlrern
.
{t-r':
By 850 the farnrels had opened up 1
,
:,1
L :*
isq :_{" .;"s..
;*$
I
\ SA TRANSPORT
.
()CTOBER 2()OO
20
a
line of commnnication with the Cape. travelling by ox wa_qon to connect with coastin-s ships which callecl at the Hondeklip Bay anchoraee. This 'transportation facility' ntade it f'easible to comnrence nrinin-q the copper ole that had been lying unclisturbed fbr ntot'e tharr a century and a half because ol the dif-ficulty of getting the ploduct to the ntarket. Thc first shipment was I I tons of copper ore. carlicd to Hondeklip Bay cln wasons and loaded into the good ship 'Bosphorus' on 3l Au-sust 1852.
Thus the provision of trarrsportation
it possible fbl the region to enter the world of major nrining developntents. lalge nrade
laboLrl furces. and of tradin-g and expolting to outside nlarkets.
Namriqualand will never be the samc again. . ! Ne.i-t ttrottllt; Tlrc coltlter ritler.s .
NAMAOUALAI'|D TRANSP0RT HIST0RY
PART 2
Road transport between 1850 and 1876: the Gopper riders I nhad1850 Messrs Alexander and Peacock a trading store at Alexander Bay. I IMr Grace had one at Hondeklip Bay. of one mud hut and a few reed shelters,
for this purpose. It was a great opportunity to get some cash money, but trek wagons were really rather light for the job, and many who set out with 1400 kg of bagged ore arrived with only 900 kg of freight.
while Port Nolloth had only two or three
(Dickason, 35-36) They were paid per bag
inhabitants. (Smalber ger, 7 0-7 9) In 1850 copper mining started, with the first export of ore shipped from Hondeklip
delivered so there was no pecuniary advantage to losing some of the load. This copper riding was a hard and rugged exercise. An ox wagon would take six days
and that was it. Springbokfontein consisted
Bay in 1852. By 1854 annual copper exports exceeded the 1000-ton mark; by 1856 2000 tons, and by 1860 copper (all from Namaqualand) had become the Cape Colony's second most important export. (Cornelissen; Smalberger, 65-69; Steen-
from Okiep to Hondeklip Bay and four days on the return journey, while a mule wagon would take eight days for the round
trip. The rain, what there is of it, falls mainly
around
in winter and grass follows on but withers and dies in the summer heat. Water along
Springbok, and later Okiep and Concordia.
the riding routes is scarce and brack. So cli-
kamp, 42)
The mines were mainly
The product was shipped to Britain for treatment, and the major export anchorage
was Hondeklip Bay. The 'copper riders' carried it overland 125 km from the mining area to the port.
Initially these copper riders were the local farmers, of various ethnic groups, and they used their trek wagons and trek oxen
matic conditions dictated that there was only a short riding season, outside which there was no way for the miners to get their product to the port. (Hall, 16-14)
When the Cape Copper Mining Company started operations, cattle were plentiful in the district, and some farmers neglected their farms to take up copper riding. In time, however, the copper riders came to include in their ranks many who were dedicated freight riders, and copper riding was no longer purely a part-time occupation for farmers. With this increase in activity, the copper riders' stock was eating all the agricultural produce of the region, plus large amounts
of additional supplies imported from Malmesbury, plus large quantities of grass
$IAHAM R0SS was lhe residenl engineer 0n the Cape Provincial Roads unit which construcled the
litsl bitumen surlaces tutal toad in Namaqualand, belween okiep and Nababeep, in 1949 and 1950. He has returned to Namaqualand many times since lhen. ln 1996 he published privately Nanaqualand: a transport related chronology and Nanaqualand: an annotated bibliography, and in 1998, at the age 0l 74, he linilised his PhD (Transport Studies) disseilation The interactive role trcnspott and the economy ol Nanaqualand at the University ol Stellenbosch. He is curuenlly working on resealch into and documentation ol the history ol mounlain passes, roads and tlanspoil in the Cape Colony and lhe Cape Ptovince, ol which inlerim, limited, editions appeared in 1998 and 1999.
Today a national monumenl, this road, built between 1867 and 1871, was known as the Messelpad (masons'road) because ol its dry-stone letaining walls.
$ nilsPoRT . ltwEilmvoEcEfltEn
29
2rxt0
I'|AMAOUAIAI|D TRAIISP0RT HIST0RY
'q i
tti:jq,ie..i*
until hard roads could
ly here than on the Sandveld, as would be expected, and some places in the
This
Kamiesberg can receive more than 400 mm
ment to wheeled traffic
be provided.
sandy strip varies from
25 to 40 km in width along the whole coast-
line. Water is
very
scarce indeed, and fodder for draught animals
=/\
almost non-existent.
Rainfall is very low, a
:
^r,,rttr"Ptr
-r.-
t
rtagABti
u.f
( \
.
'-''
SPPTIJGBOx
although because of the cold northward flowing Benguela cuffent dense
mists occur along the strip immediately adjacent to the sea. Gravel suitable for road-making is in short supply.
Inland of the Sandveld is the Hardeveld,
again a north-south strip, about 50 to 60 km
wide.
It is an area of
vast granite domes and
rocky
mountains, rugged but beautiful, interspersed with the
llamaqualand
imported from Bushmanland. (C o rne lis sen, 39)
Then came drought years, and this setback was compounded by lung sickness, tiom which hundreds of draught oxen died. There was a serious suggestion in 1857 from government geologist Andrew Wyley
that camels should be used. as 'three
occasional sandy plain. ' At many places in this mountainous region, copper and other minerals have been found and worked. For much of its length, the western edge of the Hardeveld forms an escarpment which was a daunting barrier to the early travellers. Topography and exposed rock surfaces are the main obstacles to providing transport in this region. Rain falls much more frequent-
camels would cany a ton weight from the
mines to Hondeklip Bay or Robbe Bay (Port Nolloth) in three days - a task now requiring ten mules'. Although proven by use in other places, this suggestion does not appear to have been followed up in Namaqualand. In time mules proved more suitable than oxen, particularly over the mountain sections, and mules began to replace oxen in the 1860s, and by 187 I most of the draught animals were mules. (Burman, 230) But unsuitable vehicles, lack of forage and water, lung sickness, drought and the restrictions of the short riding season were not the sum of the adversities with which the copper riders had to cope. There was
also the lack of a constructed and maintained road between the mines and the port.
The geology and topography of Namaqualand is simple, and falls naturally into three groups. The most challenging in early transport history was the Sandveld, that 'beach' of soft sand. white at the coast but getting redder further inland, which proved an impedi-
in
a year. East of the Hardeveld is an area of sandy plains refereed to as Voor-Boesmanland or Little Bushmanland. In the north, along the Orange River, a more hilly area has mineral deposits which are being worked, but in the main it is sheep-farming country. The copper riders faced two main obstacles. One was the soft sand adjacent to the coast, which was sheer hell for them with their loaded wagons. To build a hard road for the fifty kilometres from the foot of the Hondeklip Bay mountains would have been
a monstrous task at that time, and all who investigated the problem agreed that the
best solution was to build a tramway or railway, at least over the portions where the sand was softest. Unfortunately for the copper riders, no one ever got around to doing anything about this, although the government did pass Act 15 0f 1865 authorising the Cape Copper Mining Company to construct such a railroad - an example of committees talking about what they should be doing. The second major obstacle was the western escarpment of the Hardeveld. For a distance of about thirty kilometres the copper 'road' scrambled over precipitous brows and mountain ridges, with little or no constructed formation. Because the high wagons could not angle up a mountainside (to reduce the gradient) without toppling over, they had perforce to travel at right angles to the contours, which meant that they had to go over the tops of the ranges. Small wonder that when the possibility of improving this portion of the route was investigated
the engineer, Richard Thomas Hall, 'formed a decided opinion that nothing can be done to put it into such repair as would lead to any practical result to the company I then turned my attention to see what facilities might be found for making a new road through the mountains'. Hall had been appointed by the copper company to report on the roads and system of transport from the mines to the coast. I was lucky enough to get hold of a copy of his 33-page report, which not only makes
F
good reading but also compels one's respect for his ability as an engineer. He came out from England in June 1865, and
F
teamed up with Patrick Fletcher, the government surveyor for the district, who had
been one of the many whose voices had been raised in attempts to get the government to do something about the copper road.
0kiep Gopper smelter smokestack.
ST
IilNPIIIT .
IOYEIUODECEIIER 2qN
30
We shall meet Hall again in the article on the mine railway: at present we are interest-
}IAMAOUATAI{D TRAIISPORT
H
IST(IRY
ed in the fact that. after six months' concentrated work, covering more than 2000 km of country and levelling and measuring 120 km of routes, he confirmed Fletcher's
through some of the toughest country in the
estimates of construction costs on the Hardeveld section of the Hondeklip Bay
engaged on the work. It has been suggested that these might be costed at two shillings and six pence per day - which considerably increased the cost of the road.
region. His total direct cost was 4025
pounds, but this did not make any allowance for the average of 150 convicts
road, and agreed his choice of a route to be constructed. (Hall, 1866)
By this time, the inhabitants of
The worst mountain section of the Hondeklip Bay road had finally been improved. Unfortunately it was a little late
Namaqualand must have been feeling as frustrated at their lack of success in getting the road authority to approve funds for the copper road construction as we are today at our lack of success in getting the people who hold the purse strings to approve adequate funds for the maintenance and essen-
tial expansion of the country's roads. Finally, in January 1867, the government took some action, but only after the promise of local assistance. (Cornelissen, 40-45: Kotzd) The Cape Copper Company undertook to provide transport and accommodation for the convicts to be employed on the proposed road construction and to pay two annual instalments of 800 pounds each to cover additional establishment costs. Fletcher, a qualified civil engineer, geol-
ogist and surveyor, was transferred from his post as government surveyor for the district to that of road inspector, falling under the chief inspector of roads for the Cape Colony, M R Robinson. He was placed in charge of the construction of the
to save the route as a copper riding facility, but the construction of the Messelpad has been greatly to the advantage of the local community and of those who visit the area ardous route across the mountain tops was hard and unfriendly, necessitating much blasting and manhandling of rock, but soon after starting construction he managed to open a track through the pass and the first
cart was able to go over the route on 28 October 1867. which in my opinion was pretty good going.
In the meantime, however, the position of transport by ox wagon had steadily deteriorated, and it had become apparent that this mode was unable to keep up with the increasing mining production. Towards the end of 1868 the Cape Copper Company decided that the situation was becoming critical. and it called Hall back to Namaqualand to construct the Port Nolloth
which is today a national monument and known as the Messelpad because of the
to Okiep railroad. This decision of the copper mines narurally reduced the pressure to complete the Messelpad deviation, let alone to allocate
dramatic dry-stone retaining walls through
finance to construct the remainder of the
Tiger Kloof. I am fortunate in having obtained a copy of Fletcher's survey plan,
Hondeklip Bay road. From then on Fletcher battled against a shortage of funds, but by March l87l he succeeded in constructing a usable road through the worst topography along the route, when his unit was disband-
deviation of the Hondeklip Bay road,
covering the entire route from Springbok to Hondeklip Bay. Fletcher started on the project in January 1867, and worked there until March 1871. The terrain through which he had to drive his road to avoid the existing steep and hazREFERENCE AND FURTHER READING
in caravans, even to this day. After June 1870, when Hall had brought
his tramway from Port Nolloth across the heavy sand to Abbevlaack, the emphasis tumed from riding copper ore to Hondeklip Bay to riding it to the railhead. This switch increased as the railhead advanced further and further towards Okiep, and when the steel reached the mines in January 1876 the era of the copper riders was effectively
over.
I
Next month's article in this five-part series has the title 'The railway interlude: 1869 to
1941'.
CA}E Cf,PPEB ]UINIIi6 COYP,!]IY
li ',
t \li
,
l'o li
1'
'1
ed.
Fletcher had constructed l4 km of 5.5-mwide road involving very heavy work
through Tiger Kloof, besides improving a considerable length of approach roads,
Hall's 1866 report.
Bununru, Jose. 1969, Who really discovered South Africa? Cape Town. Struik. CoRruelrssen, fuwvr'r. 1965. Namaqualand copper history. Nababeep: The Author. Drcrnsor,r, GnnHnv Bnrnru. 1978. Cornish immigrants to South Africa. Cape Town: A A Balkema.
Hnt,
RrcraRo Tnouns. 1866. Report on the ! I
roads and system of transpoft from the Cape
Copper Company's mines to the coast of Nanaqualand. Truro, Cornwall. Korze, Dn Genr J. 1 996. Die bou van die Messelpadpas: 6 Februarie 1 867-31 Maart 78l1. Springbok: Namakwaland Streeksdiensteraad.
SMnrseRcen, JoHru M. 1975. A history of copper mining in Namaqualand: 1 846-1931 . Cape Town: Struik. Srerruxnup, Wrt-rru. 1975. Land of the Thirst King. Cape Town: Timmins.
Flelcher's plan ol the Messelpad.
$l nilsP0Rr . ltoYEttER/ltEGil8En ano
31
South African
TRANSPORT
NannaqualanC's ra way interl ude
AFRICAN TRANSPORT HISTORY
and they provided a lirm riding surface so that the vehicles did not sink in when the ground surface was soft. Also, draught animals pulling wagons on rails could manage four times the load that was possible on the roads
of two feet six inches (0,76 metre), with light 18 pounds per yard (9 kilograms per metre) rails. So rapid was the construction that the first thirty five kilometres over the really soft sand to Abbevlaack was brought into operation on 30 June 1870. the rails reached the edge of the sandy section at the foot of the escarpment towards the end of the same year. This 75 kmO section across the sand, the
of that time. Initially when animal traction
really critical part of the new copper riding
was used these railroads were termed "tramways", but with the advent of steam
route, could be divided into two portions with
Th" advent of the tramway or railway in I the nineteenth cenlury was another I great step forward. The rails enabled vehicles
to travel (comparatively)
smoothly,
traction they became known as "railways".
The main benefit which accrued to
a
region such as Namaqualand where distances were great and transportation difficult was the improved ability to move heavy loads over
unfriendly terrain. In Namaqualand, as elsewhere where rail\ /ays were introduced, the popularity of this new-fangled means of transport resulted in roads deteriorating as a result of neglect. This was however, only an interlude in the reliance on road transportation: roads have now once again become the dominant transportation mode.
Thomas Hall, who in 1866 reported to the Cape Copper Mining Company on the system
of transport between their
mines and the
coast, preferred Port Nolloth to Hondehlip Bay as a loading port, and also the road to the Port to that to the Bay. He suggested the construction of a tramway over the wide soft sand strip
inland of the Port. to facilitate movement here. Unfortunately, he had been briefed too late for his report to prevent the company
from becoming committed to working with the Government on the construction of the Messelpad, so his fine engineering report was shelved for the time being.
However, the ore transportation situation went from bad to worse, and finally in the latter part of 1868 the copper company called him back to South Africa to carry out the survey and design for a railroad across the sand belt. (Moffatt, \972)
Hall commenced construction on
4
September 1869 (Burman, 1984:42-44; Hall, 1871). He built a tramway with a gauge
differing charact.eristics. Over the first portion, because of Hall's understandable desire to avoid starting sand drift by making deep cuttings through the soft sandhills, the line had a curving and undulating character. In
tl
Uliil
i'ill.'i'
ir:itlt Ialts/to/1
,4lr
rsir ,,"u'riltlS lllitt li itt : lliiill' rSi iiilrl:ll-ia)l-t :i li-r il lt'.',.'l'l-l Fl,
f
1
11
ii-lr,,^,rt
;il
il -tt:t
riir"i0r
ilti,r| |1
,
,,,,"
i ta)r
._,
lll:,.
valley, so that quite long straights were possi-
tu,1li
ble. The maximum grade in the sandhill section was 1 in 50 and in the valley section 1 in 170.
Si lSi--r:l)irl
do this at grade, resoning that it would be cheaper to replace a length of the track were it washed away than to build a long bridge. AIso, undoubtedly, the fact that construction of eagerly awaited rail facility would not be delayed by building this bridge had an influ-
At three other rivers he was able to find crossing points were the
i
Nilrr t'rt]i riliil --- r(l il,:ll l:ll )t)r I :r I I )|tiitric( i if oll-r li la,. l;,i:-i :r::l trr r ri Sr riilli
the second section the line was out of the coastal sandhills, running along a wide sandy
Hall took a realistic view of drainage structures. He had to cross the one hundred metre wide dry bed of the Kama river and decided to
l.1l I
.i,
EL
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banks were higher and the stream beds narrower: here he built timber girder bridges on stone piers. As regards culverts, he adopted the repair-if-washed-away principle, and built
only six in the whole 75 kilometre length. (Hall was of course faced with the perpetual design engineer's quandry: does the client appreciate the possibility of, and will he be prepared to accept without recrimination and condemnations, any additional repair costs which may possibly arise in the future, as a contra to the assured benefits which he will initially receive by way of reduced construction timne and costs?) The narrow gauge project across the sand was a great success, and was worked from
Richard Thomas Hall later surveyed the diamond fields for the Cape Railways and the Pretoria to Lourenqo Marques route for President Burgers, At the time of his death he had accepted an appointment as general manager of the Free State railways, He was a great engineer whose achievements merit more appreciation than they have received in the professional annals of our country,
Transport World Africa MAFCH
zoor
3
33
ltj7O to 1942,
a period of more
years (Mol'latt,
1 c) 7
than seventy
2).
ln
1tJ70 12 000 tons of high grade ore were extracted at the mines but only 7 300 tons of this had reached the export harbours. With the tramway in operation over the Sandveld the export figure climbed to 13 24O tons in 1872 (Smalberger, 7975:127). It is thus small wonder that the Cape Copper Mining Company was most appreciative of the immediate and lasting solution which the
tramway offered to the transportation problems which had at one time looked like threatening to force the closure of the mines,
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING Burman, Jose. 1984 Early railways at the Cap. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.
"H H" 1875. The Cape revisited: Namaqualand, and: the railway from Port Nolloth to 0'okiep. Cape Monthly Magazine. X1 ; August:120127
; and September:1 92.
Hall, Richard Thomas. 1871. The little railway in Namaqualand . Cape Monthly Magazine. New Series, V11;
and decided to extend the line further. The next 20 kilomctre section includes the Anenous Pass, where the line climbs 405 metre up the escarpment in only 12 kilometres, at an average gradient of 1 in 29.8 and a maximum grade of 1 in 19. This was a design and construction feat of some considerable magnitude as anyone who has studied the topography will appreciate. ("H.H.", 1875) fean Marie Simon, later Bishop to the Hottentots, Ie[t us a record of his impressions whe n he travelled up the pass in 1882:
"The construction of the railroad on this mountainside is a masterpiece of engineering. The grade was calculated with a view to the locomotive that would some day replace the mules. The engineer who solved the problem certainly gave proof of his immense
April:250-256.
knowledge. The ascent lasted about two hours, and at two points bridges had been thrown over ravines. These bridges were
Moffatl, Henry Robert. 1972.
about sixty five feet high.
The railways and transport in early Namaqualand.
'As we approached the summit of the mountains we were rerninded of the gorges of Switzerland or the Tyrol. There were drops
Monographs, south African Library reference MSB 356. Part published in "SASSAR"; August, September and 0ctober, 1974.
0'okiep Gopper Gompany ("OCC"). 1952. Namaqualand copper: 1 852-1 952. Cape Town: R.Beerman
Robertson,DGl9TS.Ife Namaqualand Railways Li ne. The Civil Engineer in South Af ri ca. Dece m ber :327 -329.
Simon, Jean Marie. 1959. Bishop for the Hottentot: African memories: 1 882-1 909. New York: Benziger Broithers lnc.
Smalberger, John M. 1975. 4 history of copper mining in Namaqualand. 1 846-1 931 Cape Town: C.Struik (Pty) Ltd. .
34 e
over 2 0(X) feet. The road had been hewed out of the rock, and there was just room enough for one man between the "Special" and rocks.
When we loolpd over the precipoces we felt dizzy.The view was grand, but it was hard to enjoy it because we were terrified when we
metres of railway was
1
64 219 pounds (smal-
berger, 1975:1(X)). To
put this cost into
perspective, at the time that approval was given to start construction, a pile of ore to the value of f,150 000 had accumulated at Okiep alone because there was not enough transport to move it to the coast, and the total value of ore awaiting transportation at all the
Namaqualernd mines was estimated at f 500 000 (Hall, 1871), The railway made it possible not only to eliminate this backlog, but also to cope with increased mining production
(occ, 19s2). Mules were initially used to pull the rail wagons, but a number of attempts were made
to introduce steam traction. the first light steam locomotive started work on 1 February 1871. From the photographs it was an unusual looking train engine, but it apparent-
ly performed well, according to Hall (1871) doing daily the work of 500 mules. The great drawback was that it used a lot of water, and water being very limited it was necessary to draw a tender with water sufficient for a 50 kilometre run, a dead weight of three tons. This consumption of water was in fact such a problem that when, later, the whole line was worhed by steam traction, the mines die not immediately do away with their mule teams, but kept them for use in severe droughts, as the mules used less water than the locomotives!
Unfortunately these first little engines proved prone to expensive mechanical breakdowns and in 1876, at the same time as the line reached Okiep, they were taken off main Iine work and mules were used over the whole length of the track - with the exception of the down run from Klipontein. The custom there was to couple the trucks together at Klipfontein, at the top of Anenous Pass, and
allow them to run down by gravity with brakemen on each truck checking the speed on the steeper sections.
In 1886
steam traction was tried again.
looked into the abyss beneath our feet. We
These second generation engines were special
were afrtrid in spite of ourselves. What if the rotrd should cave in! What if the 'Special' should be derailed! What ifthe mules should
condensing type to combat the shortage of water. Unfortunately, because of the usually high ambient tcmperatures in Namaqualand the condensing coils (which relied on atmclspheric cooling) did not work too well! These engines in turn were replaced by special powerful Kitson "mountain" type Iocomotive which finally provided successful
loose their footing!" (Simon, 19 59)
You will undoubtedly be relieved to hear that the good Bishop's fears proved foundless, and that he reached his destination safely! the line was then extended the further 55 km to the mines at Okiep, 930 metres above sea level. The formal opening took place, undoubtedly with an appropriate display of bunting and encouraging noises from the local drum and fife band, on New Year's Day, 1876 (Burman, 1984:45,46). This must have been a great day for all concerned. The total cost of constructing the 150 kilo-
Transport World Africa MARCH 2001
steam service right through to Okiep from l5 March 1893 (Robertson, 1978). On the steep section up Anenous Pass adhesion to the rails was critical. I am told that it was the custom for a man to sit between the buffers at the
front of the locomotive. armed with a short handled dish-like scoop. With this he scraped up sand from the track, which he then drib-
bled onto the rails
in front of the driving
wheels to lessen the possibility of wheel spin, and this apparently worked very well indeed. The ore (and other goods) wagons were small, four wheeled trucks, with low centres gravity, each capable of carrying two and a half to three tons. The passenger wagons were hnown as "specials" they had to be specially requested if one wished to travel as a passenger. Initially they were also four wheeled boxes, with a canopy and side curtains. In 19O9 a proper three compartment passenger coach, with a real toilet, was introduced. Travel in the passenger "specials" has been described by various people, some sarcastically. some amusingly, and some with glowing
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The Frenchman Jean Marie Simon (1959) arrived in Port Nolloth on a cold, foggy day. He says:
t
Moffatt's plan of narrow gauge railway.
"We were hoping to... jump into a compart-
ment and at least have some shelter. But nothinh came in sight except some mules with harnesses on their backs. We wondered what these beasts were doing in the African sand.
"I cannot describe our amazement when we saw that the mules were lirmly harnessed to a few little carriages. Yes, this was the trainl These rolling boxes were our dining and sleeping cars, these mules were our engines. Each passenger carriage had three mules, and the freight cars, which were coupled in groups of three, were pulled by six mules harnessed in single file and trotting between the rails. The whole train consisted of about sixty mules and
{;rf-:
thirty cars... "H.H" ( 1 8 75) was much more appreciative. He says: "... seated in a most comfortable passenger truck, with every necessity or even Iuxury of life packed in it for use, we got salong in a most jolly manner..."
He had not, like His Eminence, come straight from Paris, but had previously been travelling in the eastern areas of Colony, and with the only alternative available locally at that was comparing this manner of rail travel
- a horse, a Cape cart or a wagon! The narrow gauge railway from port
time
Nolloth to Okiep was a fantastic civil engineering achievement, for its time, or indeed for any time. You willl probably only fully appreciate it once you have seen the old embankments,
cuttings and structures on the ground. Remember, please, that in 1876, when the 150 kilometres of rail was opened through to Okiep, the main railway line from Cape Town was only 72 kilometres long, stretching as far as Wellington. Small wonder that the Cape Chamber of Commerce called Hall in when they wanted someone to find a route along
which the rail could be extended from Wellington to Worcester!
Mules pulling rail wagons
Transport World Africa MARCH 2001
e
35
