Remains_of_Lidgerwood_hauler_at_Port_Craig

Port Craig is located along the south coast (

Te Waewae Bay Te Waewae Bay is the westernmost of three large bays lying on the Foveaux Strait coast of Southland, New Zealand, the others being Oreti Beach and Toetoes Bay. Twenty-seven kilometres in length, the western end of the bay is mountainous, with th ...

) of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

near

Tuatapere Tuatapere is a small rural town in Southland, New Zealand. It is the self declared "Sausage Capital of New Zealand". Tuatapere is located eight kilometres from the southern coast. The Waiau River flows through the town before reaching Te Waewa ...

. It was a small logging town born in 1916, with 200+ men women and children living there in its prime. Like other New Zealand bush towns, Port Craig was inhabited by hardy

kiwi Kiwi most commonly refers to: * Kiwi (bird), a flightless bird native to New Zealand * Kiwi (nickname), a nickname for New Zealanders * Kiwifruit, an edible berry * Kiwi dollar or New Zealand dollar, a unit of currency Kiwi or KIWI may also ref ...

bushmen and their families, recent immigrants and a few others trying to keep clear of the law. The Marlborough Timber Company had a large scale plan to log one of the countries last significant coastal forests. The company planned big, they built the Dominion's largest sawmill, an extensive tramway system, port facilities and township all without road access. The bush was worked by the

Lidgerwood Lidgerwood was a historic American engineering company famous for its boilers, winches, scrapers, hoists and cranes, particularly ones that helped build the Panama Canal. They later built logging yarders and aerial tramway An aerial tram ...

overhead logging cable system (gantry) that weighed over 50 tonnes. The immense size of the gantry meant that it was very difficult to relocate in the inhospitable forest and after one major shift, the gantry was left redundant, crippling the local logging industry. Port_Craig_Wharf_2

All that is left of the town is considerable relics including the gantry base, a large English built wince (built in Hull) that operated on the wharf and thousands of bricks. There is also a fairly complete bakers oven and the original school building that is now used as a trampers hut.

History

Whaling

Mussel Beach had the remains of a

whaling station Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry a ...

and a 6-oared whaling boat in 1877.

Tracks

The track from Bluecliffs via Mussel Beach to Puysegur was improved when a phone line was erected in 1908, the first base camp being at Mussel Beach. Cages were installed to cross the major rivers. It was further improved in 1919 and 1920 to a horse track from Bluecliffs to Port Craig.

Logging

The logging days commenced in 1917 and continued till about 1929, when it shut down in the face of the looming depression.

Tramway

Work started on the 3 ft 6 in ( NZR gauge) Port Craig tramway in 1917. It ran south from Port Craig, parallel to the coast, for to Wairaurahiri River, with a further of branches. It extended over a mile from the mill by 1921 and was extended in 1924. The line was worked by steam locomotives from 1919, including the largest bush locomotive built by

A & G Price A & G Price Limited is an engineering firm and locomotive manufacturer in Thames, New Zealand founded in 1868. History A & G Price was established in 1868 in Princes Street, Onehunga by Alfred Price and George Price, two brothers from Stroud, ...

, a Meyer type Ar 0-4-4-0T, which was on the line from 1926 to 1931. The rails were removed in 1939.

Nature

The area is remote from any big towns or districts, and this led Port Craig to keep surrounding natural environment at its beauty.

Southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...

s and

Hector's dolphin Hector's dolphin (''Cephalorhynchus hectori'') is one of four dolphin species belonging to the genus ''Cephalorhynchus''. Hector's dolphin is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand, and comprises two subspecies: ''C. h. hectori'', the more nu ...

s sometimes can be seen cavorting close to shores. As early as 1896 it was observed that

ferrets The ferret (''Mustela furo'') is a small, domesticated species belonging to the family Mustelidae. The ferret is most likely a domesticated form of the wild European polecat (''Mustela putorius''), evidenced by their interfertility. Other muste ...

seemed to have exterminated

weka The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen (''Gallirallus australis'') is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus ''Gallirallus''. Four subspecies are recognize ...

s and kakapo as far west as the

Waitutu River The Waitutu River is a river in southern Fiordland, New Zealand. It is the outlet of Lake Poteriteri to the sea. See also *List of rivers of New Zealand This is a list of all waterways named as rivers in New Zealand. A * Aan River * Acher ...

Walking Tracks

Parts of the tramway were cleared in 2009 to form a route for the Hump Ridge and South Coast Tracks and the school became a

hut A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

References

External links

1:50,000 map

Photo of Lidgerwood hauler about 1921School hut
{{coord, 46, 13, S, 167, 21, E, display=title, region:NZ_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki History of Southland, New Zealand Ghost towns in Southland, New Zealand Foveaux Strait