Skippers Canyon
Skippers Canyon is a 22 km long canyon north of Queenstown in the south of the South Island of New Zealand. The Canyon branches off today from the road from Queenstown to Coronet Peak - from ski field. The canyon was dug by the Shoot Over River and was one of the richest gold deposits in New Zealand. The river got its name from William Gilbert Rees, who was with his wife Francis and his brother Nicholas von Tunzelmann the first European settlers in the area of today's Queenstown.
The beginning of the Gold Rush
In November 1862 Thomas Arthur and Harry Redfern found on the territory of Arthurs Point over 3 hours about 4 ounces (about 113 grams ) of gold. As Arthur and Redfern made no secret of their discovery, soon also tried a variety of other gold mining their luck in the valley. This was the beginning of a mining sites of the Otago gold rush. Soon after the beginning of the gold rush prospectors Shoot Over the River known as the " richest river in the world " There is no evidence, however, since no official records of the amount of gold actually found to exist.
Charlestown
Charlestown was a small settlement in Skippers Canyon. After the first discovery of gold prospectors followed upriver of gorge on Arthurs Point addition. They had it their way across trackless hills find, as the river itself was deep and fast and extends over large parts in steep-walled canyons. The miners came nonetheless facing upriver and went where it was possible down to the river. Soon there was a significant gold discovery at the site then known as " Māori Point". The two Māori miners Dan Ellison ( Raniera Erihana ) and Hakaria Maeroa reached a hidden canyon in Skippers Canyon. Since the opposite shore looked promising, they tried to cross the river. One of her dogs tried to follow them and was washed away. Ellison came to his aid and rescue him konne On the shore he saw some gold particles in crevices and the sand began to study under. The two collected at this point before nightfall about 8.5 kg of gold.
This discovery was the birth of Charles Town, which was built on the flat land in Māori Point. It originated hotels, butchers, bakers, post office and a bank. There was a police station and a local magistrate ( justice of the peace ), who was appointed to resolve disputes about claims. Charlestown experienced a brief boom with up to 1000 inhabitants. 1864 which reduced the easily accessible part of the gold and the population dropped to 400 today only remembers little of Charlestown: stones of a fallen chimney, a small plaque and an information board.
Skippers Point
Skippers Canyon and Point were named after ' Skipper ' Malcolm Duncan, who found in 1862 at today's Skippers Point gold. Born in Northern Ireland worked Duncan a few years on American vessels, and thus received the nickname ' Skipper '. Duncan was attracted by the gold rush and found on a tributary of the River Shoot Over, today Skippers Creek, gold. This area soon became known as " Skippers Point" or " skipper ".
In addition to Duncan several other gold mining claims from infected area of Skippers Point, exploiting them until the early 1900s. The remains of their water canals, dams, Schwemmanlagen and spoil heaps are still visible today. How Charlestown Skippers Point had initially stabilized to 1000 residents to 1864, had their number at about 200. At a time were six hotels in the resort. Today, the buildings of the farm Mount Aurum Station and the stone school building and the cemetery are still visible. "
Skippers Road
The line passing through the canyon Skippers Road is one of the lesser known roads used by tourists in New Zealand. She is one of two roads in New Zealand, which should not be accessible with car hire, so there is no insurance coverage for here. The road is open to the public, the narrow street offers but mostly only room for one vehicle and is limited over long distances on one side by steep cliffs, on the other side of a partially several hundred meters deep slope.
At the beginning of the gold rush was no path in the canyon available. By their horses pulling through the canyon miners emerged paths. Although they were uneven and steep, they offered access to 1863 Deep Creek, Māori Point and Skippers. These paths, however, were uncertain and sometimes the pack horses went its cargo lost.
The need for a safe road to Skippers, where you could also transport heavy equipment for gold mining grew. Thus, the Skippers Road was about 1883 measured. The road was built by four contractors in several stages over the next 7 years. Many parts of the road today are in a similar state as 1890.
However, the road was then limited to the valley of low dry stone walls. After the horse-drawn vehicles had been replaced by cars, the walls were demolished a few remnants and used for road surfacing.
It has been said that for the road more money was spent than all the gold recovered could bring. This comment, however, is to look more figuratively, pushing the huge costs and the difficulties in their construction and maintenance of. The volcanic stone is so soft that it is ground to dust quickly through the traffic that turns into a wet greasy mud. Therefore, motor vehicles were at the beginning of the 1900s prohibited on the road.
At this time, the gold rush was mostly gone, leaving some residents of Queenstown District saw potential for a possible use of the road as a tourist attraction. Soon after completion of day trips by horse-drawn carriages with 10 seats from Queenstown were offered, the 8 Start the clock in the morning and reached the Mt Aurum Station at Skippers Point after five hour drive. After changing horses are awarded 18 clock again Queenstown. The fare of 19 shillings morning tea and lunch were included.
There were petitions to also allow cars in the canyon and others who wanted to prevent this. The dispute was finally decided by the court: the author allowed Canyon navigate the future, but this had a permit to be obtained and also the usage times were set. Violations were punished with a fine of $ 10.
Skippers Bridge
Built in 1866 the first bridge over the river at Skippers Point was a suspension bridge, which was only 6 meters above the water level and was easily damaged during floods. The next bridge was built in 1871 at the same place. The transition was difficult, as to both the canyon steep access roads had to be overcome. When the road was completed to Skippers Point, plans for a new, approximately 100 -meter distance over the river bridge were made. The work on it started in 1898 and lasted for two years. In March 1901, the bridge was officially opened by the Minister of Mines and replaced the old bridge. The stone driveways of the old bridge can still be seen from the street.
Power generation
Bullendal, a small gold mining town was up about 4 hours to walk from the end of the Skippers Skippers Canyon Road to the first place in the New Zealand electricity generated by hydropower in the industrial scale.
Today's use
The mining industry has been set, all abandoned settlements. Today, still live in two places farmers in the valley.
Nowadays it is mainly a tourist attraction is the valley and the Skippers Road. It was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust on 15 December 2006 under number 7684. Two companies provide with all-wheel drive minibuses on trips into the canyon; The number of visitors was limited to protect the valley.
Earlier commercial bungee jumps were offered by a steel bridge over the Shoot Over River in the central part of the canyon. It will be available at the bottom of the canyon rafting trips down the River Shoot Over and speed boating. The valley is also used for outdoor storage of New Zealand schools.