Southern Trip Part 3 - Jackson River

In 1863, Julius Haast discovered the pass that bears his name, two years later Gold was discovered, and a 100 Miners arrived at Jackson Bay. The interest grew in the region, and in 1870 a proposal was put to the County Council to establish a settlement at Jackson Bay. By 1871 blocks of land were carved out for settlement. In 1874 the Provincial Government commenced work on cutting a track by which stock could be driven from the head of Lake Wanaka to Jackson Bay, via Haast Pass. Another track was also cut in 1875 by farmers at Haast, so stock could be driven from the Landsborough and Cascade valleys to sale yards at Whataroa which typically took at least two-weeks, such is the severity of the conditions on the tracks. In April 1875 the Nolan Family moved to the special settlement of Jackson Bay from Hokitika as part of Julius Vogel’s ambitious immigration and public works program. The Jackson Bay experiment was a failure, and the settlers struggled to farm poor land in extreme isolation. Most left, but Andrew and Mary Nolan stayed in the area, moving north to Okuru just south of Haast around 1882. The family established a farm there and acquired a pastoral run in the Cascade Valley. Beef Cattle, were the main product of south westland. Stock were mostly left to roam up the river valleys feeding on the rich grassy areas of the river flats. This is a video of one of the last Cattle drives    • Cattle Trail (1951)   A stock route was pushed through to the Cascade up the Jackson river, but it followed the river most of the way up and passed over a low saddle that separates the Martyr River from the Jackson. Due to the significant rainfall of the area, the track would often be scoured out, making access to the farm at Cascade and further south, impassable. A new road was eventually blown through the rocky bluffs high up above the flood plains, for all weather access to the Nolans southern block. The old road, however can still be traced on satellite imagery, and we are attempting to follow this old road as true as we possibly can to keep this historic route open for future generations to enjoy.