Ladismith Passes & Poorts

A Dr Wangemann, inspector of the Berlin Mission Stations, travelled through the Caledon Kloof on 1 November 1866 and described the route as extremely beautiful but frightening, for it passed between high rock walls that almost touched one another in places, the passage being so narrow that there was insufficient room for both the stream and the road. There were potholes half a meter deep alternating with huge rocks, and the kloof was – not surprisingly – littered with broken wheels, bits of wagon and skeletons of oxen. It was quite impassable when it rained. During 1882 a ‘flying survey’ or reconnaissance to investigate the possibility of a rail line was carried out. The report stated that “the kloof was narrow – too narrow to carry both the road and a rail line, and with perpendicular krantzes of hard sandstone on both sides; the whole breadth of the valley being occupied by the river and road in some places. The road must be sacrificed for the railway, and the former would be taken by way of Huis River”. The whole bed of the kloof was totally washed away by a flood in May 1885, and this was the end of any thoughts of developing Caledon Kloof as a permanent route between the two valleys.

The mountains here, as in Seweweekspoort and Meiringspoort, are composed of sedimentary sandstone strata, originally laid down under the sea and forced upwards by such tremendous pressure that they have been warped and twisted into the most intricate shapes (Cape ripple mountains). Richly impregnated with oxidised iron and manganese, the sandstone is so vividly coloured in red, orange and yellow, that it seems aglow with fire.

Vegetation in the pass consists mainly of succulent karoo: Aloe speciosa (slaphoring alwyn), Dioscorea hemicrypta (olifantsvoet), Portulacaria afra (spekboom) as well as Rhigozum obovatum (wilde/geel granaat, Karoo gold) and Nymania capensis (klapperbos).

The gorge is 17 km long, following the course of the Huis River (derived from a Khoi word for ‘willows’) at a level of 600 – 1 000 metres above sea-level through the mountains. One theory about the origin of the name of Seweweekspoort is that it is named after a Berlin Mission Society preacher Louis Zerwick, who did his good work in the vicinity. Most authorities though accept the explanation that the name is derived from that of the Seven-weeks fern (Rumohra adiantiformis), called Seweweeksvaring in Afrikaans, which occurs in moist places and crevices.

Dr. Atherstone wrote:
“ …the most wonderful gorge or mountain pass I have ever beheld. For twelve miles you travel bare walls of vertical rock, in part 3 000 feet high, twisting and twining as the mountain stream winds through the flexures and curves of the mountain chasm, crossing and re-crossing, I am told more than thirty times; in part so narrow there is scarcely any room for the river and road – yet an excellent wagon road has been made through it with comparatively little expense; and certainly, nowhere in the Colony have I seen so wonderful a pass – a clean zigzag cut through the whole thickness of the rock formation of the range from top to bottom. When once you enter, no appearance of exit is there for two hours and a half; but you are constantly meeting new scenes, over which quartzose cliffs, curved and fractured in every direction – now red vertical peninsula formation sandstone, with flexures and arches jammed together in inexplicable confusion, as if jammed together laterally by prodigious force – at the next turning, gentle ripple-like rock waves, with blue slate – and high overhead, bright-yellow lichened crags, making the neck ache in an attempt to look up at them, with a small chink of sky overhead; shut up in front and behind, with the white riverbed below, or on one side curved with huge quartz boulders, and fringed with green trees – Virgilia oroboides(keurboom), wagenboom, aloes, and succulents nestling in the rock fissures high above you. How few know of this extraordinary mountain gap!”

All these remarks – even the last sentence – apply today, many decades later: the road still has a gravel surface. Seweweekspoort is possibly one of the most awe-inspiring and spectacular of all the mountain ravines in the country. Nobody can blame the author and poet C Louis Leipoldt for calling it one of the “seven wonders” of the old Cape Province. The magnificent vertical rockfolds, reaching for the skies on both sides of the road, reflect the inconceivable forces of the volcanic eruptions millions of years ago, forming the chain of Cape ripple-like mountains. Often the converging slopes leave only a narrow pass, just broad enough for the Huis River to pass through, whilst the precipices of naked, distorted rock-faces tower like walls of a natural rampart, obscuring the sun.
The ruins of the original Toll house can still be seen at the northern entrance to the poort. It is believed that the ghost of one of the first toll gate keepers still wanders amongst the ruins. On dark, stormy nights a couple of motorists have already been stopped by a man with a lantern. As soon as they approach him, he disappears!

Adam De Smidt built Bosluiskloof pass while and after working on Seweweekspoort to complete the natural link from Prince Albert to the west. It was not particularly heavy construction, but the pass has a beauty of its own. Atherstone was equally impressed by ‘a boundless sea of blue mountains, cones and peaks, table tops and jagged lines of hillocks, tinged with the faint blush of early morn – the huddled groups of hills in the mid-distance, still in deep shadow; with the aloes and crassulas, and the fantastic rocks of the Zwartberg on our right and the road winding down the steep side of the Klein Zwartberg, whose topmost crags were just painted by the glowing rays of the unseen sun. What a wild charm thrown over the distant labyrinth of hills in the soft glow of early morn!’ He wrote: ‘What visions of unknown gold that first glimpses of the Gouph called up! Nuggets of the Gouph! Yes, there they lay; painted in all the glorious colours of the rainbow; a grand chromatic blending of gold and crimson and azure with the grey tints of deep kloofs, untouched by the magic rays of sunrise…’
Gold they did not find, but another kind of gold – fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years were in abundance – the most prolific being fossils of (bush) ticks (‘bosluise’) – hence the name of the river and the pass.

Soon people began to demand a proper road through the mountains, and in 1869 the Divisional Council of Riversdale approached the Cape Government, and offered a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ contribution of R2 000. Petitions to Parliament followed, and in 1871 Thomas Bain was asked to examine the route. He reported that, with the aid of convicts, a pass could be built for R3 200. The chief inspector, Mr Robinson, was not as optimistic, but even he estimated that the job would only cost R6 000. So, on 3 July 1872, Parliament decided that Garcia Pass should be constructed by convict labour, as soon as Tradouw Pass was completed. In 1873 Thomas Bain was still employed on railway work. Nevertheless he found time to stake out the course of Garcia Pass. By the end of the year the work was completed on Tradouw and 107 convicts were transferred to Garcia Pass. A convict station was built and work commenced on the road.
The pass was to be 17,5 km long, with 9 km of approach road. During 1874 half a kilometre of road was completed, including 12 culverts, the latter being quite a considerable problem on a road of this nature. In 1875 work moved forward only slowly. Bain gave as a reason the small number of convicts employed, and asked for permission to employ a free party as well. The truth was that Garcia Pass was a formidable undertaking – a mountain kloof as rugged as Bain’s Kloof – and it needed the full-time attention of an experienced and brilliant engineer. But Bain was engaged simultaneously on two other major passes – Cogmans Kloof and Pakhuis Pass – hundreds of kilometers apart. The detailed work, therefore, was left in the hands of the local foreman, an unsatisfactory and expensive procedure.
At the end of 1875 Bain reported that only 10 km of Garcia Pass had been completed during the year, and this included 6,5 km of easy approach road. The foreman had been relieved, but his successor had fared a little better. The year 1876 brought further problems to Garcia Pass. The expenditure for the year was limited to R2 000. Bain was smart; instead of building only a short section of good road, he built a long narrow road of a rough character, contrasting unfavourably with the broad sections completed in earlier years. This forced the authorities to spend the extra money the following year. Despite his many frustrations, the pass was officially opened on 31 December 1877 by Mr A H Garcia, having taken four years to complete. The pass cost R58 712 – far in excess of either Bain’s estimate of R3 200 or Robinson’s estimate of R6 000.
The old toll house established in 1877 and in use until Toll Stations were abolished in 1918, has been restored and attained National Monument status in 1968. The pass was finally widened and tarred in 1963.

The Cape Argus, in an editorial dated 27 December 1879, pointed out ruefully the uncertainties involved in estimating the cost of mountain passes.Though the original estimate for Garcia Pass was R3 000, its ultimate cost was R58 712 – an extremely expensive work for those years.

Garcia Pass is one of the lesser known passes of the Cape. It deserves more publicity, for it is a fine example of the pass builders’ craft, having been widened and tarred in 1963. A tarred road leads from Riversdale to the narrow old bridge which is the only way across the Kafferkuils River at the foot of the pass. It has been replaced by a large modern bridge. The old road began climbing immediately and, after as few sharp curves, it emerged on a hilltop where Bain’s convict station was situated. The old stone building has falling into ruins, although one corner appears still to be inhabited. Beyond the convict station the road climbed the slopes of the striking Mosambiekkop (1422m). The view over the valley is extensive, and striking. Your eye is drawn to the deep canyon formed by the Kafferkuils River, on the far side of which are visible the houses of the Corrente-Vette irrigation scheme.
The road enters the ravine of the Kafferskuils River. The gorge is magnificent – a chasm running between Mosambiekkop and the equally high Oudeboschkop (1375 m) opposite. The roadway clings to the edge of the slope with the river, in places, 250 m below. The old road is narrow, but protected by a substantial meter-high wall. Keeping to the right-hand of the kloof, it wound its way right through the gorge. Near the far end a house stands between the old and new roads. It is the old toll house, built in 1877 and in use until 1918. It was proclaimed an historical monument in 1968.
The old pass has been reconstructed and widened in places, the sharp curves eliminated, and cuttings substituted. From the new road you can admire the strength of the supporting walls (sometimes 15m high), which Bain’s convicts constructed.