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Ashburton Forks and Rakaia Gorge. Two years later there was even one far up the Rakaia at the junction of the Harper and Wilberforce rivers, and it is scarcely to be wondered at that in a few years this remote house had the worst reputation in the district—‘generally dirty, has a neglected appearance, and miserable accommodation’.^[1] However, the most important houses for the assistance of travellers in this area remained those which provided ferrymen at the main road crossing of the Rakaia.

The Rakaia was the most dangerous river to ford in Canterbury, except possibly the Waitaki. Fortunately the heavy floods which rendered it virtually impassable seldom lasted more than a few days. Nevertheless, men occasionally found conditions worse than they expected so that during the 1860s as many as thirteen drownings were reported. One notable victim in 1865 was J. C. Wilson’s son, Walter, then managing the Cracroft run. The Rangitata claimed only half as many, but it would seem that fewer men attempted to cross it.

No satisfactory ferry could be set up on the Rakaia. Because of the bank to bank floods it was not worth while placing permanent heavy gear near the deeper streams in the mile-wide bed, particularly since these streams sometimes changed with every flood. After Hall’s unsuccessful attempt to establish a crossing in 1852, the most the government did was to offer a prize for some satisfactory scheme. The sum offered was small and the total outlay was to be limited to £300. No plan was therefore forthcoming.

It was left to William Dunford, who had been head shepherd on Acton and was afterwards manager or owner of other runs, to make the first attempt to supply the need. He undertook if given a liquor licence to set up an accommodation house on the north bank and to provide the necessary boats or punts for a ferry. He was granted his licence in 1858—before Turton’s—but two years later sold out for £2000. However, he was back as licensee on the Rakaia in 1866 this time with his son Henry in charge of the ferry. According to a statement in the Provincial Council, he was making a small fortune from the combined business.

In 1861 the stock owners south of the Rakaia petitioned the Provincial Government for a ferry establishment on the south bank and a magistrate, called on for a decision, agreed that the width of the river justified a southern ferry under separate management. The Southern Cross hotel thus came into being and during the 1860s was occupied by a succession of licensees. As

1. ↑ Lyttelton Times, 8 May 1872