Page:Tales-of-Banks-Peninsula Jacobson 2ed 1893 cropped.pdf/211
and the tramway to it from the mill. About £1000 was thrown away on this work. The tramway could never be made to act, and a ship-load of timber never went down by it, punting and rafting being resorted to as of old. An attempt once to get a shipment of cheese away by sending it down the tramway to the jetty proved a failure. The tramway was never of any use whatever, and was left to decay. Some portions of it are still to be seen. About this time Mr. Hartstone, in company with a man named Savage, who acted as engineer for Mr. Smith for some time, started a mill on the headland above where the new jetty has been built. Mr. Dalglish, who previously to this had been working for Mr. Piper in Duvauchelle’s Bay, soon afterwards took this mill, and still owns the property. Mr. Dalglish made the mill much larger, and exported a great deal of timber. Mr. Smith, when he had worked out the timber in the Bay, rented Mr. Dalglish’s mill for some years.
The greatest event that ever occurred in Le Bon’s was the tidal wave of 1868. It came at one o’clock, and caused much terror. Mr. Bailey’s house was carried bodily up the Bay, and deposited on the topsof the trees on the flat. There was three feet of water in Mr. Smith’s house on the flat, and all day the waves kept coming up. A whaleboat was carried out of the river and placed on a bridge. The bridge was loosened and carried out to sea, and again the boat and bridge were brought back.
Following on this was the renowned gold fever. It appears Miss Gladstone, the sister of Mrs. Smith, found a piece of quartz well impregnated with gold close to the house, which, it was supposed, had been washed up by the tidal wave. The news spread like wild fire, and became known in Christchurch. A company was formed there, and two men were sent down to examine the Bays. These men prospected