Barberton (L9)

Name:Barberton

Google count: 116,000 for Barberton
Date: 15 July 2008

Situated at the foot of the Makhonjwa Mountains in the De Kaap Valley, Barberton is a picturesque town with a profusion of jacaranda, flamboyant and indigenous trees. The town owes its existence to the discovery of gold in the hills around the present-day town in 1883. A rush of miners and fortune-hunters ensued. The town was officially named on 24 June 1884 after Graham Barber and his two cousins, Fred and Harry, who discovered a rich reef in a creek to the southeast of the town, naming it Barber’s Reef. Among the town’s many links with the past is the classical façade of the Kaap Gold Fields Stock Exchange building, built in 1887. Its existence was short-lived, however, as most of the brokers left Barberton following the discovery of the rich goldfields of the Witwatersrand. Other historic buildings include the Lewis and Marks Building (1887) – the town’s first double-storey building – and the neogothic Masonic Lodge, built in 1884 as the Union Church and taken over by the Freemasons in 1887. The town’s three house museums – Stopforth House (1886), Fernlea House (early 1890s) and Belhaven (1904) – provide a fascinating picture of life in Barberton in the gold-mining days.

Also of interest is the statue of Jock of the Bushveld, the aerial cableway and the corrugated-iron blockhouse, built in Rimer’s Creek in 1901. Far less elaborate and smaller than the first double-storey stone blockhouses built in March 1900, the rectangular corrugated-iron building is the only surviving example of this type of blockhouse in South Africa. The Fortuna Mine Trail incorporates a 600-m-long tunnel built in 1907 to transport gold-bearing ore from the Fortuna Mine to the mill where the ore was crushed.

http://www.southafrica.org.za/tour-sa-kingdom-of-swaziland.html
Historic fact:
...some restored late Victorian residences which are open to public viewing. These provide a little of the texture of life in Barberton as a mining boom-town of the 1880s. The Museum is housed in the made-over Barberton Iron and Steel Foundry building. This forms part of the walk and illustrates highlights from the area’s history, including its 3, 5 billion year old geological history.

Other interesting info:

The rail route from Barberton Station to Kaapmuiden descends 200 metres in altitude over a distance of 7 km. At a distance of 6,7 km the railway takes a sharp bend of 90° to the right through a distance of 250 metres, then, after a short distance, the track turns 45° to the left through 200 metres, beyond which a straight stretch crosses Hyslop's Creek.(3) On that fateful Easter Sunday, the train almost immediately proceeded down the incline at great speed. It 'must have been rushing along at least at eighty miles an hour' [148 km per hour] and 'soon the oscillation caused by the speed warned all the passengers that an accident was inevitable. It was impossible for the men to keep their seats even on the floor of the trucks. Dust and stones flew up in all directions; rifles, kits etc were thrown violently from one side of the trucks to the other, and a loud grating noise was heard, probably caused by one of the trucks which had already left the rails.'(5) At the first sharp bend, the engine hurtled into the air, turned a complete somersault, and the boiler burst as it reached the ground.(6) The couplings having been broken, 'the rest of the train rushed on at terrible speed. One truck, about 60 yards [54 metres] beyond the engine, rolled several times' before coming to a rest on its side.(7) 'Three others left the line almost simultaneously, and the fragments were piled in a heap thirty yards [27 metres] from the rails.(8)
Read More: http://rapidttp.com/milhist/vol115sw.html

www.barberton.co.za/

Where to stay:

Map: http://www.barberton.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=94&Itemid=228