Orchard (C 16)

Name: Orchard

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In 1700 W.A. van der Stel handed out the first pasturage licenses in the Land van Waveren (Tulbagh & Wolseley). In 1707, when he was called back to Holland due to his mismanagement, further extension across the old Hottentots Holland Pass took off.

The latter extension took place next to the Sonderend River, while those in the Land van Waveren were situated next to the Breede River with an extension in the Exe River Valley (called that, due to two streams criss-crossing each other during heavy rainfall seasons, and forming an X). At that time a desolate paradise for wildlife like elephants and buffalo. The first pioneer to risk coming into the valley with his livestock to graze, was Roelf Jantz van Hoeting.

He was the first person to receive license to graze his livestock 'under the mountains of Red Sand above the Rock of the Lions'. This was an auspicious date for the valley - the beginning of its modern agricultural history and the advent of European settlement in an area, which until then, had belonged only to the Bushmen and the wild animals, which they hunted for their food.

Other cattle keepers followed Van Hoeting to the valley. Official names of farms began to feature in the records: on 8 December 1723, for instance, Vendutie Kraal (the sale pen) was granted to Jacob van der Merwe and the name of the farm hints at an establishment industry is cattle breeding and auction. In view of the value of land in the valley today it is interesting to note that Mr. Van der Merwe paid 24 rixdollars (R12) for his grant and agreed to deliver one-tenth of his grain crop each year to the landdros of Stellenbosch; the latter part of the deal he could quite easily evade by not growing any grain at all!

By the end of the 18th century six farms had been granted, covering all the best reaches of the valley. Kanetvlei (named after the type of reeds in the marsh there) was in the hands of the Stofberg family; Roodesand was owned by the Jourdans and noted for the quality of its Madeira-type wines; Vendutiekraal belonged to the Van der Merwes; Modderdrift was owned by the Conradies; De Doorns (the thorns) was the home of the De Vos family, whose hospitable home was already recognized as the natural community center of the valley; Buffelskraal, a farm at the upper end of the valley, was owned by another branch of the same De Vos family.

Each farm had a handsome Cape-Dutch style farmhouse and it is in one of these, on Buffelskraal (this specific part of the farm today known as Clovelly), that the tradition was born of the fair ghost (the hex or witch) who is supposed to haunt the Hex River Mountains. It is said that in the year 1768, just after the house had been built, one of its occupants was a beautiful girl named Eliza Meiring. She was so popular with the local young bloods that she set any would-be suitor the initial task of bringing her a disa from the inaccessible precipices of the 2249-m Matroosberg, the highest peak of the range; the very difficulty of the task was intended to deter unwanted suitors.

Unknown to Eliza, however, the one young man she really favored set out to surprise her by securing a disa. In the attempt he fell and was killed. The shock deranged the fair Eliza and she had to be locked in an upper room of the house. One night she contrived to force a window open, but in trying to reach the ground she slipped and was killed. It is said to be her spirit, lamenting the death of her lover, which wanders along the windswept peaks at night and believed by some locals that she committed suicide. She was called (die heks van Exevallei) the witch of the Exe River Valley, and in the mouth of the community the name of the Exe River Valley changed to the Hex River Valley. The date 1768 and the initials 'E.M.' were once carved into the windowsill, but later removed by renovators.

Today, of the original farms in the Hex River Valley, there are nearly 150 subdivisions. The value of any single subdivision is so greatly in excess of the original combined value of the first six farms, that the comparison is ludicrous.

In contrast to the quiet economic conditions of the cattle grazing past, an economic revolution has come to the valley in comparatively recent times. The change began in 1875 when the Hex River railway pass was surveyed by Wells Hood and built at a cost of R 1 million, to carry the main railway from Cape Town to the north and the diamond fields of Kimberley.

Seven years after the opening of this great railway pass, the first tentative export of table grapes was made to Britain. In 1886 the grapes (red, white and Hanepoot) were privately dispatched to Dr. Smuts in London.

Due to Hanepoot being a very fragile grape it did not arrive in very good condition - probably the reason why it is rather used as a wine grape, not a table grape. This to be the reason why Dr. Perold smuggled a Barlinka vine from Algeria, hid in his cane, into the valley. This grape is much tougher and grew to its full glory here, where at the coast it did not had the same quality.

Hex River Pass History
Early History
The expanding Kimberley Diamond Boom in the early 1870's made it essential for the Cape government to secure a rail link to the north. An obstacle to achieving this was the lack of a suitable route folded belt mountains of the Cape.

After an earlier failed attempt to locate a route, the Hex River Pass route was re-examined in 1874. The appointed engineer, Wells Hood, under the instruction of the railway engineer Thomas Brounger, found a potential route which snaked up 2,353ft (735m) from Worcester to the top of the Karoo mountains east of the Hex River Valley, with gradients no more than 1:40 (which is very steep by modern standards). In addition, he proposed that a short tunnel would be required.

Thomas Brounger's route through the Hex River Pass was selected by 1876 with the line to follow the route from Worcester through De Doorns, Touws River, Matjiesfontein and on to Beaufort West.

As with most early railway lines in the country, the route served an important role in the development of these Karoo towns.

The then standard wide gauge track of 4'8" could not be accommodated economically on the tight bends of the Hex River Pass. A decision was thus made by the Cape Government to install the track at 3'6". Subsequently a decision was taken to convert all tracks to the Cape Gauge of 3'6". In further efforts to construct the pass cheaply and quickly, sleepers were laid on the ground without ballast in certain areas and had to be corrected later. The maximum possible gradient and tightest curves were used to avoid extra work and expense. Between 600 and 1000 English "Navies" were brought out to work on the construction of the line under Brounger and his railway contractor, Pauling. High wages has to be paid to these English labourers who specialised in road and rail construction. Construction of the pass went extremely smoothly. The route was prepared, cut and filled well in advance of rail being laid. Permanent way materials were transported on a construction locomotive. Empty trucks, returning to Worcester, were used by locals as a convenient means to transport produce from the more remote mountain farms into town.

Despite its quick and cheap construction the pass served for over 100 years. It was the starting point of the country's first railway line to the Rand and opened the way for Rhodes' colonization thrust into central Southern Africa.

The Boer War
The line was used to transport British soldiers during the Boer War and was a strategic target. With respect to the Hex River Pass, bridges were guarded by the British soldiers and the remains of the blockhouses at these points are still evident. In 1914 a large troop train carrying a regiment of the Kaffrarian Rifles derailed on a steep downward bend on its way to Cape Town. Nine non-commissioned officers were killed. A monument to the regiment has been erected at the point of derailment.

More Recent History
An additional main line between Kleinstraat and Matroosberg was constructed in 1931. The original line was since decommissioned and all permanent way material removed.

Shortly before the end of World War II, the South African Railways began to plan ways of shortening the route by tunneling through the mountain. The Hex River Tunnel scheme was started in 1945, but was abandoned 3 years later due to a lack of funds. Instead, the pass was electrified and operated with class 4E electric locomotives, which were amongst the most powerful electric locomotives in the world at that time. These were used at the head of the heavy freights such as the old Blue Train, the Trans Karoo and the Orange Express Passenger Trains.

On November 27th, 1989 the new Hex River Tunnel was opened. It cut 8 km and 112m of false rise off the old route with substantial reduction in curvature. With the opening of this route, the old Hex River Pass line was closed and the electrification infrastructure removed.

More: http://www.hexrivervalley.co.za/de_doorns_tourism.htm

The Orchard Elgin Country Market

At the intersection of the R321 and the N2 Grabouw
Grabouw, Western Cape

021 859 2880
Email: wanda22@iafrica.com



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