Gold-diggers' Footsteps - 345km

MACHADODORP

Established in 1895 on the farm Geluk, Machadodorp (Machado’s town) owes its name to Joaquim Machado, who surveyed the route of the railway line between Pretoria and Lourenço Marques (Maputo) in 1883. Machado later became Governor-General of Mozambique. At the end of May 1900, the ZAR government retreated to Machadodorp where it conducted its business from a railway car. When President Kruger moved to Waterval Onder on 30 June, the Executive Committee remained in Machadodorp and travelled to Waterval Onder by train every day. Machadodorp remained the seat of government until it was moved to Nelspruit on 28 August, a day after the Battle of Bergendal.

BARBERTON

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.

Best known among the rich diversity of flowering plants occurring in the area is the showy Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii), which has become world famous. Other noteworthy plants include the Barberton Lowveld sugarbush (Protea curvata) – endemic to the area – the Barberton mountain sugarbush (Protea comptonii), as well as several rare aloe species.

DE KAAP VALLEY

The valley is said to have been named by the Voortrekker leader Marthinus Pretorius because of its resemblance to the Cape on misty days. Situated in the Lowveld, it also became known as the Valley of Death, because of the numerous miners and prospectors who died of malaria. Along the route is a plaque erected at the site of the famous Jock’s Tree, where transport rider (and author) Sir Percy Fitzpatrick used to outspan under a large umbrella thorn (Acacia tortillis). Further along, the road passes Clutha, Joe’s Luck, Sheba, Eureka and Revolver Creek – all reminders of the days when the valley was the scene of frantic gold-mining activity.

In 1885, Edwin Bray discovered the Sheba Reef, which turned out to be the richest gold-bearing formation in the world. The first 13 000 tons of ore produced an astounding 50 000 ounces of gold, and the so-called Golden Quarry became famous. A mining town called Eureka City soon developed around the Queen of Sheba Hotel, built on the plateau above the mine. Although Eureka City is now nothing more than a ghost town, the Sheba Mine is still in full operation, more than a century after the phenomenally rich reef was first discovered.