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private contractor. However, due to his lack of experienced staff and finance, the Council had

to do the work. The Resident Engineer was Mr Robert Esdon. Construction problems were
encountered and finally Cornish miners from the Knysna goldfields took over the work. The

geological faults in the rock posed major difficulties. Furthermore, protection of the pipeline

necessitated deep trenching into the rock (Fig. 4.1) and, as picks and shovels were the main
implements used, the work took four and a half years to complete. All the 15 inch diameter

cast iron pipes were imported from England via Liverpool and taken from Table Bay Docks

by mule carts up to the Kloof Nek Depot (Fig. 4.2.) On completion of the tunnel and pipeline
in 1891, it was found at the end of winter that the quantity of water obtained was still

insufficient for the growing water demands of the town.

It was therefore necessary to build some storage at the top of the gorge to impound the run-off

water from the winter rains to use during the summer season. Mr T Stewart, who had

designed Port Elizabeth’s water scheme on the Van Staden’s River, and was later to design
the Wynberg, Kalk Bay, and Simon’s Town water schemes, was selected to design and build

the new dam. The work began in 1893 and was described as the Upper Gorge Dam Works.

To assist in getting material up the mountain an aerial ropeway was erected above Camps Bay
via Kasteels Poort. It took nine months to erect, the first load going up in 1893.

All the mechanical equipment was imported from England, a truly magnificent piece of work.
It is a memorial to Mr Thomas Stewart’s engineering skill and dedicated, mainly Scottish,

masons. These, with other artisans, had to be recruited in England. On average there were 70

white skilled artisans and white skilled labourers. Also, 150 to 200 African labourers from the
Eastern Cape were employed on site. (Fig. 4.3.) All the staff were housed in prefabricated

wooden buildings and there was a recreation hall with piano, billiard table, and small library,

a butcher shop, and a general dealer. No labour disputes or accidents were recorded during
the construction process. Everyone was paid in coinage and not paper money.

Equally impressive, in retrospect, was the courage and ingenuity of engineers in planning and

building dams near the top of a practically inaccessible mountain.