Not far from the heart of Johannesburg are the picturesque relics of the first attempt to provide a reliable water supply for the Rand. An interesting description of the scheme is given in this article.
South of Johannesburg lies a lake 50ft. deep of clear blue water, a place to which crowds of motorists betake themselves on Sundays. "Where?" you may ask. "Nowhere." is the answer. I am merely quoting from a hypothetical description of our city and its environs, which might have been written if one of the most spectacular schemes of its kind had been carried to completion, the building of the great Vierfontein Dam.
If the plan of the original designers had been realised, the Vaal River Barrage might have remained in limbo, or, at any rate, it would have looked very different. Looking South from the boundary of the Crown Mines' property we might have had a pleasant expanse of water nearly two miles in length and capable of taking boats of considerable draft.
Recently I visited the relics of a mighty wall 20ft. in thickness. For size and solidity it can well compare with that of Zimbabwe or even bigger structures. It will be there a thousand years hence. In fact it will cause our descendants in the dim future to marvel at the excellent workmanship and massive engineering of their forefathers.
Mr L. C. Latten, the present owner of the land on which the remnants of the "Never-Never Lake" are situated, gave me the opportunity of visiting the site, a place which, though only about seven miles from the heart of Johannesburg, is not known to one person in a thousand.
"Ormonde" is the name of the farm Vierfontein nowadays. Back in the 'eighties it was one of the innumerable holdings on which the pioneers hunted for gold. Their trenches and pits are still to be distinguished here and there in bush. Precious metal was recovered too, but most of it belonged to the Elsburg series, and so far this has not proved payable. Later on came the growth of Ferreira's camp into a crowded city, which brought Vierfontein into the news.
Water then was as much the subject of discussion as gold. Men still remembered the summer when they had been obliged to wash in "minerals" that might have been put to much better purpose in a glass of something stronger.
The Johannesburg Waterworks Company was not able to cope with the needs of the diggers, on their mines as well as in their homes. Other concerns, like the Wonderfontein Syndicate and many more, took up options for the purpose of meeting the new town's apparently unending needs.
By modern standards, when we use about 35,000,000 gallons daily, the figure of 5,000,00 gallons which had attained in the mid-nineties may not seem imposing, but the Diggers' Committee, the Sanitary Committee, the Stadsraad and other authorities were all in turn perplexed and alarmed. Nobody was certain that Johannesburg was a permanent place, and no one could dream of bringing water 40 miles or more from the Vaal River.
President Kruger, having duly discussed the matter with his Uitvoerende Raad, or Executive Council, and having persuaded greybeards of the Volksraad to give their consent, appointed a special committee to provide "a reliable water scheme for Johannesburg."
On behalf of a concern named The Transvaal and General Association, which was associated with a French group, "Compagnie Francaise de Mines d'Or et d'Exploration," Mr Hamilton Smith a renowned engineer of the period, mooted the scheme for a supply from Vierfontein.
Early in the 'nineties important houses, Werner Beit & Co., Cecil John Rhodes's own concern, The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, and others, began to hold conferences about the problem. The East Rand, in the direction of Benoni, was as yet a dream of the future. It was the central parts of the field that gave cause for worry.
The best engineers on the Reef were told to frame a scheme. Vierfontein attracted them. It lay due South of the Crown Reef, now part of the Crown Mines, and had a permanent stream of water, passing through a bold gap in the hills, where a wall could easily be erected.
Five leading magnates of the period joined the board of the Vierfontein Syndicate, which was floated in March 1893. Sir Lionel Phillips, Mr. C. S. Goldman, Mr. H. Crawford, Mr. C. Malcolmess and Mr. E. Lippert belonged to the directorate. Although the concern had a nominal capital of £35,000, unlimited cash resources were placed at its disposal.
Below the old homesteads on Vierfontein, which still stands, and through which one catches a beautiful view of the country near Zwartkops pumping station, was a ravine where calculations showed the dam could best be located. Several years passed before the work began. The syndicate bought the whole farm, which measured nearly 3,000 acres in those days, but which today has dwindled to about 900.
Before the close of the Century things began to move. Workmen's houses rose, workshops for the construction jobs, a native compound, and across the kloof was stretched the sturdy cable of a wide haulageway. Soon several hundred people were living on Vierfontein, the noise of blasting could be heard far and wide, and great gaps appeared on the hillside, where the skilled quarrymen plied their trade.
"We found," said the well-known engineer, Mr. E. J. Laschinger, who was in charge of part of the work, "that the rock formation was more difficult than we thought, and so we had to sink a very considerable depth before starting on the wall." No fewer than 50ft below the surface of the veld the excavations had to be carried. Meanwhile hundreds of huge stone blocks were being hewed out of the neighbouring hills, where the cuts may still be seen. Carried over the ravine by cableway, the stones were skilfully dropped into place, day after day, while huge masses of concrete were increasingly poured into the gap.
Even now it is possible to walk along the overgrown roadways specially constructed for the syndicate, while the hillside is littered with blocks that never found their real destination. Looking down from the neighbouring slopes, it is easy to distinguish the unmistakable curve of the barrage wall that was never finished, to recognise one cutting where the masonry at a later date was meant to be "keyed in." Some of the stone slabs were half finished, and one can still see the chisel marks and the pitting done by the old rock drills before blasting.
No less than £70,000 had been spent when the last workman laid down his tools. The 50ft. foundation, which was to be carried 40ft. higher, had been finished. Even on the surface of the veld, it was 30ft. thick. Far away up the valley stood the homestead, which would have been flooded out.
War broke out. British engineers left the Transvaal. Dutch speaking officials were called to join the commandos. The natives were packed off home.
Vierfontein, which was now to be given its present title, "Ormonde" stood abandoned. Mr. Latten and his family three times saw the Boer raiders sweeping out of Johannesburg, as the forces of Lord Roberts approached. Later the British soldiers, in an effort to catch De Wet and other elusive guerrilla leaders, built a blockhouse on one of the hills, which still survives.
Peace returned, but the lake was never finished. Instead the new Crown Colony Government decided that the water supply of the gold fields was too important a matter to be left in private hands. By special legislation, the Rand Water Board was created to take over all the assets of the old companies, paying out more than £750,000 in the process.
When the experts inspected the works at the poort on Ormonde, they shook their heads and regretfully decided that the job was too costly to continue.