Chook's Tracks
Late 1800's to early 1900. Supplied by Beryl Kinloch
In the early mining days, timber was used for building and supports for the drives underground and also burnt in the furnaces and ore pits at the rate of one ton for one ton of ore. The boilers used 20 tons per 24 hours.
Logs were felled then loaded onto trucks – railway wagons and pulled by horses to the mine to be used for timber.
Workers could be out at the stables at 4.a.m. to feed and harness the horses, then to haul the logs to town. This was roughly uphill from the old Willows Road in those days. They then went back to the bush on the hills to pull more trees, load up and arrive back at the stables to feed and groom the horses around 10 p.m. knock off time.
Rates of pay were around 1/3 pence (15c) per ton.
A well is still open in the ground beside the old stable site on the Kinloch's farm, Whangamata Road, Waihi.
FOOTNOTE:
With the daily rate of wood being burnt by the local mines, it didn't take many years to denude the hills surrounding Waihi.