A History Lesson

The LARGE Archway to the little town.

Its Latin inscription means:
Without water agriculture is dry and miserable

The origins of Hartebeespoort Dam:

A prominant farmer in the area got the idea to build a dam to help with irrigation. By the 1920s the dam was complete and this bridge was built with the archway. It is a single car bridge which has a small tunnel through the side of the mountain. The traffic is controlled with robots on each side allowing a certain number of cars through at a time. At peak traffic times the waiting vehicles are entertained with road sellers and their colourful wares. (For a future Blip)

Statistics:
Built by manual labour
planning started: 1902, completed: 1923.
700km of irrigation channels
Volume 195 milliion m3
Depth 45m
Area 2062 m2
Shoreline 56km
Dam wall 59m high 22m wide 101m long
Used 68 000 m3 of concrete 250 000 bags of cement

Our little towns claim to fame in a nutshell!