A REMINISCENCE AND A SUGGESTION.
(By "M.T.C.")Business led the writer recently along the road towards the north-east known as Hall's Track, in honour of Mr. F. W. Hall, surveyor, who laid it out as a route to Bridport before the survey of the "Forty-mile track," now known as the Scottsdale-road.
Four miles from the city a turn due east takes one along Rocher's-lane, thence through "Mopoke Gully," and up the '"Finger Post Hill" to the junction. The last two miles of this road is a treat, cut up and boggy to such an extent one could scarcely believe it to have been a metalled road.
Beyond the junction, over Holloway's Hill, across Barber's Bottom, and the White Bottom, matters are much worse. As a precocious youngster exclaimed, "Bet you a bob you couldn't get your motor along here after dark." One felt inclined to reply "Bet you ten bob I wouldn't try."
Arrived at the top of Bennie's Hill one discovers the cause of the bad roads. Here are stacked what looks to the layman's eye like millions of feet of sawn timber. The timber trucks are loaded up, and with from four to six horses drag their weary way into the city. An enquiry from a carter brought the reply that 1500ft. super was a load, and the weight thereof between four and five tons. No wonder the roads are bad.
Now, no one wishes to cripple the timber industry, certainly not the writer, but it does seem a pity that such heavy cartage should be persisted in while the roads are so soft after the recent rains. The heaps of sawn timber are a revelation to one unaccustomed to seeing so much, and appear enough to build a whole town, or even the federal capital.
Well, one's thoughts travelled back across the years. The remains of an old tramline near the timber heap brought to mind the days nearly 60 years ago, when Messrs. Grubb and Tyson erected their sawmill on the First River (the western branch of the Piper), and had a huge water wheel for motive power. The mill was under the management of the late Mr. Wm. Crabtree. It ceased operations some time during the sixties, because the timber was all cut out, they said! And yet there are four mills working within two or three miles now. The real reason was the mill, being driven by water power, was a fixture, and the expense of hauling logs any distance was too great.
But that is ancient history, now. The part that concerns us is - the sawn timber was conveyed to the top of Mowbray Hill by means of a tramway.
It is rather more than 30 years since first the writer travelled this part of the country. Then most of the tramway was in existence. It joined Hall's track at the White Bottom, kept much the same route past the Prosser's Forest-road, but half way up Holloway's Hill it made a deviation to the south, along a fairly, good grade, and came out on the Scottsdale railway line at the Pinkie farm-house. From there it ran through Janefield, and had its terminus where Mr. Isaac Church's house now stands.
This may or may not be interesting to the general reader, but this is necessary to introduce the third part-the suggestion.
The old tramline followed a fairly easy grade; it can still be traced with care for the whole distance. The sawmills which are working such devastation to the roads have an immense amount of capital behind them. Could they not secure the old train line, with all the earthworks, and what there is left of the permanent way, re-lay the rails, and so provide cheap transit for their own huge stacks of timber, and, better still, for farm produce? As things are now the people of Underwood cannot profitably produce those things that are very heavy for cartage. Hay they never attempt to sell in town. There is a fairly large area of rich land which would be eagerly taken up with cheap transit facilities.
The nearest railway station is Karoola, to reach which they have to travel nearly four miles, and climb to within a few hundred feet of the summit of the Brown Mountain, so that is out of the question. The only available railway station is Lilydale, which is nearly half as far away as Launceston, and in the opposite direction, which means about six miles extra on which to pay freight and fares, and then re-traverse to reach home again. Of course, the railway is hardly ever patronised.
Should this tramway be opened it would also afford an outlet to a large agricultural area in the vicinity of Prosser's Forest, where some really first-class land is lying only partly used on account of the difficulty of carting out. There is also an area near Russell's Plains, which would be much better served by the tramway than by the railway.
A REMINISCENCE (1911, August 1). Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 - 1954), p. 4 (DAILY). Retrieved August 2, 2017, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50486496