Water history - Taming the poort

Abstract

SA’s water history I twas Boer General Hendrik J Schoeman who first saw the potential for a dam on the Crocodile River, 30 km west of Pretoria, in the 1890s. In 1898, he completed the construction of a dam on his farm Hartbeespoort, and named it Sophia Dam, after his wife. The dam was of concrete, and was about nine metres high. This dam did not impound any water, but was used for the leading out of water and the irrigation of adjacent land. Unfortunately, the dam was washed away in a flood on 9 January 1909. One m An’S dreAm At the opening ceremony of the dam on 28 May 1898, Genl Schoeman made a pledge to President Paul Kruger to build a dam using government funds. The purpose of such a project would be to irrigate a few plots of land on which poor whites could be settled. On 1 April 1899, Genl Schoeman wrote a letter in which he stated that he was willing to sell a portion of his farm for the above-mentioned project. President Kruger reportedly welcomed this idea. The outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War in October 1899 put a hold on the implementation of the project, however.

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