.~———.~—>.‘.. I , . I _. , ' "“ '* ' ~ " » _ C ‘
-Kamo to Waro in I884, and in stages to Kawakawa in I9II1
% ,
Foote Bros.(con) Mr Foote expresses himself very fortunate in
being able to obtain a team in which sons of the Novan Scotian
families of Waipu and Whangarei Heads predominated.
Wild days in Northlang. Products of the kauri — timber and gum -
were the main industries of the Middle North, and on cheque days,
scenes reminiscent ofan American mid-western town were often seen»
Those were the times when bushmen with a thirst entrusted fat
cheques to the publican, and engulfed intoxicants until it was
out out. Mr Foote has passed down Cameron Street when every
second man met was well under the weather, and when pound notes
and cheques were scattered about the muddy roadway. He witnessed
the memorable feat of Kenny, who, emulating Lady Godiva, rode
— without a stitch of clothing from the Kamo Hotel to the saleyards,
thus collecting a substantial stake. .
Large overseas vessels called at Limestone Island to load
timber, carried from Whakapara by the newly-constructed railway
to Kioreroa railwaycomplcted from Whaigarei to Kioreroa in I882,
and
thence by scow to the waiting vessels.
Maun ata ere Kauri.
With their Puhipuhi forests exhausted, the Foote Bros. established
a mill on the Northern side of Maungatapere Mountain, cutting
I3% million feet of the finest kauri Mr Foote has ever seen;
Whan arei En ineerin . Both.hrothers embarked on other commercial
ventures, Mr Fred Foote and Mr Wm.Reynolds, senr founding the
Whangarei Engineering Company, whiLe Mr Wm.Foote,
found himself jpinm owner at with Mr Francis Mander of the V
Northern Advocate. Newspapers in Whangarei were anything buta
profitable venture, and before he disposed of his interest to
Mr Mander, he burnt his pocket to the tune of £600.
Trips to New Foundland and Northern Queenstownsintervened, and
when the Maungatapere bush was cut out, Mr Foote became manager
of the Great Northern Timber Company's Woolgoolga hardwoods mill,
330 miles north of Sydney. Here he remained for 3% years, and
the study of Australian methods helpédd him when, on his return ,
to N.Z., he took up similar work in the Hokianga for Robert Gibbonsfl
Eohukohu mill. For weeks at a time the big mill at Kohukohu
‘ d ain idle begause logs could not be got out to feed the spinning
teeth of its saws. But Mr Foote organised a regular supply of’
tihber from all parts of the harbour and far up the Hokianga River.
Constructing a locomotive tramway to tap a big stand at Whakapara,
he had to bridge one stream in 32 places.
When in Australia he had lived in a collapsible house, which
could be pulled down and reassembled as the centre of activities
progressed further into the forest fastmesses. ‘
On the Hokianga, Mr Foote solved the problem of comfortable living
by designing a houseboat which was placed on a heavy pontomn, and
which was equipped and furnished like a modern home. Leaving the
Hokianga, he paid £50 to have the houseboat towed to Onehungau '
Visitors came in their hundreds, causing Mr Foote to move his
floating home and drop anchor in a less frequented part of the,
harbour. . _
His first wife died during t e period they were resident in Kamo
and when Mr Foote married Miss irtue, daughter Of the °Wner’mf
among other things
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