Millwood

From the settlement of Karatara the road passes the forestry stations of Barrington and Farleigh before descending into the most spectacular and most difficult of all Bain's river gorge passes, Homtini, completed in 1882.� A few kilometres beyond the eastern summit a road sign invites travellers to turn off north to Millwood and trhe Goudveld (goldfields) forestry station.

Unlikely as it may seem, the Knysna Forest was the frenzied destination of hundreds of gold diggers in 1876 when a farmer picked up a nugget in the Karatara River.� Not only was alluvial gold later found in many of the other streams including Jubilee creek, but also reef gold in the hills.� Eleven years later, in 1887, the Cape government appointed a gold commissioner for the area.

Beyond the Goldfields forestry station one reaches the by now hardly visible remains of Millwood, which in 1887 boasted 32 stores, six hotels, three banks, four bakeries, three newspapers and a circuit court building.� Several of the old adits and shafts, noisily blasted and excavated more than 100 years ago, can still be traced in the undergrowth, as can the foundations of some of the houses and other buildings.� The only surviving building in the area is Monk's Store, also known as the Materolli.

The thousand diggers of Millwood either worked for themselves or for one of 40 syndicates.� Heavy mining machinery was brought in by sledge.� The name Millwood was derived from an old Thesen company sawmill whose wheel was driven by the water from a perennial creek.

Eventually, the fate of all other alluvial diggings befell Millwood.� The nuggets became more elusive and the reefs harder to mine.� Soon the diggers began to heed the call of distant, hopefully more promising diggings.� By 1900 only a few diehards were left among the abandoned buildings and machinery.� By the time the goldfield was deproclaimed in 1924, many of the buildings were in ruins.� Today's access roads run along tow erstwhile streets of Millwood.

The Millwood Goldfields Society recently launched a project to resore the extant machinery and some of the old buildings.� The project, financed by the community and the private sector, is focused on the Bendigo mine, a 200m tunnel, which was worked by a group of Australians.� Restoration of the old stamp battery has been completed.

Beyond the turn-off to Millwood the road has one more pass to negotiate before reaching Knysna, Phantom Pass which takes its name from the swarms of phantom moths encountered in the area.� First built in 1862, the pass was reconstructed by Bain in 1882.