McKinnon Comes Over the Pass.

The rest of the story is told in a narrative which the late Mr. Adams (he was the father of the present Government Astronomer, Dr. C. E. Adams) wrote for me in the form of a letter, dated May 31, 1906. He described the work of the expedition in measuring the falls, and continued:

“I may state that there was a little friction between Tom McKenzie and myself. He wanted to monopolise Donald Sutherland altogether to help him in his exploration. Now, I had to inspect Sutherland's contract for cutting the track to the Falls, and only a limited time to do it in, so it was necessary that Sutherland should accompany me, as a good deal of his work was not up to the mark. McKenzie used to express his contempt for surveyors as explorers. He said they were all right with a theodolite and chain, but when it came to exploring, they were not in it. And he lost no opportunity of ridiculing my faith in McKinnon, as I said if there was a pass, I was sure McKinnon would find it. And what made Tom McKenzie more savage was the fact that if he had followed my advice he would have been the first over the pass. It was true that I advised him to try Joe's River (at the head of the Arthur) but it was found to head in the wrong direction. But one morning, one of the road men told me that he had seen ‘three explorers’ come over the pass, and he pointed up towards where McKinnon's Pass is. So I said: ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I was up this morning by daybreak and I looked up and saw three black swans coming over to this side from the other, and as birds generally fly over the lowest gaps in a range, I should not be surprised if that is where the pass is.’

“I told Tom McKenzie of this, and strongly urged him to explore up in the direction of Roaring Creek—only it had not been so christened at that time. He refused point-blank, as he said he had taken my advice once and gone up Joe's Creek, and he saw enough then to convince him there was no pass in that direction except what birds could fly over. But instead of trying where I advised, he explored the head waters of the creek that flows past the foot of the Sutherland Falls. I told him if he did find a pass in that direction it would not lead him into Te Anau, but rather into one of the West Coast Sounds. You may perhaps ask why I did not take a hand in the search for a pass, but I had my hands more than full of my own work. I had to make a sketch survey of the track and the valley of the Arthur and tops of all the country in sight, and measure the height of the Sutherland Falls as well, and get back to Milford Sound in time for the coal steamer which was to call in for us, by a certain day, and we just managed to get through in time.”

A few days after that (October, 1888) McKinnon came down the valley from the direction where the black swans had flown. He had penetrated the Clinton Valley, climbed the watershed between that gorge and the Arthur, and crossed the saddle that is now known as McKinnon's Pass. He was all alone. So he was the first man to find a way from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound.