Especially Edwin Blake and his 47 man team who built this West Coast Road between 22nd March and 24th April 1865.
Canterbury Provincial Government in September 1863 voted £3,000 to build a horse track from the planins (Waitohi) to Taramakau Saddle (Harper's Pass) to make a land connection to West Canterbury (Westland). By 30th June 1864 £4,655 had been spent on the West Coast road out of North Sefton Riding budget of £13,189. Canterbury Provincial Government authorise Edwin Blake to 'repair the West Coast west of Waitohi at £2,500 a year plus 12d a day travelling and £50 for horse allowance'. He used 47 men and 3 packhorses. Blake used 5 cwt (Hundredweight) of tools and blasted 2 and a half miles through Maori Gulley and 3 miles of bits and pieces to South Hurunui. 100 chains of new track was formed on Loch Katrine shore with 18 inces of gravel over wet spots. The team ate 1 and a half cwt (76 kg) food a day.
The contract was terminated when Edwin Blake's brother Walter was authorised to build a new West Coast Road via Arthurs Pass when Gold was discovered in 1865 and the first coach used the Otira route in July 1866. Charles Howitt was drowned in lake Brunner in 1863 while fixing the Nelson - Canterbury boundary up the Hurunui and down the Tramakau.
Julius Von Hasst used the Hurunui route in April 1865 and records that 400 people a month used this route. He records Taylor's woodshed and a store near Dozy Stream and that there was a ferryman at the Hurunui South Branch who charged a shilling to boat you across the 3 feet deep river. There was aslo a butchers shop and 'hotel' at Lake Taylor and oats and spirits could be bought at the 'blockhouse' at 2662 feet above sealevel just below Haper's Pass.
Waipara County Council raised £30,000 in 1936 to construct a motor road from Maori Gulley to Lake Taylor on behalf of Lake Taylor, Esk Head, Glens of Tekoa and the Lakes Station who paid it off over 30 years.
Below this plaque is a remnant of the 1865 road.