No, not a typo - Clifden, not Clifton. Hardly a millennium bridge, more like a (last) century bridge.
The Old Waiau used to be New Zealand's second largest river. Limestone caves provided shelter for Maori heading to the greenstone trails of Fiordland or for hunting parties from coastal settlements, so this became a convenient river crossing point.
European settlers also chose to cross the Waiau here. In 1851 WBD Mantell became
the first European to tackle the strong currents. After a few minutes of
"intense paddling" he reached the opposite bank without mishap, except that he
was a few hundred metres below his starting point! First a ferry, then a punt
attached to a wire rope operated until 1899 when this bridge was built.
The Clifden Suspension Bridge, spanning 111.5 metres above the once mighty Waiau
River remains as a memorial to those involved in its design and construction
from 1896-1899. It claimed fame as having the longest span of any suspension
bridge in NZ.
The existence of good limestone deposits at this location was a great advantage to the bridge designer, CH Howorth. He was able to utilize these large blocks, embedded in concrete as anchors for the 28 suspended steel cables and use it as a base to construct the concrete tapered towers. The tower is 7.5 m high, the deck 3.65 m wide. The bridge was constructed over a period of 10 months 1898-9 at a cost of £5007. The towers were made from concrete mixed by hand and poured inside boxing by bucket and windlass. The exterior was rendered with plaster to resemble stone construction. The decking and secondary bearers were built from heart Totara, and the wooden framing from Australian hardwood.
The bridge was officially opened on 5 April 1899
by the Hon Sir Joseph Ward on behalf of the Hon Johan McKenzie, Minister of
Lands.
Designed as single lane bridge for horse drawn traffic, it was not long before
traction engines became a common sight. The bridge was capable of carrying a
live load of 137 tons equal to about 12 of the largest traction engines. By the
mid 1920s trucks and cars replaced horse traffic, and it remained in use until
1978 when it was replaced by the existing bridge just downstream.
The bridge is registered as a Category I Historic Place with the New Zealand
Historic Places Trust and is managed by the Trust on behalf of the Crown.
The Waiau River which is crossed by the bridge drains Lakes Te Anau and
Manapouri. Since 1976 the river has been controlled at the point where it leaves
Lake Te Anau and 7 km downstream of Lake Manapouri. Most of its waters are used
in the massive hydro system that generates electricity for the aluminium smelter
at Bluff, in a power station deep beneath the Fiordland Mountains at the west
end of Lake Manapouri. For 21 years so much river water was diverted into the
lakes that just below the Manapouri Control Structure the riverbed was dry.
Downstream at Clifden the river was being fed by tributaries but is was much
lower and less productive, than before; an average flow of 440 cumecs had been
reduced to 1 cumec. The river mouth could become blocked with sediment, making
the floods more destructive when they occurred. Upstream, populations of native
fish and brown and rainbow trout were depleted.
Farmers, anglers, boaties, Maori, locals, tourists ... everyone wanted more
water in the river, for a number of different reasons. But restoring the river
entirely would greatly reduce the output from the Manapouri Power Scheme. It
took six years to reach agreement to release more water down the Waiau River.
The Waiau today now has a controlled flow regime which ensures a minimum flow at
the bridge of 12 to 16 cumecs.
