Page 62 - Bulletin 14 2010

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Russouw and Carel Wieser now had a reason to make a shortcut over the Steenberg mountains
linking their separate farms.

It appears that competition developed between farms and it may be presumed that, on receiving

news of the arrival of a ship in Simon’s Bay, farmers would take the quickest route over the

mountains to be the first to supply the vessel. Whereas Wieser’s wagons at Poespaskraal, which
was situated at present-day Sunnydale close to the current Ou Kaapse Weg / Kommetjie Road

intersection, could have headed up Brakkloof and down the Glencairn Valley to the coast road,
Christina’s wagons at Slangenkop (Imhoff's Gift) could have climbed the hill behind that farm,

crossed the plateau on the Zand Weg and descended straight down into Simon's Town. Once the
wagons had sold their produce speed was no longer an issue and they could have headed back

home along the easier but longer coastal road, and then westwards along the Elsjes or Fish Hoek

valleys.

 1785: Governor Cornelis van de Graaff initiated a large mapping project shortly after his

arrival at the Cape. A variety of maps drawn by surveyor SW van de Graaff and Lt. JC
Frederici resulted from this. They show that a route named Grote Weg na de Caap (Great

/ Main Road to Cape Town) ran from Muysenburg along the east bank of the Zand Valeij
and northwards towards Wynberg, leaving the farmlands of Tokai - Constantia to the west

and the dry dunes of the Cape Flats to the east. This corroborates the simple drawing of
General Robert Gordon, Dutch Commander at the Castle, who in 1780 showed the full

route from Table Bay to Simon’s Bay on which he noted a journey-time of 5 hours to

Muizenberg and a further two hours along the coast to Simon’s Town. (Figs. 2.14 - 2.16.)

The maps also show a track over the Steenbergen connecting the farms Steenberg and

Noordhoek which were owned by the same family. A further map of the valley between
False Bay and Hout Bay was drawn up for the purpose of locating potential defensive

positions at the coast and on the Fish Hoek side of the Steenbergen. It shows three tracks
leading down from the Steenberg mountains into the Fish Hoek valley one of which,