Totara Valley is a rich farming district extending for several miles on the northern bank of the Tengawai river, in the Tengawai riding of the Levels county. The population at the census of 1901 was set down at forty. The building stone which is excavated from picturesque limestone cliffs is of considerable value, and if facilities for its transport were available, would be largely in demand. There is a Presbyterian church and a public school in the district and also a blacksmith's shop.

The Public School at Totara Valley was opened about 1890. The building, which is prettily situated on a grassy knoll surrounded with pines, is constructed of wood and iron, and has the usual class room, with a porch entrance. There is accommodation for fifty pupils, but there are only twelve on the roll.

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Totara Valley, was built of the local lime stone in 1890, It has accommodation for 120 worshippers. A Sunday school, consisting of forty children and four teachers, meets in the building. Services are regularly held, and the minister at Pleasant Point is in charge.

Miller, Joseph, General Blacksmith and Farrier, Totara Valley, Mr. Miller started business in 1886 in a shop built of stone quarried in the district. The residence, which adjoins the smithy, is of wood and iron, and stands on part of a section of two-and-a-half acres of freehold. Mr. Miller was born in 1848, in Caithness, Scotland, where he served his time to the blacksmith's trade as general blacksmith, for a period of four years. He then went as an improver to the Clyde, where he worked as a ship-smith. Mr. Miller came to New Zealand in the ship “Hydaspes,” and landed at Lyttelton in 1869. He found employment intermittently in different parts of New Zealand, and, like all early colonists, tried his hand at various kinds of work.