Before the Great Gold Rush.

In the latter part of 1863 Mr. Dobson (by the way, he is a “Pilgrim” of the first Canterbury ships—he arrived as a boy of eight in the “Cressy” in 1850) undertook a contract with the Provincial Government of Canterbury to survey the West Coast from the mouth of the Grey River southward to Abut Head, and inland to the river sources in the Southern Alps. The distance along the coast was seventy-five miles. It was a rough task, full of hardship, but to the enthusiastic, athletic young surveyor it was a congenial job and indeed a grand adventure. He had already gained valuable experience as a cadet and topographer under his father, Canterbury's pioneer surveyor, in the survey of the Alpine regions on the east side of Mt. Cook.

Arthur Dobson reached the West Coast by sea—it was the only way to get his stores and equipment there. There were adventures and peril in plenty from the very beginning for the little schooner Gipsy, which he had chartered at Nelson to take him and his party and their stores—which included a ton of bacon—to the West Coast. The schooner took five stormy weeks on the voyage, and the passage ended in shipwreck on the Grey Bar. But Dobson got all his stores on shore and presently he was at work on the traverse of the new unpeopled country. This was before the great gold discoveries on the Coast which brought tens of thousands of diggers from all quarters of the world.

After several months work, Dobson returned to Canterbury to report progress to Survey headquarters. He crossed the Alpine Range by the Hurunui Pass, with a party of West Coast Maoris bound for Kaiapoi. The Hurunui was then the only practicable pass in the northern part of the dividing range. It was possible to cross by Browning's Pass from Arahura or Hokitika via Kanieri, but it was too high to be useful as a highway; and the Canterbury authorities foresaw that a road through the mountains would presently be needed to develop that part of the Canterbury Province.

Mr. Cass, the Chief Surveyor in Christchurch—the Cass railway station on the Midland line preserves his name—was pleased with the young surveyor's work. He ask him before he returned to the West Coast to explore the mountain region between Waimakariri and the rivers running into Westland in order to ascertain whether any available passes between east and west existed in that part of the country. This reconnaissance Dobson agreed to make at once.