In this valley there were soon so many Schoemans (and the family so attached to a few first names) that almost all the men were given nicknames to differentiate them, for instance, Deaf Fanie and Fanie Colony (the latter coming from the Cape).

Descendants of the original Schoemans continue to live in the kloof. From the mid-19th century Schoemanskloof was informally divided into two. The part above Patatanek was known as ‘Bo-Schoemanskloof (Upper Schoemanskloof) and that below as Schoemanksloof Onder. The long trek up to Patatasnek was known as ‘Langasem’ (‘deep breath’) because of the time and effort it took to get to the top.

The name Patatasnek dates from the days when there used to be an outspan area (where oxen would be unyoked and allowed to graze while the wagon riders rested) and where it was the custom to roast sweet potatoes on the camp fire.

Schoemanskloof has always been well known for its sweet potatoes. Decades ago locals used to bake sweet potatoes in the oven, then grate them and add sugar and hot water to make a drink that they called ‘Fango Coco’, although no-one now recalls where the name came from.

The first proper road through Schoemanskloof was built in the 1920s under the auspices of a Hollander, Joe Barbas. Most of that road was superseded by a new alignment begun in the 1940s – essentially today’s road.

For decades, long-time residents of Schoemanskloof chuckled about an incident that occurred when the road was being tarred in the late 1940s. The driver of the tarring truck forgot to switch off the gas heaters that kept the tar liquid. As the tar was being sprayed onto the road it burst into flames. Unable to put out the fire, the driver kept driving and his truck kept tarring – until all the tar had been sprayed on to the surface. The result was that 3km of road, at Mooiplaas, was on fire – a thick cloud of black smoke hovering over the area.

Joe Barbas, or at least a likeness of him, is still seen here on the side of the road in the form of a painted rock affectionately called ‘Old Joe’. Born in Hilversum in the Netherlands in 1883, Barbas came to South Africa at the age of nineteen.

Local farmer, educationalist and part-time historian Dr Faan Coetzee has counted the following occupations pursued by this energetic man: bookkeeper, teacher, farmer, army paymaster, road builder, insurance agent, shopkeeper, butcher and tax collector. Whatever he did, it appears that Barbas was a likeable man.

In 1927, the men working for him discovered a rock near Patatasnek that they thought looked just like Barbas. They hauled it up to the road, painted it white and labelled it ‘Joe’. The pot-bellied rock has since become an institution with motorists who stop to have their photos taken with Old Joe. A tradition of painting Joe has endured for many years. The real Joe died in 1974.