1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Wakkerstroom

Wakkerstroom, a town and district of the Transvaal. The district occupies part of the S.E. of the Transvaal, being bounded S. by the Orange Free State and Natal. The frontier line is in part the crest of the Drakensberg. The town of Wakkerstroom, pop. (1904) 1402, lies 18 m. E. of Volksrust and 4 m. N. of the Natal frontier. It is built on the high veld, at an elevation of 5900 ft., and possesses a bracing climate. The neighbouring hills rise over 7000 ft. The plain on which the town stands is drained by the Slang and other tributaries of the Buffalo affluent of the Tugela. The district, a fertile agricultural region, was organized as one of the divisions of the Transvaal in 1859 by President M. W. Pretorius, and after his Christian names the town was called Marthinus-Wessel-Stroom, an unwieldy designation dropped in favour of Wakkerstroom. During the war of 1880–81 the town was unsuccessfully besieged by the Boers. In 1903 a small portion of the district was annexed to Natal.