the government acted in a heavy-handed manner to resolve a number of issues surrounding the construction of the dam. Mother Nature caused further delays due to flooding. In 1914 and again in 1918, huge amounts of construction wood washed down the river and were never recovered. During 1915, the wall of the Geldenhuysdam further up the river broke and the flooding of the site also caused a delay. The disruption caused by the First World War, and the complications brought on by the Rebellion of a group of Afrikaners, brought further delays to the building. Then the first company was liquidated due to financial losses resulting from the floods and delays. In 1921 a second company took on the project and appointed an engineer, F. W. Scott, who tackled the project with renewed energy. In April 1923, after all the setbacks and political upheaval, the project was completed. In September of that same year the road over the wall of the Dam and through the tunnel was opened to traffic. The dam first overflowed in March 1925. The dam was built on the farm Hartebeestpoort, once owned by the Boer General Hendrik Schoeman (1840–1901). The farm and adjacent land were acquired by the State, mainly through the facilitation of his son, Johan Schoeman (1887–1967), around 1912. The completion of the dam made the agricultural land north of the Magaliesberg much more valuable, especially land close to canals and the Crocodile River. Construction The dam wall is long and high, built across a gorge cutting through the Magaliesberg. The reservoir is fed by the waters of the Crocodile River and Magalies River and covers approximately , with a mean depth of and maximum depth of . It has a surface area of , and its normal range of annual water level fluctuation is . The mixing type of the reservoir is monomictic. A single-laned, tarmac road skirts the water's edge on the north side; along its route it passes through a 56.6 m long tunnel and also crosses the dam wall. Use Hartbeespoort Dam supplies irrigation water through a long network of canals to of farmland on which tobacco, wheat, lucerne, fruit and flowers are produced. Deteriorating water quality, most notably Microcystin toxin. Hartbeespoort has become a very popular holiday and weekend resort for the inhabitants of Johannesburg and Pretoria; it is the principal water recreation area of northern Gauteng and