starting a tradition for quality sausages whose reputation has since become world famous. The following year the factory commenced exports to the United Kingdom and during the Second World War supplied over one million tins of sausages to the Allied forces all over the world and over 12 tonnes of bacon weekly to convoys calling at Durban harbour. A sister plant was built in Heidelberg and in 1967 the Eskort brand was the largest processed meat brand in South Africa. In 1998 the company was converted from a cooperative to a limited liability company. 1948 saw the establishment of the Masonite factory in Estcourt. Masonite was a hardboard product developed in the United States in 1924 by William H. Mason. The mill is in Estcourt, but its headquarters are in Durban and uses timber harvested from 21 922 ha of productive commercial plantations owned by the company. The mill currently employs 900 people and chips 600 logs a day. In 1963 the 58.5 million cubic metre Wagendrift Dam was constructed on the Bushman's River some 2 km upstream from the town of Estcourt. The dam was designed to irrigate 3,000 ha of land that lay upstream from the river's confluence with the Tugela River. Education At the turn of the century, the Estcourt Government School had about 100 children and offered formal education only at primary level, although the occasional bright student was coached at secondary level to enable them to enter university. By the 1920s the school had expanded to 226 children and in 1924 four children sat the matriculation exam. This sparked a growth in demand for secondary education, and in 1927 the school was split into two - Estcourt Junior School retaining the old school building and Estcourt High School (as the secondary school later became known) moving to Hospital Hill on the outskirts of the town. The new school had a boarding establishment, and soon the boarders outnumbered the day pupils. After the Second World War, both schools continued to grow and in 1960 a second primary school - Drakensview Primary School - was built to accommodate the overflow from the Estcourt Junior School. Towards the end of the twentieth century, the Siraatul Haq Islamic School and Madrasah was established to serve the large local Muslim community with a combined educational option, offering both Islamic and a secular academic curriculum. As of 2018, it is the