was the constantly running roperoad skipway linking the mine with the bins at the head of the Denniston Incline. By the 1950s, little remained of the settlement. Coalbrookdale Another township, Coalbrookdale, stretched for several hundred metres along sides of the roperoad in the lower Coalbrookdale Valley, southwest of Burnett's Face. There were about 21 buildings in Coalbrookdale in 1891, and the population peaked in 1896 when there were 165 people living in the valley. There was a licensed hotel from 1894 to c.1921. The last permanent resident departed in 1956. Decline and closure The community at Denniston served no other purpose than to support the operations of the coal mines and the incline. Once a usable road was put through from Waimangaroa to the plateau, people started to drift away from the plateau to the warmer climate of Waimangaroa or Westport below. By the 1960s, demand for coal was falling and the Denniston Incline closed on 16 August 1967. The Conns Creek branch, which connected to the foot of the incline, was cut back to become a long spur siding where the coal carried by truck from the bins at Brakehead was transferred into railway wagons. A few months later, in 1968, the aerial ropeway from the mines also closed in favour of trucking of coal down the hill directly from the mines. In May 1968, the Inangahua earthquake caused much damage to the incline, making the closure irreversible. Thus, what was once described as the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by locals, faded into history. Denniston Plateau today Heritage preservation Little remains of the Incline or the townships on the plateau but relics can be found throughout the area. Middle Brake is one of the most intact industrial areas remaining because its inaccessibility resulted in much equipment being left on site. At Brakehead and Denniston township, the main street grid, building foundations, chimneys, and the square water tanks that many houses had, are the main relics that can be seen. Most of the former building sites are empty and covered in low scrub and only a few buildings still stand. The former high school is occupied by the Friends of the Hill and is used as a museum and information centre. Other remaining buildings are now privately owned. Denniston is listed as a Category 1 Historic Place on the New Zealand Heritage List, and considered to have special or