Just before 10 o'clock on the morning of the earthquake, Samuel Busch had
left their farm up the Six Mile with a sledge and two horses to take the cream
to the dairy factory at Murchison. His wife Jane was at home with his daughter
Emily washing clothes and his son Ronald was also at home preparing the
churn for churning. Samuel was about 2.4km from his home on the road along
the west bank of the Matakitaki River when the earthquake struck.
Although he was unable to see his farm from where he was, he did see an
enormous mass of rocks and stones falling from the westward and a landslide
cross the river and ascend the low land on the other side and destroy Morel's
house. When he was finally able to return home, he found that the road was
completely covered by the landslide and was about 1.2km in width and
extended all the way across the bed of the river. The hill behind the Busch
property had split in two and its debris had swept across his farm destroying
everything, burying his home and killing his wife, son and daughter
The same slip also reached the house and outbuildings of the nearby Morel
family farm which was 0.8km eastwards, killing Mr Morel.
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