The pump barge was a timber barge fitted with large paddle wheels driving a large pump. It was moored on the Kawarau river, approx 1 km upstream of the junction with the Clutha river - just downstream of the Cornish Point foot bridge (location #267). Mr Robertshaw owned the flat land on Cornish Point and was interested in improving it's farming potential through irrigation. His plan was to irrigate the land by pumping water up from the Kawarau river. To this end he constructed a barge fitted with paddle wheels which, when driven by the current, would in turn power a large water pump to deliver the water via pipes to the upper terrace of Cornish point. It is not clear how successful the pump barge was. Unfortunately it was swept away in a flood.