History

The first human traffic up these valleys (around 1500AD) is believed to be local Maori on the crusades for their precious pounamu (New Zealand jade or greenstone). Neither the Routeburn nor the Greenstone contained large quantities of greenstone, but were used by Maori as a passage between two of their main sources; the Dart Valley and the Arahura River on the West Coast. The Greenstone River derives it's name from the use of the valley as a route for transporting greenstone by Maori.

The pioneering days of the 1860s and 70s brought the first Europeans. In their quest for grazing land, David McKellar and George Gunn were the first to visit what is now the western side of the Routeburn and Greenstone valleys in 1861. Shortly after this, gold was discovered in the Wakatipu. This led the government to investigate the possibility of establishing a port on the West Coast and a track up the Routeburn Valley, over the Harris Saddle to the Hollyford Valley thus linking Queenstown with the outside world. In early days the mailman would take either the Routeburn or the longer flatter Greenstone to deliver the mail from the Wakitipu to Martin's Bay.

The upper section of the Greentone Track from Lake McKellar and the Routeburn to the Harris Saddle is within the Fiordland National Park which was originally set up as a public reserve in 1904 and attained National Park status in 1958. The open flats from Lake McKellar to the Greenstone Gorge is pastoral leasehold land used for summer grazing, the bush is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation. Mount Aspiring National Park, where the eastern part of the Routeburn is found, was formed in 1964. Guided walks began on the Greenstone in 1985 with the establishment of Greenstone Valley Walks, which has since become part of Ultimate Hikes.