KROONSTAD  , a

town of Orange River Colony, 127 M. by rail N.E. of Bloemfontein and 13o m . S.W. of Johannesburg . Pop . (1904), 7191, of whom 3708 were whites . Kroonstad lies 4489 ft. above the sea and is built on the banks of the Valsch River, a perennial tributary of the Vaal . It is a busy town, being the centre of a rich agricultural district and of the diamond and coal-mining industry of the north-western parts of the colony . It is also a favourite residential place and resort of visitors from Johannesburg . It enjoys a healthy climate, affords opportunities for boating rare in South Africa, and boasts a golf-links . The principal building is the Dutch Reformed church in the centre of the market square . On the capture of Bloemfontein by the British during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 Kroonstad was chosen by the Orange Free State Boers as the capital of the state, a dignity it held from the 13th of March to the 11th of May 1900 . On the following day the town was occupied by Lord Roberts . The linking of the town in 1906 with the Natal system made the route via Kroonstad the shortest railway connexion between Cape Town and Durban .

Another

line goes N.W. from Kroonstad to Klerksdorp, passing (17 miles) the Lace diamond mine and (45 miles) the coal mines at Vierfontein .