The copper ore was conveyed from the mines at O’kiep to Hondeklip Bay by means of ox wagons across the mountains and deep, sandy plains on roads that were almost non-existent.  On the 6th of February 1867 work was commenced on the Messelpad (Masonry Road) and Wildepaardehoek (Feral Horse’s Corner). Prisoners were shipped from Cape Town to Hondeklip Bay from where they had to walk to the prison station at the Buffels River. Work on this road was discontinued by March 1871 when it was decided rather to develop Port Nolloth as the preferred harbour of export. The completion of the first section of The Cape Copper Mining Company's  line of rail from Port Nolloth to Muishond, which was opened in 1871, brought about the rapid decline of Hondeklip Bay as a settlement - the Messelpad becoming defunct since it could be used for nothing else but the transport of copper ore. By 1870 shop keeping at Hondeklip Bay had become a thing of the past. While there were still about 200 inhabitants in 1873, by 1875, at which time there were 12 houses and 11 huts, the population had dwindled to 103. By June 1877 Hondeklip Bay ceased to be regarded as a separate magisterial district and a port. At this point there was apparently only one shopkeeper left. It continued to subsist as a small centre, shipping agricultural produce to Cape Town. The Heydays of Hondeklip Bay continued.........