Thio is a commune in the South Province

South Province, New Caledonia

The South Province is one of three administrative subdivisions in New Caledonia. It corresponds to the southern and southwestern portion of the New Caledonian mainland. It is by far the most economically developed and most urbanized part of the archipelago and indeed in the entire Melanesian region...

 of New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, an overseas territory of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

.

A novel Aerial tramway

Aerial tramway

An aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...

existed here at the start of the 20th century to facilitate loading ore ships offshore. As there is insufficient material available for a complete article the external links below are provided as an interim focal point and a keyword hint for researchers. The link’s contents are mostly as short as the descriptions given.

• http://www.cable-car.de/bleichert.htm “1903 Sea-lift at Thio / New Caledonia” (1903 is order date)
• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Bleichert_&_Co. “1906 Sea-lift at Thio / New Caledonia”

-ref 15 “Cable cars to transport material and nickel ores for the Société Anonyme Le Nickel from the mine to the railroad and from the railroad across the water to the ship loading dock. Was the longest over-water-lift; with cable supports, which were deeply rooted in the mud with pile foundations; illuminated at night by arc lights.”

• http://www.archive.org/details/selectedbibliogr00amerrich 1916. pg 15 “about one thousand yards long”. Refers to Scientific American Supplement November 27, 1909 and Engineering & Mining Journal February 20, 1909 5 pages, illustrated.
• PV Bliechert wrote a Thio article in Wire Rope News & Sling Technology magazine August 2007. http://n4systems.com/docs/articles/wrn_aug07-article.pdf has the cover art showing the cableway.
• http://www.zapgillou.fr/mondalazac/articleweb/partie2.htm has a postage stamp, a short short description and a Google Earth view.