FRANK JOHNSON is remembered as the man who, at the age of 23, contracted with Rhodes to enlist and equip the Pioneer Corps, cut a 400-mile road through the wilderness from Palapye to Mount Hampden, occupy Mashonaland and hand it over for civil administration - all within nine months and for UK Pound 87,500. The Column reached its destination, which was named Fort Salisbury, on 12th September, 1890, bringing Rhodesia into being. Johnson made a profit of £20,000 on the venture. Johnson left his home in Britain at 16, arriving at Cape Town with only £5 in his pocket. Seven years later he was one of the most powerful personalities in the new country north of the Limpopo. Great Days, his autobiography, is a book for all. The serious student will delight in the nominal roll of the Pioneer Corps, the text of the contract with Rhodes, the intimate character sketches of Pioneers who are now legendary figures. Some of Johnson's comments on the "greats" of the day are refreshingly honest. But the book's strongest appeal is to the young, for it is a story of resourcefulness, courage and achievement by one cast in the mould of Rhodes himself and not long out of his teens; of exploration, hunting and high adventure. The work is illustrated with photographs taken by Ellerton Fry, official photographer to the Pioneer Column and a true artist with the camera.

 

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