One of the earliest accounts of the Kleine River is the journal kept in 1707 by Jan Hartog, head gardener of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). On a barter trip to the Overberg they grazed cattle at the river then only known by it's Hottentot name, the "gonuka goggo" the "little river", or in Dutch the "kleine rivier".

In January 1723 a salvaging party sent to the wreck of the Dutch Indiaman the Schoonberg travelled over the Hottentots Holland mountains along the "Palmiet River... Onrust River... Mossels River (Hermanus)...Uijle Craal... Soetendaals Valleij... to Caab d' Aguillas" where they found the quarter master and twelve sailors alive and well. On their return they camoed at the "Kleinriviers Valleij"