After about 160 days at sea, on March 30, 1820, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first sighted the Islands.
Later that day, they learned Kamehameha died, Liholiho was now King and the kapu was abolished. Journal entries from some on the Thaddeus tell of the joy they felt … follow the links to read what they saw and felt.
After several acquisitions and changes in operation by it and other sugar plantations, in 1909, the defunct O‘okala Sugar Company (it was bankrupt and the controlling interest passed to Theo. H. Davies & C) was sold to Kaiwiki and it was renamed Kaiwiki Sugar Company. O‘okala Sugar Company owned a total of 8,679 acres, its cane land was limited to 1,405 in fee simple and 3,005 acres of leased land.
Located between the Hāmākua district and the rain-drenched lands of the Hilo district, the land rose to an elevation of 1,800 feet, with steep slopes and a frontage on the sea of about 4 ½ miles and a depth of 2 ½ miles. Kaiwiki Sugar Company’s almost fifty years of existence ended when the company and neighboring Laupahoehoe Sugar Company merged on January 3, 1957. It should not be confused with Kaiwiki Milling Company.
In 1878, three commercial sugar plantations (Honokaʻa Sugar Company, Paʻauhau Sugar Company and Pacific Sugar Mill) existed in Hāmākua in the vicinity of a village that later became Honokaʻa. A labor shortage beginning in the mid-19th century prompted the importation of foreign workers. The Chinese were the first to arrive, followed by Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Puerto Rican and Filipinos over the next 40 years. As Honokaʻa grew and evolved, a variety of businesses, offering wide-ranging choices of goods and services, eventually made Honokaʻa the largest town on the Hāmākua coast and the second largest on the island (behind Hilo.)
In 1910, the population of Honokaʻa stood at 9,037, a population sufficient to support a hotel along with lodging for travelers, salesmen and laborers in transit to the plantations to support the growing village. Hotel Honokaʻa Club did not have a name when it first opened, and was allegedly labeled as the result of a vote by club “members,” who were likely boarders and community members who frequented the hotel. The “Club” in the name reflects the use of the establishment from its inception as a nexus for entertainment and drinking, while the hotel portion served as a residence and lodging for immigrants, unmarried sugar cane workers, paniolo (cowboys), and travelling salesmen.
“Lapahoi (Laupāhoehoe – leaf of lava) is a small stony flat with a few huts and sweet potatoes and taro patches scattered over it. It lies at the extremity of a deep ravine, the declivities on either side nearly 500 feet in height and extending to the sea beach, terminating in a rocky precipice. … The country … was fertile, beautiful, and apparently populous.” Lowlands of the Laupāhoehoe region became the focus of sugar plantation efforts as early as the 1850s.
While the main business of the railroad was the transport of raw sugar and other products to and from the mills, it also provided passenger service. Early in the morning of April 1, 1946, a massive tsunami struck Hawaiʻi. At Laupāhoehoe Point, waves destroyed teachers’ residences and flooded school grounds, killing 25-people, including 16-students and 5-teachers of Laupāhoehoe School.
As a result of the 1902 Arthur S Tuttle report commissioned by the Bishop Museum to study the feasibility of bringing water to the Hāmākua area, two major ditches were proposed – the Upper Ditch and the Lower Ditch. The owner, Hawaii Irrigation Company, was originally known as the Hāmākua Ditch Company, Ltd.
The Upper Hāmākua Ditch was completed in January of 1907, the Lower Ditch in 1910. Due to various disputes , by February of 1915, Hawaiian Irrigation Co. was taken over by new management (essentially that of Honokaa Sugar Co.)
