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August 8, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kanakaleonui

Mauna Kea, like Hawai‘i’s other older volcanoes, Hualālai and Kohala, has evolved beyond the shield-building stage, as indicated by:

the very low eruption rates compared to Mauna Loa and Kīlauea;
the absence of a summit caldera and elongated fissure vents that radiate its summit;
steeper and more irregular topography (for example, the upper flanks of Mauna Kea are twice as steep as those of Mauna Loa); and
different chemical compositions of the lava. (USGS)

Mauna Kea’s peaceful appearance is misleading. The volcano is not dead. It erupted many times between 60,000 and 4,000 years ago, and some periods of quiet during that time apparently lasted longer than 4,000 years. Given that record, future eruptions seem almost certain. (USGS Volcano Watch)

Pu‘u Kanakaleonui is one of the younger cones of the Laupāhoehoe Volcanics and is less than 13,000 years in age. (USGS) Kanaka-Leo-Nui (loud-voiced person) “was the name of a retainer of ʻUmi-a-Līloa, a chief who is said to have had a house at the top of Mauna Kea with doors facing each of the six districts of Hawaiʻi.”

“If the chief wanted the Hilo people to bring supplies, he called from the Hilo door to Kanaka-leo-nui, who shouted out the orders from the top of the hill bearing his name.” (Hawaiian Place Names)

About the time Columbus was crossing the Atlantic, ʻUmi a Līloa (‘Umi, son of Līloa), was famous in Hawaiian history for being the first aliʻi (chief) to unify Hawaiʻi Island under a singular rule.

ʻUmi was a religious chief and was known to have erected a number of ahu (shrines) throughout the ʻāina mauna (mountain lands) to make offerings to the akua. After unifying the island, ʻUmi a Līloa chose to live in the ʻāina mauna with his people rather than returning to the lower ahupuaʻa (land divisions) where kānaka typically lived.

“Umi was a trail builder …. Where the a-a was level, his men marked their way across it by smooth going. Where there were depressions in it, they were filled up to the general level, much as a modern engineer would fill them.”

“Where there were hillocks to be crossed, these were cut away if not too high and passed over in a straight line if their altitude forbade grading.” (Sol Sheridan, Mid Pacific Magazine, Oct 1912)

Pu‘u Kanakaleonui is one of the younger cones of the Laupāhoehoe Volcanics and is less than 13,000 years in age. The dark-colored deposit partly surrounding and mantling Pu‘u Kanakaleonui consists of tephra and ejecta blocks of lava mostly 10 to 50 cm in diameter but as large as 3 m long.

Some of the ejecta are from underlying lava flows that were erupted more than 65,000 years ago from the Hāmākua Volcanics. The light-colored surface below the cone consists of lava flows that are not mantled by the explosive tephra and blocks. (USGS)

The next eruption could take place anywhere on the upper flanks of the volcano. As Mauna Kea evolved from its early shield stage (equivalent to Kīlauea and Mauna Loa today) to its present post-shield stage, the volcano lost its rift zones. Consequently, the post-shield eruptions are not concentrated along narrow zones but instead are scattered across the mountain.

A prominent cinder cone will probably be constructed at each vent. The cinder cones responsible for the ‘bumpy’ appearance of Mauna Kea’s surface. The cones were built during the latest eruptive period 6,000-4,000 years ago. The next eruption will likely produce a similar cone.

For example, the most recent eruptive period, 6,000-4,000 years ago, involved eight vents on the south flank of the volcano between Kala‘i‘eha cone (near Humu`ula) and Pu‘ukole (east of Hale Pōhaku). During this same period, eruptions took place on the northeast flank at Pu‘u Lehu and Pu‘u Kanakaleonui.

Lava from Pu‘u Kanakaleonui flowed more than [12 miles] northeastward, entering the sea to form Laupāhoehoe Point. (USGS Volcano Watch)

“[Right back [of the double Hill Holei Kanakaleonui], there is a Hawaiian graveyard. They used to bury there. When they go up and make their adze, and the Hawaiians die up there, they had a little … above Kanakaleonui, in between Red Hill and Kanakaleonui.” (John “Johnny” Ah San Oral History Interview with Kepā Maly)

With the exception of the possible adze maker interments, the apparent restriction of the higher elevation burials to the apex of cinder cones is in sharp contrast to many of the burials found at Kanakaleonui, a well-known burial center located not too far outside of the Science Reserve, just below Pu‘u Mākanaka and the summit plateau.

On current evidence there are more burials in the general environs of Kanakaleonui than probably exist higher on the mountain, possibly on all of the summit plateau. (AIS Mauna Kea Science Reserve)

The disproportionate number of burials in the environs of Kanakaleonui suggests that the edge of the plateau might have been a major social boundary, with the area below reserved for commoners and the plateau for persons of higher social status (chiefs and priests).

If the very top of the cones were reserved for higher status individuals and the ground below for commoners, then Kanakaleonui must have both. (AIS Mauna Kea Science Reserve)

Laupāhoehoe is the true ‘Umi’s Trail. ‘Umikoa one, that’s when they go up and they turn around, and they meet ‘Umi Trail. (Mr. Ah San noted that Laupähoehoe-Waipunalei Trail runs up the mountain from near the heiau of ‘Umi – recorded as being named Mämala or Ha‘akoa.)

The trail runs mauka past Ke-ana-kolu (The-three-caves), which was a known resting spot on the trail up the mountain. The caves are approximately one-mile mauka from the old Keanakolu ranch house. (Maly)

Kanakaleonui Bird Corridor (KBC), located on the east slope of Mauna Kea, is a unique transition zone from a Tropical Montane Cloud Forest to a colder, drier subalpine forest. (Pigao)

The KBC corridor is a continuous uphill slope that currently represents a gradient of woodland to grassland. The dry subalpine landscapes show sharp climate changes with small elevational changes that are easily distinguishable by the amount and type of vegetation present.

Kanakaleonui Corridor is on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands land between Mauna Kea Forest Reserve and Hakalau Forest NWR). It has many forest birds, especially ‘i‘iwi, ‘apapane, ‘amakihi, ‘elepaio, ‘akiapōlā‘au, and ‘io.

These species (and juveniles of these) are known to travel between wet forests and subalpine māmane forests during the bloom. The Kanakaleonui Bird Corridor is an interconnecting corridor for this travel. (Hawaii’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy)

August 7, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokulau Landing

“Ethnobotanical surveys provide evidence of extensive alteration of coastal and lower montane ecological zones and indicate that the entire area of East Maui from Ke‘anae to Kaupo was densely steeled prior to European contact.” (Cusick)

“[R]esearchers agree that Kipahulu and its neighbors, Hana to the northeast and Kaupo to the southwest were historically important relative to other districts in the Hawaiian Islands because of their abundant natural and human resources”. (Cusick)

“They were coveted lands, prized by the ali’i (nobility) for their abundance of foodstuffs and all the valued products of the land and sea. Plentiful food and resources made possible a large population, and many followers meant power of the chief controlling the land.” (Cusick)

The southeastern section of the island of Maui, comprising the districts of Hāna, Kīpahulu, Kaupo and Kahikinui, was at one time a Royal Center and central point of kingly and priestly power – Piʻilani ruled from here (he built Hale O Piʻilani – near Hāna.) This section of the island was also prominent in the later reign of Kekaulike.

Royal Centers were where the aliʻi resided; aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year. The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

Long before the first Europeans arrived on Maui, Kīpahulu was prized by the Hawaiian aliʻi for its fertile land and abundant ocean. The first written description of the region was made by La Pérouse in 1786 while sailing along the southeast coast of Maui in search of a place to drop anchor:

“I coasted along its shore at a distance of a league (three miles) …. The aspect of the island of Mowee was delightful. We beheld water falling in cascades from the mountains, and running in streams to the sea, after having watered the habitations of the natives …”

“… which are so numerous that a space of three or four leagues (9 – 12 miles, about the distance from Hāna to Kaupō) may be taken for a single village.” (La Pérouse, 1786; Bushnell)

“But all the huts are on the seacoast, and the mountains are so near, that the habitable part of the island appeared to be less than half a league in depth. The trees which crowned the mountains, and the verdure of the banana plants that surrounded the habitations, produced inexpressible charms to our senses…”

“… but the sea beat upon the coast with the utmost violence, and kept us in the situation of Tantalus, desiring and devouring with our eyes what it was impossible for us to attain … After passing Kaupō no more waterfalls are seen, and villages are fewer.” (La Pérouse, 1786; Bushnell)

With the development of the whaling industry on the island in 1880s the southeastern Maui population started to decline as people moved to main whaling ports, such as Lāhainā. In the early-1900s, one of the regular ports of call for the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company was at Kīpahulu. Steamships provided passenger service around Maui and between the islands.

“As long as Hawaii has been inhabited, there has been intercourse between the Islands. Before the white man came, and for some years after, the mode of travel was by outrigger canoe. Kamehameha I transported whole armies by this method while engaged in his campaign of conquest of the Islands.”

“The white man introduced the sailing schooner as a means of travel which continued in vogue until the middle of the eighteenth century, at which time the time the first steamship was placed in inter-island service.”

As the needs of transportation between the Islands grew, more steamships were brought over from the Mainland. By 1900 there were two fleets of ships in inter-island service: one operated by the Wilder Steamship Company and the other by the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company.

“When these, two companies amalgamated in 1904 as the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company the combined fleet totaled 14 vessels”. (Progress Report (1939) – Transportation)

“The Kaupo residents are delighted with the wharf and approach just completed at Mokulau. The approach just built may be driven over by a light wagon while the old route was such that the landing could only be reached by footmen or by pack animals.” (Maui News, Dec 8, 1906)

Also known as Kaupo Landing, “the best landing place in the vicinity during trade-wind weather. The local steamer visits this place occasionally”. (Hawaiian Place Names)

“At 9:15 a.m., we arrived at Mokulau. It is a small place. There is only one building, a storehouse. The wharf is a tall rocky hill. The storehouse and around it were full of men and women. We met with friends and acquaintances.”

“At 9:50 a.m., the Kilauea anchored. When the cargo and lumber were unloaded, the passengers were called. We gave our final farewell to Joseph Marciel, Mrs. Marciel and friends and got on the final rowboat. The Kilauea left Mokulau at 12:30 p.m.” (KaupoMaui)

August 6, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kimis

William James Kimi was born on January 10, 1898, in Hilo, Hawaii; his father, Sapau James Kimi Fong, was 41 and his mother, Maria da Conceicao Cozy Deniz, was 19. He married Matilda Elizabeth Wassman on May 28, 1920, in Hilo.

“Kimi had a long and varied career. He and the late State Sen. William H. (Doc) Hill began their political careers together in 1928 when both were elected to the Territorial House as Republicans. Kimi served in the Senate in the 1935 and 1937 legislatures, switched to the Democratic Party in 1938 and in 1959 rejoined the GOP.”

“The kamaaina had served as liquor commissioner, County Building Inspector and a variety of other appointments. His business career was widely varied from cane grower, to housing developer (Kimiville [a low rent housing development in Hilo])”. (HTH, Aug 20, 1971)

One of Kimi’s sons, Richard Wassman Kimi (born Feb 3, 1925), “had to learn at a young age whatever skills it took to help put food on the family table. As his father was quite the entrepreneur.”

“Richard worked hard at their drive-in diner at nights, Hilo’s only roller skating rink on weekends, the circus when it came to town, and waking up at 2 am every morning to make ice cream that he would sell at chicken fights and pay days in the Hamakua Coast plantation camps.”

He “yearned and learned to be a salesman. His education [was on] the streets rather than the classroom. At age 8, because of family hardships, he lived in Kamuela with his hanai Uncle and Aunty and learned cattle raising and building roads on their ranch.”

“Right after the Pearl Harbor attacks, he enlisted to serve our country in the U.S. Army; where his leadership skills earned him his Sergeant stripes at age 19, the youngest Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time. When the war ended he chose to return home to help his family business”.

That business “was now selling Army surplus goods (over-supplies like clothing, tents, shovels, canteens, trucks, bull-dozers, electric and plumbing fixtures) at his father’s store near Hilo airport; where Hilo Seaside Hotel is today.”

“As the business kept struggling, he turned to the construction business with the surplus equipment he could not sell. He and his brothers built Kimiville … Soon, his successful sales skills sold all the surplus store inventory; except for an old dump truck, a bulldozer, some lumber, roofing and a steam-roller.”

“He was 29 by then, but wanted a life for his family that made money while you were sleeping and decided to build a hotel where the surplus store was. All the ‘experts’ he consulted thought he was crazy yet the contrarian that he was he saw an opportunity the war had ended and prosperity was in the air why not build a hotel that was affordable to the average person?” (Legacy Obituary)

“Alan Kimi, Richard’s son and president of Seaside Hotels Hawaii, said his father never wanted to build large hotels. He said his father’s main objective was to serve local residents and budget-minded visitors.

“‘People traveled by boats in those days and the ones that traveled by plane were rich,’ Alan Kimi said ‘So his idea was, as the airplanes became bigger, what about the average guy?’”

“‘What about the local traveler, people that lived in Kona, but that wanted to go to Hilo for a couple of days but couldn’t afford it? That’s how it started.’” (Adv, Feb 1, 2009)

“So he built the 30-room Hotel Hukilau, and soon it was always busy; so he built more rooms there. As smaller propeller planes became larger jet planes; travel to Hawaii became more affordable for the masses. What about building a hotel in Kailua-Kona, so visitors could spend one week on the Big Island? (Kona Hukilau now known as Kona Seaside Hotel opened with 44 rooms in 1960.)”

“As vacations became longer guests wanted to see Maui. So the family moved to Kahului and built the Maui Hukilau (Maui Seaside Hotel today) in 1962. Jet planes became jumbo jets but could only land in Honolulu. … [He] bought the Waikiki Biltmore Hotel [now, the site of Hyatt Regency Waikiki] in 1965.”

“He was a legend in Hawaii tourism a pioneer of the kamaaina rate; air, hotel and car packages for locals, reservations by toll-free phone lines, then fax lines, and now on-line bookings. His vision was affordable and friendly hotels. Today they are known as the Seaside Hotels Hawaii. It is the only Hawaiian owned and operated family hotel chain in the world.”

“He enjoyed teaching sales, marketing and business to hundreds of students; and always favored the under-dog and the little guy. One of his students, Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books, recognized Richard Kimi as his original ‘Rich Dad’ and continues sharing his lessons to the world.” (Legacy Obituary) Richard Kimi died on December 19, 2008, in Honolulu.

Another son of William James Kiki Sr was William ‘Uncle Billy’ James Kimi, Jr (born Nov 6, 1922), Richard’s older brother. Like his younger brother, Uncle Billy was “One of the island’s most well-known residents, [who] had a number of landmark businesses, including the Uncle Billy’s Kona Bay Hotel in Kailua-Kona and Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel. He also managed Uncle Billy’s Fish and Steakhouse for 45 years”.

In 1978, “three main partners – real estate agent Kenneth Fujiyama, transportation kingpin Chiaki Matsuo and hotelman Billy Kimi” acquired and converted the Kona Inn hotel into the Kona Inn Shopping Village (that opened as the shopping center in July 1980). (Adv, Aug 3, 1980) (Fujiyama later sold his interest in the property.) (Star Bulletin, Sep 4, 1981)

“[H]is resume would fill pages: entrepreneur, importer, financier, retailer, wholesaler, developer, accountant and farmer, innkeeper, restaurant owner, art dealer, shopping center owner and more,” the citation read in recognition of the businessman.”

“‘This is where it all started for my family,’ [Kimi] said. ‘I just wanted to have a business where my kids could work and build their families without having to leave home.’”

“Kimi was also involved in the Occupational Skills Program at Konawaena High School, which taught special education students work skills at the shopping village and hotel during the 1980s. They worked every weekday but Wednesday, in areas such as retailing, sales, cooking, laundry work, maintenance, housekeeping and construction work.”

“Kimi said at the time he helps because he ‘prefers to train people that don’t know anything’ about the hotel business and wanted to help people improve their careers. He said he’s the same with his other employees, supporting them anytime they can better themselves,’ even if that means leaving his business.

“His 70 years of entrepreneurial creativity, work and vision have provided jobs for hundreds of people in a multitude of businesses, as well as improving the Hilo and Kona communities. He has worked diligently to improve education and health care for the children of Hawaii.” (HTH, Feb 2, 2016) Uncle Billy died Feb 19, 2016.

August 5, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Prohibition

The first temperance movement emerged in New England as clergy began to equate drinking alcohol with sins like Sabbath breaking and blasphemy. In 1808, the first temperance society was formed, but it singled-out hard liquor, such as rum, as its only target.

Very early in the temperance movement of Reverend Thomas P Hunt, a Presbyterian minister organized a children’s organization called ‘The Cold Water Army.’ In 1831, the large and influential American Temperance Union urged everyone to only drink cold water (not alcoholic beverages) and take a Cold Water Pledge.

Although Kamehameha III broke it regularly, he made intermittent appeals for abstinence among his fellows. For some years in the 1840s, no liquor was served at official functions. (Daws)

Pūʻali Inuwai (“The water drinking host”) was formed on March 15, 1843 – the Cold Water Army – Hawaiʻi’s version of the Temperance Movement.

Following the model elsewhere, they first looked at the children, suggesting: if you had 100 drunkards and tried to reform them, you would be lucky to save maybe 10; however, if you had 100 children and taught them temperance from a young age, you could save 90 out of the 100.

Hawaiʻi youth were encouraged to join. Thousands of children enlisted in the ‘cold water army.’ Once a year they came together for a celebration. They had a grand time on these anniversary occasions. (Youth’s Day Spring, January 1853)

The Cold Water movement apparently saw some early success. “Recruits to strengthen the ranks of the cold water army, adds real force to this nation; and not-only to this nation, but to every other nation where the principles of total abstinence are making progress. Formerly the Sandwich Islanders were a nation of drunkards; but, as a nation, they are now tee-totallers.” (The Friend, 1843)

However, as time went on the push toward prohibition waned. From the 1850s, it was legal to make wine. In 1864-1865, acts were passed permitting legal brewing of beer and distillation of spirits under license at Honolulu. (Daws)

Later, in hopes that free drinking water would entice sailors to stay out of nearby grog shops, “The Temperance Legion has caused to be erected a Drinking Fountain at the corner of King and Bethel streets, on the Bethel premises – a neat and ornamental fountain. … ‘Free to all.’” [dedicated, June 15, 1867] (The Friend, June 1, 1867)

Through the 1870s, Honolulu was the only place in the kingdom where liquor could be sold legally (another instance of the attempt to isolate vice,) but contemporary comment and court reports make it clear that the illegal liquor traffic was brisk everywhere, from Lāhainā and other port towns to the remotest countryside. (Daws)

Honolulu’s The Friend newspaper began as “Temperance Advocate.” Then, it meant to many, moderate-restrained-use of liquor. Not so in all these years. “It meant total abstinence – nay, even prohibition before there was any such term.” (The Friend, 1942)

Then, came prohibition.

On the continent, into the 1900s, Americans debated whether the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages should be legal. Members of the temperance movement sought to reduce drinking – or even eliminate it. The Civil War disrupted the movement temporarily, but after the war ended, supporters resumed its mission with renewed enthusiasm. (US House)

John Granville Woolley was a prominent figure in the American temperance and prohibition movement – he was nominated for the US presidency on the Prohibition party ticket. The Prohibition party – the only party whose principal aim was a ban on the sale of liquor – was founded at a Chicago convention in 1869.

Woolley lobbied for the Prohibition party nationally from the 1880s to the early 1900s and then for the American Anti-Saloon League, a national organization that supported candidates for legislation restricting liquor sales. In 1907, when Woolley vacationed in Hawai‘i, he started a chapter in the Islands. (Hawai’i Digital Newspaper Project)

The Hawaiian legislature passed a liquor licensing law in 1907 in the hope of slowing liquor traffic in the territory. In 1910 Woolley of the Anti-Saloon League of America testified before Congress that the Hawaiian legislature’s licensing law had failed.

Prince Kūhiō stepped in and noted, “There are many good people in Hawaii who believe in prohibition but who do not believe that Congress should enact it.” Woolley pushed Congress to dismantle territorial home rule and Kūhiō fought for home rule. “We are fully capable of settling all our domestic problems,” Kūhiō declared. (US House)

Congress decided that Hawai‘i should hold a special election on Prohibition. The vote occurred in July 1910. The Hawaiian Gazette ran political cartoons to persuade people to vote for prohibition in Hawai‘i.

The newspaper’s editorials and political cartoons portrayed the saloon owners as profiting from the sale of alcohol, or “The White Man Burden,” and the alcohol bringing societal ills to the native Hawaiians. (HDNP)

Kūhiō argued against the bill, asserting that Hawai‘i was guaranteed a large degree of local self-governance. (Curtis) “There are many good people in Hawaii who believe in prohibition but who do not believe that Congress should enact it.,” (Kūhiō, GovInfo)

Ultimately, the Hawai‘i voters voted against prohibition in Hawai‘i. … The Evening Bulletin reported, “The annihilation of the prohibitionists is increasing. If that he possible, in its overwhelming effect as later reports are being received from the other Islands.”

Not one precinct did the pro-Prohibition vote carry on Hawai‘i and the partial returns also indicate this to be a fact on Maui. … The vote indicated anti-prohibitionists’ vote was 7,283 and supporters of prohibition in the Islands tallied 2,185 votes.

“The overwhelming nature of the defeat that has been visited upon the adherents of the [Prohibition] platform in Hawaii, is best indicated by the fact that the anti-prohibitionists polled more votes on Oahu than the prohibitionists polled in the Territory at large.” Evening Bulletin, July 27, 1910)

Pressure in favor of US prohibition grew; in 1917, when O‘ahu was declared a military zone, serving alcohol on the island was banned. Kūhiō viewed the restriction as unfair, since the manufacture and sale of alcohol were still permitted. (GovInfo)

Kūhiō put up a billboard that stated, “You are aware that I am not one who does not touch liquor, neither do I abstain, and I do not want a law which segregates people because they are not white. The days of those activities are over for Hawaii. Kuhio.”

Later, Congress passed the 18^th Amendment – the constitutional amendment known as Prohibition – on December 18, 1917. But before it could be added to the Constitution, three-fourths of the states needed to ratify – or approve – the measure. (US House)

While the 18^th Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating beverages, it did not outlaw the possession or consumption of alcohol in the United States.

The 18th Amendment split the Country; everyone was forced to choose – you were either “dry”, in support of Prohibition, or “wet.” But one thing was clear, Prohibition had little effect on America’s thirst.

Congress imposed prohibition in Hawai‘i in 1918 as a war measure, about a year and a half before the Eighteenth Amendment became effective on the continent. Then, in 1921 in an act supplemental to the National Prohibition Act, the prohibition Act was specifically applied to Hawai‘i, and the territorial courts were given the necessary enforcing jurisdiction. (LRB)

The 18^th Amendment would eventually be repealed and overridden by the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933 – it is the only Constitutional amendment to have been fully repealed. (Reagan Library)

August 4, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Making Sugar

In pre-contact times, sugarcane was not processed as we know sugar today, but was used by chewing the juicy stalks. Its leaves were used for inside house thatching, or for outside (if pili grass wasn’t available.) The flower stalks of sugar cane were used to make a dart, sometimes used during the Makahiki games. (Canoe Crops)

The first written record of sugarcane in Hawaiʻi came from Captain James Cook, at the time he made initial contact with the Islands. On January 19, 1778, off Kauai, he notes, “We saw no wood, but what was up in the interior part of the island, except a few trees about the villages; near which, also, we could observe several plantations of plantains and sugar-canes.” (Cook)

Cook notes that sugar was cultivated, “The potatoe fields, and spots of sugar-canes, or plantains, in the higher grounds, are planted with the same regularity; and always in some determinate figure; generally as a square or oblong”. (Cook)

Sugarcane, a tall perennial grass, is grown in tropical and semitropical climates. (USDA)

To plant it, short sections of sugar cane plant stalk containing one or more node are first planted in soil which has been deep-plowed and formed into furrows that follow the contour of the land. In about 24 months a mass of vegetation (up to 10-feet high) has developed and is ready for harvest.

There are two factors that distinguish cane sugar production in Hawaii from cane sugar production in other parts of the world. First, growers do not harvest Hawaiian sugarcane until it is an average of two years old. In most other areas, sugarcane is harvested after one year of growth. (EPA)

Prior to World War II, almost all cane was cut by hand and transported to the sugar mills through an extensive network of water flumes. When water flumes did not exist, mule-drawn wagons carried the cane to rail roads for transport.

Following World War II, mechanical harvesting completely replaced the hand cutting of cane. The most common method of harvesting is to snap off the cane at ground level with a bulldozer-type push rake on a large standard tractor. (EPA)

Sugar cane is processed at two facilities: processing starts at a raw sugar factory and finished at a sugar refinery. The following address raw sugar processing. (Sugar Association)

When harvested, the root structure is left intact so that a second, third, or even fourth crop of sugar cane may be produced from suckers which grow from the root structure of old harvested plants. This process is known as ‘ratooning.’

Bulldozers then rake the cane into piles for cranes, equipped with special grabs, to load the cane into special cane haulers usually consisting of an enormous truck-tractor unit and semi-trailer. (EPA)

The operations necessary for making raw cane sugar are as follows :

The extraction of the juice.
The purification of the juice.
The evaporation of the juice to syrup point.
The concentration and crystallization of the syrup.
The preparation of the crystals or grains for the market by separating them from the molasses. (Rolph)

The cane initially moves to a feeder table, up a conveyor, and then contacts a drum which spreads it out into a thin even blanket. Next it passes over a set of rollers which acts as a primary rock extractor. From there it falls into a flotation bath where rocks and other heavy foreign matter settle in the tank and are carried away. (EPA)

Following the flotation bath, the cane proceeds up a conveyor where heavy washing begins. Next it passes over drums to be shaken and leveled. The root structure holding the stalks together is then broken and here also final washing occurs.

The cane then moves over trash extractors (oppositely spinning rollers) which grab and strip leaves from the stalks. The resulting trash is conveyed away from the cleaning plant. A series of knives then cut the cane into small lengths for crushing by a pair of corrugated rollers.

Typically, the milling is through a tandem of three rollers, and the chopped cane passes through each mill in succession to remove the sugar cane juice. Either three, four, or five mills in a series are employed to squeeze the juice out of the cane stalks. (EPA)

Following extraction, sugar cane juice is sent through a clarifier; after leaving the clarifier, the juice enters a multi-effect steam evaporator from which it emerges with greater density as ‘syrup.’

The syrup then enters vacuum pans where it is converted into molasses. In the pans, sugar crystals are also formed from the syrup by the process of evaporation to saturation. At the end of this operating cycle, the crystals are centrifuged to remove the molasses.

The sugar from the first pan operation is of commercial raw sugar quality and is ready for shipment to a mainland refinery. The molasses remaining from centrifuge of the first boiling operation is called ’A’ molasses. This is returned directly to the pans for a second cycle.

The material from the second pan operation is centrifuged and the sugar produced is also of commercial quality. The molasses remaining from the second pan operation is called ‘B’ molasses. ‘B’ molasses is of low quality sugar content and must be specially processed before additional sugar can be produced. (EPA)

The raw sugar is then sent in bulk to refineries (C&H) for finishing, packaging and marketing/shipping. The initial step in cane sugar refining is washing the sugar, called affination, with warm, almost saturated syrup to loosen the molasses film.

There are a variety of steps of heating, separation of sugar crystals (in centrifuges), screening, washing and clarification. Two clarification methods are commonly used: pressure filtration and chemical treatment.

To produce refined granulated sugar, white sugar is transported by conveyors and bucket elevators to the sugar dryers. The most common sugar dryer is the granulator, which consists of two drums in series. One drum dries the sugar and the other cools the dried sugar crystals.

In addition to granulated sugar, other common refined sugar products include confectioners’ (powdered) sugar, brown sugar, liquid sugar, and edible molasses. (Food and Agricultural Industry; EPA) (The color and flavor of brown sugar come from the residual molasses left in the crystals during the refining process.)

Several waste products are produced by the sugar industry in raw sugar processing – one was bagasse, and the mills would flume it out of the mill and simply dump it in the ocean.

Later, some of the bagasse was made into canec. In 1929, Hawaiian Cellulose Ltd, a subsidiary of the Waiākea Mill Company applied for a patent for the manufacture of it. (County of Hawai‘i) They made ‘canec.’

Canec was originally the brand name for pressed fiber board made by Hawaiian Cane Products, Ltd., but it has become commonly used to refer to all pressed board of this type.

Also, later, “After passing through the last mill, as much cane pulp (bagasse) as needed is fed into the mill fireroom for use as fuel.” (EPA) The bagasse was pelletized and fueled the boiler.

In 1906, the California and Hawaiian Sugar Refining Company (C&H) began refining pure cane sugar in the small town of Crockett, California, near San Francisco. As cargo ships offloaded raw cane sugar from the Hawaiian Islands, the refinery employed 490 people and produced 67,000 tons of refined cane sugar.