“The science of transportation, as demonstrated by the railroad and steamboat promoters of this age, has been clearly shown to be the principle upon which the astounding commercial progress of the United States is founded.”
“The vast trans-continental systems, with their ramifications, have carried millions of people from Europe and the Atlantic states into the unbroken west, tapped the treasures of mine, forest and farm, developed a hundred industries where none was known twenty-five years ago, built cities and added to the nation’s wealth a hundred fold.”
“Within the past year Hawaii has started in the footsteps of America by projecting a railroad around the island of Oahu, and actually perfecting, within the period from April 1st, 1889, to January 1st, 1890, a well equipped railroad in running order, extending from Honolulu along the southern shore of the island to a temporary terminus at Ewa Court House, a distance of twelve miles.”
“It was five years ago that Mr. B. F. Dillingham advanced the idea of building a steam railroad that should carry freight and passengers, and conduct business on the most improved American methods.”
“A hundred men told him his scheme was infeasible where one offered encouragement. He believed he was right, and so put forth every endeavor to secure a franchise, which was granted to him only after vigorous legislative opposition to the measure.”
“The incorporation of the Oahu Railway & Land Company with a capital stock of $700,000 was the next step in the venture, but not an easy one by any means, as home capitalists were timid at that time, and few would believe that the soil of Oahu was worth developing to the extent of Mr. Dillingham’s plans.”
“A small number of gentlemen, notable among whom was Hon. Mark P. Robinson, came forward at the right time and purchased enough stock and bonds to set the enterprise on foot.”
“With all the disadvantages that remoteness from the manufacturing centers of America offered, Mr. Dillingham undertook the contract of building and equipping the railroad. Rails were ordered in Germany, locomotives and cars in America, and ties in the home market; rights of way were amicably secured, surveyors defined the line of road, and grading commenced.”
“The work was prosecuted with the utmost speed consistent with stability and safety, and there was hardly a day’s delay from the time grading commenced, in the spring of 1889, till September 4th following, when the first steam passenger train, loaded with excursionists, left the Honolulu terminus, and covered a distance of half a mile.”
“It was the initial train, and the day was Mr. Dillingham’s birthday, a period he had designated when he secured his franchise, exactly twelve months before, as the natal day of steam passenger traffic on Oahu. The little excursion was a success, as far as it went.”
“On November 16th, His Majesty’s birthday, the formal opening of the road took place. Trains ran to Halawa and back all day, carrying the public free.”
“Following this event, which marked a significant epoch in the commercial history of this Kingdom, the Oahu Railway & Land Company opened the doors of their commodious offices in the King Street depot for business.”
“Simultaneous with the commencement of business was the acquisition, by the OR&L Co, of a fifty-year lease of the Honouliuli and Kahuku Rancho’s 60,000 acres, and the purchase of 10,000 head of cattle running thereon.”
This vast area, hitherto utilized as a stock range, is, under the manipulation of the railroad people, becoming one of the garden spots of the Kingdom.”
“Two new corporations of sugar planters, the Ewa plantation and Kahuku plantation-capitalized at $500,000 each, have each secured from the railroad leases of from 5,000 to 10,000 acres for sugar cultivation. Cane is now growing on a part of the lands.”
“These two great agricultural enterprises, the direct outgrowth of the railroad movement, confer valuable pecuniary benefits on the business men and mechanics of Honolulu.”
“Artesian wells, yielding a bounteous flow of water, supply the means of irrigation, and make possible in that section of the island what almost every one but the promoter of the railroad formerly believed to be impossible-the culture of sugar cane on a large scale.”
“This abundance of water, which is obtained by the mere sinking of wells, has stimulated other agricultural pursuits on the railroad’s lands.”
“Ever since the day traffic was begun, the railroad people have been pushing forward in their good mission of banding the island with iron rails.”
“The quiet precincts of Pearl Harbor were first invaded by the locomotive in December, 1889, and in the following month Ewa Court House was reached.”
“Graders and track layers are still marching on. Pearl Harbor signifies something more than a mere body of water. It is a series of picturesque lochs, connected with the sea, but sufficiently protected from the encroachments of the breakers to render its waters calm and placid, whereby boating, bathing, and fishing may be enjoyed in all the fulness of those pastimes.”
“The new town of Pearl City, another offspring of our railroad enterprise, rests on one of the loveliest slopes of Pearl Harbor’s borders.”
“A handsome depot and several residences built in new styles of architecture present a decidedly attractive appearance. The town is bisected by a wide boulevard, from either side of which extend well graded avenues. Pearl City will afford pleasant homes for those who desire recreation after the day’s toils in Honolulu.”
“Another prominent feature of Pearl Harbor’s improvements is a pavilion, seventy feet square, built by the railroad company. This is designed for the accommodation of picnic parties, and, being embowered by a grove of choice tropical trees, furnishes the sylvan environment so essential to the pleasure of the conventional picnic.”
“Chief among the ends secured by facilitating the shipment of produce from the interior to the seaboard is the conjunction of ship and car, a principle that Mr. Dillingham had in view when he launched his railroad venture.”
“This project, involving the construction of a wharf from the present railroad terminus at Iwilei to deep water in Honolulu harbor, is being carried out.”
“Only three or four cities in the United States claim this superior arrangement for rapid and economic transfer of freight, and it certainly becomes a progressive movement on the part of Honolulu when our railroad cars bring sugar, bananas and rice from plantations on the northwest side of the island directly to ship’s tackles.”
“The wharf now being built is 200 feet long and sixty feet wide. The piles are tornado proof, and the whole structure is put up with an eye to strength and durability. Its usefulness will be appreciated when, in 1892, the first crop of Ewa Plantation will, with only a nominal cost of handling, be placed in the hold of out-bound packets.”
“The company are reclaiming in the vicinity of the wharf thirty acres of tideland, which will prove very valuable water frontage.”
“Banana and rice planters along the line of the railroad will not be slow to avail themselves of the shipping advantages provided by the meeting of ship and car.”
“Bananas can be cut from the plant on the morning a vessel sails, and will arrive in the California market in a much better condition than those heretofore transported by horse and mule back from the interior.”
“Hawaiian rice, which commands a higher price in American markets than the South Carolina product, can be placed in San Francisco at a lower figure than formerly.”
“While the banana and rice traffic will be stimulated to a greater extent here than in any other country on the globe, the advantage given to sugar, the staple commodity of the Kingdom, will be heightened to an extraordinary degree.”
“In no other country have we the spectacle of sugar being taken from the hnill directly to ship’s tackles. In Manila, Jamaica and Cuba, and even in Louisiana and Mississippi, the process of transportation is slow, laborious and expensive, reducing the profits of the planter to a minimum.”
“The Oahu Railway & Land Company are nothing if not progressive. It is difficult at this stage of the corporation’s history to convey an idea of what will be accomplished at the close of the year 1890.”
“The projection of branch roads, the importation of locomotives and cars, the improvements around Pearl Harbor and the track laying beyond Ewa are circumstances of the present that indicate preparations for an enormous business.”
“The branches or spurs now under way are, one extending into the Palama suburb, having its terminus at a stone quarry, and the other is a line running along the peninsula at Pearl City.” (Whitney; Tourist Guide, 1890)
