Kohala Ditch | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Douglas developed the B-18 “Bolo” to replace the Martin B-10; the new model was based on the Douglas DC-2 commercial transport. The B-18 prototype competed with the Martin 146 (an improved B-10) and the four-engine Boeing 299, forerunner of the B-17 Flying Fortress, at the Air Corps bombing trials at Wright Field in 1935.

Although many Air Corps officers judged the Boeing design superior, the Army General Staff preferred the less costly Bolo; contracts were awarded for 82-planes, the order was increased to 132 by June of 1936. (Trojan)

The Bolo remained the Air Corps’ primary bomber into 1941. Thirty-three B-18s were based in Hawaiʻi with the 5th Bombardment Group and 11th Bombardment Group.

One of those Hawaiʻi B-18 Bolos, piloted by Boyd Hubbard Jr, took off from Hickam Field at 7 pm February 25, 1941 for a routine inter-island night instrument-navigation training flight. (Trojan)

Other members of the crew were 2nd Lt Francis R. Thompson (co-pilot), S/Sgt Joseph S. Paulhamus (flying engineer), Pvt William Cohn (radio operator), Pvt Fred C. Seeger (passenger), Pvt Robert R. Stevens (passenger) WIA. (Aviation Safety Network)

Their flight path took them over the Island of Hawaiʻi. While flying on instruments at 10,000-feet, Hubbard’s B-18 suffered a main bearing failure in the left engine. Hubbard headed to Suiter Field, the Army’s auxiliary field (it is now known as Upolū Point Airport.)

Hubbard made a last split-second correction prior to the crash. As he later described it, the mountain just loomed up before him in the darkness and he just reacted. He pulled back hard on the wheel and the aircraft stalled and belly flopped into the thick underbrush.

Airmen from Hickam later described the site as the “Worst possible place for a forced landing in the Islands.” (Trojan)

“The quiet of the wooded mountains was shattered by a roaring crash! No human ear heard the sound; but shortly thereafter the phone in my office rang with an urgent persistance.”

They called Frederick Christian Koelling (superintendent of the Kohala Ditch Co and engineer for the Hawi Mill and Plantation Co. (Nellist))

“I picked up the receiver with no inkling of the adventure into which this simple gesture would lead me. The voice which answered was an unfamiliar one, but the message imparted sent me running for help and set in motion the ’rescue in paradise’ which saved the lives of a gallant crew of six army fliers.”

“Prior to the rescue attempt, I asked the Army to locate Bill Sproat, our area supervisor, and fly him over the site of the crash. Bill, being thoroughly ‘at home”’ in this area, could easily give me directions which I felt would minimize the time required to effect a ground rescue.”

“On Wednesday, February 26th, having talked with Bill by telephone and determined the approximate location of the downed plane, I gathered a party of co-workers including Leslie Hannah, Ronald May, Elders Johnson and Lyons, and left Hawi, our home base, at noon for Pololu.”

“Arriving at Pololu, the first station in the Kohala Sugar Company irrigation system, we obtained mules and rode up the winding trail to Kaukini Camp.”

The next day, “we left Kaukini Camp just as dawn was breaking. Our party of eight now pushed on to the end of the trail where we dismounted and the mules were staked out. The area, known as Wailoa, was not as familiar to us as the previous terrain. However, a foot trail had been cleared for another two miles or more through these ravines.”

“We followed this trail until we reached the spot previously agreed upon between Bill Sproat and myself as being the most likely approach to where the plane had gone down.”

“We hacked our way up and down a series of steep ravines, crossing a rushing stream at the bottom of each. … In order to cover more ground, we separated into two parties of four and followed the edges of two gulches above which we had determined was the wrecked plane.”

“After more than an hour of steady climbing, always hampered by the dense foliage, vines and marshy soil underfoot, we met at the top of the second gulch. For another two and one-half hours we struggled and hacked our way with machetes over, through and around trees, staghorn ferns, rotten brush and clinging vines.”

“Two of our men had climbed trees above the underbrush to listen for an acknowledgement from the flyers. The men claimed they heard answering shots sounding like firecrackers in the still air, pak-pak!”

“Immediately the lagging spirits of the party revived. and we continued on with renewed vigor, putting considerable distance behind us over firmer terrain with less undergrowth.”

“After another half hour of steady climbing, we again checked our position, firing more rifle-shots, and again we could hear an answering, pak, pak, pak! As we strained our ears to pin-point the shots, suddenly one of our group saw a flare, a small parachute trailing smoke and fire a considerable distance away.”

“Another ridge, another gulch, until we finally reached a point where we could call to the stranded flyers. … Despite the fact that they had acknowledged our calls, we were very much in doubt as to the physical well-being of the survivors.”

“The scattered debris, the crushed and fallen trees, plus the sight of the badly damaged plane, caused considerable apprehension, as to the condition of the flyers; badly injured or worse.

“Miraculously, and no doubt due to the thick growth of trees and shrubs, the plane had landed with far less impact than it would have, had it crashed in a desert or open area. The survivors were only slightly hurt, a mighty fortunate crew indeed!”

“One of the aviators had a bandage over one eye; another an injured hand, a third had one pants leg ripped off and a lacerated leg, and the fourth bad a bruise on his face!”

“Captain Boyd Hubbard, leader of the crew, had a rather badly bruised arm, but the Lieutenant escaped with only a scratch! The marvelous condition of the flyers was a most welcome sight to their rescuers. If they had been seriously injured we would have had a much more difficult time getting them down out of the mountains.”

“After some consultation, it was decided that our party and two of the least injured aviators would return to the Kaukini Camp for the night. Bill Sproat was at that time, leading another party over our trail.”

Among this group were Major Higgins from Wheeler Field, a Dr. Hall, two mechanics and a number of Army personnel. Our presence at the scene would not be necessary as this group was better equipped to assist in the salvage work on the aircraft. Therefore, we immediately set out on our return trip.”

“It was with profound relief that we relaxed somewhat in our saddles after the exhausting descent. However, our troubles were not all over. We now proceeded entirely in darkness. Suddenly, one of the pack mules broke loose and lunged forward down the trail dragging its tie rope. Ronald May, whose mule was next in line, pursued the pack mule.”

“Fortunately, the tie rope became lodged in a rock cleft before the mule had traveled very far. Ronald leapt from his mount and grabbed for the tie rope – at the same instant, one of the aviators brought his flash into play. The sudden bright light [panicked] the mule causing the animal to plunge into Ronald who fell back off the trail and down the cliff coming to a splashing halt in a pool of water ten feet below.”

“We all came to a quick halt, pulling up our mules on the narrow trail. By great good fortune, Ronald was promptly located and, with the aid of a rope, we hauled him back up to the trail, more doused than hurt. The recalcitrant mule was firmly tied into the pack train and we all proceeded on to the stables above the Kaukini Camp.”

“Upon reaching Pololu, we disbanded and I drove the two aviators to [Upolū] Point Field from whence they were flown to Wheeler Field in Oahu. During the following days, the entire crew was brought out of the mountains along with all salvageable parts of the aircraft (the bombsight and instruments, Aviation Safety Network) by Bill Sproat and the Anny personnel who had accompanied him to the site.”

Decades later (during 1980s?) Gary Larkins visited this site and photographed it with top turret intact. Internal fittings and the top turret were removed, including the retractable top turret and nose cone. These parts went to the USAF Museum for use in their restoration of B-18A Bolo 37-469, but the turret did not fit their aircraft. (Aviation Safety Network) (Special thanks to Cindy McKievick for providing her grandfathers’ (FC Koelling) summary of his heroic rescue.)

Central to Hawaiʻi’s use of water has been agriculture, sugar in particular.

Initially brought to the islands by early Polynesians, the first successful commercial sugar plantation started in 1835. And, with it, Hawai`i’s environmental, social and economic fabric changed. Hawaiʻi’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

What encouraged the development of plantation centers? For one, the American settlement of California opened lucrative avenues of trade in the Pacific. In addition, the Civil War virtually shut down Louisiana sugar production during the 1860s, enabling Hawai’i to compete in a California market that paid elevated prices for sugar.

The Pacific whaling trade collapsed after 1860, pushing Honolulu merchants into the sugar trade. About the same time, the closing of the Hawaiian mission left the previously supported missionaries in search of new means of income.

The 1876 Treaty of Reciprocity between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi eliminated the major trade barrier to Hawai`i’s closest and major market. Through the treaty, the US received a station at Pearl Harbor and Hawaiʻi’s sugar planters received duty-free entry into US markets for their sugar.

For nearly a century, agriculture was the Island’s leading economic activity. It provided Hawai`i’s major sources of employment, tax revenues, and new capital through exports of raw sugar and other farm products.

Sugarcane requires a lot of water to grow. Pioneer sugar planters solved water shortages by diverting stream water and building irrigation systems that included aqueducts (the first in 1856), artesian wells (the first in 1879), and tunnels and mountain wells (the first in 1898). These irrigation systems enabled the planters to expand their sugar production.

These irrigation systems were modeled largely after the elaborate and extensive diversion and ditches developed by the ancient Hawaiians. Unlike the traditional Hawaiian system, which never diverted more than 50% of stream flow, the sugar plantations diverted large quantities of water from perennial streams and moved water from one ahupuaʻa to another.

Boston missionary Reverend Elias Bond sailed with the Ninth Company of Protestant Missionaries, arriving in the Islands in 1841. He was then assigned to Kohala.

As a means to provide employment to the people in the region and support his church and schools, in 1862, Reverend Bond founded Kohala Sugar Company, known as “The Missionary Plantation;” it produced its first sugar crop in 1865. Bond gave all his dividends and profits beyond his living expenses to the Board of Missions.

Bond included the following in a letter: “So this was the ‘Missionary Plantation’, and the prophecies were many and loud that it would not live five years”. But in the goodness of God we came through.” (Schweitzer)

From the mid-1800s, the sugar industry developed and commercial centers sprung up around the processing mills, especially in Kapaʻau and Hawi. The construction of the railroad and the Kohala Ditch acted to encourage the further development of these more centrally-located communities.

Seven sugar mills operated in Kohala: Kohala, Union, Niuliʻi, Hawi, Halawa, Hōʻea and Star. With the exception of Star, which existed for only a brief period of time, each was the nucleus of a community of plantation managers, supervisors, and laborers. (In 1937, all of the mills were consolidated into Kohala Sugar Company.)

To water the crop, John Hind first conceived of an irrigation system tapping into the abundant, wild and inaccessible rivers that ribbon the Kohala Mountains. In 1904, JS Low acquired a license from the Territory of Hawaiʻi to “enter upon, confine, conserve, collect, impound and divert all the running natural surface waters on the Kohala-Hāmākua Watershed;” he assigned the license to the Kohala Ditch Company.

Notable engineers and other professionals became involved in the construction of irrigation ditches that were the forerunners of large irrigation projects in the Western US. Among the engineers was Michael Maurice O’Shaugnessy; he was both an investor in the Kohala Ditch Company and the Chief Engineer for the aqueduct. (ASCE)

The Kohala Ditch, built by the Kohala Sugar Company, diverted water from the Honokāne Nui Stream to Hikapoloa, west of Hawi. 600-Japanese laborers worked on its construction; in the process, 17 lost their lives.

The laborers were housed under corrugated iron roofs. The raised floors “nearly always two-feet above the ground and higher if practicable” provided “a place for drying the men’s clothes in wet weather.” Additionally, “a hospital and medical department was also provided for the men, who were assessed 50-cents a month apiece for this object.” (ASCE)

The Honokāne section of Kohala Ditch was opened on June 11, 1906; waters of Honokāne began flowing to the Kohala, Niuliʻi, Halawa, Hawi and Union mills. The Awini section was finished in 1907; it started from the Waikoloa stream and traveled over 8-miles, mostly in tunnel, to the Awini weir where the water dropped 900-feet in a manmade waterfall into the Honokāne section.

The ditch carried the water for 23-miles northwest, mostly as tunnel, toward Hawi. The capacity was originally 70-mgd, later reduced to 50-mgd, when the original flumes were replaced with smaller ones.

The ditch drops about 80-feet in elevation from 1,045-feet at the bottom of the intake at the first large stream (Honokāne) to 956-feet at the terminus in the plantation fields.

Prosperity came to Kohala. At the peak of its production, the Sugar Company had 600-employees; 13,000-acres of land produced 45,000-tons of raw sugar a year.

As with other sugar operations, it didn’t last. 1975 saw the last harvest at Kohala Sugar Company. The district’s economy struggled. Almost one-third of the workforce now commutes to South Kohala to work in the hotels and resorts located there. However, the Ditch remained open for other agricultural needs.

Vulnerability and the risks associated with reliance on the Kohala Ditch were made evident on October 15, 2006, when two earthquakes struck off Kiholo and caused extensive damage to the Kohala Ditch. In that instant, rockslides and other damage to the ditch stopped the water from flowing through the Ditch.

Two years later, on November 25, 2008, after extensive community involvement and public/private funding ($2-million in federal money, $500,000 from the state, $500,000 from Hawai`i County, $342,000 from Kamehameha Schools and $100,000 from AT&T), water was released back into the Kohala Ditch after repairs to the damage caused by the 2006 quakes.

Agricultural and hydroelectric users continue to benefit from the Ditch; in addition, entrepreneurs saw an opportunity for recreational/visitor industry uses of the ditch with kayak and raft rides through the flumes and tunnels of the Kohala Ditch.