Molokai | Page 5 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 3, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Georges Phillipe Trousseau

Georges Trousseau was born in Paris on May 1, 1833 to a prominent Parisian family. His father, Armand Trousseau, a distinguished physician and surgeon, was also the author of medical books used throughout the world. (Greenwell)

He received the usual education of a wealthy Frenchman and entered the ecole de medicine in Paris at the early age of 15. (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

From the days in 1848 and 1852, when he as a student fought in the streets of Paris, he has unswervingly believed in the rights of the people – and early or late was he found ready to serve them as a physician as a friend or simply as a fellow-man. (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

Trousseau married Edna Vaunois, who was also from Paris; they had two children, Armond and Rene in 1856 and 1857. In 1865, the couple was legally separated (but never divorced.)

He followed his father’s footsteps and graduated from the Paris School of Medicine as a physician in 1858. He became an army surgeon, seeing service in Algiers early in the fifties. He also served at Solferino and Magenta, Italy. (Greenwell)

For personal reasons, he left France and went to Australia and New Zealand. In part, he was at the Australian gold mines, but did not strike it rich; in fact, his estranged wife loaned him money while he was there. (Greenwell, Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

He left there and arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1872. Almost immediately upon his arrival, he was appointed by the Board of Health to serve as Port Physician for Honolulu (there was no salary attached to the office; fees for services were worked out between the Port Physician and the ship/agent the usual charge was $25.) (Greenwell)

He soon gained great fame as a doctor. He served on the Board of Health for 20-years, serving as a Board member and as President. He took an interest in Leprosy and supervised the leper treatment center in Kalihi.

In 1865, the legislature of the Hawaiian Islands had passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy.” This law called for a place to be set aside for the isolation of those found to have leprosy in order to curb the spread of the disease. It was not until 1873, however, on Doctor Trousseau’s recommendation, that a vigorous effort was made to segregate lepers. (Greenwell)

“Trousseau strongly urging that the only method, at all likely to be successful, was the immediate, energetic, and to a certain extent, unsympathetic isolation of all who were afflicted with the disease, and even that would require a generation in all probability to prove successful.” (Board of Health, March 1, 1873)

He diagnosed Father (now Saint) Damien’s leprosy. “… In January, 1885 Damien visited Honolulu … (and accidentally) scalded his left foot. Father Leonore, the provincial of the mission, phoned for Dr George Trousseau, whose examination of the priest’s foot and leg proved they were devoid of feeling … this discovery indicated that the peroneal nerve and its branches were dead due to leprosy.” (Mouritz; Bushnell)

Though not an official title, Trousseau served as royal physician. He was called on as a consultant by Doctor Ferdinand W Hutchison, Minister of the Interior, during Kamehameha V’s last illness and was at the King’s bedside when he died.

In August 1873, when it was apparent that King Lunalilo was ill, Trousseau accompanied the King and stayed with Lunalilo at Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua- Kona, from mid-November to the middle of January 1874. After it became apparent that Lunalilo was not going to recover, and the royal party returned to Honolulu where Lunalilo died on February 3. (Greenwell)

The rulers of Hawaiʻi honored him. Lunalilo made him a major in his staff and his personal physician. Kalākaua befriended him and appointed him the executor of his will and the administrator of his estate. (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

“(H)e was always ready to promote any now industry that might prove a source of benefit to his adopted country.” This got him involved in sheep, sugar and ostriches. (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

In 1875, he gave up his Honolulu medical practice and moved to Kona, Hawaiʻi, where he purchased a sheep and cattle ranch at Kanahaha high on the slopes of Mauna Loa. Wool was baled at Kanahaha and transported by cart to Kainaliu Beach, from where it was shipped. (Greenwell)

A road was constructed which ran from Kanahaha on Mauna Loa, to the beach at Kainaliu (where he also had a home.) (This old cart road is used by jeeps today and is known as the Trousseau Trail.) Early in 1879, Trousseau sold all of his holdings in Kona to Henry N Greenwell.

After selling the sheep ranch, Trousseau bought out two sugar planters at Kukuihaele on the Hāmākua coast. He became partners in the Pacific Sugar Mill with the Purvis family. Trousseau had an excellent relationship with John Purvis and his son Herbert. (Greenwell)

The plantation thrived for a time. However, defects in the furnace caused difficulties. In 1881, Trousseau suddenly and unexpectedly sold his half in the plantation to his partners. He moved back to Honolulu and resumed his medical practice.

He tried one last agricultural venture there. “The doctor started a new industry for these islands a few years ago (1890) by establishing an ostrich farm at Kapiʻolani Park. Many young birds have been bred from the original stock, and some of the feathers have gone into domestic exports. The farm was under the management of Captain John Morriseau (Trousseau’s nephew.)” (Daily Bulletin, May 5, 1894)

The 1,000-acre farm (purchased from the Lunalilo Estate) was located in the Kapahulu area near the present zoo; Paul Isenberg, who owned a nearby cattle ranch, later purchased the farm (Trousseau Street notes the general location.)

Though Trousseau never divorced, he did have a mistress, Makanoe; Makanoe was also married (to Kaʻaepa.) (This relationship is referred to as ‘punalua;’ an association in which, typically, two women, often sisters, share one husband, or, as in Makanoeʻs case, two men share the affection of one woman.) (Greenwell)

Trousseau died May 4, 1894, shortly after Kaʻaepa’s death. Makanoe buried her husband and Trousseau side by side in a wrought iron fenced plot at Makiki Cemetery on Oʻahu. Trousseau left all of his estate to Makanoe (she eventually moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.)

Trousseau faithfully supported the Hawaiian Monarchy and stood up for the royalists which caused bitter feelings among many of his associates who backed the annexationists.

In spite of this, his obituary noted, “It is seldom that people of all classes, opposed to each other socially and politically can gather around the bier of a fellow-citizen and unite in saying, ‘we have lost a friend.’” (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

“Dr. Trousseau was a strong nationalist of Hawaiʻi, who believed that none but born or naturalized subjects should have a determining voice in national affairs. The Hawaiian people, who revered and confided in him, will take his death as a sort bereavement.” (Daily Bulletin, May 5, 1894) (Lots of information here from Jean Greenwell.)

October 9, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Snow Falls on Molokai

The initial land divisions on the island of Molokai were the Ko‘olau (windward) and the Kona (leeward) districts, or moku-o-loko.

Puko‘o was the first county seat on the island and is located on the Mana‘e, or East End of the island. Kaunakakai, presently the island’s main town, lies centrally along the southeastern coastline.

Kualapu‘u which was once a pineapple plantation town, is situated in Na‘iwa on the slopes above the Ho‘olehua plain. Its sister plantation town of Maunaloa is found on the West End in the ahupua`a of Kaluako‘i.

Large clusters of Hawaiians were living along the shore, on the lower slopes and in the larger valleys. The lands were cultivated and many plants grew strong from the rains of the mountain and water diverted from the streams. The valleys each had their own kalo lo‘i (taro patches), even those that are dry today. Productive, well-kept fishponds were strung along the shoreline.

On the east end, a mile away to the east of the Protestant church compound at Kalua‘aha, was Puko‘o, destined to become the first town in the western tradition on the island of Molokai. Puko‘o had a natural break in the reef with a perfect beach for landing canoes between Puko‘o fishpond and Pipio fishpond at Mapulehu.

The whole island was in a state of excitement when the deposed and beloved Queen Liliuokalani visited Molokai in early 1900s. She stayed at Puko‘o with the Duvauchelle family and Laura Duvauchelle Smith.

The little town of Puko‘o seemed to be thriving. The Aipas’ poi factory was right next door to the Duvauchelles, Ah Soon had the bakery and Ah Sing a store. Another store was started by Akeo and Ah Pun (Chock Pun), along with Apaiona (Lin Kee) who later leased to Chow Kwan.

His innovation was a real gas pump. Okazaki ran the soda works and also the movie theater which he operated with a hand crank until he later learned how to use the car engine. The movies were shown outside with benches for seating, while the equipment was protected by a tent. There was also a bakery over toward the old stone church closer to Kupeke fishpond.

Puko’o lacked the unifying architectural setting of shops in one continuous row. All of these little stores were run by people operating out of their own homes and they were scattered along the main thoroughfare. The set-backs varied much as the homes there do today. The Church was tucked up into a corner on a sharp turn in the road, slightly away from the main cluster of houses. (Salazar)

Then, in March 1912, there was some added excitement on Molokai …

“On her way home from Molokai, Mrs. Emma Nakuina brought proof of snow [hau sano] falling on Molokai, and you can clearly see the whitening of the mountain tops behind Pukoo with snow.”

“In the history of the inhabitation of Molokai, there has never been seen this amazing thing on that island from the beginning, and this is the first time that snow has been seen falling on Molokai. According to Mrs. Nakuina.”

“H. D. Bowen stated that snow fell in great quantities on the mountain behind Pukoo, so that you could see clearly the patches of snow in many places on the ridges as well as down in the valleys.”

You can see the snow all the way from the harbor of Pukoo and the shore, according to Mr. Bowen. He has some land … and while he was there, he saw the snow.”

“I believe this is the first time that man remembers that snow fell on Molokai, said Mrs. Nakuina.”

“So it is perhaps because of the cold we’ve had these past days that snow fell on Molokai. According to the scientists, the time is coming where the tropic zone will become arctic, and will be covered in snow. Could this be the beginning of this?” (Aloha Aina, 3/16/1912, P. 1)

“Mrs. Emma M. Nakuina, who owns land in the region of Molokai above-mentioned, gives the Star [Hawaiian Star Newspaper] the extraordinary intelligence that snow has fallen and rested long enough to have its appearance noted upon that island.”

“‘HD Bowen reports that snow has fallen on the mountain range back of Pukoo, in large enough quantities to show distinct patches in several places on the ridges and in the ravines,’ said Mrs. Nakuina this morning.”

“The snow is quite perceptible from Pukoo harbor and the beach along there, Mr. Bowen states. He lately bought a piece of land adjoining mine in that section, and has been over there looking after his property.”

“‘This is the first time in the memory of man I believe,” Mrs. Nakuina added, “that snow has fallen on Molokai.’”

“And, it is to be remembered, Mrs. Nakuina is one of the recognized authorities on Hawaiian history.”

“Heretofore anyone talking about ‘snowy slopes,’ without making it clear that only the big three mountains of the Island of Hawaii and the vast dome of Haleakala on the Island of Maui were being mentioned, would have been denounced as a traducer of the country. Such a thing did happen, eight or ten years ago, to the author of a bit of promotion literature.”

“Now, however, Molokai is to be included as a snow-supporting island of the group.”

“The evidence of that island’s advent to Arctic-crowned honors, as here given, is authentic and ranks in point of interest not far behind the discovery of the South Pole.”

“Whether the event may be taken as supporting the theory that the earth is going to enter another glacial, period is a question the scientists may be left to consider.”

“Professor W. D. Alexander when informed of the snow on Molokai, said: ‘I have never heard of any snow fall on Molokai before. The elevation of the Pukoo mountains is a little less than 5000 feet.’”

“‘About the early part of February each year snow falls on the south side of Haleakala, the elevation of which Is about 8000 feet.’”

“‘Even on Hualalai, Hawaii, snow rarely settles, although the elevation is only a little under 10,000 feet.’”

“‘The Molokai event is certainly very extraordinary, still the present cold spell is a long one, and may account for the phenomenon.’” (Hawaiian Star, March 11, 1912)

While the article suggests Molokai, for the first time in the memory of man, is decorated with snow, other reporting notes that it was half a century ago when snow first fell on that island. (Kuokoa Home Rula, 3/15/1912, p. 1)

May 27, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kolo Wharf

In 1907, McNeill & Libby started its first fruit cannery in Sunnyvale, California. It quickly became the largest employer with a predominantly female workforce.

In the early 1900s, it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name. Unlike the other bigger pineapple producers, Libby did not start in Central Oʻahu, it started in Windward O‘ahu.

Libby’s pineapple covered the southern portion of Kāne’ohe, what is now the Pali Golf Course, Hawaiian Memorial Park and the surrounding area. By 1923, it was evident that pineapple cultivation on the Windward area could not keep up with that in other O‘ahu areas.

Then, Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokaʻi Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island. Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

By 1927, it started to grow into a small town – as pineapple production grew, so did the town. By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaiʻi every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.

There were two main pineapple growers on Molokai, Libby, situated on the west side at Maunaloa and California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte) in Kualapuʻu in the central part of Molokaʻi.

Then steps in a fledgling Hawaiʻi company, also seeing expansion opportunities, and it was through shipment of Libby’s pineapple from Molokaʻi to Libby’s processing plant in Honolulu that Young Brothers expanded into the freight business.

In 1900, three brothers, William, Herbert and Jack, got into business along Honolulu’s waterfront. What started out working small, odd jobs running lines, delivering supplies and providing harbor tours ended up to be a company that has played an important role in the maritime community of the State.

In those days, there might be from five to twenty sailing ships off Sand Island. When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship; if the ship was coming to the dock, a line had to be carried to the pier.

In the early years of the company, the brothers carried supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, as well as run lines for anchoring or docking vessels. They also gave harbor tours and took paying passengers to participate in shark hunts.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokaʻi, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers. The brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu. “That’s how (Young Brothers) started the freight.” (Jack Young Jr)

Libby constructed paved roads, a warehouse and worker housing in Maunaloa. In addition, they dredged a harbor and built a wharf at Kolo on the south-west side of the Island (between what is now Hale O Lono and Kaunakakai.)

“A natural channel thru the coral reef was blown and dredged to give a minimal depth of nine feet with two hundred feet width. Spar buoys mark the outer and inner ends of this channel.”

“The wharf is a heavily built wooden structure, having a road constructed for heavy truck traffic between it and the plantation on the summit of Mauna Loa. The only buildings at Kolo are those of the construction camp.” (Dept of Commerce, 1925)

Back then, there was competition in hauling freight. “The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co, established in 1883, own(ed) and operate(d) a fleet of first-class vessels engaged exclusively in the transportation of passengers and freight between ports on the islands of the Hawaiian group.” (Annual Report of the Governor, 1939)

Regular sailings of passenger vessels are maintained from Honolulu four times weekly to ports on the island of Hawaiʻi, four times weekly to Molokaʻi, twice weekly to Kauaʻi, three times weekly to Lānaʻi and daily, except Monday and Saturday, to ports on the island of Maui. Included in the fleet are 12 passenger and freight vessels.” (Report of the Governor, 1930)

During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation had the SS Haleakalā, Hualālai, Kilauea and Waiʻaleʻale. There were others that carried 12-passengers such as the SS Humuʻula, which was primarily a cattle boat. “(Inter-Island) would run their passenger ships and heave to off Kaunakakai. And it would be passengers and mail which just went (ashore) by boat.” (Jack Young Jr)

But those vessels had deeper drafts than the shallow barges and couldn’t service Kolo; “Kolo was a very shallow draft channel, and it was a privately owned port, owned entirely by Libby McNeil & Libby. They had bigger acreage on the west end. That was a shorter haul for them. But the bulk of Libby’s pineapples came from Maunaloa which was shipped out of Kolo.” (Jack Young Jr)

To handle the conditions there, Young Brothers had a special tender built, the ‘Kolo.’ “My father had the Kolo built for that. He had the propellers swung into the hull of the launch because of the shallow depth. … The tug had to remain off port.” (Jack Young Jr)

With expanded freight service to Molokaʻi (Kolo and Kaunakakai,) around 1929, Young Brothers initiated a practice of towing two barges with one tug and became known as tandem towing.

The system was pioneered because two barges were needed to serve Molokaʻi – they would drop one barge off at Kolo and then carry on to Kaunakakai; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Then, the 1946 tidal wave struck. “Libby would have to spend $1-million to restore it, and redredge it. And so instead of that they bought a fleet of trucks and hauled their fruit from Maunaloa to Kaunakakai. Everything went out of Kaunakakai, Libbys and (California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte.)) So Kolo was abandoned.” (Jack Young Jr)

The end of the pineapple era began in 1972 when Libby sold to Dole Corp and was finalized three years later when Dole closed its Maunaloa facility. The very last pineapple harvest took place in 1986. (West Molokai Association)

Young Brothers continues today. In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly own subsidiary of Foss.

The youngest of the Young Brothers, “Captain Jack,” is my grandfather; several quotes in this piece include statements from my uncle, also known as Captain Jack.

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April 23, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Meyer Sugar

At the age of twenty-four, Rudolph Wilhelm Meyer emigrated from Germany to Hawaiʻi where he arrived on January 20, 1850. At the time, Meyer listed his occupation as a surveyor.

His main purpose in leaving Germany was to join the “Gold Rush” to California in 1848, but he was delayed on a stopover in Sidney, Australia, and again in Tahiti, after which he landed at Lāhaina, Maui.

Meyer spoke German, French and English when he arrived in Hawaiʻi, and soon wrote and spoke fluent Hawaiian.

Meyer settled on Molokai. There, he met the Reverend Harvey Rexford Hitchcock I, who accepted him as a house guest at Kaluaʻaha, Molokai.

While living with Reverend Hitchcock, he met High Chiefess Kalama Waha, who later became his wife. Sometime later, he moved his family to Honolulu where he worked for Austin and Becker at an office located on Maunakea Street.

The Meyer family later moved back to Molokai and made their permanent residence at Kalaʻe. They eventually had eleven children, six boys and five girls.

He supported his family, in part, by holding a number of local commissions from the Royal Hawaiian government, but primarily from his diverse agricultural activity.

Ranching began on Molokai in the first half of the 19th-century when Kamehameha V set up a country estate on the island, part of which is now the Molokai Ranch. Rudolph Meyer, one of the first western farmers on Molokai, served as ranch manager for King Kamehameha V. (DLNR)

He planted at various times coffee, corn, wheat, oats, taro, potatoes, beets, cassava, peaches, mangoes, bananas and grapes. He was the first on Molokai to grow, produce and mill sugar and coffee commercially and he exported these to Honolulu and California. He also operated a large dairy from which he produced butter.

Meyer started to grow sugar at the time when the 1876 Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Hawaiʻi removed the tariff on Hawaiian sugar sold in the United States.

Rather than the expansion and innovation that followed the Treaty, Meyer scaled his mill to satisfy the modest 50- ton annual production from his family’s 30-acres of sugar cane.

Constructed in the 1870s the RW Meyer Sugar Mill is one of the only sites in Hawaiʻi with sufficient material remains intact to demonstrate, fairly completely, a nineteenth-century process of sugar manufacture. The equipment included a mule-driven cane crusher, redwood evaporating pans and some copper clarifiers.

In the early-1880s, when the average investment in Hawaiʻi’s fifth-six sugar plantations exceeded $280,000, the Meyer family investment of $10,000 made their mill one of the smallest in Hawaiʻi.

Meyer adopted and followed mill practices more representative of the 1850s and the 1860s than the 1870s and 1880s. In the 1850s, animals powered the mill equipment; while he stuck with this method into the future, others replaced the animal power with steam and water.

The Meyer Sugar Mill easily accommodated the milling requirements of the family’s sugar lands and repaid the investment within a few years; however, during the 1880s the price paid for sugar steadily declined.

The Planters’ Monthly reported in July, 1887, that “Low prices of sugar still prevail…and many a man who once thought himself assured of reasonable wealth through sugar, now finds that it will not even yield him a competence…only running the sugar business on a large scale can it be made to pay.”

In 1892, CM Hyde reported that the Meyer Mill stopped producing sugar cane when “The low price of the product for the last few years … made it more than unprofitable to engage in sugar manufactured in a small way. Now the lands are given up to grazing.”

Meyer also served as the Superintendent of the isolated Kalawao settlement (Kalaupapa) (serving with Father Damien and Mother Marianne Cope (now, both are Saints)) from 1866 till his death in 1897 (he continued to live with his family at the top of the cliffs, rather than on the Kalaupapa Peninsula.)

He also created one of the first trails used to travel between Kalaupapa Peninsula and the mauka lands. It was used to transport cattle and supplies down to Kalawao.

RW Meyer Ltd still owns property in the southwest corner of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park near the Kalaupapa Trailhead and maintains a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Park for trail access, maintenance and the planting of native plants. The Meyer Mill has been restored and is operating as a museum. Lots of information here is from NPS and rwmeyer-com.

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Meyer Sugar Mill Museum (Crusher)

Meyer Sugar Mill Museum

January 30, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Molokai Ranch

One-and-a-half-million years ago, two large volcanoes emerged and created the island of Molokai, Kamakou in the east and Maunaloa in the west. Somewhat later, a third and much smaller caldera, Kauhako, rose to form the Makanalua peninsula on the north side.

Over eons, the north side of the island eroded and fell into the sea, leaving behind the vertical sea cliffs which today make up most of Molokai’s impressive North Shore.

It’s the fifth largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago; 260 square miles in area, 38 miles long and ten miles wide at its widest point.

Situated in the center of the 8 major Hawaiian Islands, Molokai is 25-miles southeast of Oʻahu, and a 25-minute flight from Maui. From the eastern end of the island, it’s only 8-miles across the Pailolo Channel to Maui.

The oldest known settlement on Molokai occurred in Hālawa Valley, at the eastern end of the island. This side of the island was heavily populated in pre-contact Hawaii, a result of ample water from the mountains, fertile and level land for farming, and a rich and abundant ocean.

In November, 1778, Captain James Cook sighted Molokai on his first visit to the Sandwich Islands (as he named these islands,) but it wasn’t until 1786 when Captain George Dixon anchored off Molokai’s coast, that Europeans first visited this island.

Lot Kapuāiwa, who later became King Kamehameha V, gained the title to land on the western side of the island. He had a summer house and began raising cattle. Title later passed to Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani and then to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and then (with additional land purchased by Charles R. Bishop) became part of the Bishop Estate.

In 1897, a group of Honolulu businessmen (including Judge Alfred S Hartwell, Alfred W Carter, and AD McClellan) purchased 70,000 acres from the trustees of the Bishop Estate and leased another 30,000 acres from the Hawaiian government. Molokai Ranch was formed. At that time, American Sugar Company began sugar cane production on the lands.

About 10 years later, the land was bought out by Charles M Cooke and under his son, George P Cooke, they raised cattle, planted sweet potato and wheat crops and produced honey. It became the second largest cattle ranch in Hawaiʻi and a major producer of beef.

In the early days, the focus was on raising beef cattle for market, plus horses and mules for use and for sale elsewhere. Over time, other ventures were tried, with varying degrees of success. Some of these included raising sheep for market, honey production, a small dairy, and various grains and row crops.

Between 1923 and 1985, several thousand acres were leased to Libby and Del Monte for pineapple cultivation. During those years, pineapple was an economic mainstay for Molokai.

The Cooke family owned Molokai Ranch for almost 80 years until the late-1980s. It was operated as a family corporation separate, from Castle and Cooke.

More recently, activities related to the visitor industry were tried. However, in May 2008, the Ranch reduced its operations on the island. Today, Molokai Ranch encompasses about 53,000-acres which is roughly one-third of the island.

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