In 1922, “Maui Agricultural Company [MA Co] has the largest land holdings of any of the Maui plantations but in area planted to cane is second to Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar. … It is a Baldwin plantation and its fields extend from those of the Hawaiian Commercial Sugar Co and extend thence into Haiku and up into Makawao.”
“Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company or Puunene as it is so commonly called, was the plantation for which the late HP [Herny Perrine] Baldwin did perhaps more than any other, much as he did for his Paia plantation. The two went forward together after he acquired what is now Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company property.” (Maui News, Oct 10, 1922)
“[A]s one travels east along Hana Highway from the city of Kahului, two sugar mills can be seen among the cane fields which characterize central Maui. The first to come to view is Puunene Mill. Located two miles from Kahului, it is part of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S). “ (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)
“The Maui Agricultural Company was a copartnership of corporations consisting of the two historic plantations, Haiku Sugar Co., founded in 1858 and Paia Plantation dating back to 1883, and five companies chartered in 1903, the date of the formation of the Maui Agricultural Co.”
“Previous to 1883 and back to 1870 the upper portions of the Paia lands comprised a plantation owned by Mr HP Baldwin, the manager, and Mr ST Alexander as partners under the firm name or Alexander & Baldwin.”
“In 1886 the Haiku Sugar Co absorbed the East Maui Plantation Company located at Kaluanui and in 1889 the Paia Plantation purchased the Grove Ranch Plantation Co., doing business at Grove Ranch or Pahulei.” (Maui News, Oct 10, 1922)
“Two miles further along Hana Highway, on a hill, appears Paia Mill. … [P]rior to 1948 when the two companies merged, Paia Plantation was part of the Maui Agricultural Company (MA Company).”
“Less sprawling than neighboring Puunene Plantation, Paia Plantation consisted of six main camps housing approximately 6,000 people. Besides the main Paia Camp which consisted of smaller ‘subcamps’ near the mill, the other camps were at Kaheka, Hamakua Poke, Keahua, Pulehu, and Kailua.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)
“Paia and Puunene were almost the same company. [Maui Agricultural Company [Paia] and Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company [Puunene] were both subsidiaries of Alexander and Baldwin.]” (Minoru Hayashida, Oral History) “MA Company and HC&S was different company – sugar company … Then, they merged, came HC&S [in 1948].” (Kenichi Itakura, Oral History)
In 1900 Alexander & Baldwin incorporated as an agency for sugar plantations such as Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd., an A&B creation. (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)
Henry “Harry” Alexander Baldwin, son of Henry Perrine Baldwin, was President and Manager of Maui Agricultural Company which consolidated the sugar plantations over in the Ha‘ikū, Hamakuapoko, and Hāli‘imaile areas. (Orr)
In 1906 Frank F. Baldwin succeeded his father Henry Perrine Baldwin as manager of HC&S; and became both president and manager in 1911, when his father died.
In 1908 HC&S and MA Company jointly organized East Maui Irrigation Company, Ltd to manage their ditch system and divide water between them.
In 1917 Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd. built the first distillery in the US for producing alcohol from molasses; the plantations vehicles operated on molasses alcohol instead of kerosene or gasoline during World War I. The company also grew corn which they grounded at their Ha‘ikū factory, supplying the Territory of Hawaii. (Orr)
“Another case of pioneering on the part or the MA Co, was its installation of a plant for the manufacture of fuel alcohol. This process was devised by JP Foster, factory superintendent. ln this way the company utilized its waste alcohol profitably, manufacturing enough motor fuel to run all of its tractors and other motor vehicles.”
“It Is now furnishing the fuel to its employes for cooking purposes. This Is being done because of the growing scarcity and increasing cost of wood as a fuel, the plantation always having furnished the latter to its workers.”
“It experimented as to the cost of the new fuel compared with oil and found it more economical. It now furnishes the necessary stoves at a lower cost than other stoves could be bought and the fuel alcohol gratis.” (Maui News, Oct 10, 1922)
“One of the world’s largest plantations at the time, Puunene Plantation consisted of 33,000 acres, 16,000 of which were cane land in 1935.”
“In 1935, 7,600 employees and their families lived in the twenty-six camps that dotted the area. Among the plantation camps stood four public schools, three Japanese-language schools, ten churches, one large hospital, twelve day nurseries, three theaters, and a gymnasium.”
Maui Agricultural Company, Ltd. once had a thriving pineapple department; in 1932 the department became a part of Maui Pineapple Company. In 1948 HC&S and Maui Agricultural Company merged, forming one of the largest sugar producers. The following year HC&S abandoned its Pu‘unene railroad for the new trucking era. (Orr)
