Sugar | Page 15 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 11, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin (grandson of the Rev Dwight Baldwin) was born at Kohala, Hawaii, April 12, 1868, son of David D and Lois M Baldwin. He attended Fort Street School and Oʻahu College (Punahou.)

He married Louise Theresa Voss in Honolulu on April 11, 1893; they had three sons, Douglas Elmer, Paul Frederick and Cedric Benjamin. (Nellist)

Baldwin began his career in the sugar cane industry on Haiku Sugar Co plantation, Hamakuapoko, Maui, on January 1, 1889.

Then, “Mr Benjamin D Baldwin, head luna of Hamakuapoko plantation has accepted the position of assistant manager of the Hawaiian Commercial Company, thus filling the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. David Center.”

“Mr. Baldwin and family will remove to Spreckelsville during the first part of April upon the return of Manager HA Baldwin from California.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 26, 1901)

Then on January 15, 1903, he headed to Kauai. “Benjamin D Baldwin, formerly assistant manager of Puʻunene, is now permanently settled as manager of Makaweli plantation of Kauai. Mr and Mrs Baldwin will be much missed by Maui friends.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 19, 1903)

“Makaweli is the banner plantation of Kauai since the Olokele ditch system enabled it to put a large additional area under cultivation.”

The Hawaiian Sugar Company, Ltd was headquartered at Makaweli, where the first cane was planted. The total land area was 7,000-acres held under lease from Gay & Robinson, extending from Waimea gulch to Hanapepe valley, a distance of several miles.

“The water supply for irrigation purposes is obtained from the Olokele and Hanapepe valley streams, the water flowing to all of the lands by gravity.”

“Work upon the Olokele ditch, which is the largest engineering scheme of the kind ever undertaken in the Islands, was begun for the Hawaiian Sugar Company by MM O’Shaughnessy and his assistants, Mr McLennan, HC Smalley and Guy P Rankin in 1902 and was completed in 1904.” (Evening Bulletin, March 25, 1909)

By the end of Baldwin’s management, in 1928, the annual yield increased to 27,057-tons of raw sugar and the company was noted as one of the most profitable and progressive in the Territory. (Faye)

“In the development of the property 2,250 skilled and unskilled laborers are employed who occupy several camps adjacent to their work. Better houses and better camps than are found on main plantations for the accommodation of men and their families have been erected.”

“The laborers receive in addition to their wages, which averages $20 per month, house room, fuel, water and medical attendance and have little patches of land where they raise vegetables.”

“The labor incident to the successful operation of this plantation is handled under two systems, one-third of the labor working under a or profit sharing system, and known as company men or contractors, the balance are day laborers, paid a regular rate per month of twenty-six working days.” (Evening Bulletin, March 25, 1909)

The Makaweli management takes much interest in the sports of the employes. A baseball diamond and land for tennis courts are provided. The Makaweli baseball team, by the way, secured the 1911 Kauai championship and in so doing gained three cups.”

“A club house for the skilled employes, which is equipped and supplied with reading matter and appliances, and a billiard and pool table, is supported by the company.” (Wright, Mid-Pacific Magazine, June 1914)

Baldwin died on April 27, 1928; a decade later, a substantial monument was erected by Makaweli Japanese sugar workers and dedicated to the memory of Baldwin, a highly respected plantation manager.

There are two circular metal medallions embedded in the column. The upper medallion has a bust of Baldwin surrounded by the words ‘Benjamin Douglas Baldwin 1867 – 1928,’ and the lower medallion has the words ‘Erected In Loving Memory by the Makaweli Japanese 1938.’ (Dorrance)

Baldwin was not just a sugar planter; he was commissioned as a major in the Hawaii National Guard (3rd Battalion, 4th Regiment) on Kauai and also commanded the Third Battalion of the Fifth Division during World War I. (Nellist) He was also postmaster at Makaweli.

A World War II ammunition magazine was located next to the monument (1942-1945.) Called ‘Battery Monument,’ it was armed with two old 7-inch/45 naval guns on pedestal mounts capable of hurling a 165-pound shell 16,500 yards (9.4 mi.) at 15° elevation. (Bennett)

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Ben D Baldwin-(EveningBulletin-1909)

Ben D Baldwin-(Men of Hawaii)

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin Monument-Faye

Managers Residence (Faye)

DE_Baldwin-(Faye)

CB_Baldwin_and_Luna-(Faye)

CB_Baldwin-(Faye)

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin Monument-Eleele

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin Monument-Dorrance; Bennett

USGS-Hanapepe-1963-portion-Baldwin Monument

USGS-Hanapepe-1996-portion-Baldwin Monument

Benjamin Douglas Baldwin grave marker

February 20, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

C Brewer

C Brewer & Co, Ltd began at a distant date under a different name, and is a result of the growth through the changes of time and circumstances rather than of any one definite act. (Thrum)

The following are the various names which the firm was known: James Hunnewell, Hunnewell & Peirce, Peirce & Hinckley, Peirce & Brewer, C Brewer & Co, SH Williams & Co, C Brewer 2d, C Brewer & Co Ltd. (The Friend, January 1, 1867)

In its early years, the following are the names of those who have been connected with this firm as partners: James Hunnewell, Thomas Hinckley, Henry A Peirce, Charles Brewer, JFB Marshall, Francis Johnson, William Baker Jr, Stephen H Williams, Benjamin F Snow, Charles Brewer 2d, Sherman Peck, CH Lunt, HAP Carter and I Bartlett. (The Friend, January 1, 1867)

If an exact date and a single act are to be assigned, it was on Monday, December 8, 1817, when James Hunnewell, officer of the brig Bordeaux Packet, agreed with Andrew Blanchard, master, to remain at Honolulu after the sale of the vessel. (Thrum)

He would dispose of the balance of her cargo and invest and forward the proceeds. This was the beginning of the long business career of Hunnewell connected with the Islands, and his first act in settling there. (Thrum)

Hunnewell first came to the Islands aboard the ‘Packet’ in October 1816. He agreed to stay (December 8, 1817) and traded his boat and cargo for sandalwood, “We were the only traders on shore at Honolulu that had any goods to sell.” There was no currency at the time, so they generally traded for sandalwood. (Hunnewell, The Friend)

At first, business was generally in small transactions and by barter. American goods of nearly all sorts were received and sold on consignment. (Thrum)

After trading sandalwood in China and then back to the northeast, Hunnewell returned to the Islands in 1820 on the ‘Thaddeus,’ “This was the memorable voyage when we carried out the first missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands.” He stayed … “it was urged by some of the chiefs that knew me on my previous voyage that I should remain instead of a stranger to trade with them.” (Hunnewell)

Later, in 1825, he negotiated with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, “to take the missionary packet out, free from any charge whatever on (his) part for sailing and navigating the vessel – provided the Board would pay and feed the crew, and allow (him) to carry out in the schooner to the amount (in bulk) of some forty to fifty barrels”. (Hunnewell)

Then in 1826, with a stock of merchandise, he then purchased the premises of John Gowen (to which he added some land by exchange in 1830.) “As soon as I secured this place, I landed my cargo, and commenced retailing it…” (Hunnewell)

In October, 1828, Captain Marcus T Peirce, an old and intimate friend of Hunnewell’s, arrived in the brig Griffin from the north-west coast. He gave up the command of his vessel to Captain MW Green, he preferring to return home.

In doing so, he requested that Hunnewell to take charge of his younger brother, Henry A Peirce, who had been a clerk with him. Young Peirce first worked for $25 per month and board until September, 1830; after that he was given a share in the profits.

Hunnewell decided to return home on the continent (November 20, 1830) and left Peirce in charge; Hunnewell thought he would come back to the Islands, but never did. Hunnewell decided to remain at home, and Peirce accepted his offer to loan him funds enough to enable him to carry on the business himself and take the establishment at an appraised value.

“The name … James Hunnewell was early associated with the commercial interests of these Islands, and his long and useful life was marked by such constant goodwill to my kingdom, that I shall always cherish his memory with sincere regard.” (Kamehameha V to Hunnewell’s son; Thrum)

Peirce took Hinckley as a partner; but Hinckley retired due to his health. Next, Charles Brewer arrived (on his third voyage to the Islands,) just before Hunnewell left for home. (Hunnewell, The Friend) For a while, Brewer commanded Peirce’s vessels on their voyages to China and the Russian possessions.

In December, 1835, a co-partnership was formed by Peirce and Brewer. Under this partnership, the firm of Peirce & Brewer conducted a general merchandise and commission business at Honolulu. (Peirce)

“Mr. Peirce had been absent from home twelve years, and was anxious to go back and visit his family. He made me an offer to join him as a partner in business, which offer I accepted, and in one month from that time, Mr. Peirce left Honolulu for Boston, where he remained a year or more, returning by the way of Mexico and South America.” (Brewer)

“When I was received as a partner in business with Mr. Henry A. Peirce, I continued the firm name of Peirce & Brewer until Mr. Peirce retired, in 1843. I then continued the business as C Brewer & Co., with my nephew C Brewer, 2d, until the year 1845.” (Brewer)

That year, there was a merger with the firm of Marshall & Johnson (established in 1841 by James B. Marshall and Francis Johnson.) Brewer returned to Boston. “We arrived in Boston on March 26, 1849, and from that time, my sea life may be said to have ended.” (Brewer)

This association ended in 1847 and the business was taken over by SH Williams & Co, composed of Stephen H Williams, James B Marshall, William Baker Jr, and, a year later, Benjamin F Snow.

It was not until 1859 that the firm again and finally resumed the name of C Brewer & Co, when in September of that year, Charles Brewer II, a nephew of Captain Brewer, engaged in partnership with Sherman Peck and took over the business. (Nellist)

The second Brewer retired in the summer of 1861, but the business was continued under the Brewer name. At about this time the sugar industry was making its first strides and C Brewer & Co became agent for a plantation at Makawao, Maui.

In 1863, it had acquired holdings in Wailuku plantation, in 1866 Brewer became agent for Waiheʻe plantation. In 1869 a son of Charles Brewer, John D Brewer, and IB Peterson were admitted as partners. A man who was destined to make C Brewer & Co. famous, Peter Cushman Jones, was admitted to partnership on Jan. 1, 1871.

C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., was incorporated on Feb. 7, 1883, with Peter Cushman Jones as president and manager; absorption of William G Irwin & Co. by C. Brewer & Co., Ltd., followed E. Faxon Bishop’s elevation to the presidency. (Nellist)

The Brewer company grew, as did a handful of others – primarily in businesses associated with the booming economy. Since the early/mid-1800s, until relatively recently, five major companies emerged and dominated the state’s economic framework. Their common trait: they were founded in agriculture – sugar and pineapple.

They became known as the Big 5: Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Alexander & Baldwin (1870;) Theo H. Davies (1845;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and C Brewer (1826.)

The decline in agricultural mono-cropping and a changing economy to the visitor industry, Brewer and the others lost their dominance. Longtime Brewer Chair, JWA ‘Doc’ Buyers, bought out the company and moved its headquarters to Hilo (2001.) The company, at the time Hawaiʻi’s oldest continuously operating company, dissolved in 2006.

A lasting legacy of the company is the C Brewer Building, constructed in 1930, the last and smallest of the ‘Big Five’ home office buildings to be built in downtown Honolulu.

C.Brewer_and_Company_Specimen_Stock_Certificate,_made_by_American_Bank_Note_Co.

March 21, 2014 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maunalei Sugar

In ancient times, the windward coast of the island of Lānaʻi was home to many native residents. Maunalei Valley had the only perennial stream on the island and a system of loʻi kalo (taro pond field terraces) supplied taro to the surrounding community.

Sheltered coves, fronted by a barrier reef, provided the residents with access to important fisheries, and allowed for the development of loko iʻa (fishponds), in which various species of fish were cultivated, and available to native tenants, even when the ocean was too rough for the canoes to venture out to sea. (Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center)

In 1861, Walter Murray Gibson came to Hawaiʻi after joining the Mormon Church the year before; he was to serve as a missionary and envoy of the Mormon Church to the peoples of the Pacific. He landed in Lānaʻi and eventually created the title “Chief President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Islands of the Sea.” He more regularly went by the name Kipikona.

The experience with the Church was relatively short-lived; in 1864, he was excommunicated for selling priesthood offices, defrauding the Hawaiian members and misusing his ecclesiastical authority (in part, he was using church funds to buy land in his name.)

By the 1870s, Gibson focused his interests in ranching in the area called Koele, situated in a sheltered valley in the uplands of Kamoku Ahupuaʻa. As the ranch operation was developed, Koele was transformed from an area of traditional residency and sustainable agriculture to the ranch headquarters. (Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center) In 1872, Gibson moved from Lānaʻi to Lāhainā and then to Honolulu.

After Gibson’s death in 1888, the ranch was turned over to his daughter and son-in-law, Talula and Frederick Hayselden. As early as 1896, the Gibson-Hayselden interests on Lānaʻi, which held nearly all the land on the island in fee-simple or leasehold title, began developing a scheme to plant and grow sugar on Lānaʻi.

They chose the ancient fishing community of Keōmoku for the base of operations, and in early-1899, the Maunalei Sugar Company was formally incorporated. Gear, Lansing & Co was the largest stockholder (Gear was President, Lansing was Treasurer – W Stodart was the plantation manager)

“The plan is that a sugar company will be incorporated at once with a capital of $1,000,000 and that 1,000 acres will be put into cane without delay. There will be no “wildcat” business in the enterprise and all persons signing for shares will be obliged to put down 10 percent of the amount desired. It is the intention of the promoters to avoid gambling in Lanai stocks as much as possible.” (Gear & Lansing, The Independent, February 28, 1899)

They developed larger support communities along the coast, cleared the lands, developed a narrow gauge railroad between Keōmoku Village and Kahalepalaoa (where the boat landing was situated,) and planted sugar cane, irrigated by water from Maunalei Valley.

“At the landing a very substantial wharf has been built, and a railroad to the camp two miles distant is in operation with a rolling stock of a locomotive and nineteen cars. Including the laborers quarters we have at the plantation fifty buildings, and the new buildings in contemplation are the pumping plants and the mill, a very respectable town and a very busy one.” (Stodart in Evening Bulletin, October 13, 1899)

Work on the plantation was largely done by immigrant Japanese laborers. “We have 400 laborers … and will have 200 more in a few weeks. The first crop will be ready to grind in 1901 and I have no doubt the yield per acre will be entirely satisfactory. The land is proving all that was promised and I have no doubt of the substantial returns to the stockholders.” (Stodart in Evening Bulletin, October 13, 1899)

Both men and women were brought from Japan, and a finder’s fee of $27- $36 per male employee, and $23 – $30 per female employee was paid to the immigration companies. Laborers were typically paid around $0.70 to $0.75 per day, with expenses for merchandise and board deducted from pay at the end of the month.

All did not go as planned.

Before completing the construction of the mill and associated facilities, and prior to the first harvest being collected for processing, the Maunalei Sugar Company went bankrupt. Sugar is a thirsty crop and the necessary water resources for the plantation were never realized.

Additional hardships arose following an outbreak of the bubonic plague in Honolulu, which led to a devastating fire and the closure of many Chinatown businesses (many of whom had invested in the Lānaʻi sugar operation.)

But those were not the major shareholders’ only financial concerns. A heading “Business Concern is in Difficulties” called attention to the financial problems of Gear, Lansing & Company; a sub-heading notes, “Failure of Maunalei Sugar Co. a Leading Factor in the Corporation’s Trouble Kaimukī and Other Large Real Estate Transactions”. (Honolulu Republican, June 19, 1901)

The story noted, “The corporation has, since its organization a few years ago, dealt heavily in real estate, besides participating largely in the boom of general stocks that two years ago strained the entire financial situation.”

“Gear, Lansing & Co.’s largest real estate deal was the exploitation of the Kaimukī residence tract. They laid out streets and installed a modern water works plant. A large proportion of the lots sold readily, but the hope deferred of rapid transit communication prevented a full measure of, success to the enterprise.”

Plantation records during the three year period of the plantation’s operation, some 70 employees (most of Japanese origin) died and were buried on Lānaʻi. In 1932, members of the Lānaʻi Hongwanji Mission built a memorial for Japanese employees of the sugar plantation near the grave sites.

Some other unfortunate consequences resulted from the Lānaʻi sugar endeavor. A part of the plantation’s work resulted in the introduction of the algarroba (kiawe) tree – the hardwood was to have been used as fuel for the furnaces, and the seeds as feed for the livestock. Left untended, the trees became an invasive pest on the island.

Following the sugar failure, Keōmoku was used as ranchland until 1954. The nearly 3,000 acres of cleared land led to significant erosion and siltation that spread from the uplands to the shore, burying sites and the reef under as much as nine feet of silt. (Lānaʻi Culture and Heritage Center)

The image shows a map of Maunalei Sugar (Lanai Culture and Heritage Center.) Here is a link to more images.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10201606128578359.1073742180.1332665638&type=1&l=07ae007246

July 29, 2012 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Commercial Sugar in Hawai‘i

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

Since it was a crop that produced a choice food product that could be shipped to distant markets, its culture on a field and commercial scale was started as early as 1800 and it continued to grow.

In 1802, sugar was first made in the islands on the island of Lānaʻi by a native of China. He came here in one of the vessels trading for sandalwood, and brought a stone mill and boilers, and after grinding off one small crop and making it into sugar, went back the next year with his fixtures, to China.

The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i. On July 29, 1835 (187 years ago, today,) Ladd & Company obtained a 50-year lease on nearly 1,000-acres of land and established a plantation and mill site in Kōloa.

It was to change the face of Kaua‘i (and Hawai‘i) forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of monocropping that lasted for over a century. A tribute to this venture is found at the Kōloa Sugar Memorial in Old Kōloa Town.

Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands until it was surpassed by the visitor industry in 1960.

Early sugar planters shared many challenges: trade barriers, shortages of water and labor, and the lack of markets for their sugar.

Hawaiians were hired to work on the plantation. This had far-reaching effect on the social and economic make-up of the local society.

This introduced the concept of independence for the Hawaiians. Workers were paid directly and no longer had to pay a tax to the chiefs.

Workers were initially paid with coins. Getting enough coins to pay the workers was difficult in the 1830s. In response, Kōloa Plantation initiated the use of scrip as payment to workers; these were redeemable for purchases at the plantation’s store.

However, due to counterfeiting, in 1839, scrip was printed from engraved plates, with intricate waved and networked lines. This more formal Kōloa Plantation scrip became the first paper money in Hawaiʻi. Not only was this scrip accepted at the Ladd & Company store, it became widely accepted by other merchants on the island.

Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century, other plantations soon followed Kōloa. By 1883, more than 50 plantations were producing sugar on five islands.

Kōloa Plantation set other standards that endured throughout the islands for over 100-years. In addition to the plantation-owned general store, housing was provided for workers.

Barrack-type buildings or individual homes had space for workers to plant a garden. The company dairy sold milk to plantation workers. Medical services were provided.

Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system. A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.

What encouraged the development of plantations in Hawaiʻi?

For one, the discovery of gold and rush of settlement of California opened lucrative avenues of trade in the Pacific. Likewise, 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.

In addition, the Treaty of Reciprocity – 1875 between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i eliminated the major trade barrier to Hawai‘i’s closest and major market. Through the treaty, the US obtained Pearl Harbor and Hawai‘i’s sugar planters received duty-free entry into U.S. markets for their sugar.

At the industry’s peak in the 1930s, Hawaii’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar. That plummeted to 492,000 tons in 1995.

With statehood in 1959 and the almost simultaneous introduction of passenger jet airplanes, the tourist industry began to grow rapidly.

A majority of the plantations closed in the 1990s.

As sugar declined, tourism took its place – and far surpassed it. Like many other societies, Hawaii underwent a profound transformation from an agrarian to a service economy.

The image is Kōloa Sugar Mill in the 1880s; in addition, I have included some other old Sugar Mills related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

The Sugar theme, Mill and other Kaua‘i South Shore sites are included as Points of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway. We are assisting Mālama Kōloa in the preparation of its Corridor Management Plan. Recently, the project was awarded a Historic Preservation Commendation from Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.