Camps
Photo from the Waichi Ouye Collection, courtesy of his family. Presumably from the Hakalau Plantation prior to creation of the 1947 Camp Maps.
|
Initially, a large workforce was required to cultivate and harvest the cane.
Initially, harvesting was labor-intensive and workers lived near the fields where they worked. Year unknown but believed to be the early 1900s. Photo from the John M. Ross Collection, courtesy of the Lyman Museum.
|
Mechanization made it possible to cultivate and harvest cane with a smaller workforce.
Truck Harvesting at the Hakalau Plantation in 1945 required fewer workers. From the 1945 Annual Report, courtesy of the Edmund Olson Trust Archive.
|
| field_map-camps_identified_1950s.jpeg |
|
Camp 1 – Hakalau Upper Camp
Camp 2 – Hakalau Lower Camp Camp 3 – Wailea Spanish Camp Camp 4 – Wailea Store Camp/Wailea Mill Camp Camp 5 – Chin Chuck Genjiro Camp Camp 6 –Chin Chuck Stable Camp The Kamaee Camps, located in Umauma, included: Camp 7 – Kamaee Sugimoto Camp Camp 8: Kamaee Korean Camp Camp 9: Kamaee Mauka Camp Camp 10: When the camp maps were drawn in 1947, there was NO Camp #10. It may have been Hakalau Gulch Camp, destroyed in the 1946 tsunami. |
|
There was a time when these camps were often ethnic-specific. In Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, author Ronald Takaki notes:
While the organization of camps into different nationalities may not have sprung from a consciously designed planter policy of residential segregation, it did support the planters' strategy of dividing and thus controlling their work force. Assigned to separate camps, workers of different nationalities were urged to compete against each other not only in the fields but also in the camps. (Takaki, page 93) Eventually, the camps were multi-ethnic. The history of the Hakalau Jodo Mission provides some insight into the blending the ethnicities in the camps. Initially, the population around the Mission was almost entirely Japanese and community gatherings were geared towards Japanese culture and Japanese Pure Land Buddhism. Over time, especially during the time of Rev. Mamiya and after World War II, the population became more diverse and the community gatherings increased and expanded to meet community needs. A July 1947 Voice of Hakalau articles states:
It is the aim and desire of those connected with the Mission that this building and its facilities be available to all interested to use, irrespective of race, color, or creed. As a result, up to the present day, convenient use of same has been made by all. We intend to continue offering its facilities for the ultimate good of the community. Comments of T. Morikawa, Chairman of the Fund Drive |
Photo from the John M. Ross Collection, courtesy of the Lyman Museum. Specific camp and year unknown.
Celebrating Boys Day, a Japanese custom, at one of the Hakalau Camps (perhaps Hakalau Lower Camp). The car to the right dates back to the 1920s. Photo from the Waichi Ouye Collection, courtesy of his family.
|
|
Camp Structure
In Pau Hana, the "Plantation Pyramid" is described:
At the top of the slope was the big house, the home of the manager; below were the "nicer-looking" homes of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Japanese lunas, then the "identical wooden frame houses of Japanese Camp"; and finally the "more run-down Filipino Camp." Moreover, the organization of the housing hierarchy was "planned and built around its sewage system". (Takaki, page 89, with additional quotes from Milton Murayama's work, All I Asking For is My Body) Housing improved with the adoption of standard worker house designs developed by the Hawaii Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA) and distributed industry-wide:
Between 1920 and 1925, millions were spent on repair, remodeling and construction of new housing. Single-family units had at least two bedrooms, with a wash house, baths, and privies nearby. However, only rarely was there running water or sewers, and streets were not paved or lighted. Yet, it was widely acknowledged that such amenities were needed and that the camps must be further improved. By 1925 the industry was pleased with the progress, mildly boasted of it, and labor was appeased, if not content...Another cycle of camp improvements started in 1930. Running water, sewers, attached baths, and larger houses became standard. (Dorrance and Morgan, pp. 130-131) |
The Big House, i.e., Plantation Manager's house, located in Hakalau Upper Camp and built in 1897. Photo courtesy of the Lyman Museum
Hakalau Upper Camp House #105, one of the "nicer-looking" homes, built in 1903. Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Archives at the University of Hawaii-Manoa - Hawaiian Collection within the Hilo Coast Processing Co. series.
Hakalau Upper Camp House #151, built 1914. Photo courtesy of the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association Archives at the University of Hawaii-Manoa - Hawaiian Collection within the Hilo Coast Processing Co. series.
|
|
Age of Camp Dwellings
A great majority of the Hakalau Plantation houses were built between 1906-1929. By the later 1920s, as the result of mechanization, the entire workforce started to decline. Industrywide, the workforce decreased by two-thirds from a total of 48,473 workers in 1925 to 15,935 in 1950. By the 1930s, the plantation did not have enough incentive and/or funds to build more homes and its ability to maintain homes became more difficult. Three global events or circumstances greatly hampered the ability of the Plantation to invest in housing: the Depression in the 1930s, World War II in the 1940s, and thereafter, competition from other sugar markets worldwide with lower labor costs. |
|
Hawaii Tribune Herald, April 13, 1944, accessed via Newspapers.com
|
|