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  • Home
    • Upcoming Events
    • About hakalauhome
    • Contact Us!
  • Yesterday
    • Timeline
    • Camps
    • People >
      • The Ross Families of Hakalau
      • Satoru Kurisu
      • Toraichi Morikawa
      • Waichi Ouye
      • Aigoro Uyeno
    • Schools >
      • Hakalau School
      • John M. Ross School
      • Hakalau Japanese Language School
    • Churches & Cemeteries >
      • Churches >
        • Hakalau Jodo Mission
        • Honohina Hongwanji
      • Cemeteries >
        • Honohina Cemetery
    • The Voice of Hakalau
    • Sugar Production >
      • Hakalau Mill & Other Buildings
      • Wailea Milling Company
    • Transportation >
      • Ships
      • 19th Century Hamakua Roads
      • Bridges >
        • Highway Bridges, 1950-1953
      • The Railroad
  • Today
    • Hakalau Farmers Market
    • Hakalau Jodo Mission Today >
      • Community Commitments >
        • Obon Festival
        • Memorial Day
        • Newsletters
        • PRESENTATIONS
    • Honohina Hongwanji Today
    • Wailea/Hakalau Kumiai
    • Hakalau Reunions
    • Wailea Village Historic Preservation Community >
      • Cemetery Stewardship
      • Reviving Hakalau School
      • Senior Luncheons
  • Then and Now
    • Up and Down Camps and Mill
    • Hakalau School Then and Now
  • Tomorrow
    • Arsenic Remediation
    • Cliff Failures
    • Hāmākua CDP & the CDP Action Committee

Desire for an "Independent Homestead Mill"

The idea of an independent homestead mill first appears in the Hilo newspaper in 1912, but it was about Laupahoehoe, not Wailea. Then came accounts about the prospects for Waiakea (Hilo) and Kaiwiki (above Wainaku). Finally, in 1919, Wailea came into the news in a big way.
 
Hawaii Herald, Friday, September 6, 1912    
Importantly, the idea of homesteader-run mill was favored by officials in the Territorial government:
“…a cooperative mill arrangement, by which the growers of cane will be able be able to get higher prices than would be able possible under the present system. The move has come from Laupahoehoe and is made public through the approaching visit of Secretary of the Interior Fisher, who will, it is expected, be deeply interested in such advanced methods being talked of. …It appears that a lease on a large tract of land held by the Laupahoehoe Sugar Plantation will expire in the near future and that the proposition has been made a number of people should finance the building of a mill in Laupahoehoe gulch, to handle cane for homesteaders who would take up the land in question.”
 
Hawaii Herald, Friday, June 30, 1916  & Hawaii Tribune Herald, Monday, April 9, 1917
In June 1916, longstanding plans for a “co-operative mill” there were abandoned when Laupahoehoe Sugar Co. offered homesteaders a contract acceptable to them. It appears that the prospect of losing up to 4,000 acres to a homestead-run mill was the incentive for the Plantation. But, less than a year later, homesteaders were again “unable to make satisfactory arrangements with Laupahoehoe Sugar Company.” Mill plans were revived. They never came to fruition.
 
Hawaii Herald, Friday, June 30, 1916
In July 1916, the first homesteader-run mill -Kaiwiki Milling Company- began grinding cane:
“The Kaiwiki Mill is located about 3 miles above the Wainaku mill [Hilo Sugar] and it is owned absolutely by the cane growers who are acting in cooperation….
Note: It went bankrupt in 1923.
 
Hilo Daily Tribune, Tuesday, May 18, 1915
The prospect of a homesteader mill was also raised regarding Waiakea lands but finding the capital proved difficult.
“The land commissioner intimated, however, that the valuable sugar lands of Waiakea might possibly be occupied by homesteaders who make their own contracts with a privately owned mill which would be dependent upon them.”
 
Hawaii Tribune Herald, Monday, November 25, 1918
“If ever there was a real chance for a co-operative mill or a strictly government mill, it is right at Waiakea today.”
Less
For the Hakalau Kuleana, our responsibility is to care for the land, the people, and the culture. We are guided by cultural values of YESTERDAY: Engage in collective effort. Look out for each other. Honor hard work. Show respect for those who came before us. Aloha and Mālama `Aina. In 2021, Akiko Masuda added two more values to the list: Consistently show up. Whatever has to be done, jump in and do it!