Gathering for work in Hakalau (1950s) - a short movie (1.2 minutes)
"Home movie" (1.2 minutes) taken by Robert Forbes, Harvesting Superintendent at Hakalau Plantation (1954-1959).  This was very near the still-existing warehouses in lower Hakalau (just below the manager's house).  Men, including Field Superintendent Tommy Crabbe, have gathered for work at a building just below the warehouses. 

Cultivating

Click photo to view gallery of cultivation photos.
Cultivation included: 
  • Clearing, plowing, planting and replanting 
  • Preparing and replanting ratoons
  • Controlling weeds - manually and mechanically
  • Fertilizing - manually, mechanically and by airplane
  • Agricultural research

Harvesting

Click photo to view gallery of harvesting photos.
Harvesting included:
  • Burning to eliminate leaves and trash, leaving the juicy cane stalks
  • Hand cutting and mechanically harvesting
  • First loading of hand cut and mechanically cut cane
  • Infield transporting
  • Fluming
  • Trucking cane to the mill

Milling (Manufacturing)

Hakalau Plantation Mill

The first Hakalau Plantation Mill was built between 1879 and 1881 and replaced in 1896. Storm damage was frequent due to its location on Hakalau Bay and at the foot of the Hakalau stream. Repairing storm damage was common. It is assumed the repairs and upgrades to the mill were made on a regular basis. In 1946, a tsunami destroyed the 1896 mill and the new mill, shown below, became operational in 1947 and was shut down in 1972.

Wailea Milling Company: The Independent Homesteaders Mill

The Wailea Milling Company was in operation from 1921 until 1944.
Picture
Wailea Mill adjacent to the railroad. Wailea Mill Camp (aka Wailea Store Camp) is to the left. Photo courtesy of the Lyman Museum.
Milling included:
  • Mill yard crane unloading
  • Testing cane for sugar content and trash percentage
  • Cleaning
  • Chopping and Shredding
  • Crushing: The shredded cane is fed into the crushing mill (mill train). 
  • Clarification: The juice extracted by the mill train contains impurities which are removed by heating the juice and adding lime. The clarified juice overflows from the top, mud sinks to the bottom.
  • Filtration: The mud contains sugar which is extracted by filtration and washing and is recycled back into the processing.
  • Evaporation: The clarified juice is concentrated to a heavy syrup by boiling at progressively higher vacuums through the set of evaporators.
  • Crystallising: The heavy syrup is concentrated by boiling in a vacuum pan and is seeded with small sugar crystals.
  • Fugalling: Syrup is separated from the raw sugar crystals in perforated baskets which spin at high speed. The dark syrup surrounding the crystals is thrown off through the perforations and the crystals are washed with hot, clean water. The separated syrup is repeated boiled until all possible raw sugar crystals are obtained. Molasses is the syrup obtained from the final boiling and centrifuging operation.
  • Drying and Storing: The raw sugar from the centrifuges is dried by tumbling through a stream of air in a rotating drum. It is then transferred to the raw sugar bin.

Transporting

Picture
C. Brewer, Ltd. Annual Report 1948
Transporting involved delivering the raw sugar to the Port of Hilo to be transferred to a ship destined for the C&H processing facilities in California. The method of transportation changed over time and included:
  • Sailing and Steamer ships (1878-1911)
  • Railroad (1911-1946)
  • Trucks (1946-1974 when the mill closed)
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.