Antone Orsatelli Sr. worked for McBryde Sugar Co. from 1904 until 1957 — over half a century — and saw the Westside plantation evolve from the days when mules were used to plow and to haul cane to the mill,
Antone Orsatelli Sr. worked for McBryde Sugar Co. from 1904 until 1957 — over half a century — and saw the Westside plantation evolve from the days when mules were used to plow and to haul cane to the mill, through the time of locomotives, and lastly, into the truck era.
Born in Puerto Rico in 1892, he emigrated to Kaua‘i with his family in 1900. When his father and brother died three years later, he left school to support his mother and sisters at McBryde as a water boy.
Later, he became a mule man at a time when McBryde kept about 80 mules at Wahiawa stable and 50 to 60 mules each at stables in Kukuiula and Lawa‘i.
In the early mornings, he’d hitch up mules to spend long days in the fields. Two men worked a plow, one steered it and the other rode one of several mules to guide it, and every two hours the men would change jobs. When hauling cane, four mules were used, with one man riding a mule and the other working as brakeman.
In 1919, Orsatelli left mule work for a job as a coal-burning locomotive brakeman, loading the coal box and cleaning the ash pan and smoke stack, often seven or eight times a day, a job that got easier when locomotives were converted from coal to crude oil. Over the years, he advanced to fireman, whose job it was to keep the steam up, then spare driver and finally, locomotive driver.
When McBryde replaced its six locomotives (Kaulu, Lawai, Sharlelra or “tea pot,” Wainiha, Wahiawa, and No. 6) and its rolling stock with trucks in 1946, Orsatelli switched to truck driver.
Antone Orsatelli Sr. and Mrs. Orsatelli had five children. He passed away in 1969.
