Editor’s note: On Dec. 3, the Kaua‘i Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. Museum leaders have chosen 50 stories from exhibits, collections and the archives of the museum to share with the public. One story will run daily through Dec. 3.
Editor’s note: On Dec. 3, the Kaua‘i Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. Museum leaders have chosen 50 stories from exhibits, collections and the archives of the museum to share with the public. One story will run daily through Dec. 3.
LIHU‘E — For researching plantation history, the Gilmore Sugar Manuals, an annual report of U.S. sugar cane producers is invaluable. Published under various names, they reported statistics and interesting work done on individual plantations during the year. These are some interesting facts collected from manuals from 1936 and 1948 when many plantations had begun to phase out of rail.
McBryde Sugar Mill Company, Ltd.
The 1948 report notes that 10 new Kenworth trucks were capable of carrying 14 tons of cane and operating two shifts taking the place of five locomotives, 450 cane cars of four-ton capacity, 25 miles of railroad, 4 miles of portable track and four 45 hp tractors for hauling the portable track and cane cars in the harvest fields.
Hawaiian Sugar Company
In 1936, for hauling harvested cane there were 35 miles of permanent 30 inch gauge track and 4.5 miles of portable track. There were six Baldwin locomotives, 600 four-ton cane cars with flaring sides, 15 covered sugar cars and 35 flat cars for hauling portable track. About 25 percent of the crop was harvested by flume from steep upper fields where mechanical loading cannot be done. One of the flumes extends seven miles in length and brings cane from the uppermost reach of 1,100-foot elevation. Inventory included 21 miles of permanent cane flume, 1.5 miles of portable cane flume and nine permanent fluming stations.
In 1941, Hawaiian Sugar Company lost its lease and was replaced with Olokele Sugar Company which did not purchase any rail equipment.
The Waimea Sugar
Mill Company
With a crop of 550 acres plus 117 acres of outside planter cane in 1936, 75 percent of the cane was delivered to the factory in Waimea via a 16-inch gauge railway, 4.5 miles total length, with a mile of portable track. About 25 percent of the cane was brought in from Waimea valley via trucks which replaced tractor-driven carts in 1929.
Rolling stock included a six-ton Plymouth locomotive with a “Caterpillar” diesel engine, 70 four-ton flare-siding rail cars and two 1.5-ton trucks with overload springs and dual tires that carry 2.5 tons of cane.
Kekaha Sugar Company, Ltd.
In 1936 the rail system consisted of 20 miles of 30-inch gauge rail and four miles of portable track. Rolling stock included 560 four-ton cane cars with flaring sides and open ends, three 18-ton Baldwin steam locomotives and two 12-ton diesel locomotives, one of them used around the factory yard.
About 27 percent of crop is flumed from the crop on the hills above the plain. The longest flume length is six miles.
The system includes 30 miles of permanent flume, 2.5 miles of portable flume, and three permanent flume stations. In 1946, all mountain lands were harvested by truck. By 1947, all rail harvesting had been discontinued.