The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-11-02
Road from HIIo to waimea.

Work upon the new Government road,
which is designed to connect Hilo and
Waimea on the island of Hawai- by passing
through the forest around the base of Maui
ma Kea has been in progress since the
month of May A contract for max
ing a portion of road, was taken by
Messrs. May & Wilson, and with
force of about sixty men, they are busily
engaged, upon the proposed line.
Starting from Hilo, they have opened
the road for distance of seven miles, so
that now it is passable for one mile upon
the lava flow of 1855. Two miles of the
road are through the heavy forest that
covers, in the Hilo district, on the flank of
Mauna Kea. The trees have been cut down
so as TO make an opening of a hundred
feet through the wood, and an immense
mass of underground, vines, ferns, and
shrubs, have been cleared away. Most of
the water streams have also been diverted
SO as to drain the soil, and to pour their
redundant water into the Waikiki. The
drawing away of the water, and the let
ting in of the sunlight and wind, will
operate to make permenant and durable
the work expended upon the road bed it
self
From the forest, to the hill of Kalaiena,
is distance of eighteen miles, across
country, rugged with the lava, which at
successive periods, has rolled down the
slope of Mauna Loa Across many of the
old streams, when the lava is disente-
grated ard broken up, the making of a
smooth track, viii be neither difficult or
expensive. The roads across the aa streams
in Kau, are among the best and smoothest
roads of the islands.
The flow of 1855, the one that came so
near Hilo, and threatened that pretty
tropical town with destruction, is about 4
miles across on the line of the road. It's
a mass of tough verified rock, that under
the stone hammer breaks reluctantly and
makes fragments sharper and grittier, than
the flow, as left by the subsistence of the
volcanic fire.
The surface of the flow is also very
rough, broken up into ridges and depres
sions that require considerable work to
level sufficiently for road purposes. No
soil or sand is to be found in this flow, and
no vegetation, except ferns of a few inches
in height. One mile of road has been rough
" made upon this flow by filling in with
small fragments of lava, to be finished up
with covering of sand, or other materi-
al that can make it smooth. Enough has
been done however to demonstrate that
the lava does not offer any serious obstrue-
ton to pushing the road across the dis
lance that still intervenes between the
road as far as made, and Kalaieha, hill
on the southern slope of Mauna Kea.
When Kalaieha shall be reached, this
route from Hilo to -Waimea will practi-
cally be open for travel, for road or
track already exists, easily traversed by
horses, and passaole for carts between
Waimea and Kalaieha, distance of thirty
miles. Mr. Hall has at the latter place a
sheep ranch, and there is plenty of grass
and water for animals. The, distance
from the Court House in Hilo to the Court
House in Waimea, on the line of the
proposed road is 5s4 miles. The adyan-
tage of the interior for road above the
coast line, is the comparative smoothness
of the country passed over. The numer-
Gus gnlches and heavy ravines which from
small beginnings, far up on the mountain
flank, develope themselves near the coast
into heavy and almost impossible cuts are
entirely avoided. So also the distance to
be traversed is greatly diminished, bear