The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-06-03
FROM TIE START To TIE
PRESENT TIME.
MAGNIFICENT Avenue of Foliage.
The Modest Sum OF Ten Thousand Dol
lars VIII Complete 1t Through
to the Volcano House.

much attention now from the officials
of the government, and during my
recent visit to the volcano / obtained
the following information regarding
the work done. 1t may be ofinterest
at this time, when one can look for
ward to the early completion OF the
work. AS is well known the Volcano
road, as we'll as the Punchbowl road,
was started through the energy of
Mr.. l.. 4. Thurston. The road was
originally surveyed by j. M. Lyd-
gate. He followed the line of the
old volcano trail from Hilo though
the maximum grade was seven per
cent, the survey was extremely
crooked. It was a mistake, as is
we'll known now, to follow the old
trail, as the line goes too much to
the south and does not rise as it
should, as at four miles from Hilc
the elevation is only $50 feet; at
eight miles 280 feet; at ten miles
$50 feet and at twelve miles $50 feet.
The elevation OF the Volcano house
is 1910 feet, and the distance from
Hilo by road is thirty one miles.
This would give an average gradient
of 13O feet to the mile, 80 that at
twelve miles the road ehould really
be 1900 feet, or twice as high as it is
now. But it was claimed, as an
aftertheught, perhaps, that by going
SO low, it made it possible to start a
branch from the Volcano road to
Puma at about nine miles from Hilo.
The survey was made in 1888, and
construction was started 1mmedl-
ately, under the supervision of John
Marlin, who built twelve and one
quarter miles OF road, at an average
cost of construction OF $3.50 per
mile, exclusive of prison labor, and
about $4,000 with prison labor.
There are quite number Of pecu
liarities about this portion of the
road which are very noticeable, and
first in Importance is the great abun-
dance of most excellent road mate
rial which lies close at hand along
the entire roadway. This should
have insured a more economical
construction of the road, as / have
can be built at any time by contract
at S25O0 per mile. Another striking
peculiarly is the absence OF cuts on
this portion of the road, as 1t was
built entirely above the natural
ground, on the principle that one
can by the eye note inequalities of
the ground, and readily even them
off by filling in. But considering
the fact that Mr. Marlin was not an
engineer and in addition being
handicapped by poorly marked line
he built q very good road, although
he failed to give it enough crown.
There was an intermission of near
Iy year in the work on the road.
This was in 1890 81. 1t was during
this period that Mr.. William W. Bru-
ner, a civil engineer, was employed
to properly stake out the unfinished
road, in order that the government
could let the work by contract. The
road was afterwards finished to
point 155 miles from Hilo, at an ele-
walton of 1915 feet. Half Of the road
was now built, but only one-third of
the mountains height was reached.
To emphasize the situation, from the
end of the then finished road the line
of roadway was graded to the pahoe
hoe. distance of about mile, on
descending Grade of total fall of
over fifty feet.
This piece of road Mr. Bruner in
sisted should be cut out, as it only
served to lengthen the road to its
disadvantage. The result was the
new survey of the road opened up
the Olaa forest to settlement, and In
addition it shortened the distance to
the Volcano house by II miles. The
opening of this vast stretch of ex-
tremely fertile land is the best fea-
ture Of the road, as already over 1000
acres of land on the line of the road
way have been leased at figures of
SI5O and g per acre per annum, and
the road still unfinished 1t Is estl-
mated that in six years. time the gov
eminent will receive an annual rental
of over $4,000 from the lands of
Olaa.
The alignment of the road through
the Olaa forest is magnificent; there
is one stretch of over four miles
with but one turn, and the line
of roadway is a beautiful avenue
with the densest tropical foliage.
This road has been built for the most
part extensively, as it was necessary
to purchase portable track and cars
for the transportation of the road
material. The average depth OF soil
is about four feet, and, taking the
monthly rainfall of II or more inches,
it is an extremely difficult place to
build a substantial road. All road
material had to be quarried for; but,
in every place possible, the material
was taken on the line of the roadway
by deep cuttings. This cheapened
the transportation, bettered the
grade, improved the alignment, and
greatly lessened the first cost of the
road
The next four-and- half miles of
the road was completed under the
supervision of John Moore at an aver
age cost of construction OF $3.50,
including S1730 as value per mile of
prison labor. It was then decided to
hasten the completion of the road
and to build it at the rate of one mile
a month.