The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-12-06
NOTES BY HON. A. F. JUDD.
THE CHIEF JUSTICE WRITES ON
THE COFFEE DISTRICT.
A Splendid Letter-From Hilo to The
Volcano Bouse-Principal Planters
Road And Rain.

uOWn u lew impressions utIlNtu iToln u
recent visit to Hawaii. last went to
the volcano in 1890. Considering the
dscomforts suffered l vowed / would
not go again unless could drive all the
way in carriage. By the courtesy Of
friends | went in private conveyances
and in Wilson's stage four times on "the
Olaa road" from the thirteenth to
the twenty-third mile posts. 1t is won-
derful to see what transformation the
creation Of substantial road through o
tropical jungle can make. The Republic
is to be congratulated that so many men
of energy and capital have taken up
sections OF this rich country. There are
now about 100 houses erected where a
few years ago there were none.
The traffic on the road is remarkable.
Heavy wagons with from four to six
horses, loaded with lumber and supplies
for the coffee planters, are passing con-
stantly up the country and returning to
Hilo with equally heavy loads of ohia
tirewood. These wagons, with their
narrow tires, are cutting ruts in the road
more rapidly than the much-abused
WILSON'S road-engine. The road-en-
CINE undoubtedly completes the injury
by squaring the ruts and leaving we'll
defined cutters on each side of hum.
mock IN the middle of the road. Where
the roadbed is on "pahoehoe," or where
the grade is slight, the road is as good
as when first built. Mr.. Marlin, with
forty five prisoners, is rapidly paving
the ruts and re-topping them with aa,
but constant ..ttention and repair seems
essential to the preservation of this
road.
| never saw a more enthusiastic set of
men than the Coffee Planters. The
young coffee looks well, the leaves are
| glossy and dark colored as they must
necessarily be growing in a soil COM
posed of humus with plenty of moisture.
Some planters clear the land complete
ly, others leave some shade in the way
of tree ferns and ohia lehua. l could
discover no essential difference in the
growth of the coffee trees under the
different conditions. 1t is very notice
able, how ever, that in any given
estate trees of the same age vary very
greatly in size, for instance, you may
see plant hardly half foot high and
its neighbor three or four feet high. |
was told that if coffee plant is set out
with its top root curled up it will never
recover itself and grow as it should, and
the stunted plants here and there seen
are owing to careless planting.
Mr.. ID. II. Hitchcocks plantation is
the last one the road, being little be-
| b.O Ia
attitude of 2700 #. His soil is the deep
est l have seen and it is free from
stones of any kind. sd. H." is raising
some splendid vegetables-all nam.
moths in size and equal to the best
Californian.
ascending towards Hilo the estates
are about as follows, those of: Allan
Wall, Mckay, Fred Snow and Staples
(22d mile) Bashaw, Mrs. L. Staples
,rrowbridge (2lst mile) Otsuki Jap,
Koran, link, (201s mile) J. T. Lewis
Rycroft, James, Olaa Coffee Co., Gross
man, Lansing, ct al,) Sumter Qs
mile) Herman Eldart, Cana
(Jap.) Junkin, Grossman Bros
j. E. Staples, Sam Pail, John Motley
Kona Coffee & Commercial Co. Mason,
manager, III miles), Carney < Hayes
then comes the Mountain View Hotel of
j. r. Wilson, situated in the center of a
horseshoe bend of the road, on a hill.
lock, so tn 1t it commands view of the
2 road in both directions; next below
come Eli Peck, ID. Russell, LIE Blond
Anderson, Whitney & Nichols, Baldwin
& Alexander, Zimmerman Q6 miles,
Reinhardt, Takamuri, jim Lewis, Her.
ring, William Nailima, Ben Brown
(the four last half-whites), Kamak
(Hawaiian), Kaiser, Hamada, Hoshina
Okino, Wilson of Waiakea, Amaral Q41.
miles,; Sisson, Furneaux Q3R miles,
Arthur Richardson.
| Here the forest ends. There are othel
coffee plantations below this, but l have
no note of them. | see no reason why
coffee will not flourish in all of the coun
The rainfall is the same, and in the oper
country the great expense of clearin.
the land of its forest, often 1926 to $40 pei
acre, would be avoided.
was sorry to notice that many of tn,
native Hawaiians who have takeI
, homesteads on the road between tn,
thirteen and eighteen mile posts seen
+ to have done but little besides buildin,
a house and planting some kalo.
Crossroads cutting through the fores
at intervals, and road to Puma, will
add greatly to stimulating the culture o
coffee, and these will come in time.
We even now hear of the project of ar
electric ros from Hilo direct to the
volcano, shortening the distance Il
tyenty-four miles!
The planters maintain their right t
label their Olaa grown coffee as "Kon
Coffee" and it looks as il next year som
of it will be fairly tested on the market
| Yes-it rained while we were in HilC
!, Seven inches day for several days
The bay had three or four lines G
: breakers from the 'Norther, and fror
/ the freshet in the Wailuku river, large
, than any since 1884, the water in the ba
was quite fresh, and the sea was mudd
for miles along the coast We left III
S Amelia and the Sumatra in port unabl
, to land cargo. A schooner with mi
q chinery from Waikapu, Maui, for IL
!. new Portuguese Sugar Plantation
Kukuau, Hilo, was still rolling
e anchor off Waiakea, storm bound.
t People in Hilo say apologeticall
"Why. we had beautiful weather all Il
time President Dole was here and
e lasted four or five weeks!" But there
I no mud nor standing water in Hilo, an
: its rich verdure, comfortable homes al
= kind friends make it lovely place
visit.
We found the Volcano House all tn
it has been represented to be by
friends. Looking in at the lake
II molten lava at the bottom of a crate
a variously estimated from $50 to 400 fe
deep is not satisfactory to me. The el
!. ment of dizziness owing to the height
the place of observation and the cras
ing of ROCKS from the sides into the !
L are distracting to those who come on
S to observe Pele's performances.
We felt the earthquake at 3:45 a. !
on Monday, and it lasted several st
onds. learned that it was keenly II
on Maui also. Is it not time for anotl
d eruption from Mauna Loaf The last o
a was in 1887.
VI A. F. JUDD.
re Honolulu. Dec. 8, 1894.