The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-05-21
OAHU RAILROAD.

The extension of the Oahu Railway
does not look as if the authorities of
that line thought that the deluge was
coming. The roadbed between Homo
lulu and Eva is to- be improved, and
both grade and curves are in some
places to be altered. This, of course,
all tends to the permanency of the
line. Then, the new plantation, the
largest upon the island, is to be tap
ped but by far the most important
move is the extension to Waialua.
One has only to see what the rail-
road has done for the country between
here and Waianae, to realize what will
be done for the belt of country be-
tween Waianae and Waialui. 1t is not
so many years ago that the country
around Pearl City was merely waste.
There was a fine grove of trees round
the Raymond and Bernard place, now
Raymond grove, and a few rice and
taro patches. Beyond that there was
nothing. Now look at the houses and
the prosperous farms. the pineapple
plantations, the banana plantations,
and the rice fields stretching far and
wide. The arid plains over which a
few cattle wandered and the plover
whistled, have blossomed into life.
They give employment to hundreds
of industrious people, and numbers
of thrifty homes have sprung up, and
there is an air of push and prosperity
which it is pleasing to see.
Waianae is beginning to advance as
Eva has advanced. People now go
down and enquire about the land, ard
thrifty population is beginning to
drift ththerward. Even the presence
of the railway at Eva. dozen miles
Off had its effect upon Waianae, but
when the railway reached there it at
once began TO make great revolu
ton. Beyond Waianae the country is
in deep sleep and continues to SUM
Der till we'll around the point into
Mokuleia. This the railroad eN-
tension to Waalua will arouse. There
are numberless little valleys. admir-
ably suitable for minor industries,
which will be tapped by the iron path.
Coffee can be advantageously raised
in most of them. and there is an I'M
limited field for fruits. Enterprise
will put under cultivation what now
is arid, for artesian wells can be sunk
and the desert made to blossom like
a rose. Where there are now only
few huts. in year or so after the rail
way passes through. there will be
dozen pretty houses and acres of cul-
tivation. Round the point between
Kaena and Waialua there are miles
of excellent land fitted to support a
large population.
There is nothing ike opening
country out. This has been exempl-
fled in the Olaa district of Puma. The
coffee plantations which have sprung
up in that district would hardly have
existed, had not the Volcano road
been pushed through the forest and
thus opened up the land. The Olaa
district, but for that road, might to-
day be still virgin forest, and the
Hilo boom would not exist.
So it is with the Oahu Railroad.
Where it goes it opens out land, and
the opportunity being given, it is
quickly taken, the silence of apathy
is broken and busy industry takes its
place. The extension of the railroad
to Waialua will quickly add so per
cent to the population of district
the number of whose inhabitants has
hardly varied for the past quarter of
century, and with the increase of
population will come increase of pro-
duction in many varied industries.
The Star has evermaintained that
there are as good opportunities in
Oahu for the minor industries as ever
there are on the larger islands. Peo-
pie talk of the great advantages of the
Konaa, PuGa, and Hamakua, but there
are spots just as fertile, just as shelf
cred, and more admirably watered
upon this island, as ever there are in
the districts named. Only what is
close under ones vision is the thing
one never sees, And, again, much of
Oahu has been not so easy of access
as places more distant And it is this
that the railway has overcome.
There is great prospect before the
railway. The best of Oahu has vet
to be opened and the easiest part of
the line is to be built. The opening
up of Koolauloa and Koolaupoko has
yet to come, and there are miles upon