The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-02-02
KOHALA SYSTEM TURNING OUT
100000 GALLONS
Engineer Taylor Says Kaunakakai And
other Dry Estates Can be Redeemed.
Important Statements

Joseph G. Taylor, the Colorado min
ing engineer, who has just perfected
the water system at Kohala, believes
he has solved the most important water
problem of many sections of the ISL
ands. He declared this morning that
the American Sugar Company's estate
at Kaundkakai could be supplied with
q bountiful flow of water of the purest
kind, and that all unwatered land on
the coast of Hawaii could be watered
and made productive.
Mr. Taylor's work at Kohala has
been on shaft and drifts beneath the
ground. II differs from the artesian
system in that in the Kohala scheme
the man goes down underground after
the water, in place Of sending a bOrer
down. The water reaches the shaft
from the spurs of lateral drifts, which
touch as many veins as are desirable
while in the artesian system only such
veins as are reached are pierced verti-
cally. By the drift system it is
not necessary to go anything like so
deep and the danger of salt water is
practically dissipated.
The shaft at Kohala was sent down
seventy eight feet when a vein Of pure
mountain water was struck. It con-
tanned only ten grains of salt. 1t was
plain that this was a moist strata on
substantial ledge, and at that point
the pumping machinery was located
The shaft was fitted with the cage for
worltmen and miners and the pipe for
water.
Then came the scheme of drifts the
feature that marks it as different from
any other i'm this country on the
mauka side a tunnel was run out Sc
veral feet into the water vein. There
II divided into spurs one going off to
the right 1874 feet and the other to the
left, l55 feet The latter, which is the
only one now open. struck into num-
erous water arteries and supplies the
S,OO00OO gallons turned out upon the
plantation daily. The other spur will
eventually have several sub spurs. The
| total area of the drifts is now 344 feet
When pumping is not going on, wa
ter in the shaft rises to within few
inches of the engine room. This is a
healthy sign. 1t is pumped to a
height or 80 feet and goes out in pipes
on either side upon the land.
Mr.. Taylor viii leave by the Sierra
! for vacation of two months at his old
| home i'm Colorado. He will then re-
| turn To kuhala. He is a Scotchman by
descent, and has been a mining engi-
neer in some of the most rugged parts
! of Colorado.
Yes" said he this morning, Il am
positive that the lands at Kaunakakai
can be made to blossom as the rose, as
| the saying goes, by the system of un-
| derground tunnels and drifts adopted
in Kohala. The artesian water scheme
was failure, as l suspected it would
| be at the time. AS soon as the small
| supply was exhausted, salt water was
brought up by the heavy pumps. That
| was natural. There is ample water of
the best kind in the water veins of the
sub strata below the foothills and it
/ can be drawn out in any amount at
small cost. l have not gone over the
estate at Kaunakakai but | have talked
| with the mining engineers that worked
there. They agree that the artesian
system was a mistake and that the
| drift system will be a success. | am
| thoroughly convinced on the point
There is a wide stretch of land be-
| tween Multi and MahukOna, now of no
! use to anybody, that can be turned into
| an ideal sugar estate by means of the
| system now working at Kohala. l have
| already prospected the water there and
know its leads perfectly Perhaps when
| | return | will have something further
to say about that particular place"