The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1904-09-10

Writing about the Parker ranch case
"Kamehameha, the Rev. Serene b
ishop of Honolulu.-has the following
I'm the Washington Star:
During the hard times ten or twelve
years ago Sam Parker's affairs went in
to the hands of trustees, and the whole
Parker estate got under somewhat ex-
pert management. This and improved
times finally put Sam on his feet once
more Besides this. he recently mar
rled the widow of the millionaire Camp
bell, who has an income OF forty or
fifty thousand. Meantime the later
management has continued i'm the same
hands, under the chief direction OF one
Alfred Carter For reasons which ]
am not in a position to define, Col.
Parker has latterly come to believe that
Carter is managing the estate in the
interest of the grandchild. as adverse
to the grandfather's. He has taken
very active measures to displace Carter
from the management and put in his
own agents. Both parties are now in
the thick of the fight. The mother OF
the minor heir is fun Cf spirit Meta
phorcally, there is much scratching
and hair-pulling beginning.
A point of dispute which has been
made prominent relates to selling the
right to carry an irrigation ditch across
the estate. Parker wants to sell, and
Carter opposes. know nothing Of
! the merits of the controversy, but the
enterprise of the Kohala Ditch Company
] is a great and interesting one. At the
northeast end Of the island is a noun
tain tract of fifty or seventy-five square
miles, densely wooded, and broken by
huge ravines, which intercepts a great
( rainfall. If the streams Of this wet
district are impounded and led along
/ the plantations to the southeast they
will water many thousand acres OF su-
! garcane, producing an Immense NE
venue. But to do this the ditch must
/ cross the Parker estate. Sam says yes
Carter says no. So there seems to be
/ a public as well as private interest con
cerned The collection of the water in
the rugged mountains is itself an under.
taking of great magnitude and en-
/ cheering difficulty.
Fifty or seventy-fve years ago such
! irrigation was quite unnecessary II
| that Hamakua district, now so greatly
needing it. A. broad, deep belt of for
est lay above the whole region ans
drew cOpious rains. But latteriy Inc
in roads of both cattle and sheep have
DESTROYED nearly all that ancient forest
The process of destruction is mainly
by denuding the ground of its RANK IN
dergrowth of ferns and other herbage
The large trees, denuded at their roofs
| gradually persisted. Old men well re-
member when those uplands through
the dense woods were a nearly iHipas
sable swamp, where now all Is drA
and dusty for a good part OF the year
The great. Parker estate itself car
4 furnish many chapters of an entertain
ing book in it's lay of land, its occu
pants and it's history. It's splendid
mountain dome, crowned with eterna
snow, it's broad slopes, it's EXTENDED
forests it's scattered herds of Wild cat
tle its swift-chasing herdsmen, it,
rounding-up and brandings, and tn,
romantic, luxurious homes OF it's pro
prietors invite at least a few brief min
utes of description.
Maunakea is a magnificent giant OF
mountain, of a very uniform and sym
metrical contour and dome form. 1t i
;he largest mountain OF the Pacif
ocean, being 1890 feet high, not quit
equal to Shasta or Hood OF the Cascad
range, but far broader in base thai
either and gentler in slope. Both tn
latter mountains like all in the Cas-
cades are vastly more weathered thai
Maundkea, which is Of cOmparativel
recent volcanic growth or pilling NJ
and but little eroded by ancient storms
In one popularity Maunakea is tn
largest mountain on this globe.
rises higher from its base than an