The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-18

/ ia Wall.
Approximate
fiantatlon- Elevation
Name Feet
Laupahoehoe ~.-............1S 1900
f1akaIau
Iioilofilu ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 400
FepeeKeo .....-..--..-..-..-. 1900
tlhoffea 1900
Hilo Sugar Company
&c fanos 1900
Homestead lands ..........1so0
Hawaiian Mill Company 1000
LIMITS OF CANE CULTIVATION.
The elevation at which the highest
cane now stands practically marks In
each case the limit OF profitable cultiva-
ton under present prices and condi-
tons. Some of the managers express
the opinion that with a higher price for
sugar is viii pay TO go farther up, while
others felt that the full limit had for
them, already been reached. Most OF
the managers however wanted a. strip
left above their present fields, on their
fee land, so that ii later it We're found
advisable to extend the cane further
nlauka, there would be room to do SO.
Seventeen hundred and fifty feet was
considered by all of them as being suf-
fieiently high, and this elevation was
agreed to by practically all as the best
line for the permanent forest boundary.
The other main factor in the case is
the demand for land for settlement and
homestead purposes which will inevita-
bly, follow the development of the Is
land of Hawaii. through the building
of the projected Kohala-Hilo railroad
and the improvement of Hilo Harbor-
both of which must eventually come.
Indeed. because of it's location and nat
ural advantages. there are already ap-
plicants for all the land now available
in the Hilo District.
RECOMMENDATIO BY FOREST
Err ROSS.
As a basis on which to work in de-
termining the location of the line, the
report to Ex-Governor Dole, made by
Mr.. George Ross, consulting forester for
the North Hilo District, was used. In
this report, which embodied the con-
census of opinion of the managers of
the various plantations in the district,
it is recommended that the lower boun-
Diary of the reserve be drawn approx
mately on the seventeen hundred and
fifty foot contour line. In this recon-
L
to concur. because I believe that line
so drawn would sufficiently protect the
forest and safeguard the water supply
of the district while at the same time
making available all the land which it
can reasonably be expected viii be
utilized within a considerable period
of years.
RESERVE LINE RECOMMENDED.
In the absence of a good topographic
map, it is difficult to discuss the loca-
ton of this line except in a general
way. For this reason the seventeen
hundred and fifty foot contour has
been adopted, although the line as ac-
tually laid out will vary more or less
from it. At either end of the district.
owing to the fact that the land has
already been cleared, or partitioned off
into homestead tracts, 1t will be nee
essary to go somewhat higher. When
the time comes for running the line
out on the ground it should be drawn
between prominent points-such as
hills, functions of ridges or ravines, pro-
nounced angles in streams, etc.-and
such points should be permanently
marked.
Based upon the topographic data now
in hand, I therefore recommend as the
lower boundary of the proposed forest
reserve in the HfIo District, the fol-
lowing line: Starting at the L.aupa-
hoehoe Gulch at the mauka Halnakua
corner of the Laupahoehoe homestead
tract, and following the upper boun-
dairy of the same to its eastern rnauka
corner, thence across to, and along the
upper boundary of the Maulua home
stead tract, thence TO the top of the
kamaee tract, thence across the lands
Of Hakalau and Kaiwiki to the upper
line of the proposed Honomu homestead
tracts, as recommended in my report
upon that land: thence through the ma
lka corners of the lands of Kawainui
and Puumoi to the upper corner Of the
and of Kikala on the boundary of the
kaiwiki homesteads; thence from the
eastern boundary Of this tract, at about
he same elevation, the line should cross
10 the Awehi stream. above the cane
fields of the Hilo Sugar Company; and
thence across the land OF Piihonua,
around the top of the existing cane, to
he 1881 lava flow.
such a line would. believe. meet the
of future growth and be
bove practically all the land best
suited for agriculture.
THE LAND ABOVE THE RESERVE
LINE.
Above seventeen hundred feet the
and rises more steeply than at lower |
levations and the soil is thinner. This /
act combined with the greater rainfall |
ND the consequently greater erosion |
makes these upper lands less desirable |
or agriculture. Furthermore, as many |
f the gulches split ur at this elevation /
nto ravfnes and gullies, the fields in /