The San Francisco call., 1906-06-24

HONOLULU, June Is.-After sixteen
months work the KohaIa ditch has
been opened for fourteen ont of its
tVenty-one nile course. at . cost OF
s5oo.ooo. 70 supply Halawa. Kohala-
Hswi and Union naiu plantations with
water In addition there are about TO-
900 acres OF other good land covered
by the ditch. as well as the Wight es-
tate OF about 5000 acres OF cane land.
The water comes from an elevation
OF 1850 feet in the KohsIa Mountains
Il Is winning from nature OF waters
which were going 20 waste in the ocean
and could only Be brought 10 the fertile
but dry lands OF Kohala BY an engineer
ing feat such as has been accomplished
Nature sent The water wastefulIv in
waterfalls into the ocean on the wind
ward side Of the island The KohsIa
Ditch Company has bored holes through
the mountains and made the water run
where q viii make & vast area OF we'll
situated land productive
The gates were lifted by Mrs. Csnn-
hel-Parker. who has financed the nm
cerraking- Il was three hours later he
fore the water reached the present ter
minus. and Al that time the first OF the
water 70 be used for such q purpose
was turned on 70 the Hind plantation
There were Eeirs for other plsntarfo,s
along the route. but they remained
closed The plantations had not he
reved Engineer OfShaughnesxy-s state
ment that the ditch would be ready by
June and were not prepared 10 use
me water 50 Z had 10 be turned ON ss
waste a hOw OF 1000. 600 zaIIo7s
every twenty-four hours has been
started The K9hala ditch usII
supply T0.eoe. 600 gallons OF ws,e-
Per day when finished Besides trrf-
eating is.eoo acres OF land now IN cane
and increasing the output two. three or
four tons per acre. 4 viii make posi-
bic the profitable cultivation OF thou
sands OF acres more OF fne land -ou-
merely q fair waste There are 10 aea
acres OF such land L IS tnnossff,Ie -
estimate the area of The lands which
VIII finally be made available for profit
able settlement or use when the ditch
IS finished.
There are forty-four tunnels IN the
ditch as Il now is. and the longest of
them is 2sTo feet IN length They are
totally dark. but a swift current OF cold
afr circulstes through them from
opening 70 opening They are feet
high. IL feet wide AZ the bottom ara
feet wide al the height OF : feet the
TOP being arched- The boring OF these
tunnels was an impressive feat The
openings IN some places are almost in
accessible now and -nost q them were
nearly 50 until trails were carved out
OF the mountain sides Six men were
killed. and many mules. by falling down
these precfpices- The worknen needed
10 railroads 70 cart away the tons Of
material they bored rout-they simply
dumped II on the mountain side and n
tore its way ike small avalanche TO
the depths below II many places wide
swzths IN the forest and other vegera-
rion show where Il was dumped and
went tumbiing and roaring 70 some in
visible place below. AS was remarked
By one OF the party who visited the
upper lands OF the conduit the day be-
fore the opening. Il is Grand Canyon
scenery Little is TO be seen Of the
conduit Il is under the forests. wind
ing its way IN the courses best suited
10 the levels calculated by the en-
Eineers-
7 chrfsten thee Kohzla ditch May
you bring blessings. happiness and
prosperity 70 the people OF Kohala-
with these words Mrs. Campbell-Par-
ker first pulled the ribbon and the mid
de gate OF the three IN the nume rose a
few inches and The dammed-up water
raced under IL into the dark hole IN the
mountain The engineers IN charge
didn't want big. rushing tidal wave
along the ditch. and 50 opened the gates
By degrees TIL the water was ali ST.
Iently coursfnE along the conduit