The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-07
BIGGER THAN
OWNERS THINK
CONTINUED from Page One.l

year. On the Santa Fe system alone,
the company now buying ties here, the
yearly demand is for five million, and
this is for existing track, not taking
into consideration any new lines that
may be built at all. AS for the fitness
of the ohia, the ordinary soft wood tie
has an average life of four years, the
best white oak about six years and the
ohia probably fifteen years, while I be-
lieve that some ohia ties under actual
traffic have lasted longer than that.
But there are other uses for ohia.
That wood is too valuable anyway to
be used for ties. The greatest wonder
to me is that this has not been talked
of before because it has been demon
strated on every plantation on the is
land of Hawaii. / was told there by
plantation managers that whenever a
wooden part of any of the agricul-
tural implements gave out or a part of
a wagon had to be replaced they used
ohia and the wood invariably outlasted
the other woods in the machine or
vehicle. And yet, with this fact known,
you people have kept on importing
parts from the east of hardwood when
you had better wood right at your
door and knew it. Ohia can be worked
up into flooring, because it does not
warp so badly as oak when being sea-
soned and it is just as hard; it can
be used for the wooden parts of ma
chinery and made into reaches, spokes,
felloes and hubs for wagons. 1t is as
perfectly solid in grain as the best
maple and so far as / can see runs
pretty high into clear lumber. I saw
some of it sawn and it surprised me.
CHI, u III
admirable wood for block paving. It
has been said that it would wear too
smooth, but could it possibly wear
smoother or be more dangerous than
a cobblestone road or get so smooth
that a sharp cork would not hold in
it? Wearing smooth ought to be
benefit. The main objections road
builders find with cedar is that it does
not wear smooth, but in pits.
THE koa prospects are magnificent.
There will have to be special machin-
cry to handle the logs but that can be
easily supplied and the transportation
of the lumber to tide water will be
settled very shortly when the new rail-
road is finished. They are laying steel
there now and within sixty days, I
should say, the line will be ready for
use. The extent of the kOa forests is
amazing and the great trees there are
a revelation. Think of trees twelve
feet in circumference, and these are
quite common there. / saw some trees
that would scale at least five thousand
feet. Those are magnificent 1t will
be to handle such trees that the special
machinery will be required, for some
of the logs will weigh up to sixty and
seventy tons and will require some
handling. But there is no question
about the success that the company
will have with that lumber and every
bit of it will find a ready sale, even
down to the roots, where some of the
most beautiful cuts obtainable can be
made.
1T was the sight of the few pieces
of koa on exhibition in Honolulu eigh-
teen months ago that brought me back
here this time. I was here as a tourist
on my wedding trip at that time, but
had time to get interested in the koa.
But all the preconceived ideas I had
and all the talk I had heard had not
prepared me for what I saw during
my trip through the forests with Mr..
Harris, the manager of the company.
I don't believe the owners in that
country realize what big thing they
have
Mr.. Mumbrue paid some attention to
the agricultural prospects in Kona
during his trip as well as to investigate
the numbering possibilities and he is
almost as enthusiastic over the fruit
possibilities of that country as over
the ohia and koa. He has not gone
into the questions very deeply however
and asked why in the name of COM
mon sense it was that there were not
fast fruit steamers plying between
Hawaii and the mainland and supply
ing that district with the fruit for
which there is a constant demand.