Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-03
THURSTON TELLS Of RAILROAD
PLANS FOR ISLAND OF HAWAII
Future Transportation Development and demonstrating Dis
Cussed in Testimony Given Before SeCre-
tary Fisher

lIHICTGSNtH9 NCSA'''ShJ was 9IHCu
yesterday by L. A. Thurston to Secre-
tary Fisher, both in regard to the HiIo
Railroad situation and to homestead
ing in Hawaii. Part Of Mr.. Thurston's
detailed statement was published yes
terday, and it is continued today. II
begins at point where Mr.. Fisher
was asking the HiIo railroad manager
about the acquisition of terminal and
track property at HiIo.l
Thurs ton: AS to the point as to
Why 40 acres was required, | would
like to say that that vas point walch
| have had in mind for many years-it
so happened that | was Minister of the
Interior in 1888, when the OaiN
Railway Company was instituted, SNA
application was made to me at that
time, under this same statute-that
statute was in force then-for a grant
ut ground where the present Oaru rail-
way Station stands and also. the
ground up to Nuuanu stream on tue
makai side of King street, which is oc.
cupied now by stores. | forget what
area was asked for. think it was 20
aores-I was young at that time and
had had no experience with railroads
although it was intimated by Mr.. Ash,
ford yesterday that it was fish pond
and swamps, still it is on the harbor
OF the town and was going to become
very valuable land. They stated vari-
Gus statistics and areas on the main
land as to what areas were used there
hut l declined to accede to the entire
area-my recollection is that it was
finally brought down to about IA or II
acres. They later asked a later ad-
ministration to withdraw that piece Of
land and put it up at auction. They
accordingly surrendered a couple OF
acres there which was put up at auc-
ton and they bought it at auction.
Since then I have been pretty closely
connected with Mr. Dillingham; fog
number of years and have known the
progress of the comparatively have
rapidly exceeded the Is or IA acre.
ard have been compelled to buy priv.
ate land for their station purposes, and
they now are occupying forty-nine and
a half acres as their terminal grounds.
They have under operation approx.
my first connection with railroad sta
tion areas, and l mentioned it simply
for laying the foundation of having
some knowledge and experience in the
matter. When We began operations IN
Hilo in 1S99-beginning to place our
terminal division in Waiakea, practic-
ally all the land was government land.
FWe1did succeed in g6tting i've and q
half acres, but required considerable
more, and applied to the government
for certain area-we attempted to
get certain land-again we bumped UP
against the Kohala-Hilo Company,
which failed to take our assurances
that we in good faith were going to
t'..'r SOFT Oily, a:.d were desperate
ly afraid that We we're going to rival
them by building north and took a
hostile attitude and went and got a
lease of all the land that they thought
we could possibly utilize.
Got Over Acreage.
We failed to get the area of land
nient and we had to take what we
could get and got 20 acres over in
the vicinity where the railroad shops
now are located. Later on they be-
came convinced of our good faith and
came to an understanding with us and
We subleased from them eleven acres
of the land they had leased from the
Waiakea Mill Company, so that we
then had and still have IS acres of
government land at the Waiakea loca-
ton. We have occupied about one
half of it and are now occupying about
one-half and the balance has. been
more than we needed at present. The
business we have done has been sole
iy the business in the Puma district,
where there are 5000 inhabitants, and
the town of Hilo. The extension north
from Hilo involves access to between
thirty and thirty-five thousand inhab-
itants, and business which is probably
not less than five times as great as
the Puma district. Under these cir
cumstances, and upon consulting with
Mr.. George Denison in Honolulu, who
is the railroad expert of the town, we
came to the conclusion to ask for the
area which we did ask for and which
we got finally-somewhat less land
at Kuhio Bay. This is the origin of
and the chronological working up to
our getting 40 acres.
Fisher: Now, A.. Thurston, was any
showing made of any kind other than
or conferences as to this
necessity?
Showing Made Orally.
Thurston: There was none. From
the beginning of operations under the
railroad laws of the Territory. the
custom has been if they had any oc-
casion for acquiring land, for whoever
represents the railroad to come and