Final AA Hu Honua Bioenergy Facility

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Caledonia and Pepeekeo Sugar kept some ratoon crops for as long as 12 to 18 years. The soil was improved annually with 50,000 tons of Waianae coral sand as well as bone meal and guano. Eucalyptus trees were planted as windbreaks, protecting the fields near the ohia forests. Water sources at Waiaama Stream and Kauku Hill provided clear water from natural filter beds for all plantation uses including turning a water wheel to generate power. Cultivation inventions included the Webster's careful farming dictated deep plowing at 18 -20 inches, which improved the soil each year. The manager continued to live in the old Afong residence just above the mill.ln 1930, machinery was installed to dry, sift, and sack bagasse from the mill to be used for livestock feed. The product was sold in Los Angeles through Grace Brothers in Honolulu. Because the land was bumpy with many winding gulches, road improvement was ongoing, using a rock crusher brought from Scotland in the 1890s. There were 120 mules and 25 horses used on the plantation in 1932, providing transport for the fields split by ridges and gulches. Tractors with caterpillar tracks were used for plowing and trucks now hauled mud press, stable manure, and lime to the fields. 20 miles of permanent flumes brought cane to the mill. At age 80, after 32 years at Pepeekeo manager, Mr. Webster retired in 1936 and Mr. Andrew T. Spalding, manager at Honomu Sugar, succeeded as manager of Pepeekeo on January 1, 1937. In 1941, harvested cane was trucked to the mill for the first time, due to a shortage of water for fluming. Though water shortages continued for the next two years, a record crop was produced in 1944.March 1946 saw Hanomu Sugar Co. merged with Pepeekeo and Mr. A. Douglas Ednie became manager of the combined plantations. Mr. Ednie had a difficult year, however, as Pepeekeo Sugar showed a loss of $141,430, the first loss in 10 years. An industry -wide strike, higher labor costs, unfavorable weather, and the April tidal wave that destroyed the railroad and terminals in Hilo added to the problems of 1946. In 1947, the Pepeekeo mill was shut down for extensive modernization to accommodate the addition of the cane from the Honomu fields. Reconstruction of over $2,000,000 required an agency overdraft and a loan from Bank of Hawaii in 1948.In the early 1950s a number of lots and houses on the plantation were sold to residents, as was the Honomu company store. Due to the increase in mechanical harvesting, the labor force of 460 was reduced to 400 in 1956. The late 1950s brought numerous union slowdowns, walkouts, and shutdowns to Pepeekeo. Mr. Ednie retired as manager in 1960, replace by Mr. L.S. McLane from Hilo Sugar Co. The merger of Pepeekeo and Hakalau sugar companies was affected in 1963, with Mr. Herbert M. Gomez becoming manager of the combined company. 1963 was also the year in which the Hilo office of C. Brewer & Co. instituted a computer system to service plantation automotive equipment. In 1971 Wainaku, Hakalau, Pepeekeo, and Papaikou sugar companies were consolidated in a processing cooperative that also included independent cane growers. Two years later, Pepeekeo Sugar merged with Mauna Kea Sugar to form Mauna Kea Sugar Co., Inc., the state's fourth largest sugar company with 18,000 acres of cane. The mills at Wainaku and Hakalau were closed as the Pepeekeo mill was modernized to double its capacity by 1974. (Campbell et al. 1990: 1 -3)