Railroad

Six members of the Shibuya-Dayanan family gathered together for a small family reunion at Kualaka‘i-White Plains Beach in September 2012. Barbara Shibuya, one of the younger members of the family, coordinated the opportunity for the interview to take place. While a 33-year difference in ages between the eldest interviewee (born 1933) to the youngest (born 1966) existed, the interviewees shared strong familial connections, and memories with elders who have now passed on.

An article about the assessed value of lands owned by the Oahu Railway & Land Company was entitled “Three Million Dollar Assessment for Pearl Harbor Lands” and subtitled “How tax assessor Holt arrived at his figures in Oahu railway case.”

The tax appeal of the Oahu Railway and Land Company was argued and submitted by Assessor Holt regarding his method of arriving at the

This 1895 article shares an account of the journey made by newspaper staff, landowners, rail executives, and dignitaries on the newly opened extension of the O‘ahu Railway & Land Company track to Pōka‘ī, in Wai‘anae. While passing through the ‘Ewa District, the author-editor W. H. Kapu referenced several traditions of noted places seen along the way. The translation that follows is not complete, but is a summary.

Little more than a year after the debut of the Oahu Railway & Land Company, the new Ewa Plantation Mill at Honouliuli was up and running, and major changes were underway in land use, population makeup, and loss of cultural landscape.

In 1891, a number of men interested in the sugar business visited the Ewa Plantation. The excursion included a trip on the Oahu Railway and Land Co.’s line, and a tour of the new mill.

Henry M. Whitney’s Tourists’ Guide Through the Hawaiian Islands [33] provides readers with an overview of sugar plantation development in Honouliuli and the larger ‘Ewa District in 1890. At the time of writing, the O‘ahu Railway & Land Company (OR&L Co.) had just opened with train service passing from Honolulu to the ‘Ewa Court House; remaining track routes to be laid shortly thereafter.

While ranching remained a part of Honouliuli’s history through the mid-twentieth century, the development of the Ewa Plantation Company took over as the major revenue generator, and source of the major changes on the land. Thousands of acres were cleared for sugar fields, work force populations were developed, housing and commercial interests grew, and traditional cultural resources were erased from the landscape. Sugar cultivation dominated Honouliuli Ahupua‘a through the 1970s.

The Great Land Colonization Scheme was headed by Benjamin F. Dillingham for lands at Kahuku, Waimea, Kawailoa, and Honouliuli. He formed a joint stock company called the Hawaiian Colonization Land and Trust Company. The company would purchase the lands, and divide and develop them for convenient purchase or lease [8:151–152]. The businessmen associated with the scheme are as follows:

The following account was entitled “Village Planned for Puuloa Peninsula.” In the fashion of the day, it carried several subtitles, including “Immense and promising scheme of the Dowsett estate,” “Arrangements for quiet retreat,” “To occupy a mile of land almost facing Pearl Harbor,” “Material for short railway arrives,” and “By Claudine—Handsome Boulevard—Branch railroad—boating, Fishing and other attractions.” Among the things planned for the village are a railway, a tree-shaded boulevard, and boating and bathing facilities.