Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Puunene Sugar Museum in Maui Hawaii

If you have ever wondered how Hawaii became a melting pot of many races and cultures then take a visit to the Sugar Museum in the old Plantation town of Puunene, Maui. It was here that I learned a fascinating tale of how the sugar cane industry made Maui the culturally diverse place it is today. Not long after the Polynesians brought sugar cane to the islands in the 1800s, it soon became evident that there were not enough native Hawaiians to handle all the labor. This is when sugar entrepreneurs decided to recruit labor from various countries offering free passage and a paid guaranteed job as the incentive. The Chinese were the first to come in 1952, followed by South Sea Islanders, Japanese, Portuguese, Puerto Ricons, Filipinos, Spaniards and Russians, forming a multi-ethnic workforce. Even though the Plantation Housing was divided into ethnic "camps" with names such as "Ah Fong" for the Chinese, it wasn't long before the communities started sharing food and customs. Everyone liked the Portuguese bread, and the island has quite few of their historic ovens, reminiscent of this time (see photo). We also saw one in Hana, another early plantation town. Another custom shared by many were the communal "bath houses" built by the Japanese.

It is so hard to imagine the struggles encountered, in those early days, to provide adequate irrigation for growing cane, never mind the drudgery of working the fields and harvesting them. Water had to be brought in from the rainy east coast by open ditches that sometimes had to be tunneled through rock because of the rugged terrain. Maybe the workers liked the balmy Maui weather but life was not a vacation for them as they toiled long hours in the fields. The museum has a picture of a Japanese woman dressed from head to toe, hands and feet included, in order to keep out the dust and centipedes, a stark contrast to my weather friendly tank top and shorts. In those days the cane was harvested by hand and the jobs were allocated by age and strength. The youngsters and women had the lighter chores such as weeding, while the men had the more arduous tasks of cane-cutting, lifting and carrying. Working and living conditions were always an issue of contention with the immigrants, but finally housing became more attractive and families were encouraged as a way of stabalizing the working communities.

You may be wondering who these sugar entrepreneurs were and the museum gives very detailed histories of some of the early plantation owners.
In 1849 a sea captain named George Wilfong created Maui's first sugar plantation in Hana. A few years later his mill burned down and so he quit the business. After that two Danish brothers, August and Oscar Unna, started the Hana Plantation in 1864.
Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin established Alexander and Baldwin Co. in 1869 and it wasn't long before they had a rival in Claus Spreckels, who befriended King David Kalahaua, with the sole purpose of influencing Hawaiian politics to obtain water rights, land and desired legislation. He apparently was later kicked out of the county, so it goes to show that "Honesty is the Best Policy". For more detailed information about Maui's sugar mills Click Here.

An interested story which has not been documented in history, is that burning the cane as a reliable harvesting method was discovered by accident. Rumor has it that a jealous sugar entrepreneur set fire to his rival's field with the hope of destroying him. It backfired however, when they discovered that the inner stalks of the cane, which held all the sugar was not burned because of the large water content. Not long after this incident burning the cane became the sole method of harvesting.

Along with telling the history of the sugar cane industry, the museum also has a video playing which describes the life cycle of the cane from planting, to harvesting and processing in the mill. There is also an excellent working model of the mill showing the various stages of the process. Of special interest is that "bagasse", one of the by products is stored and then used as fuel for the boilers, and to generate electricity.

In conclusion, a visit to the Puunene Sugar Museum not only offers an important insight into the industry that became the backbone of Maui's economy for so many years, but gives us an undertanding of many interracial communities sharing a common spirit and experiences, which hopefully is still contained in that wonderful five letter word, Aloha.

A question to ponder is What is the future of the sugar cane industry in Maui. Even though Hawaii supplies 1/3 of all US sugar cane, tourism has been the major industry of the islands since the 1960s.
With environmental issues so foremost in peoples minds these days, it will be interesting to see how long the burning process which can't be healthy for our atmosphere, and the smelly smoky mill operation, will be tolerated. I for one would rather see Maui grow more food for the locals on the vast amounts of sugar cane land. We have to start having a more sustainable lifestyle or things will only get worse in the future. It is amazing to me that the production of sugar, which is no good for you, can take up so much of our green space.

We welcome your comments on Maui's Sugar Cane industy.

6 comments:

  1. Julie, this is quite an interesting blog about the history of Hawaii's sugar industry. Michener's 'Hawaii' book is a great resource as well.

    I was not even aware that Maui still has quite a number of sugar plantations. The Big Island gave up on those many years ago when they were not able to compete with low prices of sugar on the world market.

    Many of the old sugar plantation homes on the beautiful Hamakua Coast got remodeled and even turned into lovely vacation rentals with ocean views.

    Most of the old sugar cane land on the Big Island was turned into eucalyptus tree forests. We still will have to see whether this will be profitable.

    Aloha, Pua
    Best Hawaii Vacation blog

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  2. Aloha Julie. Yes, visiting the Sugar Museum at Puunene is an eye opener. Once a year they also have a big fair there that one should not miss. I'll try to find out the date and will post it here.

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  3. The EPA needs to stop looking the other way and stop the Pu'unene Mill from burning day & night. The smoke blows right into homes in Kihei. The tilled up ground after harvest blows precious topsoil into homes in Kihei & out to sea. Sugar Cane uses an enormous amount of water, water that has been diverted from natural streams that are now dried up. Yes, the mill has 700 jobs. Turn part of the land into solar arrays for cheap electricity and you will have nixed the job argument.

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  4. Aloha Richard
    Thankyou for your very worthwhile comments on the sugar mill dilemma. I also feel that the land could be used for much more environmentally friendly ways.

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  5. ACTUALLY, NATIVE POPULATIONS ARE ONLY SPARINGLY USED AS A LABOR BASE BY ANY INVADING CULTURE, BECAUSE THE THAT CULTURE HAS TO ASSERT IT'S DOMINANCE & "SUPERIORITY" BY OVERWHELMING THE NATIVE CULTURE. LOOK AT THE CONQUEST OF NORTH AMERICA. ASIANS WERE BROUGHT IN AS CHEAP LABOR BECAUSE OF THEIR FUNDAMENTAL WORK ETHIC & INGRAINED SUBSERVIENCE TO AUTHORITY. PORTUGUESE ACTED AS INTERMEDIARIES BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT SEEN AS "WHITE" BY THE PLANTATION OWNERS, BUT THEY WERE SEEN AS "WHITE" BY THE LABORERS. THIS ATTEMPT AT SEGREGATION BY CULTURE & ETHNICITY WAS AN EFFORT TO INSURE THAT LABOR WOULD BE DIS-INCLINED TO ORGANIZE AS UNIONS & CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF THE PLANTION OWNERS & MANAGERS.

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  6. I found your blog very interesting. My husband's great grandfather, Andrew Anderson, along with his children Olaus, Matilda and Antone came to Maui in 1881 on the ship, Beta from Norway. A Captain L'Orange came over to Norway, and put signs up in at least the Christiana (Oslo) and Drammen area to recruit workers for the sugar cane industry in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) There were two ships, the Beta and the Musca). As I remember, the Beta left Norway in Oct. and got to Maui either in Jan or Feb. (I should have looked at my information before I started this). Andrew's wife, Sonef, died in childbirth on Maui. From what I understand, for most of the Norwegians, it was an unhappy experience since they are a bit too independent to work under so much supervision! At the end of the 3 year contract, there was a celebration complete with fireworks. I know that some of the Norwegians stayed, but Andrew left and came to Port Townsend WA, a place that was suppose to have a big future! We are coming to Maui on March 11 (2012) and I am hoping that by the time we come, I can figure out which plantation Andrew worked at. It has been an interesting and unusual story to be able to tell people that this great grandfather came from Norway by way of the Sandwich Islands!

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