Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WEST END
Seemingly deserted and just a couple of missed rainfalls from becoming a desert, Mo-
lokaʻi's West End occupies a surprisingly significant place in Hawaii's history and cul-
ture. Puʻu Nana is the site of Hawaii's first-established hula school and the Maunaloa
Range was once a center of sorcery. In recent decades, much of the land has been con-
trolled by the Molokaʻi Ranch, and its fortunes - for better and more recently for much
worse - have affected the entire island. Hale O Lono Harbor is the launching site for the
two long-distance outrigger canoe races, and the island's longest beach, Papohaku Beach,
dominates the west coast.
Once you pass the airport, Hwy 460 starts to climb up through dry, grassy rangeland
without a building in sight. The mountain range that begins to form on your left past mile
marker 10 is Maunaloa, which means 'long mountain.' Its highest point, at 1381ft, is
Puʻu Nana.
Given the woes of Molokaʻi Ranch the atmosphere out west is a bit bleak. With the ex-
ception of one superlative store, Maunaloa might as well hold tumbleweed races, while
the Kaluakoi resort area is beset by financial troubles. Still, you can ignore all the earthly
turmoil on one of the many fine beaches.
History
During the 1850s Kamehameha V acquired the bulk of Molokaʻi's arable land and
formed Molokaʻi Ranch. Overgrazing eventually led to the widespread destruction of
native vegetation and fishponds. Following his death, the ranch became part of the Bish-
op Estate (a huge estate created in 1884 by the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-
granddaughter of King Kamehameha the Great), which quickly sold it off to a group of
Honolulu businesspeople.
A year later, in 1898, the American Sugar Company, a division of Molokaʻi Ranch, at-
tempted to develop a major sugar plantation in central Molokaʻi. The company built a
railroad system to haul the cane, developed harbor facilities and installed a powerful
pumping system to draw water. However, by 1901 the well water used to irrigate the
fields had become so saline that the crops failed. The company then moved into honey
production on such a large scale that at one point Molokaʻi was the world's largest honey
exporter, but in the mid-1930s an epidemic wiped out the hives and the industry. Strike
two for the industrialists.
Meanwhile the ranch continued its efforts to find
the
crop for Molokaʻi. Cotton, rice
and numerous grain crops all took their turn biting Molokaʻi's red dust. Finally pineapple
took root as the crop most suited to the island's dry, windy conditions. Plantation-scale
