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Kona’s Tobacco Industry

In 1779, Naturalist John Ledyard described the forests at 4,000 feet above Kealakekua:

“A number of fine birds [are] of the liveliest and most variegated plumage that any of us ever met with…The woods here are thick and luxuriant, the largest trees being nearly 30 feet in girth.” (MacCaughey 1918)

With a changing system of land management practices, access to the sacred mauka lands was not restricted to the skilled kahuna, experts in their respective fields, whether it be finding a koa tree to make a canoe or gathering medicinal plants. By the 1830s logging became an established industry in the Hawaiian Kingdom and was used to construct homes, churches and furniture. And while found on the six largest of the Hawaiian Islands, Maui and Hawaii had the only sizeable commercial forests. By the 1880s much of the forested land in Hamakua was replaced by sugar cane and pasture while Kona’s forest continued to be a source of koa.

Photograph of koa logging on Palika Ranch. Photographer and date unknown. From the Collections of Kona Historical Society.

Tell me more about Kona's tobacco industry
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Kona’s Sugar Mills

Sugar mill and railroad tracks of Kona Development Company on Hualalai Road circa 1920.

1891: Sugar wages $9/month

1869: Kona’s first sugar plantation was started by Judge C. F. Hart; a small mill was erected and 12 horses were used to pull the rollers.

1926: The end of commercial cultivation in Kona.

Sharing Kona’s Products with the World

 

The World’s Fair

In 1876 a Hawaiian contingent showcased merchantable goods from the islands as part of a large international exhibit in Philadelphia. Several barrels of Kona Coffee and a magnificent koa table are visible in this photograph.

 

Domestic Exports from Honolulu, 1862

Records from 1862 show the diversity of products exported from the Kingdom of Hawai`i, many which were produced right here in Kona. Some of these Kona items listed include coffee, goat skins, tallow, wool, sweet potato, woods, oranges, limes and tomatoes.

 
 

Milk & Butter

Pancho Domingo milking a cow in the Greenwell dairy at Kalukalu, circa 1958.

ʻŌpelu

Hawaiians had different ways of preserving uncooked fish. Their uncooked fish was always preserved by salting or drying or both. The Hawaiians never ate fish raw just as it came from the ocean. Dried fish and poi are a very good combinations, a favorite today as well as in the old days. Dried Opelu could be traded for goods…and today a favorite omiyage (a gift).

Tomatoes

Farm workers are grading tomato on the Kobayashi farm in Honuaino, North Kona, circa 1955.

Lauhala

A young boy uses a lauhala roller to wind and unwind leaves of the pandanus tree and soften them prior to weaving, circa 1932.

Everyone in the family had kuleana, or responsibilities, to help out with—and children were no exception.

 

Oranges

“This district is famous for oranges, coffee, and pineapple, and silence.”

Isabella Bird, Six Months in the Sandwich Isles, 1873.

 
 

Subject with Kona Hawaii Exp. Station, with first orange tree planted in Hawaii on what is now David Paris property. Circa 1890. From the Collections of Kona Historical Society.

 
 
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Kona’s Coffee Origins

Woodblock Print by Hiroki Morinoue of Kona’s traditional coffee farming tools.

 

  • 1828: First coffee trees introduced to Kona from Manoa by the Reverend Samuel Ruggles. 

  • 1845: First export of coffee 248 pounds.

  • 1871: John Gaspar built the first coffee mill at Napoʻopoʻo.

  • 1890: Brunner planted 100 acres of coffee near the present Manago Hotel. Pulping coffee required a large amount of water, a resource often limited in Kona during the coffee picking months. 

  • 1898: 6,393 acres in Kona being used for coffee production, 555 of them in South Kona.

  • 1928: Boom year for coffee with prices at $0.28 per pound.

 
 

Koa: A Prized Wood

An outstanding woodworker, Henry Weeks, Jr. was born in Hilo and established his successful business in Kainaliu in 1859. Hawaiian craftsman, Henry Weeks, Jr., is noted for his signature design inspired by Hawaiian music creating pieces with back and arms patterned after the clefs in musical scores. His Hawaiian-inspired design transformed furniture into sculptural art and Weeks became known throughout Hawaiʽi—one of his settee benches was displayed in the home of Queen Lili’uokalani.

Koa entryway and bench inspired by the design of Henry Weeks, Jr.

The largest native tree of Hawai`i is koa, which is found only in the Hawaiian Islands. With a name which also means “brave, bold, and fearless,” the prized wood was traditionally used for papa heʽe nalu (surfboards), wa’a (canoes) and ʽumeke (calabashes). Commercially, koa is one of the most expensive woods today. Photograph by Mina Elison, 2016.

Kona’s businesses, large and small, were built upon or drew inspiration from Kona’s early entrepreneurs.

What do you think the future holds for Kona’s commercial industries?

What inspires Kona’s entrepreneurs today?

What are some new industries developing in Kona that reflect our community’s unique sense of place while remaining on the cutting edge of innovation?