ZIPLINES AND OLD PLANTATION DAYS!? Old Plantation Days, December 2010

Thought I would mix things up a bit with this month’s article and title.  What does one have to do with the other?  Well it seems our plantation past was filled with suspended cables, trolleys, and even suspension bridges.  These are the same tools of modern day zipline adventures.  What fun and thrilling adventures you could experience today on an Eco-Tour were actually the day to day equipment that men, machines, and commerce depended on in doing their job for the sugarcane plantation.

Today we have a zipline on former Puna Sugar Company land in Mountain View, two ziplines on former Mauna Kea Sugar Company lands in Umauma, and another zipline on former Kohala Sugar Company lands in Niulii.  Some of these adventures have suspension bridges as part of their tour.

In old plantation days the government road system was not too accommodating to trucking sugar and supplies from the deep water port of Hilo and the more shallow ports of Mahukona and Kawaihae.  As such, the plantations along the Hilo, Hamakua, and Kohala coasts had their own method of getting sugar loaded onto the ships…Yup, it was by a zipline!  Many of these coastal plantations were poised on the high cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.  When a contracted ship would arrive off the coast of the mill a whole complex trolley and cable system was strung between the ship and the landing pad on the cliff.  Bags of sugar were loaded onto a pallet and then hoisted up off the landing pad and zipped down to the waiting ship.  I can only imagine the sway and dip of the load as the heavy load descended down the line with the roll of the ship and the waves!  It must have been something to see.  The picture in this month’s edition shows sugar being loaded at the Papaikou Mill.

The line was not only for the off-load of sugar into the ship, it was also an incoming cargo line as the ship would disgorge needed mill supplies of grease, coal, iron, and wood, (along with whatever else the plantation manager had ordered).

Suspension bridges were also common plantation fare.  Some were single man bridges to get the workers from one side of the gulch to the other when the rivers were too high to cross.  Most suspension bridges were for flume supports.  Fluming cane was THE best way to transport cane to the mills.  Flumes meandered cross slope covering much area in an “S” shape.  The hand harvested cane was cut into 18” lengths and bundled into about the same width round.  The bundle was then placed into the flume were it would travel with the water all the way to the mill.  The second picture in this month’s article shows a very large and proud looking suspension bridge above Onomea.

So as you consider taking a ride on an exciting zipline remember that what is now considered a new “thing” is actually very old technology that your grandfather considered common fare in a days work!

As an ending comment I have ridden the Zipline Through Paradise at “The Umauma Experience” near the 17 mile marker on the hamakua coast.  Wow!, it is not only exciting, but the view of the river, waterfalls, ponds and all the native trees is equally grand.  There even an old flume and intake trail upon the property!