HISTORY OF THE FLUMES, Old Plantation Days, March 2011

Before bulldozers, cranes, and big cane trucks all the sugarcane that was harvested was done by hand.  Large crews of cane cutters would enter the field soon after burning the trash and leaves.  Many of the plantations had specific localized methods of getting the harvested cane to the Mill.

Some had carts drawn by oxen, some had narrow gauge rail systems, and some had the use of water in flumes.  In this month’s article I wanted to talk about the vast system of flumes that transported cane to the mills of the Hilo-Hamakua Coast.  The plantations from Hilo up to about Laupahoehoe had the fortunate resource of lots of rain and ever flowing streams.

In particular Onomea Sugar Company had the distinction of having some of the highest and longest flume trestles in the islands.  These flumes and trestles were built of wood and nails and spanned large gulches many hundreds of feet wide.  At its highest point above the river the flume might be 250’ above the ground.  The men that designed and built these structures must not have been afraid of heights as they would have to climb out on the frame work to pound the next nail.  The flumes at Kawainui and Hanawi gulches were some of the most spectacular structures, the photos in this month’s edition show the almost spider web look of the support frame.

The flumes were all based on gravity and water descending gradually to the mill.  After the cane was harvested it was bundled and tied, the cane cutter would walk the bundles over to the portable feed flumes in the field.  The bundles were thrown into the flowing water and off to the mill the cane would travel some many miles downslope.

When Mark Twain visited the islands he commented on the (impromptu) sport of riding in the flumes.  A few risky people would gather a small mat of cane and would jump into the flumes and go for a breathtaking ride down towards the mill. Kind of like an ancient WaterPark amusement ride. If doing this you needed to exit the flume at a certain point before the mill or else you would find yourself becoming part of the process of making sugar.

Fluming of cane was phased out after machine harvesting methods were employed after World War II.  Over time the flumes were dismantled or fell apart with age.  We can still see remnants of the flume systems in Wainaku as you drive on Highway 19 or by Halaulani Place on the Old highway.  These cement structures were the culmination of many feeder flumes higher up slope.

Another remnant of fluming cane are the flume easements that affect many of the private properties along the coast.  I receive many phone calls each year asking how or if the easements can be removed.  In some cases the flume paths are separate lots owned by the State of Hawaii!!  When the Government sold land in the late 1800’s flumes easements were called out as being a “Right of Way” in favor of the government…that is an easement, you own the land but the flume path is reserved for used by the government.  However, In the early 1900’s Homestead lots were created by the Republic and the flumes that crossed these lands were called out as “Excepting and Reserving to the Government the Flume as shown on the Map”.  It is in this case that the government deeded the land to you but Subtracted the area of the flume (usually 10’ wide by however long) and kept the flume for its own.  Why?, Fluming and water was a method of transportation, commerce if you will, and that is the stuff of government!  Business and jobs depended on the ability for the flumes to continue in operation after the land was sold to a private individual.  If your property has an Excepted and Reserved flume across the parcel then you actually have a little piece a government owned land splitting the parcel in two.