Working on the island of Niihau
During 1993, while employed as a U.S. Department of Agriculture entomological technician, I had the privilege of visiting Niihau several times to assist entomologist Dr. Roger Vargas with his insect survey of the island.
The McBryde Sugar Company Railroad
McBryde Sugar Co. Ltd., in operation on Kauai from 1899 to 1996, with its lands initially extending eastward from Eleele for eight miles along the southern coast of Kauai to Kukuiula, began building its railroad system at the outset of its organization on May 25, 1899.
Princess Ruth Keelikolani and Kauai
Princess Ruth Keelikolani (1826-1883) — in her day the wealthiest woman in all Hawaii — visited Kauai often, typically arriving by inter-island steamer at Nawiliwili Bay, where a rowboat would carry her to the Kalapaki Landing.
Hauling cane for McBryde Sugar Co.
Our Island History columnist, Hank Soboleski, made some of his own Kauai history as a cane haul driver for McBryde Sugar Company in the early 1980s.
Kauai wild boar hunter Diedrich Prigge Jr.
One of Kauai’s all-time great wild boar hunters was Diedrich Prigge Jr. (1906-1980), the son of German immigrant and longtime Kauai schoolteacher Diedrich Prigge Sr. and Hannah Kaai Prigge of Anahola.
Kauai schoolteacher Mrs. Lucy Wright
Mrs. Lucy Kapahu Aukai Wright was born on Kauai, was of Hawaiian-Chinese ancestry, and after completing studies on Oahu returned to Kauai as principal and sole teacher at Anahola English School.
Mrs. Hisano Iida, Princess Lili‘uokalani, and the first child born in Hawaii to Japanese parents
The first child born in Hawaii to Japanese parents began life on Maui in 1868 as the offspring of Haru and Moshichi, members of the initial group of Japanese contract laborers.
New Hebridean immigrants Ben and Lizzie Ramson of Kauai
Lizzie Ramson was driven to make a better life for her family in Hawaii and on Kauai. She talked her way onto a schooner bound for Honolulu.
Kauai hero Arthur Junichi ‘Jun’ Saiki
On March 20, 1937, 12-year-old Kapaa Grammar School student Arthur “Jun” Saiki was standing on a bridge straddling Kapaa’s Waipouli Stream with a group of his young friends, watching a torrent of muddy storm water flow beneath him that had risen three feet, almost to bridge level.
