Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

KM: What was the feed Was there a period of time when there was better weather or
RG: They depended on the kiawe bean mostly, and then they did have what they called
irrigated pasture. They sunk a well down there and they pumped the water out and
irrigated the pasture. There weren’t too many cattle, I’m just guessing now, maybe about
two-hundred or a little bit more. Just to fatten down there, then from there, they go to
Kawaihae and off.
KM: When you took your cattle from Puakö to Kawaihae, did you run them back mauka and
then down Or did you run them out across
RG: They were all put on a truck. Those days, we started to truck cattle.
KM: In the fifties already
RG: Yes.
KM: You would truck them from Puakö
RG: To Kawaihae.
KM: Straight across or back up
RG: No, straight across.
KM: Oh, so you folks were using that road That was sort of the Puakö…a road that came in
from Kawaihae to Puakö
RG: Yes, in the fifties.
KM: That’s right.
PG: Okay, so you came back here January 1 st , 1956
RG: Yes. And there was a feed lot at Puakö, and then silos for the feed at Kawaihae Harbor.
KM: Okay, so the land down at Puakö was operated as a feed lot
RG: Yes.
KM: Were families from the ranch living down there also, that you remember Living down at
Puakö
RG: No, most lived up here and commuted. Though Fuji was the charcoal man and Goto was
the caretaker, and kept the bees.
KM: Okay. Now, when going down to Puakö, did they commute down across the paddocks
RG: No, right down the Kawaihae Road.
KM: Right down Kawaihae and then straight out across
RG: Straight across. They did have a house down there and I think, Kepa Bell and his wife
who worked down there. They used to go down for weekends, or maybe spend the night
down there once in a while.
KM: Oh.
RG: They worked under Harry Kawai down there.
KM: Did the ranch sublet out a honey bee, honey producing thing also, or was that...
RG: That was before my time.
KM: That was before
RG: Honey and charcoal, that was before my time.
KM: That was a part of the ranch operation at one point
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
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A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:22