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Kamalō Sugar Plantation facts for kids

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Kamalo Sugar Plantation
Private
Industry Sugarcane
Successor Kamalo Sugar Company, Ltd.
Founded 1873; 152 years ago (1873) in Kamalō, Molokai, Kingdom of Hawaii
Founder John C. McColgan (1814-1890)
Defunct 1891 (1891)
Key people
  • Hugh McCorriston, Daniel McCorriston (Manager)

The Kamalō Sugar Plantation was a place where sugarcane was grown and processed into sugar. It was located in Kamalō on the island of Molokai in what was then the Kingdom of Hawaii. This plantation was the very first sugar farm and mill ever built on Molokai. It stopped working before a bigger sugar company, the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company, started up in 1906.

The Story of Kamalō Sugar

USA Hawaii Maui County Kamalo inset
Kamalō is a small area on the island of Molokai in Hawaiʻi.

The Kamalō Sugar Plantation was started in 1873 by a businessman named John C. McColgan. He was born in Ireland. In July 1873, he rented a large piece of land, about 4,000 acres. This land was between Kaunakakai and Kalua‘aha. It belonged to the estate of the late King Kamehameha V.

The plantation and its sugar mill were managed by John McColgan's cousins. They were brothers, also from Ireland, named Hugh McCorriston and Daniel McCorriston. Daniel was the main manager.

The machines used at the Kamalō Sugar Plantation were the same kind used at another one of McColgan's sugar farms. That farm was located in Waiau on the island of O‘ahu.

By the 1880s, the Kamalō Sugar Plantation began sending its sugar to California. For example, in September 1884, they sent 353 bags of sugar on a ship called the SS Mariposa (1883).

When John McColgan passed away in 1890, parts of the Kamalō Sugar Plantation were given to the McCorriston brothers.

The Big Fire of 1891

On August 7, 1891, something terrible happened. The Kamalō Sugar Plantation burned down completely. No one knows exactly what caused the fire. The mill and plantation had insurance, which paid out $25,000. After the fire, cows were brought to the land to be raised for ranching instead of growing sugar.

Trying to Bring it Back

In 1897, the McCorriston brothers started talking about bringing the Kamalō Sugar Plantation back to life. Then, in 1899, the brothers sold their land. It was bought by Frank Hustace, J.J. Egan, and Hugh's stepson, Frank Hudson Foster. They created a new company called Kamalō Sugar Company, Limited.

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