Kona and Kau Railway Co. - Bond Coupons - Hawaii - Very Rare State

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The Kona and Kau Railway Company, occasionally referred to in conjunction with its successor, the West Hawaii Railway Company, was an ambitious early 20th-century infrastructure project on Hawaii’s Big Island. Established around 1906, the railway’s primary objective was to serve the burgeoning sugar industry in the region. Initially conceived to connect sugar plantations in North and South Kona with prominent seashore destinations such as Kailua, Napoopoo, or Kaawaloa, the project later expanded its reach to encompass the Kohala and Kau districts. Operating as a 3-foot narrow-gauge line, the railroad was constructed at an elevation of approximately 700 feet to accommodate the Kona Sugar Company mill in Wai’aha.

Despite its ambitious vision of a 30-mile network, the railway only achieved a total length of 11 miles during its 27-year operational period. The project faced numerous significant challenges, including a scarcity of freshwater for mill operations and the eventual bankruptcy of the Kona Sugar Company in 1903, followed by its successor, the Kona Development Company, in 1916. Consequently, commercial cultivation in Kona effectively ceased by 1926, leading to the abandonment of the tracks and infrastructure. Presently, a substantial portion of the original line has been reclaimed by the jungle, while remnants of the railbeds and mill sites serve as a historical testament to the arduous agricultural history of the Kona coast.