CHAPTER XXXIII

RAILROADS AND UNINHABITED ISLANDS

ALMOST every large plantation on the Hawaiian Islands has a plantation railroad. These roads extend over the plantation, all converging to the mill, and sometimes several plantations are connected by a single railroad. The rails are small and the track "portable." The road can be changed without much expense, and often the track is laid, the road used until the crop is planted, then the track taken up, the ground plowed, and cane planted where the road had been.

The rails are slight, and the "cross-ties" are often made of iron in sections, so that when they are laid down flat on the ground, and bolted together, the road is complete. The plantation car and train is used in many ways. The manager often rides in his special flat car over the field; the road carries the hands to work in the morning, brings them home in the evening, brings cane to the mills, and carries steam-plows to the fields; it carries machinery, and in a hundred other ways makes itself indispensable.

Tho small and light, the engines draw tremendous

loads. A plantation, with its many switches and cars, has the appearance of a railroad junction. When the mills are in operation, there can be found no more animated scene. Great trains of cars, loaded with cane from the fields, are continually seen crowding toward the mills, and from them the cane in a mighty stream is taken to the carrier, and fed into the great crushers which extract the juice.

On September 4, 1889, the whistle of the locomotive was heard for the first time on the Hawaiian Islands among the hills that environ Honolulu, signaling the initial trip of the first passenger train over the Oahu Railroad. If there was any man who deserved to be proud on that day it was B. F. Dillingham, the man whose foresight and genius had first projected the road, and whose perseverance had enabled him to surmount almost innumerable difficulties and realize his ideal.

Mr. Dillingham is the Jay Gould of Hawaii. Perhaps he was the first man to conceive the plan of a railroad on the islands. He was thought to be visionary at first, and it was doubted if a railroad on those small islands would ever pay, unless a bridge could be built from one to the other, a plan long since abandoned as impracticable. Mr. Dillingham was born in West Brewster, Mass., September 4, 1844. At the age of fourteen, he shipped before the mast on the vessel Southern Cross for a voyage around the Horn to

San Francisco, which he reached in 1859, and returned the same way. Mr. Dillingham continued in the Southern Cross until June 6, 1863, when she was captured by the rebel cruiser Florida. He was taken in irons aboard a French vessel and carried to Brazil, from which place he was sent to Pernambuco, and from there Mr. Dillingham worked his way on the English brig William Dodge to New York city.

He was soon after made second mate on a merchantman, and finally secured a place on a vessel plying between San Francisco and Honolulu. While in Honolulu in 1865 he had the misfortune to have his leg broken, which compelled him to remain in the city after the ship left. On his recovery he entered into the employ of Mr. Henry Dimond as a clerk, in which capacity he served for three years.

By the end of that time he was a citizen of Honolulu and thoroughly identified with the interests of the islands. The keen, sagacious business men of the city soon learned that Mr. Dillingham possessed judgment and business sagacity far above the average men of his time. He served various persons in various capacities, and was trusted by all who knew him. Perhaps no man with a successful enterprise ever had greater difficulties to overcome than Mr. Dillingham. A railroad was supposed to be impracticable on an island so small as Oahu, being little more than one hundred miles in circumference. The Oahu Railroad,

now regarded of such signal importance to the Hawaiian Islands, was first projected by him about the year 1886. The franchise, after vigorous legislative opposition, was granted September 4, 1888. Many who were really benefited by the railroad opposed the franchise for reasons they were unable to explain. As in all enterprises of an untried nature, there were doubting Thomases, who prophesied complete failure.

"Now you have secured your franchise, when will the road be commenced?" some of the doubters asked Mr. Dillingham.

"This is my birthday," said Mr. Dillingham, “and one year from to-day you may have a ride on the Oahu Railroad." This was a bold declaration, when we take into consideration the fact that not a dollar had been subscribed, and the moneyed men looked with disfavor on the scheme. To incorporate a company with a capital of $700,000 was by no means an easy undertaking, yet Mr. Dillingham never faltered, and never doubted that his plan would ultimately succeed. We have not space to give a detailed account of his trials and failures. After all, it was only the same old story of genius struggling with adversity, and conquering in the end.

One of the stanchest friends and most able supporters of Mr. Dillingham in his enterprise was that remarkable Hawaiian gentleman, Hon. Mark P. Robinson, the son of an Englishman and a Hawaiian

lady of noble blood. Mr. Robinson had long been known as one of the leading business men of the city, whose far-sightedness and keen sagacity commanded the respect of all. The name of Mark Robinson was sufficient to give stability to any enterprise. But for his timely cooperation, it is doubtful if the success of Mr. Dillingham's enterprise would not have been indefinitely postponed. With Robinson's name, $30,000 worth of steel rails were ordered from Germany, which were to be paid for in three, six, and nine months. Messrs. Dillingham and Robinson became personally responsible for these payments. Mr. Dillingham staked all he possessed on the bold venture and won. The arrival of the rails gave the appearance of tangibility to the undertaking, and the $700,000 was subscribed and the company formed. Mr. Dillingham sold his franchise to the company, taking his pay in stock at par, sufficient to retain a controlling interest. He also took a contract to build the first twelve miles of road and stock it for $260,000. road was bonded for this amount, and comparatively little difficulty was experienced in placing the bonds. Mr. Dillingham conscientiously carried out his part of the contract. Nearly four sevenths of the road belonged to him, and no part of its construction was slighted. All possible speed was made in grading and laying the track, and the first ride was given the public as promised on Mr. Dillingham's forty-fifth

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