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The Dole Plantation

If you ask someone to do a word association test for Hawaii, the word "pineapple" would likely be in the top five answers.

Reverse the test, and do a word association test for the word "pineapple" and Hawaii would probably be the top answer, closely followed by "Dole".

Hawaiian pineapples are almost synonymous with Dole, the name of the main pineapple plantation in Hawaii.

My own word association with "pineapple" takes me back to an early childhood memory. It was 1954; I was a kid in Germany soon to immigrate to Canada. My family appreciated the parcels which we received from my uncle who had immigrated to Canada the year before. I only have one memory of the contents of those packages and that was the cans of pineapple.

Considering that this was a time when eating a banana was a big deal, eating pineapple was about as special and exotic as it could get. It was akin to manna dropping from heaven. This fruit was so different in taste and texture from anything I had ever had eaten before I just couldn't get enough of it . To me, it represented "Amerika" and a different world. Little did I know that 47 years later I would be walking through the Dole Plantation in a place called Hawaii.

While 47 years seems like a long time, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company was established much earlier in 1901 by biologist James (Jim) Drummond Dole. Later it was to become the Dole Foods Company.

According to the information panels located at Dole Plantation, pineapples are not unique to Hawaii. The origins of the pineapple plant are traced to the lowlands of Paraguay.

In the 15th and 16th century the plants were carried by trade ships to other parts of the world and pineapples were soon growing in Mexico, Australia, China and India.

Captain John Kidwell, in the 1880's, is credited with introducing the pineapple plant to Hawaii by importing and testing a number of varieties before settling upon the Smooth Cayenne for its cylindrical form and smooth texture.

It was James Dole who recognized the potential that the plant brought to the islands. This earned him the name of "Pineapple King" .

As I write this, I am struck by a huge irony.

While James Dole earned the title of "Pineapple King", his cousin, Sanford B. Dole, led the revolt to overthrow the reigning native monarch of Hawaii, Queen Liliuokalani, to become the first president of the Republic of Hawaii in 1894.

The movement to overthrow the monarchy was led by local business leaders and sugar planters who saw Hawaii's future as part of the United States. Sugar was the main industry of Hawaii, and it was largely responsible for the island's multi-ethnic population which was brought about by the industry's thirst for foreign manpower.

Sanford Dole led the effort for annexation to the United States and in 1900 became the first governor of the Territory of Hawaii. Full statehood would not follow until 1959.

The Dole family name was therefore well ensconced in the islands' history, and James Dole was only carrying on in the family tradition.

It is nevertheless an incredible story of a man with political connections who was able to take a fledgling industry on the island and build it into an empire .

Dole started with a modest purchase of 60 acres of land, near the town of Wahiawa. Located on the central plain, this town is almost in the geographical center of the island of Oahu.

Dole quickly expanded his operation into a cannery and packing plant.
In 1907 this was followed by a cannery and packing plant near Honolulu harbour.

In 1913 he pioneered the Ginaca machine which could peel and core 35 pineapples per minute.

A huge step forward was taken in 1922, when Dole bought the entire island of Lanai and turned it into a huge plantation. Through the 20th century Lanai produced 75% of the world's pineapple output. He also set up a plantation in Maui.

So the canned pineapple that I relished as a kid in Germany in 1954 must have come from the island of Lanai, one of the eight islands of Hawaii.

James Dole retired in 1949 and passed away in 1958 as one of America's great entrepreneurs.

The tourist attraction known as the Dole Plantation, which we are visiting today, was established in 1991 on the site of the original plantation . The original cannery located here was also closed in 1991.

So what is the most amazing thing about visiting the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa?

It was the first time in my life that I was seeing a pineapple plant.

There were several surprises.

Firstly, I was surprised how low the pineapple plant is to the ground.

Secondly, a pineapple does not hang from a tree as I might have imagined. I clung to the "hanging from a tree" theory because no small plant structure could support this heavy fruit in an upright position.

But that is exactly what the pineapple plant is: small and supporting a large pineapple in an upright position.

A member of the Bromeliad family, it has a spiral arrangement of long narrow leaves emanating from a central cup which can also serve to collect moisture. To me it appears to be a succulent, as it resembles some cacti as well as an aloe plant.

Most amazing is the short little wood-like stem that originates from the middle of the cup. The large heavy fruit of the pineapple plant sits on top of this small stem .

The large pineapple with its hand grenade shape has one of the most fascinating outer layers of any fruit.

It is almost like armor, relatively hard and somewhat prickly. For added strength it is divided into many smaller diamond shaped segments which give the pineapple fruit its unique appearance resplendid in its geometric intricacy.

As a crowning feature the pineapple plant has new shoots of foliage growing out of the top of the fruit like tufts of hair.

Visiting the Dole Plantation is a pleasant experience for a variety of reasons.

There are the historical and biological aspects which I have already discussed.

The "Pineapple Express" is a small tourist train which gives an interesting tour of the plantation grounds. It is fun to just sit, relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery of pineapple fields as well as other shrubs and trees typical of this tropical region.

For the kids, there is the world's largest maze.

There is also a beautiful garden with all kinds of local plants.

Finally, there is the company store which sells Dole products as well as other items of interest to visitors .

While walking through the company store, my attention was drawn to a photo of a big native Hawaiian man. He really was a "big Hawaiian man" in more ways than one, as I later found out. I would again encounter this "big Hawaiian man" in the town of Hilo on "The Big Island".

The "big man from Hawaii" would make us "feel" Hawaii, instead of just seeing Hawaii.

In the end, the "big man from Hawaii" became the most moving discovery of our trip.

.....more about that in a later blog.

I have since learned that the "Smooth Cayenne" is not the only type of pineapple grown in Hawaii, as the Maui Pineapple Company grows a "gold strain" of pineapple which it calls the "Maui Gold Pineapple". It is said to be naturally sweet, low in acid, rich in colour and provides three times the Vitamin C of the Smooth Cayenne. This would call for a taste test.

Epilogue to this Wonderful Day

It took my blogging to realize that December 20, 2007 may be a chief candidate for our "best day in Hawaii" during our trip from December 16, 2007 to January 12, 2008 .

I am basing this partly on the fact that it took four blogs to cover this day.

Blog 85 - Of Sunrises, Banana Pancakes and Latter Day Saints

Blog 86 - Oahu - "Hanging Ten" on the North Coast

Blog 87 - Haleiwa - Huli Huli Chicken and Shave Ice

Blog 88 - The Dole Plantation

The key to this day was Barbara's drive to get up early to catch a Hawaiian sunrise at Sandy Beach.

That gave us the time to complete the entire circle route on Oahu - the eastern Pacific Coast, the North Shore and back to Honolulu through central Oahu via the Kamehamea Highway No. 99.

Under normal circumstances this could have been a two day trip, but we managed to take in all the main sights and get back to Honolulu in time to get stuck one more time in rush hour traffic from downtown to Waikiki.

Doing the trip in one day does have its price. I realize now that after Haleiwa, we should have visited the near by Waialua Sugar Mill as well as the town of Waialua. The navigator must have been napping at the time we passed that area.

We ended this day with another night time stroll along swank Kalakau Avenue which is another one of America's great walks, especially at night .

p.s.

I have also included some interesting photos from the eastern Pacific Coast and the North Shore which I forgot to add in the appropriate blogs.

Coming Soon:

More of Waikiki Beach and then "I fly Go"
also
Vancouver: A Sunday Stroll along Commercial Drive