Humu'ula Sheep Station

Sheep raising became economically important in Hawai'i's interior during the second half of the nineteenth century, and in the 1860s the Waimea Grazing and Agricultural Company established a sheep station at Humu'ula. By 1873 the station had a house and wool barn, and in 1883 the operation was incorporated as the Humu'ula Sheep Station Company before later being acquired by Parker Ranch. In 1890 Japanese laborers built the prominent network of stone walls that still enclose the grassy area south of Maunakea, although some sections were later covered by the 1935 lava flow. By the early 1900s, a herd of 23,000 sheep grazed these lands along with several hundred head of cattle and horses. Each spring, over a six-weeks period, ranch hands from Waimea, most of them part-Hawaiian, sheared the sheep, and paniolo drove the herd on horseback from these pastures to the port of Kawaihae for off-island shipping. After the conclusion of World War II, the roadway opened to vehicular traffic and truck transportation proved more efficient. By the 1960s, cattle had replaced most of the sheep, and today the land is owned by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Volcano, Hawaii · United States