Hawaii “Sugar Rush”

January 30, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments
Aloha

Click for Kahului, Hawaii ForecastInane Answering
Message  Day
Day 30 of 2008
336 days left in this year                                 
HAWAIIAN WORD OF THE DAY — Momona: Sweet
 PIDGIN WORD OF THE DAY— Stik suga: Sugar cane
HAWAIIAN PROVERB OF THE DAY — “Nothing can sweeten it.”
 WEB SURF SPOT OF THE WEEK  — World Clock
 WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK  — Barack Obama South Carolina victory speech
Maui sugar cane field

January 30th, 1875:  The “sugar rush” - Hawaii’s answer to California’s Gold Rush - is officially launched with a reciprocity treaty between the Kingdom of Hawaii and the United States. The treaty allows for duty-free sugar to be imported into the US, giving Hawaii a huge advantage over sugar imports from other countries, all of which is heavily taxed.

Henry Spreckels and the team of Alexander and Baldwin begin their epic battles here on Maui, buying land and raising cane as fast as possible. Over the next 30years, the companies import thousands of workers from Korea, the Phillipines and other South Pacific islands, to meet the demand for labor. A&B finally wins, of course, and what remains of the Spreckel’s sugar industry is sold to A&B during the first part of the 20th century.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — January 30th

  • 1774: Captain Cook reaches 71° 10′ S, 1090 miles from the South Pole 
  • 1815: The burned Library of Congress is reestablished using Jefferson’s 6,500 volume library 
  • 1862: U.S. Navy’s first ironclad warship, the “Monitor”, is launched during the Civil War 
  • 1948: Mohandas K Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu extremist enraged by Gandhi’s belief that Muslims have equal value to Hindus 
  • 1968: North Vietnamese troops begin their Tet Offensive 
  • 1969: The Beatles’ give their last public performance together, on the roof of Apple Corp.     
  • 1973: The jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts 
  • 1976: George Bush Sr. becomes director of the CIA
  • 1984: Apple Computers’ co-founder Steve Jobs first publicly demonstrates the Macintosh computer. 
  • 1991: Eleven U.S. Marines are killed, seven by “friendly fire,” in the first major ground battle of the Gulf War

BORN ON THIS DAY — January 30th

  • 1882: Franklin Delano Roosevelt,  32nd President (D)
  • 1909: Saul David Alinsky,  radical writer
  • 1912: Barbara Tuchman, historian/author 
  • 1914: John Ireland, actor
  • 1924: Shirley Chisholm, (Rep-D-NY) 
  • 1931: Gene Hackman, actor 
  • 1933: Louis Rukeyser, financial commentator
  • 1933: Richard Brautigan,  novelist/poet
  • 1937: Boris Spassky, world chess champion
  • 1937: Vanessa Redgrave, actress
  • 1941: Dick Cheney(Rep-R-WY), vice president
  • 1942: Marty Balin, singer (Jefferson Starship-Miracles)
  • 1947: Steve Marriott, rock guitarist/vocalist (Humble Pie-Eat It, Faces)
  • 1951: Marv Ross, rocker (Quarterflash) 
  • 1951: Phil Collins, rock singer/musician 
  • 1955: Curtis Strange, golfer
  • 1959: Jody Watley, dancer/singer
  • 1974: Christian Bale, actor
  • 1979: Diva Zappa, daughter of Frank