Ranch

In 1848, yielding to pressure of Western ways, the lands of Hawaiʻi were divided in the Great Mahele. The ahupuaʻa of Kapāpala officially became the property of Kamehameha III and after his death in 1854 was passed to his heir, Kamehameha IV. In 1860 it was leased to W.H. Reed and C. Richardson for 17 years. 

Prior to European contact, early Hawaiians farmed sweet potatoes, dry land taro and harvested wood, birds and pigs from forested areas (the bare slopes you see today, were once covered with sweet smelling Sandlewood and Koa trees). Modern agriculture began in 1845 on what is now Ulupalakua Ranch lands, that era lasting until 1856 when Linton L. Torbert, active member of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society, farmed potatoes and corn, primarily to supply island merchant ships and California’s ‘gold rush’ era, with direction from King Kamehameha III, planted sugar cane.