P1130516

Waimea served as one of tne mail ports of Kauai during the whaling industry (1819-1871). By the 1850s, 500 ships were wintering in Hawaii. At the beginning of the 1850s Chinese rice farmers took over abandoned taro fields. Rice and sugar became successful crops. In 1898, a railroad serviced the entire plain, bringing sugar and rice to the warehouses next to the wharf. Chinese and Japanese merchants were the most numerous in 1900 in Waimea. During the boom period of 1890-1927, the population nearly tripled.