Abandoned Sugar Mill at Koloa, Kauai
The first sugar mill in the Hawaiian Islands was at Koloa, on the island of Kauai (near where we vacation); it started production in about 1831. The mill flourished, and in the early twentieth century a huge new one was built. It is now abandoned, and I took a tour - private (only me). It was scary - dark, huge, and the RUST had eaten away so much holding up a lot of heavy stuff. I was really concerned about a collapse, so I wore my bike helmet... Here is a quiz: look at the pictures and guess when the mill shut down. Multiple choice: 1936, 1966, or 1996. Answer at end

1. There's the mill. I rode my bike through the backcountry to get there.
3.
4. This old boy greeted me on my arrival.
5. I found an open gate, and walked in. I had the entire place to myself.
5a.
6a.
7a. The roof panels (corrugated steel) hung by shards
7b.
8a. This lathe was not meant for turning koa bowls
9a.
10a. Another lathe, just like the first one
11a.
12a.
13a.
14a.
15a.
16a.
20a.
6. That's a steel roof
7. I don't know what happened in this cavernous room.
8. Catwalks everywhere. I stayed off them
9.
10.
11. the desk was some sort of administrative center
12.
13. From the 'Cane Mud Filter' instruction manual
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. Not your average bicycle chain (each link was nearly a foot long)
20.
22.
23.
25.
26. The steel silos are about four stories high
27.
28.
29. Notice the four horizontal I-beams, rusted from the bottom, now partly lying on the floor
30. All the little flakes on the floor are rusted steel
31.
32.
35.
38.
39.
40.
41.
43.
44. Curtain of aerial roots
46.
48. I stayed off the catwalks, but the floor covered a basement and didn't feel all that secure...
49. Residue of cane mud?
50. 1859
51.
52. Outside
54. transformer
55.
56. Welcome to Hawaii. Probably abandoned an hour ago...
57. An ocean of solar panels
OK - you've come this far. The mill closed in 1996. All that corrosion and decay happened in twenty-one years.