SoCal Golf INSIDER

1820s and built several schools; goats and sheep were brought to the island in the 1830s, and Mormon missionaries arrived in the 1850s to establish a religious colony. Their controversial leader was Walter Murray Gib- son, who used the church's money to buy sev- eral plots of land but was excommunicated after elders discovered he had put the titles in his name. Nevertheless, Gibson retained his holdings and remained in control of most of the island until his death in 1888, when Gibson's daugh- ter and son-in-law acquired more land and formed a land management company that would change hands and names several times. In 1917, Henry Baldwin, the grandson of a missionary, bought the company for about a half-million dollars. None of the early owners could figure out the best use of the land, so it varied greatly over the years. Fishing villages were formed. Sugar cane was planted, cultivated and processed. Sheep, goats and cattle were raised on a massive ranch. And, finally, James Dole purchased 97 percent of the island for $1.1 million in 1922 and over time turned it into the world's largest pineapple plantation. Dole, a Harvard graduate who then owned the Hawaii Pineapple Co. in Oahu, plowed the interior of Lana'i into fields, planted acres of pineapples, brought in workers from Japan and the Philippines to harvest his crops and then built his labor force a town of plantation- style cottages in the island center, featuring several stores, a church, bank, hospital, movie theater and an electric plant. That quaint town of Lana'i City (population 3,300) still ex- ists today. Dole also paved roads, planted trees, created a harbor so he could ship pineapples to his cannery in Oahu and built a 9-hole golf course for the locals. "Have happy workers, grow better pineapples" – that was Dole's motto. His pineapple plantation grew annually and exponentially, from 300 acres in 1924 to 2,300 acres by 1927 and, ultimately, to 20,000 acres. By the 1930s, 65,000 tons of pineapples a year were exported from Lana'i, which is why it became known as the "Pineapple Isle." For 70 years, Lana'i was among the world's largest pineapple plantations, at one time pro- ducing 75 percent of the world's supply. But continued from previous screen continued on the next page > COVER STORY SoCal GOLF INSIDER Views from the 5th hole at Manale Golf Course.

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