In 1878,
Valdemar Knudsen and Hans L'Orange planted the first commercially grown sugar cane in
Kekaha. By 1886, Knudsen had leased land for another track of sugar cultivation in Mana. By the mid-1880s the
Isenberg family was operating a sugar mill in Kekaha. In 1898, the plantations in Mana and Kekaha were consolidated with the Kekaha Sugar Mill Company to form the Kekaha Sugar Company (KSC). This theft is believed to be Hawaii's only
train robbery. In 1938, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser stated that the KSC sugar operation was the most valuable single piece of property in the
Territory of Hawaii. During
World War II, the airport (renamed the Barking Sands Air Base) was a major base for military air operations in the war's
Pacific Theater. In 1957 the base was transferred to the
Navy, and in 1964 was renamed Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Barking Sands. In 1975 KSC was acquired by
Amfac Sugar Hawaii. In 2000, Amfac closed the last of KSC's operations, the Kekaha Sugar Mill. == See also ==