William E. Eby (Deceased 2010)
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William E. Eby (Deceased 2010) Bill Eby has been involved in the air-lifting of horses and cattle to and from Hawai`i for over 50 years and is responsible for introducing progressive bloodlines of cattle and horses to the islands. Born on Kaua`i and raised on Maui, Bill credits his early ranching experience to the Grove Ranch cowboys whom he was with all the time in his high school days. In 1942, Bill helped to gather and ship to Maui, all the cattle on Kahoolawe belonging to the Kahoolawe Ranch Company. The cattle were driven to pens along the shoreline, roped one by one and swum out to whale boats then hoisted aboard ship headed for Maui. The mares and colts that were being raised on the island were also being handled the same as the cattle. This was the only and accepted way of shipping livestock when there were no wharves to be used. Little did Bill know that these experiences were to become the foundation for a successful lifetime career in livestock transport for these islands. Bill also ran Honolua Ranch for 31 years and Nahiku Ranch for 10 years. Today he operates the Erehwon Ranch in Kula and his own ranch in Ha`iku. Paniolo Hall of Fame Oral History Interview William E. “Bill” Eby Jan. 21, 2002; Haiku, Maui By: Anna Ilima Loomis (I) Bill Eby was born in Ele’ele, Kauai on Nov. 20, 1920, and his family moved to Maui when he was three years old, to accept a job for his father working on the building of Maui Pineapple’s cannery in Kahului. The family lived first in Hamakuapoko, then in Haiku. I What are your memories of growing up in “H-Poko”? Well mainly a plantation community and then the high school was there -- its claim to fame, I guess. That was the only high school -- well Wailuku had one and then this was one. So the kids from Kula and everywhere came. And then they had oh, one, two, three big stores and a theater and then a post office. When we went to school, to grammar school, that was at Kaunoa School and there was a train every day. So for eight years I rode the train every day. It ended up here at Libby Cannery and went back and forth to Kahului. I So you lived for how many years there? Oh, from three to 26, 26 or 27, 27 I think. So that's 23, 24 years. We had a big house, in fact, we had two houses originally in H-Poko. Plantation house. It was a big house. And it was good living. I didn't have to do very much. There was a big stable there and all the work horses. And you know about the old mill there? There was a big sugar mill, old mill, there. That’s where we used to play and they turned it into a stable afterwards. So it was full of stalls and upstairs we made big room for Boy Scouts and it was there they started their meetings. I Were you a Boy Scout? Yeah. (laughs) And we had basketball courts and all that sort of thing. I How big was the town? Oh gosh, I don't know, it was big though. Three churches. (laughs) I How big was your family? I had one brother and one sister. I Your father, what kind of a guy was he to grow up with? Oh, best father in the world (laughs). He always backed me up with everything I wanted to do. He got me between my mother and he took care of things. He was very down to earth, a very nice man. I Was he into horses or cattle at all? No, he was a boatman. I Did he like to sail or? Well, he didn’t have much opportunity to, but his big project was he built a boat in one of the empty warehouse buildings next to the mill. And he built that boat from scratch. Oh, that was maybe a 30-foot boat. And it was built like iron. It was solid. So he spent all his spare time in that warehouse building this boat and he started a Sea Scout troop and all the members used to come and help him with his boat and they finally launched it, got it finished, launched it in Kahului with all the Sea Scouts there and they wore their uniforms. I And did it float? Yeah, it floated. It was a good boat. Then it wasn’t a year or two after that he got cancer and he died. So he really never had a chance to enjoy it. I How old was he when he died? 51 or 2. I And your Mom, what was she like? Oh she was from an old Scottish family, her parents came from Scotland. And she had five sisters. She was a nice lady. I Now you went to - what was your education, you went to the elementary school and then, and that was in Kaunoa and then after that did you go to the high school? Yeah, Maui High. I And did you go on to college after that or did you stop? I went to California Poly Technic. But I only lasted half a year. It was just when the war was about to start and I wanted to come home. So it didn't last very long. I tell people I went there to school but I don’t tell them how long I stayed (laughter). And then I came back and went to business school in Honolulu. The Galusha School of Business. I stayed there almost two years. I thought I could learn a few things about bookkeeping and all that sort of stuff. I Were you thinking of going into business for yourself? No, I wanted to buy cattle. It was a couple of people in Honolulu that used to go around the islands buying people's animals – that’s the only way you could sell them in those days. And so I tagged along with them and helped them here and there and I thought, this is the kind of life to live. This is good. I said well I'll do this. So when I was going to school in Honolulu I was with them part of the weekends and then I would, I was down town, picking up contacts with the markets, so if I wanted to sell something, I could sell it. I made good contacts and when I finally came back here, you know, I was the only one could sell animals because I built up all this clientele. So I started buying here and nobody else was buying. So I had the field to myself. I How did you do that, you went from ranch to ranch? Yeah, I made contacts with everybody. And they would call me too. It all went good. I Who, you said there were some guys in Honolulu who you went with and they showed you how to do it. Who were those guys? One was Fred Viveros. He was a good fellow. And another one was John Ruis and another one, John Toledo. I And what kind of things did they teach you? Oh, how much to pay for the different types of animal. Well, there's lots of things too, little things – like there were no scales in those days. Everything was bought by the head and you had to look at it and see how much it weighed. And you get to be pretty good at that after a while. And you learn that in different areas, the same size animal would weigh differently. Like from here back to Hana cattle always were big and nice but they don't weigh anything. Then you take one from Kula and Makawao and behind the mountain, they won't be that big when they're fat, but they’re heavy. It’s because of the feed they eat. From here they’re eating water. Ninety percent of the food is water. So, back here in the other side of the island is dry. It makes quite a difference. They’re solid. You can tell by looking at them how solid they are. I These three guys who helped you learn the business, what kind of guys were they and what kind of business men were they? Tricky? You know, they weren't tricky. Oh, you’d get to know their little tricks. But they weren’t out to fool you. They were honest. I What made you think you'd want to go into it yourself? Why did you like the business? There’s more money in that than raising cattle. Those days there was. Now it's different, but those days -- because people didn't know what to do with their animals. And if you had an outlet somewhere then you were in charge and you could pay them what you wanted to pay. I wish it was that way now but it's not any more. I Were they glad to have someone to buy the cattle or did they wish they were able to sell it themselves? Yeah, they were happy. They would call me. Some of them for years kept calling me when they had something they wanted to get rid of. I This was around 1942 that you started this business? Yeah, from then on.