Henry Perrine Baldwin was the son of a missionary who wanted to become a doctor, but ended up building the Hamakua Ditch on Maui that became the model for irrigating Hawai'i's sugar plantations.
Only months before construction began on the ditch in 1876, Baldwin lost his arm in a sugar mill accident. Baldwin secured his place in the lore of Hawai'i's sugar history by challenging — some historians say shaming — the workers who refused to climb down the 450-foot sides of the Maliko Gulch, the last obstacle to finishing the ditch.
Legend has it that Baldwin grabbed a rope and used his legs and remaining arm to shinny to the floor of the chasm, inspiring the men to push on.
With his business partner, Samuel T. Alexander, Baldwin co-founded the firm of Alexander & Baldwin, one of Hawai'i's Big Five sugar companies during the territorial days.
After Alexander moved to California in 1883, Baldwin continued to lead the company and served in the legislature from 1887 to 1903.
Under Baldwin's direction, Alexander & Baldwin established the Hawaiian Sugar Co. on Kaua'i and in 1902 acquired control of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. of Pu'unene, Maui, formerly owned by fierce rival Claus Spreckels.
Years earlier, Spreckels had tried to wrest control of the Hamakua Ditch from Alexander and Baldwin.
Baldwin was born in 1842 and died in 1911.
