Mikio "Miki" Kato
Year Inducted: 2002
Puuwaawaa Ranch | Hawai'i
"Miki" Kato decided to become a cowboy after he spent several years working in the construction industry in Kona. He knew something about working with livestock, he liked riding horses, and he thought it sounded a lot better than what he’d been doing.
“Nobody’s on your back eight hours a day. You’re out in the open,” he says.
Miki came to Puuwaawaa Ranch in 1956 and never looked back. today he’s part owner of the ranch he first joined as a maintenance carpenter.
The land is dry, rough and rocky, but he loves it. His favorite spot, Hale Piula, or “iron roofs,” named for the old water tanks that stood there, has a commanding view of the tough landscape. “You can see over half the ranch, from the mountain down to the ocean,” he says.
Today, a freshwater well keeps the herd from going too thirsty, but Miki is a veteran of harder times. He remembers when ranchers had to find other ways of drawing moisture from the land during intermittent periods of drought.
“They used to burn the cactus, for the thorns, and cut it down for the cattle to eat,” he recalls.