Ladd & Co. was the first sugar plantation, but Claus Spreckels (a German immigrant) was, by all measures, the most famous (or infamous). He bankrupted King Kalakaua by financing his wild schemes, that went nowhere and started acting as he himself was king too. The Legislature eventually had to pay off the king's debts and corral in "King Claus".
CAT# 121/HS, 122/HS