In the autumn of 1909, there was a noticeable stir among Russian workers on the Chinese Eastern Railway. Local Siberian newspapers published advertisements in Russian recruiting workers for sugarcane plantations on the distant Hawaiian Islands.

The American Bureau of Immigration promised very enticing conditions: high wages, a separate house for each family, and a one-acre plot of land. They also promised free hospitals and schools for the children of the settlers. As a result, nearly 200 people decided to take the risk and head to these paradise islands. It later became clear that the authorities aimed to attract white Siberians to dilute the Japanese population, which had been actively settling on the islands as cheap labor in recent years.

However, upon arrival, the Russian workers realized they had been deceived. The salary was only 20 dollars per family, and instead of the promised houses, they were offered beds in communal barracks. Complaints to various public and governmental organizations did not help achieve the promised conditions, and without support, they formed the "Hawaiian Union of Russian Workers."

On February 17, 1910, the steamship "Mongolia" arrived in Hawaii with a new group of Russian workers. They were greeted by their compatriots shouting from the shore that they had also been deceived.

A major strike began at the pier, which reached the local governor, forcing him to intervene in favor of the workers. Most of them, having received the promised money, chose not to return to the plantations or to Russia. Many stayed to live in warm Honolulu. Meanwhile, ships with Russian emigrants continued to arrive in Hawaii. By 1917, about 1,000 Russian citizens lived on these islands.

After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government offered our compatriots the chance to return home at the state's expense, but the workers who had already settled on the Pacific islands refused. Thus, a Russian community formed in Hawaii. Over time, many assimilated, but some descendants of the settlers still retained the Russian language in their daily lives.