Road to Hāna

The Maui News reported that this “fine piece of road” was of “practically no benefit”.

They later changed their tune and called it a “great road making achievement in the Islands, fraught with tremendous difficulties in engineering and construction work” and completed by “dare-devil exploits.”  (NPS)

OK, it’s called “Hāna Highway” but that name conjures up the wrong images of what this roadway is all about.  Drive slowly, because you can’t drive fast, anyway.

It’s 52-miles long; there are 620-curves, 59-bridges and 8-culverts … in your slow motion ride, along the way you will also see a variety of scenic views, including the ocean, mountains, sea cliffs, waterfalls, small villages, native and exotic vegetation and traditional landscapes.

This transportation link has a long history … let’s look back.

Back in the 15th Century (around the time Columbus was crossing the Atlantic,) Maui was divided into two Royal Centers, Lāhainā and Hāna.  Back then, the canoe was the primary means of travel around and between the Islands.

Piʻilani, ruling from the Royal Center in Lāhaina, where he was born (and died,) gained political prominence for Maui by unifying the East and West of the island, elevating the political status of Maui.

Famed for his energy and intelligence, Piʻilani constructed the West Maui phase of the noted Alaloa, or long trail (also known as the King’s Highway.)  His son, Kihapiʻilani laid the East Maui section and connected the island.

This trail was the only ancient pathway to encircle any Hawaiian island (not only along the coast, but also up the Kaupo Gap and through the summit area and crater of Haleakalā.)

Four to six feet wide and 138 miles long, this rock-paved path facilitated both peace and war.  It simplified local and regional travel and communication, and allowed the chief’s messengers to quickly get from one part of the island to another.

Missionaries Richards, Andrews and Green noted in 1828, “a pavement said to have been built by Kihapiʻilani, a king … afforded us no inconsiderable assistance in traveling as we ascended and descended a great number of steep and difficult paries (pali.)” (Missionary Herald)

The 1848 account of Moses Manu noted, “This road was treacherous and difficult for the stranger, but when it was paved by Kihapiʻilani this road became a fine thing.” (NPS)

The first modern roads on Maui began to be built around the late-1800s.  Many of these early roads led to and from different plantations in the town of Hāna, where sugar, pineapple, wheat and rubber all flourished.  In 1849, George Wilfong opened the first sugar mill in Hāna near Kaʻuiki Hill.

The modern history of the Hāna Belt Road began in the 1870s when fifteen miles of unpaved road was built from central Maui into East Maui’s rain forest to facilitate the construction of the Hāmākua Ditch (to carry water for irrigation of central Maui’s sugar plantations.)

By 1883, the number of sugar plantations in Hāna grew to six.  At this time there were small roads going from one plantation to another, as well as partial routes to Kahului from Hāna or from Pāʻia to Hāna.  The problem was a lack of reliable roads into and out of Hāna.

The journey to Hāna was made partly over unpaved wagon roads and horse trails, often rendered impassable by damage from frequent rains. The most common means of travel to Hana was by steamer ship. Writer Robert Wenkam states that:
“When Hana was without a road, and the coastal steamer arrived on a weekly schedule, Hana-bound travelers unwilling to wait for the boat drove their car to the road's end … rode horseback … walked down the switchback into Honomanu Valley.  … By outrigger canoe it was a short ride beyond Wailua to Nahiku landing where they could borrow a car for the rest of the involved trip to Hana. Sometimes the itinerary could be completed in a day. Bad weather could make it last a week.” (Library of Congress)

In 1900, folks saw the need to extend a good wagon road through to Hāna, which would be part of the island's “belt” (around-the-island) road system. That year, a rudimentary road was built from Ke'anae to Nahiku.

The 1905 Superintendent of Public Works report stated that “very rough country is encountered in these districts. On account of the great expenses of road construction, the road has been made as narrow as possible in order to construct, with the money available, the maximum length of road”. (LOC, Territory of Hawaiʻi 1905)

Overland travel continued by horse and many travelers followed the trails along the irrigation ditches. Steamers remained the preferred mode of transportation for travel along the Hāna Coast.

Beginning in 1908, in anticipation of road improvements, twenty-four solid-paneled, reinforced-concrete bridges were built by 1915; from 1916 to 1929, an additional thirty-one bridges were built with a reinforced-concrete.

A large part of the road to Hāna was constructed by prison labor based at the Keʻanae Prison Camp. The camp was built in 1926 to house the prisoners who would construct the road, including several bridges from Kailua to Hana. When the road was completed, men from Keʻanae to Hāna town were hired to maintain the road, especially during the rainy season.  (McGregor)

Finally, after multiple phases of road and bridge construction, the Hāna Belt Road was opened to the public on December 18, 1926. Honiron, a publication of Honolulu Iron Works, described the road as “spectacularly chiseled out of abrupt cliffs and precipitous valleys.” The road was not paved along its entire length when it was opened in 1926. (NPS)

Miles of the roadway were nothing more than a 16'-wide shelf cut into the mountainside, with towering masses of rock above and sheer drops measuring hundreds of feet to the ocean below.  (NPS)

The Maui News claimed the road was the most scenic drive way in the world, with vistas of lofty mountains, the Pacific Ocean, wild canyons, cataracts, waterfalls and luxurious tropical vegetation.  Signs marked "bad turn" and "go slow" were installed to mark dangerous curves and other points in the road. The average speed for driving the Hana Belt Road was 20-mph.  (NPS)

The Hāna Highway portion of the “belt road” traverses approximately fifty-two miles along Maui’s north and east coast from Kahului in central Maui to the remote East Maui community of Hāna. After Hāna, the road continues as the Piʻilani Highway. Together, these East Maui roads were part of Maui's “belt” road system around the entire island.  (NPS)

It is not just a road; it is an attraction ... for all, an experience.

In August 2000, the Hāna Highway was officially designated a Millennium Legacy Trail.  The designation is given to trails that reflect the essence and spirit of our nation's states and territories. Millennium Legacy Trails are representative of the diversity of trails; rail-trails and greenways, historic trails, cultural itineraries, recreation paths, waterways, alternative transportation corridors and many other types of trails. (Rails to Trails Conservancy)  On June 15, 2001, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The image shows a portion of the Hāna Highway. I added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Keʻanae Prison Camp

In June, 1925, Governor Wallace Farrington and the County Board of Supervisors Chairman Samuel Kalama led a grand procession of cars on the official opening of the road from Kailua to Hana.

The road was called the Belt Road and would link the isolated communities of East Maui with the rest of the island. By December, 1926, the governor and the board chairman were able to drive all the way to Hana on the dream road that was fast becoming a reality.

Wait ... Let’s step back a bit.

Handy, Handy & Pukui report that in ancient times there were several major population centers on the Island of Maui: Kahakuloa (West Maui) region; the deep watered valleys of Nā Wai ‘Ehā (Waiheʻe, Wai‘ehu, Wailuku and Waikapū;) the ‘Olowalu to Honokōhau region of Lāhainā; the Kula - ʻUlupalakua region and the Koʻolau - Hāna region.

They note the importance of the Koʻolau region in this discussion:
“On the northeast flank of the great volcanic dome of Haleakala…the two adjacent areas of Keʻanae and Wailua-nui comprise the fourth of the main Maui centers and the chief center on this rugged eastern coast. It supported intensive and extensive wet-taro cultivation. Further eastward and southward along this windward coast line is the district of Hāna…” (Maly)

Settlement in the watered valleys along the Koʻolau coast consisted primarily of permanent residences near the shore and spread along the valley floors.  Residences also extended inland on flat lands and plateaus, with temporary shelters in the upper valleys.

Handy, Handy and Pukui further note that “…Ke‘anae lies just beyond Honomanu Valley. This is a unique wet-taro growing ahupua‘a… It was here that the early inhabitants settled, planting upland rain-watered taro far up into the forested area. In the lower part of the valley, which is covered mostly by grass now, an area of irrigated taro was developed on the east side. A much larger area in the remainder of the valley could have been so developed. However, we could find no evidence of terracing there. This probably was due to the fact that the energies of the people were diverted to create the lo‘i complex which now covers the peninsula.”  (Maly)

In modern times, when Hāna was without a road, and the coastal steamer arrived on a weekly schedule, Hana-bound travelers unwilling to wait for the boat drove their car to the road's end at Kailua, rode horseback to Kaumahina ridge, then walked down the switchback into Honomanu Valley. (Wenkam, NPS)

Friends carried them on flatbed taro trucks across the Keʻanae peninsula to Wailua cove. It was a short ride by outrigger canoe beyond Wailua to Nāhiku landing where they could borrow a car for the rest of the involved trip to Hana. Sometimes the itinerary could be completed in a day. Bad weather could make it last a week.  (Wenkam, NPS)

It was not until 1847, that the historic and modified trail and road alignments became a part of a system of “roads” called the “Alanui Aupuni” or Government Roads. Work on the roads was funded in part by government appropriations, and through the labor or financial contributions of area residents, or prisoners working off penalties.  (Maly)

The law (Sec 1536DD. Warden, Deputy, Duties, Powers) allowed a warden to have "the immediate charge and direction of all Territorial prisons and prison camps and the administration thereof. The warden shall be responsible for the safekeeping of all prisoners and persons who may be committed to said prisons and for the enforcement of proper order and discipline among and concerning prisoners and prison officers and employees."  (Attorney General)

Neighbor Island prison camps were set up, there were 4: Maui had three, the other was on the Big Island (outside Hilo.) Keʻanae camp had 22-prisoners and 3-guards; Olinda camp had 31-prisoners, with Jailer and 3-guards and Paukakulo camp had 27-prisoners, with 1-jailer and 3-guards. The three camps on Maui are engaged in road work and forest lines.

A large part of the road to Hāna was constructed by prison labor based at the Keʻanae Prison Camp. The camp was built in 1926 to house the prisoners who would construct the road, including several bridges from Kailua to Hana. When the road was completed in 1927, men from Keʻanae to Hāna town were hired to maintain the road, especially during the rainy season.  (McGregor)

Later, an announcement in the Maui News (January 20, 1934) carried the headline, “Conservation Program Will Be Launched Within Week or 10 Days.”  Sub-headlines were “$421,000 Is Provided” and “…To be Located at Keʻanae’s Old Prison Site.”

No longer needed, the Keʻanae prison camp was converted into quarters for the Civilian Conservation Corps. This federal program, created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs to get the US through the depression, brought in men from other parts of Maui and other islands to plant thousands of eucalyptus and other introduced trees throughout the Hana coast.  (McGregor)

In December 1942, during World War II, Governor Ingram Stainback tried to assist the war effort by sending forty inmates from Oʻahu Prison to the former Keʻanae Prison camp to revive the old Nāhiku rubber plantations in the hope of yielding 20,000 to 50,000-pounds of crude rubber annually. The venture was no more successful than the earlier ones had been.

Eventually, in 1949, the camp was acquired by the YMCA and is still used by the “Y;” part of the land area continues to be used as a roadway base yard.

The image shows Hāna Highway (BlueHawaiiHelicopters.)  In addition I have added other images related to the property in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

After a decade of national prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, Americans faced a national crisis after the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression saw an unemployment rate of more than twenty-five percent in the early 1930s.  (pbs)

As a means to make work, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) succeeded the Emergency Conservation Work agency, which started in 1933. In 1939, the CCC became part of the Federal Security Agency. It was eliminated in 1943. (UH Mānoa)

The purpose of the CCC and its predecessors was to provide employment in forestry and conservation work.  It “brought together two wasted resources, the young men and the land, in an effort to save both.”  (NPS)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a program developed by Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933) at the end of the Great Depression. During FDR’s inaugural address to Congress in 1933, he told the lawmakers in his first message on Unemployment Relief: “I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps, to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.”

From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of the first CCC enrollee, only 37 days had elapsed.  The goals of the CCC according to the law were: “1) To provide employment (plus vocational training) and 2) To conserve and develop ‘the natural resources of the United States.’”

By the end of the third year, there were 2,158-CCC camps in the nation and 1,600,000-men had participated in the program.  (NPS)

Although the Civilian Conservation Corps began on the US mainland in 1933, “it was not until one year later, [on] April 1, 1934, that the first units of this Corps began work here in Hawai`i under the direction of the Territorial Division of Forestry”. The Civilian Conservation Corps was defined by nine Corps regions.  The Territories of Alaska and Hawaiʻi were part of the Ninth Corps Area.  (NPS)

The goal of the CCC was to provide young men with jobs during a time when many were unemployed, times were hard, and starvation was a concern.  (NPS)

It was estimated that 8 to 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s young men were enrolled by the Civilian Conservation Corps during its tenure from 1934 to 1942. There were CCC camps on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi, the island of Hawaiʻi and Molokaʻi. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, NPS)

Each CCC enrollee was paid $30 a month and was provided with food, clothing, shelter and free medical care (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 18, 1942). Of that amount, $25 dollars a month was automatically deducted and sent home to their families.  (NPS)

There were five primary CCC camps built in Hawaiʻi (the CCC Compound at Kokeʻe State Park, the most intact today; what is now a YMCA camp at Keʻanae on Maui; a research facility on the Big Island; Hawaiian Homes Property with only two buildings remaining on the Big Island; and part of Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa on Oʻahu.)  Other temporary campgrounds were spotted in work areas around the Islands.

Their projects were numerous and included road and building construction, erosion control, masonry, firefighting, trail maintenance, vegetation and insect control among many others. One of the main goals of the CCC was to renew the nation’s decimated forests, so lots of tree planting went on.  (NPS)

Within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (then known as Hawaiʻi National Park,) as well as many other parks and forests, much of the work that the CCC did is still evident and still in use. From the research offices to the hiking trails, the CCC laid the foundations for much of the infrastructure and roads that we see and use today in the Park.  (NPS)

The old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Kokeʻe State Park on Kauaʻi is a complex of eleven wood frame buildings surrounding an open grassed quadrangle. These buildings were constructed in 1935 and are sheltered on three sides by koa/ʻōhia forest.  (Hui O Laka/Kōkeʻe Museum use and operate within these structures, today.)  The CCC at Kokeʻe provided forest management, building trails, roads and fences, as well as planting over a million trees on Kauaʻi.

In 1934, the CCC took over the Keʻanae prison camp (initially built to house prisoners who worked at building the Hāna Highway.)  CCC assembled men from other parts of Maui and other islands to plant thousands of eucalyptus and other introduced trees throughout the Hāna coast.  (McGregor)  Eventually, in 1949, the camp was acquired by the YMCA. Part of the land area continues to be used as a roadway base yard.

The CCC took over the Territorial foresters’ camp at Keanakolu (on the side of Mauna Kea, near Humuʻula on the Big Island) and expanded it into a field camp.  The camp consisted of a bunkhouse that housed as many as 40 teenage boys, a mess hall, foreman’s quarters, and other service buildings. Another foreman’s quarters was added next to the koa cabin.  (Mills)

Major duties included maintenance of trails, developing the Mana/Keanakolu wagon road into an auto road (placing cobble stones to form a single-lane road,) construction of fences to keep cattle and sheep out of the forest, and the planting of a variety of forest and fruit trees. In all, over 20-varieties of pear, 25-varieties of plum and 60-varieties of apple were planted.  (Mills)  By the 1940s, the CCC camp at Keanakolu was converted into a field station for territorial rangers and is now used by DLNR.

From April 1934 until May 13, 1941, the CCC operated a “side camp” in the Haleakalā Section of the Hawaiʻi National Park; CCC participants were housed in tents and moved to where the work areas were.  (NPS)

Major park improvements through the CCC program on Haleakalā included the construction of the approximately 11-mile Haleakalā Road, Haleakalā Observation Station, two Comfort Stations (public toilets) and the Checking Station and Office at the park entrance.  Several trail projects were completed within the Park.  (NPS)

The image shows the Kokeʻe CCC camp in the 1930s (NPS.)  In addition I have added other images related to the property in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Keʻanae, Maui

“Wai o ke ola! Wai, waiwai nui! Wai, nā mea a pau, ka wai, waiwai no kēlā!”  (Water is life! Water is of great value! Water, the water is that which is of value for all things!) (Joe Rosa, in Maly)

If you are going to tell a story about Keanae, in Koʻolau on the coast of Maui, the story starts with water, and with it, the life of the land.

From ancient times, the abundant rains, supported the development of rich forests; the rains and forests have in turn led to the formation of hundreds of streams (kahawai) that have molded the landscape of Maui into one with many large valleys (awāwa) and smaller gulches (kahawai).  (Maly)

These watered valleys and gulches, and their associated flat lands (kula), have been home to and have sustained native Hawaiian families for centuries.

Handy, Handy & Pukui report that there were several major population centers on the Island of Maui: Kahakuloa (West Maui) region; the deep watered valleys of Nā Wai ‘Ehā (Waihe‘e, Wai‘ehu, Wailuku and Waikapū); the ‘Olowalu to Honokōhau region of Lāhainā; the Kula - ‘Ulupalakua region and the Koʻolau - Hana region.

They note the importance of the Ko‘olau region in this discussion:
“On the northeast flank of the great volcanic dome of Haleakala…the two adjacent areas of Ke‘anae and Wailua-nui comprise the fourth of the main Maui centers and the chief center on this rugged eastern coast. It supported intensive and extensive wet-taro cultivation. Further eastward and southward along this windward coast line is the district of Hana… [Handy, Handy and Pukui.]” (Maly)

Settlement in the watered valleys along the Koʻolau coast consisted primarily of permanent residences near the shore and spread along the valley floors.  Residences also extended inland on flat lands and plateaus, with temporary shelters in the upper valleys.

Two primary forms of agricultural sites occur in these river valleys: lo‘i kalo (irrigated and drainage taro farming field systems) on the valley floors and slopes; and the kula and kīhāpai dry land farming plots where crops such as ‘uala (sweet potatoes), kō (sugar canes), kalo (taro), mai‘a (bananas and plantains) and wauke (paper mulberry.)

Handy, Handy and Pukui further that “…Ke‘anae lies just beyond Honomanu Valley. This is a unique wet-taro growing ahupua‘a… It was here that the early inhabitants settled, planting upland rain-watered taro far up into the forested area. In the lower part of the valley, which is covered mostly by grass now, an area of irrigated taro was developed on the east side. A much larger area in the remainder of the valley could have been so developed. However, we could find no evidence of terracing there. This probably was due to the fact that the energies of the people were diverted to create the lo‘i complex which now covers the peninsula.”  (Maly)

Anciently, the peninsula was barren lava. But a chief, whose name is not remembered, was constantly at war with the people of neighboring Wailua and was determined that he must have more good land under cultivation, more food, and more people. So he set all his people to work (they were then living within the valley and going down to the peninsula only for fishing,) carrying soil in baskets from the valley down to the lava point. (Maly)

The soil and the banks enclosing the patches were thus, in the course of many years, all transported and packed into place. Thus did the watered flats of Keʻanae originate. A small lo‘i near the western side of the land formerly belonged to the chief of Keʻanae and has the name Ke-‘anae (the Big Mullet); it is said that the entire locality took its name from this small sacred lo‘i. Here, as at Kahakuloa, the taro that grew in the sacred patch of the aliʻi was reputed to be of great size. (Maly)

This area was nearly completely destroyed by a tsunami in 1946 (April 1.)  Reportedly, the only building said to have been left standing was the Lanakila ʻIhiʻihi O Iehova o na Kaua (now called the Keʻanae Congressional Church.)

In 2005, the DOE announced the closure of the last one-room school in the state of Hawaiʻi (in Keʻanae,) just a few weeks before the school year began. The village of Keʻanae had its own school for 96 years.

Since then, Keʻanae students have made the 16-mile, one-way trek to Hana School.  Reportedly, a Keʻanae Charter School has been proposed by community members.  Last year, the non -profit group Ka Waianu o Hāloa launched a fund-raising effort in support of the establishment of a charter school in Keʻanae.

Today, Keʻanae continues to be a relatively isolated, but significant taro-growing community; it is one of the major commercial wetland taro farming regions in the state.

Keʻanae residents reportedly use the terms "inside" and "outside" to express the difference between life in their rural heartland and the new world of towns and cities where most Hawaiians live today.

Keʻanae lies on the windward coast of Maui, about a two-hour drive over the narrow, winding Hana Highway.  Heading toward Hana leads you further to the “inside,” heading towards Kahului is taking you “outside.”

While at DLNR, I was involved through the Land Board and the Water Commission (both of which I chaired) on several issues related to Keʻanae – all focused on historic stream diversions and the impacts to downstream users, particularly the taro farmers there.

The Land Board authorized the release of an additional 6-million gallons per day for downstream uses, as well as appointment of a monitor to determine that this amount will meet the needs of the downstream farmers, as well as monitor other aspects of the decision.

The image shows Keʻanae point.  In addition, I have added other images of Keʻanae in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC