Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai`i, extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.
Ancient trails, those developed before western contact in 1778,
facilitated trading between upland and coastal villages and communications between
ahupua‘a and extended families.
These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the
land. Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they
were paved with water-worn stones.
Before 1778, land travel was only foot traffic, over little more than
trails and pathways.
The missionaries, who arrived in April 1820, selected their key
stations and localities based on their accessibility via the ala loa (long
trail) and smaller ala hele (paths) from neighboring ahupua‘a.
The mission stations generally coincided with the traditional chiefly
centers, which by that time, were also developing as trade points with foreign
vessels.
Various archaeologists note the following evolution of Hawai‘i trails:
• Pre-contact/Early historical … Single-file footpath … Follow contours of coast
• 1820-1840 … Widened for one horse … Coastal - curbstones added
• 1820-1840 … Built in straight lines, inland
• 1841-1918 … Widened for two horses … Straight, leveled
• Late-1800s-early 1900s … Widened for horse cart … Straight, leveled
By the 1830s, King Kamehameha III initiated a program of island-wide
improvements on the ala loa, and in 1847, a formal program for development of
the alanui aupuni (government roads) was initiated.
Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood, as early as 1838. The first sidewalk made of brick was laid
down in 1857 by watchmaker Samuel Tawson in front of his shop on Merchant
Street.
Until the 1840s, overland travel was predominantly by foot and followed
the traditional trails. By the 1840s,
the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was
increasing, and many traditional trails - the ala loa and mauka-makai trails
within ahupua‘a - were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that
caused the animals to slip.
Eventually, wider, straighter trails were constructed to accommodate
horse drawn carts. Unlike the earlier
trails, these later trails could not conform to the natural, sometimes steep,
terrain.
They often by-passed the traditional trails as more remote coastal
villages became depopulated due to introduced diseases and the changing
economic and social systems.
By the early 1850s, specific criteria were developed for realigning
trails and roadways, including the straightening of alignments and development
of causeways and bridges.
This system of roadwork, supervised by district overseers, and funded
through government appropriations - with labor by prisoners and individuals
unable to pay taxes in another way - evolved over the next 40 years.
Paved streets were unknown until 1881. In that year, Fort Street was macadamized (a
paving process using aggregate layers of stone with a cementing agent binder -
a process named after Scotsman John Loudon McAdam,) followed by Nu‘uanu Avenue.
In 1892, Queen Lili`uokalani and the Legislature of the Kingdom of
Hawai`i signed into law an “Act Defining Highways, and Defining and
Establishing Certain Routes and Duties in Connection Therewith,” to be known as
The Highways Act, 1892.
Through this act, all roads, alleys, streets, ways, lanes, courts,
places, trails and bridges in the Hawaiian Islands, whether laid out or built
by the Government or by private parties were declared to be public highways;
ownership was placed in the Government (typically, under the control of the
Department of Land and Natural Resources.)
The pioneering highway in Hawai‘i was the Mauka Arterial (later
christened Lunalilo Freeway). The three
‘Ewa-bound lanes, extending one mile between Old Wai‘alae Road and Alexander
Street, were opened to traffic November 9, 1953. The Kaimuki-bound lanes along the same
stretch were opened and the highway was formally dedicated on January 5, 1954.
This photo shows Māmalahoa Trail in North Kona, as a horse trail in the
1900s (HMCS-NPS.) In addition, I have
posted some other trail images (and some evolutionary stages of various trails
to roads) in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.
No comments:
Post a Comment