Showing posts with label Molokai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Molokai. Show all posts

Friday, April 3, 2015

Kaluaʻaha Congregational Church


Harvey Rexford Hitchcock was assigned to Molokai and established the first permanent Mission Station on the Island at Kaluaʻaha in 1832.  In the mid-1840s, they were working on building a new church; it was dedicated on April 3, 1844.  Kaluaʻaha Church, known as the Mother Church on Molokai, is the oldest Congregational Church on the island.

It is also one of the largest churches built in its time in Hawaiʻi.  It fell into disrepair; used off and on; on May 15, 1967 the steeple, which had tilted for years, fell from its base to the ground.  Remnants of the church are still there; in 2009, a new roof was built inside the walls of the existing church.

Click HERE for the full post and more images.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Kolo Wharf


In 1907, McNeill & Libby started its first fruit cannery in Sunnyvale, California. It quickly became the largest employer with a predominantly female workforce.

In the early 1900s, it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name.  Unlike the other bigger pineapple producers, Libby did not start in Central Oʻahu, it started in Windward O‘ahu.

Libby’s pineapple covered the southern portion of Kāne’ohe, what is now the Pali Golf Course, Hawaiian Memorial Park and the surrounding area.   By 1923, it was evident that pineapple cultivation on the Windward area could not keep up with that in other O‘ahu areas.

Then, Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokaʻi Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island.  Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

By 1927, it started to grow into a small town – as pineapple production grew, so did the town.  By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaiʻi every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.

There were two main pineapple growers on Molokai, Libby, situated on the west side at Maunaloa and California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte) in Kualapuʻu in the central part of Molokaʻi.

Then steps in a fledgling Hawaiʻi company, also seeing expansion opportunities, and it was through shipment of Libby’s pineapple from Molokaʻi to Libby’s processing plant in Honolulu that Young Brothers expanded into the freight business.

In 1900, three brothers, William, Herbert and Jack, got into business along Honolulu’s waterfront.  What started out working small, odd jobs running lines, delivering supplies and providing harbor tours ended up to be a company that has played an important role in the maritime community of the State.

In those days, there might be from five to twenty sailing ships off Sand Island.  When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship; if the ship was coming to the dock, a line had to be carried to the pier.

In the early years of the company, the brothers carried supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, as well as run lines for anchoring or docking vessels.  They also gave harbor tours and took paying passengers to participate in shark hunts.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokaʻi, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers.  The brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu.  “That's how (Young Brothers) started the freight.”  (Jack Young Jr)

Libby constructed paved roads, a warehouse and worker housing in Maunaloa.  In addition, they dredged a harbor and built a wharf at Kolo on the south-west side of the Island (between what is now Hale O Lono and Kaunakakai.)

“A natural channel thru the coral reef was blown and dredged to give a minimal depth of nine feet with two hundred feet width.  Spar buoys mark the outer and inner ends of this channel.”

“The wharf is a heavily built wooden structure, having a road constructed for heavy truck traffic between it and the plantation on the summit of Mauna Loa. The only buildings at Kolo are those of the construction camp.”  (Dept of Commerce, 1925)

Back then, there was competition in hauling freight.  “The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co, established in 1883, own(ed) and operate(d) a fleet of first-class vessels engaged exclusively in the transportation of passengers and freight between ports on the islands of the Hawaiian group.” (Annual Report of the Governor, 1939)

Regular sailings of passenger vessels are maintained from Honolulu four times weekly to ports on the island of Hawaiʻi, four times weekly to Molokaʻi, twice weekly to Kauaʻi, three times weekly to Lānaʻi and daily, except Monday and Saturday, to ports on the island of Maui. Included in the fleet are 12 passenger and freight vessels."  (Report of the Governor, 1930)

During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation had the SS Haleakalā, Hualālai, Kilauea and Waiʻaleʻale. There were others that carried 12-passengers such as the SS Humuʻula, which was primarily a cattle boat.  “(Inter-Island) would run their passenger ships and heave to off Kaunakakai. And it would be passengers and mail which just went (ashore) by boat.”  (Jack Young Jr)

But those vessels had deeper drafts than the shallow barges and couldn’t service Kolo; “Kolo was a very shallow draft channel, and it was a privately owned port, owned entirely by Libby McNeil & Libby.  They had bigger acreage on the west end. That was a shorter haul for them. But the bulk of Libby's pineapples came from Maunaloa which was shipped out of Kolo.”  (Jack Young Jr)

To handle the conditions there, Young Brothers had a special tender built, the ‘Kolo.’  “My father had the Kolo built for that. He had the propellers swung into the hull of the launch because of the shallow depth. … The tug had to remain off port.”  (Jack Young Jr)

With expanded freight service to Molokaʻi (Kolo and Kaunakakai,) around 1929, Young Brothers initiated a practice of towing two barges with one tug and became known as tandem towing.

The system was pioneered because two barges were needed to serve Molokaʻi – they would drop one barge off at Kolo and then carry on to Kaunakakai; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Then, the 1946 tidal wave struck.  “Libby would have to spend $1-million to restore it, and redredge it. And so instead of that they bought a fleet of trucks and hauled their fruit from Maunaloa to Kaunakakai. Everything went out of Kaunakakai, Libbys and (California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte.))  So Kolo was abandoned.”  (Jack Young Jr)

The end of the pineapple era began in 1972 when Libby sold to Dole Corp and was finalized three years later when Dole closed its Maunaloa facility. The very last pineapple harvest took place in 1986.  (West Molokai Association)

Young Brothers continues today.  In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly own subsidiary of Foss.

The youngest of the Young Brothers, “Captain Jack,” is my grandfather; several quotes in this piece include statements from my uncle, also known as Captain Jack.

The image shows remnants of the Kolo Wharf (Google Earth.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Thursday, January 8, 2015

Harvey Rexford Hitchcock


Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, the oldest son of eleven children of David (a shoemaker and author of several books) and Sarah (Swan) Hitchcock, was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, March 13, 1800.

Hitchcock joined the Congregational church in Great Barrington, January 5, 1817. He entered Williams College as a Junior in 1826; he graduated on September 3, 1828.

After graduation, Hitchcock studied theology at Auburn Seminary, where he was graduated in 1831.  On August 26, 1831, he married Miss Rebecca Howard of Auburn, New York.

Within a couple of months, he sailed as a missionary with the Fifth Company of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.  They sailed aboard the Averick, leaving New Bedford, November 26, 1831 and arriving in Honolulu, May 17, 1832.

Others in the Fifth Company included Rev. William P Alexander, Richard Armstrong, John S Emerson, Cochran Forbes, David B Lyman (Hitchcock’s college classmate,) Lorenzo Lyons, Ephraim Spaulding (their wives and others.)

He was assigned to Molokai and established the first permanent Mission Station on the Island at Kaluaʻaha in 1832.  Rebecca Hitchcock noted shortly after their arrival that there was not a foreigner on the island and no horses except for a lame one belonging to a chief.  (Curtis)

In 1834, the Hitchcocks received additional help with the arrival of Rev and Mrs Lowell Smith (Smith was a college mate of Hitchcock – who arrived on the Sixth Company in 1833.)

 The expanding mission was growing close to 500 members and two outstations, one in the east and one in the west, had been established.

Smith gave this description of the Island and its people: “The people reside mostly on the eastern part of the island, on the north and south sides; but the greater number are on the latter.” (The estimated Island population was about 6,000.)

“Their houses, many of them, are no more than five or six feet long by four wide and five feet from the ridge-pole to the ground; and these are not unfrequently the habitations of two, three, and sometimes more individuals of both sexes.”  Each is “But one apartment, no floor, no window, no chimney, except the humble door at which you enter.”

“The name of the elation is Kaluaʻaha; it is owned by the best and one of the most pious high chiefs on the islands, who desired us to take it as our station, assuring us at the same time, that she would act the part of a parent to us. We have fenced off about two acres of land as a door yard and garden, and might have extended our limits much farther had we chosen. “

“There is a delightful cluster of shade trees before our door, which was formerly a favorite resort of the chiefs; and under it, for several successive weeks, we met for the worship … On our arrival, there was no house of any importance, and few of any kind in the vicinity.”

“During the year, however, many comfortable houses have been built, with sleeping apartments, and other accommodations which give to them an air of neatness and comfort hitherto unknown on the island.” (Smith; Missionary Herald)

Hitchcock preached his first sermon in Hawaiian the last week of September 1832 in the open air. In the Molokai Station Report, Hitchcock wrote, “in about two months a meeting house was finished 30 feet by 120.” It was probably built of thatch.  (HABS)

“A spacious school-house is nearly completed, so that the station begins to assume the appearance of a small village.”  (Smith; Missionary Herald)

Nearby was Pukoʻo; it had a natural break in the reef with a perfect beach for landing canoes.  Hitchcock’s early church records often mentioned this location as the most convenient for travel to Lāhainā.  (Curtis)

In a January 1840 letter from Hitchcock, we get a glimpse of his daily life, “I hope to continue without interruption my present system of labors; that is, to hold a Bible class Sabbath morning of twenty-five girls, preach at ten o’clock, have an adult Sabbath-school at noon, and preach again at four.”

“My week-day labors are as follows, - a Bible class daily with the above-mentioned company of females, who are committing Matthew to memory at the rate of six verses a day. I spend some time with them in teaching singing.”

“On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I preach at sunrise, and preach regularly on Wednesday afternoon. Saturday evening I have a lecture for the church. Once in two weeks on Friday I address the men's benevolent society, or catechise them on the New Testament; and on Tuesday have a Bible class of adults.”

“I make it a point, as far as possible, to visit some parts of the parish daily, and hold direct religious conversation with the people. In these visits I am happy to say that I am received with respect, and listened to by the people. Rarely have I gone to one house and commenced conversation, without drawing around me others, particularly the aged.”

“My miscellaneous labors consist in conversing with those who resort to my study for the purpose, and giving out medicine for the sick. I am trying also to crowd in a weekly lecture on the most important points in theology, designed for several of the most pious and intelligent members of our church, in order to enable them to become more efficient helpers in the great work.”  (Hitchcock, Missionary Herald)

In the mid-1840s, they were working on building a new church; “Our main work the past year has been the erection of a permanent house of worship … Preparing most of the timber and getting it onto the ground from the distance of ten miles or more, procuring many of the stones for building …”

It was dedicated on April 3, 1844; “The house has been completed nearly two months. It is 100 feet long by 50 broad outside; walls 2-1/2 feet thick and 18 feet high. …. The thatching is pilimaoli. It leaks but little; has 4 doors three of which are 7 feet high and about as wide…”  (Hitchcock; HABS)  (Remnants of the church are still there; in 2009, a new roof was built inside the walls of the existing church.)

Hitchcock died August 29, 1855 … “for 23 years he has labored with unusual devotion, zeal and earnestness to enlighten, purify and elevate the people … He lived to see his labors crowned with wonderful success.”

“His great work was indeed the preaching of the gospel; yet in the infant state of the people, he had to superintend every thing, schools were to be created and managed; the sick, the aged and the destitute to be cared for; civil officers to be advised, the whole people clad and civilized and their souls saved.”

“He gave himself heartily to his work and made an unreserved consecration. … He did desire to live longer, not however for any selfish end, but that he might preach the gospel.”  (The Friend, September 29, 1855)  (His grandson was David Howard Hitchcock, the notable artist in Hawaiʻi.)

The image shows Harvey Rexford Hitchcock.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Saturday, December 13, 2014

Kaunakahakai


“Morotoi is only two leagues and a half from Mowee to the West North West. The South Western coast, which was the only part near which we approached, is very low; but the land rises backward to considerable height; and, at the distance from which we saw it, appeared to be entirely without wood.”

“Its produce, we were told, consists chiefly of yams. It may, probably, have fresh water, and, on the South and West sides, the coast forms several bays that promise good shelter from the tradewinds.  (King, Voyages of Cook, 1784)

Subsistence farming likely focused on coastal resources, as the region is too dry for wetland agriculture. Dryland agriculture, focusing on sweet potato cultivation, was likely practiced on the slopes. Cultivation of crops occurred in spring-fed areas.

The country … rises from the sea by an ascent, uninterrupted with chasms, hills or vallies, this uniform surface, on advancing to the westward, exhibited a gradual decrease in population; it discovered an uncultivated barren soil, and a tract of land that gave residence only to a few of the lower orders of the islanders, who resort to the shores for the purpose of taking fish, with which they abound.”

“Those so employed are obliged to fetch their fresh water from a great distance; none but which is brackish being attainable on the western parts of Morotoi (Molokai.) This information I had before gained from several chiefs at Mowee ...”

“(Heading to the west end) …The country had the same dreary and barren appearance as that noticed on the south side, and I was informed it was equally destitute of water.”

“(We) proceeded to the bay at the west end of the island, for the purpose of seeing if, contrary to my former observations, it was commodious for the refitting of vessels, as it had been reported.” (Vancouver, 1798)

Vancouver must have seen Kaunakahakai (“resting (on) the beach” or “beach landing” (other explanations of the name include “to go along in the company of four” and “current of the sea”) - it’s an earlier name of what we now call ‘Kaunakakai,’) as it was a landing place for the fishing canoes which were attracted by the multitude of fish in the area.  (McElroy)

When Kamehameha became a man he sailed with a great many people on one hundred canoes; the kind of sails used was mats braided round and flat. They landed at Kaunakahakai and lived there. The reason for this coming was because the king was fond of maika, that is, rolling a stone which was made round with flat sides.  (Fornander)

 He sent a friend to get stones from Kahekili (reportedly Kamehameha’s father) who was living on Oʻahu. Kahekili inquired: "What does the chief desire that he sent you to me?" Kikane answered: "I came to get the stone for a plaything for your child; we came together and he is now residing at Kaunakahakai, Molokai; he sent me to come to you."  (Fornander)

Kahekili again inquired: "What stone does he desire?" He replied: "The stone at the flap of the malo." The meaning of this is that it was a peerless stone, and was carefully guarded.

Kahekili handed over the stones saying: "This, the stone called Hiupa, is not to be cast on the windy side, lest it be struck by the force of the wind and be unsteady in its rolling, for it is a light stone; it is to be cast on the calm side; but this, Kaikimakua, is to be cast on the windward side for it is a heavy stone. The names of these stones are Hiupa and Kaikimakua." (Fornander)

As part of Kamehameha’s later conquest of the Islands, Kamehameha defeated (but did not kill) Kahekili’s son, Kalanikūpule, at the battle known as Kepaniwai (in ʻĪao Valley, Maui.)  Kalanikūpule fled to Oʻahu; Kamehameha and his four “Kona Uncles” (Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku and Kamanawa) followed Kalola (Kahekili’s sister) to Molokai and landed at Kaunakakai.

Kalola, who was dying, agreed to give Kamehameha Keōpūolani and her mother Kekuʻiapoiwa Liliha, if he would allow the girls to stay at her death bed until she passed.  Kamehameha camped on Moloka'i until Kalola died, and returned to Kona with his high queen Keōpūolani (and later mother to Kings Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.)

At Kalola’s death, “They wailed and chanted dirges, and some were put to sleep with the dead, and the chiefs tattooed themselves and knocked out their teeth. Kamehameha was also tattooed and had his eyeteeth knocked out, and the chiefs and commoners acted like madmen.”  (Kamakau)

Kamehameha then formally took charge of and returned to Hawaiʻi with her daughter and granddaughter, not only as a sacred legacy from Kalola, but as a token of reconciliation and alliance between himself and the elder branch of the Keawe dynasty.  (Kalākaua)

Back to Kaunakakai …

King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) sometimes spent his summers on Molokai at a home in Kaunakakai. The main street of Kaunakakai, Ala Mālama Avenue, was named after the king's summer home.

“West of the approach to the Kaunakakai wharf is a built-up platform, the name of which is Ka Lae O Ka Manu, the point of the birds. On this site King Kamehameha V had a home, ‘Mālama’ which was still standing in 1908. “    (Cooke; Hart)

George P Cooke also noted a large bathing pool of King Kamehameha V (filled with dirt now) and a spring near that pool. Reservoirs were dug and the water was well suited for the growing crops; they pumped thousand gallons of water every 24 hours. (Nupepa-Hawaii, Hoku O Hawaii, April 6, 1922)

“The Reverend Isaac D. Iaea told me that there was a spit of sand beyond this platform where the plover used to settle in the evenings, hence the name, Ka Lae O Ka Manu.”  (Cooke; Hart)

The beach in front of this site was used exclusively by the aliʻi for sun bathing.  (McElroy)  Kamehameha V’s property passed to Princess Ruth and later became part of Bishop Estate.

Historic use of Kaunakakai focused on agricultural interests: cattle, sugar and pineapple. In 1897, a group of Honolulu businessmen (including Judge Alfred S Hartwell, Alfred W Carter, and AD McClellan) purchased 70,000-acres from the trustees of the Bishop Estate and leased another 30,000-acres from the Hawaiian government.  At that time, American Sugar Company began sugar cane production on the lands.

About 10 years later, the land was bought out by Charles M Cooke and under his son, George P Cooke, they raised cattle, planted sweet potato and wheat crops and produced honey.  It became the second largest cattle ranch in Hawaiʻi and a major producer of beef.

In 1898, the American Sugar Company, a subsidiary of Moloka‘i Ranch, was formed and the coastal area was used extensively.  The need to transport sugar and cattle prompted the construction of a wharf at Kaunakakai.

Construction of Kaunakakai Harbor began in 1899 with construction of a pier that extended about 1,300-feet seaward from the shore. At that time, a small landing on the end of the mole could accommodate two boats.

In 1921, this mole was extended another 700-feet from the shore. A narrow gauge railroad track, extending from the interior plantation lands ran to the end of the pier.

Soon after, sugar cane cultivation was abandoned when well water pumped upslope to the plantations was too saline and killed the cane. Between 1923 and 1985, several thousand acres were leased to Libby and Del Monte for pineapple cultivation.

During those years, pineapple was an economic mainstay for Molokaʻi; pineapples were shipped to their Honolulu cannery from Kaunakakai.

The town was made famous by R Alex Anderson’s song "The Cockeyed Mayor of Kaunakakai", beginning an ongoing tradition of designating an honorary mayor for the town.

The 1935 song was in honor of actor Warner Baxter, the first honorary Mayor of Kaunakakai (also winner of the 2nd Academy Award for best actor for his role as The Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona, and later honorary Mayor of Malibu, CA;) he was followed by boxer Jim Balukevich as the wartime Cockeyed Mayor.  (Congressional Record)

Kaunakakai is an ahupuaʻa in the Kona Moku (district) on the Island of Molokai.  Kaunakakai is also the largest town and commercial center on the island of Molokai, with a population of 3,425, nearly half of the Island’s population (7,345.) (2010 Census)

The image shows a a portion of an 1882 map, noting Kaunakakai and the Kamehameha V (noted as “Ruth’s”) home.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Molokai or Molokaʻi?


Words matter … and how you say and write words matter.

There is one word, the name of one of the main Hawaiian Islands, that continues to have different pronunciations – some say Moh-loh-kī others say Moh-loh-kah-ee.

In an effort to be correct, I looked at various sources to see what they had to say.  A helpful source is actually some of the early writers to the islands.

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands (1778,) Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language.  Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

After western contact and attempts to write about Hawaiʻi, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard.  People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

Here is the way some of the early writers spelled some of the main Hawaiian Islands:

Cook (1778—1779:)
Oreehoua (Lehua)
Tahoora (Kaʻula)
Oneeheow (Niʻihau)
Atooi (Kauaʻi)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Morotoi, or Morokoi (Molokai)
Mowee (Maui)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

Vancouver (1793-1795:)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Mowee (Maui)
Morotoi (Molokai)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)
Attowai (Kauaʻi)

Bingham (1820-1840:)
Ha-wai’i
Mau’i
O-a’hu
Kau-ai’
Mo-lo-kai’
La-nai’
Ni-i-hau’
Ka-ho-o-la’we
Mo-lo-ki’ni
Le-hu’-a.
Ka-u’-la

Here are some writings from some other early writers:

Eveleth’s 1831 book “History of the Sandwich Islands” spells it Mo-lo-kai (and adds a pronunciation helper - Mo-lo-kye.

Williams’ 1859 “Application of the Roman Alphabet” spells it Mo-lo-kai (and includes the same pronunciation helper, Mo-lo-kye)

Worchester’s 1860 “Primary Dictionary of the Hawaiian language notes Mō-lo-kaī’.

Webster’s 1870 “Improved pronouncing dictionary of the English language” notes the Islands as Mo-lo-kai’.

Colum, in his 1937 “Legends of Hawaiʻi” book, spelled the Island as Mo–lo-kai.

Finally, an explanation on the pronunciation/spelling of the island name (Molokai (Moh-loh-kī) versus Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee)) is noted in the early portion of “Tales of Molokai The Voice of Harriet Ne” by Harriet Ahiona Ayau Ne with Gloria L. Cronin.

Harriet Ne’s grandson, Edward Halealoha Ayau, noted:

“The reason that the name Molokai (as used in the book) is left without the glottal stop is because my tūtū wahine (grandmother) says that when she was growing up in Pelekunu it was never pronounced Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee), but rather Molokai (Moh-loh-kī).”

“Then in about the 1930s, the name changed to Molokaʻi, in part she believes because musicians began pronouncing the name that way. Mary Kawena Pukuʻi, three weeks before her death, called my tūtū and told her that the correct name is Molokai, which means ‘the gathering of the ocean waters.’”

“On the rugged north coast of the island, the ocean slams hard into the pali. On the south and east shores, the ocean glides gently to shore due to location of reefs at least a quarter of a mile offshore. Hence the name, Molokai, ‘Gathering of the Ocean Waters.’”

In a follow-up exchange with Halealoha, he resolved the matter saying that the “best answer is both pronunciations are correct and the most correct depends on which family you are speaking to.  So for our ʻohana, it would be Molokai.  For others, Molokaʻi.”

The image shows an 1897 map of the Island of Molokai.

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Friday, August 1, 2014

Island Summits


He ‘Ohu Ke Aloha; ‘A‘ohe Kuahiwi Kau ‘Ole
Love is like mist; there is no mountaintop that it does not settle upon

“… as the sun shining in his strength dissipated the clouds, we had a more impressive view of the stupendous pyramidal Mauna Kea, having a base of some thirty miles, and a height of nearly three miles.  Its several terminal peaks rise so near each other, as scarcely to be distinguished at a distance.”

“These, resting on the shoulders of this vast Atlas of the Pacific, prove their great elevation by having their bases environed with ice, and their summits covered with snow, in this tropical region, and heighten the grandeur and beauty of the scene, by exhibiting in miniature, a northern winter, in contrast with the perpetual summer of the temperate and torrid zones below the snow and ice.”

“The shores along this coast appeared very bold, rising almost perpendicularly, several hundred feet, being furrowed with many ravines and streams. From these bluffs, the country rises gradually, for a few miles, presenting a grassy appearance, with a sprinkling of trees and shrubs.”

“Then, midway from the sea to the summit of the mountain, appeared a dark forest, principally of the koa and ʻōhia, forming a sort of belt, some ten miles in breadth-the temperate zone of the mountain.”  (Bingham at first sight of the Islands, 1820)

And when you think about high elevation places in the Hawaiian islands, of course you have to talk about that basic dichotomy between the lower elevation places where people live.

And in old times, the lower elevations would have been called the Wao Kanaka. Wao being a word that means “zone” and “Kanaka” being a person. So the Wao Kanaka is a zone in which people belong.

When you rise above that zone, you enter into a realm in which all of the living things there are not there because of human activity. They flourish as the result of the activity of the gods, or the Akua. And so that zone is called the Wao Akua. And the transition from Wao Kanaka to Wao Akua is not taken lightly.  (Gon)

The Islands’ peaks are considered the piko (summit or center of the land) and are considered sacred.  The places upon which clouds nestle are considered wao akua, the realm of the gods.  Clouds cover the actions of the gods while they walk the earth. The higher the piko, the closer to heaven, and the greater the success of prayers. (Maly)

Let’s look at Hawaiʻi’s peaks, the highest point on each Island as we move down the Island chain.

Niʻihau – Pānīʻau (1,281-feet)

Ni‘ihau was formed from a single shield volcano approximately 4.89-million years ago, making it slightly younger in age than Kaua‘i. It is approximately 70-square miles or 44,800-acres.  It’s about 17-miles west of Kauaʻi.

Pānīʻau, the island’s highest point, is 1,281-feet; approximately 78% of the island is below 500-feet in elevation.   Located inside Kauai’s rain shadow, Ni‘ihau receives only about 20 to 40-inches of rain per year.  Ni‘ihau has no perennial streams.  (DLNR)

Kaua‘i – Kawaikini (5,243-feet)

Geologically, Kauaʻi is the oldest of the main inhabited islands in the chain. It is also the northwestern-most island, with Oʻahu separated by the Kaʻieʻie Channel, which is about 70-miles long. In centuries past, Kauaʻi’s isolation from the other islands kept it safe from outside invasion and unwarranted conflict.

Near the summit (Kawaikini) is Waiʻaleʻale; in 1920 it passed Cherrapunji, a village in the Khasi hills of India, as the wettest spot on Earth (recording a yearly average of 476-inches of rain.)

Oʻahu – Kaʻala (4,025-feet)

The Waiʻanae Mountains, formed by volcanic eruptions nearly four-million years ago, have seen centuries of wind and rain, cutting huge valleys and sharp ridges into the extinct volcano.  Mount Kaʻala, the highest peak on the island of Oʻahu, rises to 4,025-feet.

Today, only a small remnant of the mountain's original flat summit remains, surrounded by cliffs and narrow ridges. It’s often hidden by clouds.

Molokaʻi – Kamakou (4,961-feet)

The island was formed by two volcanoes, East and West, emerging about 1.5-2-million years ago.  The cliffs on the north-eastern part of the island are the result of subsidence and the “Wailua Slump” (a giant submarine landslide – about 25-miles long that tumbled about 120-miles offshore – about 1.4-million years ago.)

Kamakou is part of the extinct East Molokaʻi shield volcano, which comprises the east side of the island.   It and much of the surrounding area is part of the East Maui Watershed partnership and the Kamakou Preserve.  A boardwalk covers part of the rainforest and bog to protect the hundreds of native plants, birds, insects and other species there.

Lānaʻi – Lānaʻihale (3,337-feet)

The island of Lānaʻi was made by a single shield volcano between 1- and 1.5-million years ago, forming a classic example of a Hawaiian shield volcano with a gently sloping profile.  (SOEST)  The island of Lānaʻi is about 13-miles long and 13-miles wide; with an overall land area of approximately 90,000-acres, it is the sixth largest of the eight major Hawaiian Islands.

“At the very summit of the island, which is generally shrouded in mist, we came upon what Gibson (an early (1861) Mormon missionary to the islands) called his lake - a little shallow pond, about the size of a dining table.  In the driest times there was always water here, and one of the regular summer duties of the Chinese cook was to take a pack mule and a couple of kegs and go up to the lake for water.”  (Lydgate, Thrum)

Maui – Haleakalā (10,023-feet)

Haleakalā was thought to have been known to the ancient Hawaiians by any one of five names: “Haleakalā,” “Haleokalā,” “Heleakalā,” “Aheleakalā” and “Halekalā.” (Hawaiʻi National Park Superintendent Monthly Report, December 1939)

Haleakalā is best known in stories related of the demi-god Māui; he is best known for his tricks and supernatural powers. In Hawaiʻi, he is best known for snaring the sun, lifting the sky, discovering the secrets of fire, fishing up the islands and so forth.  (Fredericksen)

Kahoʻolawe – Lua Makika (1,477-feet)

Kahoʻolawe is the smallest of the eight Main Hawaiian Islands, 11-miles long and 7-miles wide (approximately 28,800-acres;) it is seven miles southwest of Maui.  The highest point on Kahoʻolawe is the crater of Lua Makika at the summit of Puʻu Moaulanui, which is about 1,477 feet above sea level.

Located in the “rain shadow” of Maui’s Haleakalā, rainfall has been in short supply on Kahoʻolawe.  However, nineteenth century forestry reports mentioned a “dense forest” at the top of Kahoʻolawe.  Historically, a “cloud bridge” connected the island to the slopes of Haleakalā.  The Naulu winds brought the Naulu rains that are associated with Kahoʻolawe (a heavy mist and shower of fine rain that would cover the island.)

Hawaiʻi – Mauna Kea (13,796-feet)

Nani Wale ʻO Mauna Kea, Kuahiwi Kūhaʻo I Ka Mālie (Beautiful is Mauna Kea, standing alone in the calm) expresses the feeling that Mauna Kea is a source of awe and inspiration for the Hawaiian people. The mountain is a respected elder, a spiritual connection to one’s gods.   (Maly)

A significant pattern archaeologists note in their investigations is the virtual absence of archaeological sites at the very top of the mountain. McCoy states that the “top of the mountain was clearly a sacred precinct that must, moreover, have been under a kapu and accessible to only the highest chiefs or priests.”  (Maly)

ʻĀina mauna, or mountain lands, reflects a term used affectionately by elder Hawaiians to describe the upper regions of all mountain lands surrounding and including Mauna Kea.  (Maly)

The image shows the Islands’ Summits (Google Earth.)  In addition, I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Sunday, July 20, 2014

Penguin Bank


“As for the depths themselves, the greatest yet discovered … was the Penguin Deep, discovered by the British vessel Penguin (in 1896) north of New Zealand where a depth of 5,155 fathoms was found.”  (New York Tribune, January 25, 1920)  (Four years later, the USS Nero instruments registered a depth of 5,269 fathoms - almost six miles.)

HMS Penguin was an Osprey-class sloop (United Kingdom, later Australia.) Launched on 1876, Penguin was operated by the Royal Navy from 1877 to 1881, then from 1886 to 1889.

She was 170 feet long, had a beam of 36 feet, a draft of 15 feet 9 inches and had a displacement of 1,130 tons.  The propulsion machinery consisted of a single engine that gave her a top speed of 9.9 knots and a maximum range of 1,480 nautical miles (1,700 mi.) (She was also Barque rigged.) The standard ship’s company was 140-strong.

After being converted to a survey vessel, Penguin was recommissioned in 1890, and conducted survey work around the Western Pacific islands, New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef until 1908, when she was demasted and transferred to the Australian Commonwealth Naval Forces for use as a depot and training ship in Sydney Harbor.

After this force became the Royal Australian Navy, the sloop was commissioned as HMAS Penguin in 1913. Penguin remained in naval service until 1924, when she was sold off and converted into a floating crane. (The vessel survived until 1960, when she was broken up and burnt.)

In addition to finding the deepest bottom of the ocean (at the time, as noted above,) Penguin was involved in finding other ocean bottoms – one happened in Hawaiʻi.

Let’s step back a bit.

Hawaiʻi is the world’s most-isolated populated-place.  In round numbers, we are 5,000-miles from Washington DC, New York, Florida, Australia, Philippines, Hong Kong & the North Pole; 4,000-miles from Chicago, Tokyo, New Zealand & Guam and 2,500-miles from Los Angeles, all other West Coast cities, Samoa, Alaska & Mexico.

While, today, technology keeps us constantly and instantly in touch and aware of world events, the same was not true in the past.  Prior to the beginning of the 20th century, you had at least a one-week time lag in receiving “news” (that arrived via ships.)

At the time, Great Britain and its possessions were spread across the globe.  Communicating between these holdings created challenges.

Step in Sir Sandford Fleming, a Scottish-born Canadian engineer and inventor.  Among other feats, he proposed worldwide standard time zones, designed Canada's first postage stamp, and, in 1862, Fleming had submitted a plan to the Government for a trans-Canada railway.

In the same year, he was appointed Chief Engineer of the British-Australian Telegraph Company.  Fleming was one of the staunch advocates for a Pacific telegraph cable.

A Colonial Conference held in Sydney in 1877 passed resolutions concerning a Pacific cable, one of which sought subsidies from the US Government for a cable running from the United States to New Zealand.

In 1879, Fleming wrote to the Telegraph and Signal Service in Ottawa about the railway and cable:  “If these connections are made we shall have a complete overland telegraph from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast.”

“It appears to me to follow that, as a question of imperial importance, the British possessions to the west of the Pacific Ocean should be connected by submarine cable with the Canadian line. Great Britain will thus be brought into direct communication with all the greater colonies and dependencies without passing through foreign countries.”

The completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, and with it a telegraph line across Canada, strengthened Fleming’s position. The decision to extend the railway to Vancouver in 1886 helped even more.  (atlantic-cable)

At the 1893 Australasian Conference held in Sydney the Postmaster General of New South Wales suggested laying a cable from New Caledonia (already linked to Australia by cable) to Fiji, Honolulu and San Francisco.

That brings us back to the Penguin. She was commissioned to make soundings and survey areas for suitable cable routes and station locations.

That brought her to Hawaiʻi.

“The Penguin left Sydney on April 10, proceeding by way of Suva Fiji to Palmyra Island, where a party was landed to observe the tides.  The steamer then proceeded to the north and made an accurate survey of Kingman reef, which was found to be sixty miles due north of Palmyra Island.  (The Sun (NY,) July 30, 1897)

“The British survey steamer Penguin, which arrived (in Honolulu) yesterday, has just completed the preliminary survey for the Australian-British Columbian cable. She ran a line of soundings from Palmyra Island to a point 300-miles to the southward of Honolulu, finding and average depth of 2,700 fathoms. After spending three weeks here in receiving general repairs the Penguin will return to Palmyra Island and run a line of soundings southwest to Sydney.”  (The Sun (NY,) July 30, 1897)

The Penguin made another discovery here.

“The Penguin … must await stores and advices before resuming her survey work, but in the interim will make an accurate survey of the shoal discovered to the southward, sailing from here on the 12th for that purpose, and returning again later.”  (The Hawaiian Star, August 7, 1897)

“HBMS Penguin will leave at daylight tomorrow to survey a shoal near this group, expecting to be back Sunday morning.”  (Evening Bulletin, August 11, 1897)

"Although the officers aboard the Penguin were loathe to give any information it was learned that at about 10 o'clock on Tuesday night (July 20, 1897) and while about 30-miles of the Island of Oʻahu, the 'tell-tale' of the ship showed that a shoal 26-fathoms below the surface of the water, had been struck."  (Pacific Commercial, July 22, 1897; Clark)

The name of the shoal appears to have varied early names.

“The steamer JA Cummins went off fishing with a party of excursionists this morning.  The steamer will cruise about Kamehameha shoal (the new reef discovered by HBMS Penguin) and return tonight or early tomorrow.”  (Evening Bulletin, September 11, 1897)

“The Albatross started from Honolulu on July 9.  She first went dredging at the Penguin shoal and went from there to Puako, on Hawaii.”  (Evening Bulletin, July 29, 1902)

Today, it's more commonly referred to as Penguin Bank.

Penguin Bank (about 20 miles long and 10 miles wide within the Kaiwi Channel) is the eroded summit of a sunken volcano, now a broad submarine shelf off Molokaʻi Island with depths of less than 200 feet deep. It is capped with sand and fossil corals. The Bank is generally too deep for most live corals and is a relatively barren habitat compared to shallower waters nearby. The base rock is lava of the same kind that forms Molokaʻi Island.  (Grays Harbor)

It was one of the seven principal volcanoes (along with West Molokaʻi, East Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, West Maui, East Maui and Kahoʻolawe) that formerly constituted of Maui Nui.

The top of Penguin Bank and other banks and shelves throughout the Pacific basin are found at similar depths, because these banks were formed by an interplay between reef growth and past low stands of global sea level.  (Agegian)

Penguin Bank is noted for highest concentrations of humpback whales during their winter sojourns in Hawaiʻi. While in Hawaiʻi, Humpback Whales are found in shallow coastal waters, usually less than 300-feet. The average water depth in Penguin Banks is around 200-feet, but water depths can range from about 150-feet to 600-feet.  (NOAA)

It's also one of Hawaiʻi's premier fishing sites.  “Yachts May Cruise – The yachtsmen are thinking of making a cruise starting Saturday and returning Monday night, Monday being Labor Day.  Two plans are at present being discussed.  One is to go to Waianae and remain off that place fishing.  The other plan is a more extensive on.  It is to go to Penguin Shoal on the west coast of Molokaʻi to fish, returning Monday via Rabbit Island, where the yachtsmen may stop for a day’s rabbit and bird shooting.”  (Evening Bulletin, September 1, 1904)

In 1902, when the first submarine cable across the Pacific was completed (landing in Waikīkī at Sans Souci Beach) linking the US mainland to Hawaiʻi, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and Guam to the Philippines in 1903.   (The first Atlantic submarine cable, connecting Europe with the USA, was completed in 1866.)

The image shows the Penguin.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Saturday, July 5, 2014

Pāpōhaku


A chief from east Molokaʻi and a few of his people boarded canoes and set off around the island. They found themselves on the southwest coast of Molokaʻi.  They paddled up to some fishermen who had a large catch of opelu. Hungry, they began to eat.

As they were all eating with great satisfaction, another group of fishermen came by and cried: "Stop. Do not eat the opelu. This is the season of opelu kapu." However, the visiting chief only had a kapu for eating turtle, so they continued eating.

The fishermen attacked the visiting chief and his men. Overpowered, they were brought before the kahuna. The visiting chief became very ill, and the only way to make things right was a human sacrifice to save the chief from death. One of his men offered himself as a sacrifice and the chief recovered.

The kahuna ordered a tree planted on the grave of the willing victim. The grave was on shore; when the tide was high, the waves would wash sand from the grave. Thus, in a very short time, the body would be exposed.

In respect and remembrance, the chief ordered his men to build a stone wall.  The chief himself put the last stone on the wall, saying as he did so, “I call this place Pāpōhaku, ‘Stone Wall.’” (DLNR)

Today, the sandy beach is seen as the primary feature here (it’s over 2-miles long and 300-feet wide, the largest on the island and one of the largest in the Islands.)  It lies between two headlands, Puʻu Koaʻe to the south and Puʻu o Kaiaka to the north.

The sand caught people’s attention.

First, folks looked to replenish eroding beaches by harvesting sand from one area and filled in at another (primarily at Waikīkī.)  Reports from the 1920s and 1930s reveal that sand was brought to Waikīkī Beach, via ship and barge, from Manhattan Beach, California.
 
As the Manhattan Beach community was developing, it found that excess sand in the beach dunes and it was getting in the way of development there.  At the same time, folks in Hawai‘i were in need for sand to cover the rock and coral beach at Waikīkī.

Later, Waikīkī’s sand was trucked from various points around Hawai‘i including O‘ahu’s North Shore - in particular, Waimea Bay Beach, a sand bar off the town of Kahuku and Pāpōhaku Beach on Moloka‘i.

Reportedly, before sand mining operations removed over 200,000 tons of sand at Waimea Bay to fill beaches in Waikīkī and elsewhere, there was so much sand that if you would have tried to jump off Pōhaku Lele, Jump Rock, you would have jumped about six feet down into the sand below.

Then came statehood, and the building boom of the following decades.

“Increased use of concrete by building contractors resulted in more output of sand required for blending with crushed basalt fines used in concrete aggregate.  A substantial gain was noted in the use of coral dune sands from the north shores of Oʻahu Island.  By yearend, Honolulu Construction & Draying Co Ltd (HC&D) was prepared to barge sand from Molokaʻi Island to supply some of Oahu’s requirements for the critical material.”  (Minerals Yearbook, 1959)

(HC&D was formed in 1908 by a quarry owner, three construction men and a retired sea captain. The base of the business was the draying (hauling) of construction materials by horse-drawn wagons. In late-1967, HC&D became a wholly owned subsidiary of American Pipe and Construction Co of Monterey Park, California (now it’s known as Ameron Inc.))

In the 1950s, a harbor was dredged and a wharf constructed at Hale O Lono by B&C (Brown and Clewitt) Trucking to ship out sand from Pāpōhaku (B&C also owned Seaside Inn and Pau Hana Inn.) A 1957 contract between Molokaʻi Ranch and HC&D allowed for sand to be removed from a 297-acre southern parcel of Pāpōhaku Beach.

“Sand and gravel was produced at 16 principal beach, dune, and stream deposits. The largest operation was the Molokaʻi sand facility of HC&D Ltd, Hawaiʻi’s major producer, consumer, and supplier of sand, cinder, and crushed stone.”  (Minerals Yearbook, 1964)

“Some of the land out on the western tip of the island is leased to Honolulu Construction and Draying Company Ltd, which mines something like 200,000-yards of sand a year from Pāpōhaku Beach for shipment to Oahu for use in making concrete.”  (Away From It All)

“All day long, every day, had trucks going back and forth from Pāpōhaku to Hale O Lono.”  From the early 1960s to 1975, this massive cache of sand was the site of the largest sand-mining operation in the state.

Some of the sand was drawn from below the high water mark, which was public land and required a government permit; at times the dredge bucket even drew the sand out of the ocean.

This was not legal and HC&D was caught and reportedly fined, resulting in a million-dollar settlement.  In lieu of payment of the fine, reportedly, Molokaʻi Ranch gave the land at Ala Mālama in Kaunakakai.

Even with the decades of sand removal, Pāpōhaku Beach remains one of the longest white sand beaches, and the Pāpōhaku Dune system associated with the beach is among the largest in Islands.

Pāpōhaku Dune (like other sand dunes) is the first and last line of defense against coastal erosion and episodic high waves for the existing structures located behind it.

Recently, the UH-Mānoa, Department of Urban and Regional Spring 2005 Graduate Practicum class prepared the Pāpōhaku Dunes Cultural and Natural Resource Preservation Plan.  DLNR is looking for ways to protect and enhance the Pāpōhaku Dune's long-term sustainability.

The image shows Pāpōhaku Beach. (molokainews)  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Sunday, June 29, 2014

Peter Young Kāʻeo Kekuaokalani


Peter Young Kāʻeo Kekuaokalani was born March 4, 1836 in Honolulu.  His mother was Jane Lahilahi Young, the youngest daughter of John Young (advisor to Kamehameha I;) his father was Joshua Kāʻeo, Judge of the Supreme Court of Hawaiʻi (great-great grandson or great grandson of King Kalaniʻōpuʻu.)

At birth, he was hānai to his maternal uncle John Young II (Keoni Ana) (Kuhina Nui (Prime Minister) (1845-1855) and son of John Young, the English sailor who became a trusted adviser to Kamehameha I)

Kāʻeo was declared eligible to succeed to the Hawaiian throne by Kamehameha III and attended the Chief’s Children’s School.  (In 1839, Kamehameha III formed the school to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief's children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii's Kingdom.)

King Kamehameha selected Missionaries Amos Starr Cooke (1810–1871) and Juliette Montague Cooke (1812-1896) from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to teach the 16-royal children and run the school.

Another student there was his cousin, Emma Naʻea Rooke (January 2, 1836 – April 25, 1885,) daughter of High Chief George Naʻea and High Chiefess Fanny Kekelaokalani Young and hānai by her childless maternal aunt, chiefess Grace Kamaʻikuʻi Young Rooke, and her husband, Dr. Thomas CB Rooke.  (Emma later became Queen, wife of Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV.)

Kā’eo later served as a member of the House of Nobles (1863–1880) and on the Privy Council of King Kamehameha IV (1863–1864.)

At about this time, leprosy (later known as Hansen’s Disease) was noted in the Islands and it rapidly spread on Oʻahu.  In response, the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” in 1865, which King Kamehameha V approved.

This law provided for setting apart land for an establishment for the isolation and seclusion of leprous persons who were thought capable of spreading the disease.

On June 10, 1865, a suitable location for incurable cases of leprosy came up for discussion.  The peninsula on the northern shore of Moloka’i seemed the most suitable spot for a leprosy settlement.

The first shipment of lepers landed at Kalawao (Kalaupapa) January 6, 1866, the beginning of segregation and banishment of lepers to the leper settlement.

Receiving and detention centers were established on Oʻahu.  Kalihi Hospital was the first hospital for leprosy patients in Hawaiʻi opening in 1865. Kapiʻolani Home opened in Kalihi Kai in 1891 adjacent to the Kalihi Hospital and Receiving Station; Kalihi Plague Camp (1900-1912) and Meyers Street, Kalihi Uka (1912-1938.)  (NPS)

Kāʻeo contracted leprosy and on June 29, 1873 joined the many others exiled to the leper colony at Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai (joining him were two servants.)

During his exile at Kalawao (Kalaupapa,) he and his cousin Emma, exchanged letters.  Kāʻeo reported in one such letter to his cousin (dated November 4, 1873) that he recently visited the settlement store and bought several yards of cotton twill “to make me some frocks palaka” this is the first known use of the word palaka to describe the style shirt with no tail and meant to be worn outside of the pants.  (Korn)

In another letter (August 11, 1873) calls attention to the conditions at Kalawao:  “Deaths occur quite frequently here, almost dayly. Napela (the Mormon elder and assistant supervisor of the Kalaupapa Settlement) last week rode around the Beach to inspect the Lepers and came on to one that had no Pai (poi) for a Week but manage to live on what he could find in his Hut, anything Chewable.”

“His legs were so bad that he cannot walk, and few traverse the spot where His Hut stands, but fortunate enough for him that he had sufficient enough water to last him till aid came and that not too late, or else probably he must have died.”

Mortality rates were confirmed by Dr JH Stallard, Board of Health in 1884:  “The excessive mortality rate alone condemns the management (of the settlement.) During the year 1883, there were no less than 150 deaths … more than ten times that of any ordinary community of an unhealthy type.”

“The high mortality has not been caused by leprosy, but by dysentery, a disease not caused by any local insanitary conditions, but by gross neglect.”  (Voices of Kaulapapa; SanDiego-gov - 1884)

Father Damien himself succumbed to leprosy on April 15, 1889.  Sister Mary Leopoldina Burns describes the place: “One could never imagine what a lonely barren place it was. Not a tree nor a shrub in the whole Settlement only in the churchyard there were a few poor little trees that were so bent and yellow by the continued sweep of the birning wind it would make one sad to look at them.” (Voices of Kaulapapa; SanDiego-gov)

Kāʻeo was released from Kalawao in 1876 and lived the remainder of his life quietly in Honolulu, returning to his seat in the upper house of the Hawaiian legislature.  (Korn; Spurrier)

The Hawaiian Gazette, December 1, 1880, noted his death, “The Hon. Peter Y Kaeo died at his residence, Emma street, on Friday night (November 26, 1880.) The funeral took place on Sunday, and was largely attended by the retainers and friends of the family. The hearse was surrounded by Kahili bearers as becomes the dignity of the chief.”

About 8,000 people have been exiled at Kalaupapa since 1865.  The predominant group of patients were Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian; in addition there were whites, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino and other racial groups that sent to Kalaupapa.  The law remained in effect until 1969, when admissions to Kalaupapa ended.

Peter Young Kāʻeo was interred in the Wyllie Crypt at Mauna ʻAla (Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu) along with many of the Young Family.  (Though the names are the same, I am not related to this Young family.  On my father’s side, Jack, youngest brother of Young Brothers, is my grandfather; on my mother’s side, Hiram Bingham is my GGG grandfather.)

The image shows Peter Young Kāʻeo Kekuaokalani.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Molokai Waterfalls


There is something about falling water that fascinates a human being.

“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer's deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maul (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture.  For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link In the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

In the eastern half of Kamalō is the large, amphitheater-headed Kamalō Gulch.  Along the steep back wall of the gulch are a series of waterfalls that are known locally as “The Seven Sisters.”

Three of the waterfalls are named on USGS maps (Hina Falls, Moʻoloa Falls, and Haha Falls) and are mentioned in the song Wahine ʻIlikea, by Dennis Kamakahi (1975.)  (McElroy)

Nani wale nō nā wailele ‘uka
‘O Hina ‘o Haha ‘o Moʻoloa
Nā wai ‘ekolu i ka uluwehiwehi
‘O Kamalō i ka mālie.

Beautiful waterfalls of the upland
Hina, Haha and Moʻoloa
The three waters in the verdant overgrowth
Of Kamalō, in the calm.

The fourth-highest waterfall in the world, Oloʻupena Falls is located on this isolated north shore of the Island.  At 2,953 feet, Olo'upena Falls is a tiered, ribbon-thin stream plunging over the side of one of the world's tallest seaside cliffs, Haloku Cliffs.

Surrounded by huge mountains on either side, the waterfall is so remote that there are no access trails to reach it; it is only accessible by air or sea. If you can get there, the best time to view the falls is during the rainy season - November through March.

These are not the only waterfalls on Molokai – unfortunately, all listed here are relatively hard to get to.  Rather than words – look through the album at the images of the falls.

Haha Falls
About a 700-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Haloku Falls
About 2,100-feet high seasonal waterfall, falling directly into Pacific Ocean.

Hina Falls
About a 1,200-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Hipuapua Falls
Approximately 450-foot tall horsetail falls with a single drop.

Kahiwa Falls
About 1,900-foot high waterfall with 6 drops, falling almost directly into Pacific Ocean. Strong winds can rise the waterfall up in the air.

Moaʻula Falls
Picturesque horsetail fall with at least 7 drops.

Moʻoloa Falls
1,300-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Oloʻupena Falls
About 2,953-feet high seasonal waterfall, falls directly into Pacific ocean. One the highest known waterfalls in the world.

Papalaua Falls
1,500-foot high waterfall with 5 drops. Located at the far end of the deep valley.

Puʻukaʻoku Falls
About 2,756-feet high seasonal waterfall, falling directly into Pacific Ocean.

Wailele Falls
About 1,700-foot high seasonal waterfall, falling almost directly into Pacific Ocean.

Waimanu Falls
Approximately 1,700-foot high waterfall.

The image shows Haloku, Oloʻupena, Puʻukaʻoku and Wailele (L to R.)   I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Friday, May 2, 2014

Georges Phillipe Trousseau


Georges Trousseau was born in Paris on May 1, 1833 to a prominent Parisian family. His father, Armand Trousseau, a distinguished physician and surgeon, was also the author of medical books used throughout the world.  (Greenwell)

He received the usual education of a wealthy Frenchman and entered the ecole de medicine in Paris at the early age of 15.  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

From the days in 1848 and 1852, when he as a student fought in the streets of Paris, he has unswervingly believed in the rights of the people - and early or late was he found ready to serve them as a physician as a friend or simply as a fellow-man.  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

Trousseau married Edna Vaunois, who was also from Paris; they had two children, Armond and Rene in 1856 and 1857.  In 1865, the couple was legally separated (but never divorced.)

He followed his father’s footsteps and graduated from the Paris School of Medicine as a physician in 1858.  He became an army surgeon, seeing service in Algiers early in the fifties. He also served at Solferino and Magenta, Italy.  (Greenwell)

For personal reasons, he left France and went to Australia and New Zealand.  In part, he was at the Australian gold mines, but did not strike it rich; in fact, his estranged wife loaned him money while he was there.  (Greenwell, Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

He left there and arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1872.  Almost immediately upon his arrival, he was appointed by the Board of Health to serve as Port Physician for Honolulu (there was no salary attached to the office; fees for services were worked out between the Port Physician and the ship/agent the usual charge was $25.)  (Greenwell)

He soon gained great fame as a doctor.  He served on the Board of Health for 20-years, serving as a Board member and as President.   He took an interest in Leprosy and supervised the leper treatment center in Kalihi.

In 1865, the legislature of the Hawaiian Islands had passed "An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy." This law called for a place to be set aside for the isolation of those found to have leprosy in order to curb the spread of the disease.  It was not until 1873, however, on Doctor Trousseau's recommendation, that a vigorous effort was made to segregate lepers.  (Greenwell)

“Trousseau strongly urging that the only method, at all likely to be successful, was the immediate, energetic, and to a certain extent, unsympathetic isolation of all who were afflicted with the disease, and even that would require a generation in all probability to prove successful.”  (Board of Health, March 1, 1873)

He diagnosed Father (now Saint) Damien’s leprosy.  “… In January, 1885 Damien visited Honolulu … (and accidentally) scalded his left foot. Father Leonore, the provincial of the mission, phoned for Dr George Trousseau, whose examination of the priest's foot and leg proved they were devoid of feeling … this discovery indicated that the peroneal nerve and its branches were dead due to leprosy.”  (Mouritz; Bushnell)

Though not an official title, Trousseau served as royal physician.  He was called on as a consultant by Doctor Ferdinand W Hutchison, Minister of the Interior, during Kamehameha V's last illness and was at the King's bedside when he died.

In August 1873, when it was apparent that King Lunalilo was ill, Trousseau accompanied the King and stayed with Lunalilo at Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua- Kona, from mid-November to the middle of January 1874.  After it became apparent that Lunalilo was not going to recover, and the royal party returned to Honolulu where Lunalilo died on February 3.  (Greenwell)

The rulers of Hawaiʻi honored him.   Lunalilo made him a major in his staff and his personal physician. Kalākaua befriended him and appointed him the executor of his will and the administrator of his estate.  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

“(H)e was always ready to promote any now industry that might prove a source of benefit to his adopted country.”  This got him involved in sheep, sugar and ostriches.  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

In 1875, he gave up his Honolulu medical practice and moved to Kona, Hawaiʻi, where he purchased a sheep and cattle ranch at Kanahaha high on the slopes of Mauna Loa.  Wool was baled at Kanahaha and transported by cart to Kainaliu Beach, from where it was shipped. (Greenwell)

A road was constructed which ran from Kanahaha on Mauna Loa, to the beach at Kainaliu (where he also had a home.) (This old cart road is used by jeeps today and is known as the Trousseau Trail.)  Early in 1879, Trousseau sold all of his holdings in Kona to Henry N Greenwell.

After selling the sheep ranch, Trousseau bought out two sugar planters at Kukuihaele on the Hāmākua coast. He became partners in the Pacific Sugar Mill with the Purvis family. Trousseau had an excellent relationship with John Purvis and his son Herbert.  (Greenwell)

The plantation thrived for a time.  However, defects in the furnace caused difficulties.  In 1881, Trousseau suddenly and unexpectedly sold his half in the plantation to his partners.  He moved back to Honolulu and resumed his medical practice.

He tried one last agricultural venture there.  “The doctor started a new industry for these islands a few years ago (1890) by establishing an ostrich farm at Kapiʻolani Park. Many young birds have been bred from the original stock, and some of the feathers have gone into domestic exports. The farm was under the management of Captain John Morriseau (Trousseau's nephew.)”  (Daily Bulletin, May 5, 1894)

The 1,000-acre farm (purchased from the Lunalilo Estate) was located in the Kapahulu area near the present zoo; Paul Isenberg, who owned a nearby cattle ranch, later purchased the farm (Trousseau Street notes the general location.)

Though Trousseau never divorced, he did have a mistress, Makanoe; Makanoe was also married (to Kaʻaepa.)  (This relationship is referred to as ‘punalua;’ an association in which, typically, two women, often sisters, share one husband, or, as in Makanoeʻs case, two men share the affection of one woman.)  (Greenwell)

Trousseau died May 4, 1894, shortly after Kaʻaepa’s death.  Makanoe buried her husband and Trousseau side by side in a wrought iron fenced plot at Makiki Cemetery on Oʻahu.  Trousseau left all of his estate to Makanoe (she eventually moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.)

Trousseau faithfully supported the Hawaiian Monarchy and stood up for the royalists which caused bitter feelings among many of his associates who backed the annexationists.

In spite of this, his obituary noted, “It is seldom that people of all classes, opposed to each other socially and politically can gather around the bier of a fellow-citizen and unite in saying, ‘we have lost a friend.’”  (Hawaiʻi Holomua, May 5, 1894)

“Dr. Trousseau was a strong nationalist of Hawaiʻi, who believed that none but born or naturalized subjects should have a determining voice in national affairs. The Hawaiian people, who revered and confided in him, will take his death as a sort bereavement.”  (Daily Bulletin, May 5, 1894)  (Lots of information here from Jean Greenwell.)

The image shows Georges Phillipe Trousseau (May 1, 1833 - May 4, 1894.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Ira Barnes Dutton … ‘Brother Joseph’


Ira Barnes Dutton was born April 27, 1843 on a family farm in Stowe, Vermont, son of Methodist parents Ezra Dutton and Abigail Barnes.  His family moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, four years later.

In 1861, he enlisted with the 13th Wisconsin Infantry and served in the Union Army during the Civil War as a quartermaster, as well as nursing the wounded and burying the dead.  He was discharged in 1866 as a Captain, but stayed in the South tracing missing soldiers, collecting their remains and settling survivors' claims.

This and a failed marriage led him into alcoholism, and by his own account he spent the next decade in a drunken stupor (“I never injured anyone but myself.”)  When he emerged from the gutter in 1876, wanting to do penance for his "wild years" and "sinful capers," he began to study religion and in 1883 joined the Trappist Monastery at Gethsemane, Kentucky.

It was only after reading about Father Damien that he found his "real vocation;" he sought to help Damien on Molokai.  His motive was not to hide from the world, but "to do some good for my neighbor and at the same time make it my penitentiary in doing penance for my sins and errors." From San Francisco, he sailed for Molokai.  (McNamara)

When he arrived on July 29, 1886, although he never took religious vows, he became known as "Brother Joseph" and "Brother Dutton," "brother to everybody."  (McNamara)

His days were spent as a janitor, cleaning the primitive shelters, scrubbing floors, while also building latrines and outbuildings and bandaging sores, as well as helping Mother Marianne Cope in keeping records and organizing arriving patients. Like Mother Marianne and unlike Father Damien, he never contracted Hansen’s Disease.  (Rutler)

Every day he marveled more and more at what he saw around him, bravery, he often said, greater than in the war he had been through. He enjoyed the playing of the church organist; one day he saw that one of the man's hands was so diseased that all that was left was a stomp which the organist had fastened to a stick and with which he struck the bass notes.  (Burton)

Damien knew how different they were in temperament "but there is love between us," he said. Damien had urged Dutton to become a priest; but Dutton felt unfit. "That requires a high character and great purity," he said and he evidently felt that his early life had disqualified him.   (Burton)

On Molokai, Dutton found real peace and joy. One peer recalled: "Dutton had a divine temper; nothing could ruffle it." At 83, Joseph wrote: "I am ashamed to think that I am inclined to be jolly. Often think we don't know that our Lord ever laughed, and here my laugh is ready to burst out any minute."  (McNamara)

He never left Molokai; he never wanted to. "Seek a vacation?" he asked. "Anything else would be slavery ... The people here like me, I think, and I am sure I like them." He added: "I would not leave my lepers for all the money the world might have."

The one exception was in 1917, when the 74-year-old patriot tried "to buckle on my sword-belt again" and re-enlist. His application was rejected, but he wasn't heart-broken.  (McNamara)

Brother Joseph taught the children the games he had played as a child. Molokai became very proud of its baseball teams, coached and uniformed by Brother Joseph himself.

The one thing that had troubled Father Damien was what would happen to his children when he died. Now he could smile and say, "I can die now.  Brother Joseph will take care of my orphans.”  (Burton)  (Damien came to Kalawao in 1873, he died in 1889. Brother Joseph worked with Damien for three years; he continued to serve the patients there for several more decades.)

In 1908, while the fleet of the US Navy toured the Pacific, President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the ships to sail with flying colors as they passed the leper colony of Molokai in order to acknowledge the years of selfless service given by Brother Joseph. Despite such an honor, Brother Joseph’s desire was to work and pray in obscurity.  (Heisey)

Still, more honors came.  A bill in the Hawaiʻi Territorial legislature proposed to give Brother Joseph a $50 monthly pension for his “inspiring services;” the bill was tabled at his request and he said he “was in good health and wanted no reward for his work among the lepers.”  (Arkansas Catholic, July 19, 1919)  In 1929 Pope Pius XI sent his apostolic blessing.  (Heisey)

On the eve of his 86th birthday, the 1929 session of the legislature adopted a resolution of appreciation of Brother Joseph Dutton's services that briefly notes, "Resolved, that this House put on record its appreciation of the great and inspiring service and influence for good in the splendid and effective service he has rendered in their behalf during the past 40 years by Brother Joseph Dutton, in his ministration to the afflicted in Kalawao and Kalaupapa, and that the thanks of the House of Representatives be extended to him in this memorial."  (Thrum)

Brother Joseph died on March 26, 1931.  Former president Calvin Coolidge in his daily syndicated newspaper column noted, “Far out in the islands of the Pacific the soul of Brother Joseph Dutton has been released from the limitations of this earth … (T)his man died a saintly world figure.”

“His faith, his works, his self-sacrifice appeal to people because there is always something of the same spirit in them.  Therein lies the moral power of this world.  He realized a vision which we all have. The universal response to the example of his life is another demonstration of what mankind regard as just and true and holy.”

“He showed the power of what is good and the binding force of the common brotherhood of man.”  (Milwaukee Sentinel, March 29, 1931)

A couple interesting side notes relate to Brother Joseph and Stowe, Vermont.  After fleeing Austria in 1938, the von Trapp family (Trapp Family Singers (of Sound of Music fame; refugees from pre-war Austria)) bought a farm in the mountains of Stowe in 1942 and made it their adopted home.

When the town was looking for a site for a new church, Maria von Trapp, the family matriarch, provided support for acquisition of land and building of the Blessed Sacrament Church (they purposefully purchased a portion of the Dutton’s former farm where Brother Joseph was born.)  The first mass was held on March 6, 1949.

The church windows, walls and ceilings were painted and decorated by internationally renowned French artist Andre Girard. Twelve exterior panels depict the life of Damien and Brother Joseph at Kalawao.  The church and its panels were recently restored.

In March 1952, the Trapp Family Singers visited Molokai and sang over Brother Joseph’s grave.  (Yenkavitch)  "Gently, Johannes placed our Mount Mansfield pine wreath at the foot of the cross. Then we began to sing. How often have I felt with deepest gratitude this great glory of our life as a singing family: that, whenever words failed to say what was taking place in our hearts, we could always express it in music."  (Maria von Trapp, The News and Tribune, January 3, 1960)

Recently, a 7-foot marble statue of Brother Joseph, depicting him as a young Civil War Union soldier, was placed at Molokai’s St. Joseph Church in Kamalo (the church Damien built;) a second statue is expected to be installed at Damien Memorial School in Honolulu (it is planned to be placed in back of the school, facing the campus’ running track.)

The image shows Brother Joseph.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Pelekunu, Molokai


“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer's deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maul (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture.  For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link In the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

The large windward valleys - Pelekunu, Wailau and Halawa - and Papalaua, along with all of Kalaupapa comprise the old Hawaiian Koʻolau Moku (district) of Molokai.

Literally defined, the word Pelekunu means “smelly for lack of sunshine.” (Pukui)   Being that it is such a tall and narrow valley, the sun is out for only about seven hours a day. Short days, coupled with the windward tendency for rain, creates a generally damp condition in Pelekunu.

Marion Kelly gives an alternate possibility suggesting the name Pelekunu relates to Pele, the goddess of the volcano. The area is said to be sensitive to very light earthquakes that are felt by the folks in the area, thus the name, Pelekunu, “coughing” or “grumbling” Pele.

Archaeological evidence suggests this area of Molokai was traditionally the home of the majority of early Hawaiians. The water supply was ample; ʻauwai (irrigation ditches,) loʻi kalo (wetland taro ponds) and habitation sites were found here.

“Every possible square yard was utilized for growing taro as the patches go nearly to the beach and even up the small ravines which cut the sides of the valleys. … In the matter of food, the emphasis which has been placed upon taro should not obscure the importance of fish whether from deep water or from other places and of fruits and other plant products.”

“The depth of the sea off this region prohibited the development of fish-ponds ... but fishing with hook and line or with nets found rich opportunities.”  (Phelps, NPS)

The "narrowness of the gulches and their steep slopes result in the patches being no more than 12-feet on a side and the down-slope retaining wall may have to be seven-feet high.  The stream flows on one side of the gulch and is tapped at the highest placed patch, the water running successively into the lower ones." (Phelps (1937,) NPS)

Pelekunu is an unusual ahupua‘a for several reasons. Within the Pelekunu ahupua‘a are three lele (disconnected portions of associated land) that belong to ahupua‘a on the other side of the island in the Kona District. Another unusual feature is that the ahupua‘a of Kawela actually extends up and over the mountains at the back of Pelekunu and runs into the valley.

Additionally, the ahupua‘a of Pelekunu includes not only most of the valley itself (less the extension of Kawela at the back and the lele within), but also the land of Honokaʻupu to the west as well as the small valley of Waiahoʻokalo just beyond.  (Eminger/McElroy)

The windward valleys developed into areas of intensive irrigated taro cultivation and seasonal migrations took place to stock up on fish and precious salt for the rest of the year. Kalaupapa was well known for its bountiful ʻuala (sewwt potato) crops and its fine-grained, white salt which was preferred over that from the salt ponds of Kawela and Kaunakakai.  (Strazar)

Emory (1916) describes Pelekunu Valley as the “most densely populated area of the ahupuaʻa … where we found miles and miles of huge stone terraces, witnesses of a once thriving population that must have run into the thousands."  Taro was grown on the flat land and in the steep ravines of the valley.  (NPS)

The earliest recorded population figures we have for Molokai are those of visiting missionaries in 1823. A loose estimate of three to four thousand inhabitants in 1823 was published by Claudius S. Stewart in 1830. The Reverend Harvey Rexford Hitchcock who established the first permanent Mission Station at Kaluaʻaha in 1832, gave a census figure of 6,000 for the island.  (Strazar)

These early counts were generally taken in the field by both native school teachers and missionaries. During this period, the Reverends Hitchcock and Smith preached once a week at seven different stations from Kamaloʻo to Hālawa, and in 1833 they estimated the population of the entire island to be about 3,300.  (Strazar)

During the years around 1854, taro was raised extensively in the windward valleys and shipped as far away as Maui. Everywhere the inhabitants (of Pelekunu) were busy making baskets of ki (ti) leaves …., which they used to pack and transport … the product of their oasis, taro reduced to paʻiʻai (dry poi.)  (Strazar)

In 1898, Johnny Wilson (later Mayor of Honolulu) looked into living in Pelekunu and farming there.  Wilson’s parents’ friends included John and Lydia Dominus (Queen Liliʻuokalani) and King Kalākaua.

“We had known Mr. Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife. My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.”  (Liliʻuokalani)

During her imprisonment, Queen Liliʻuokalani was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson – Johnny’s mother.)  Johnny would bring newspapers hidden in flowers from the Queen’s garden; reportedly, Liliʻuokalani’s famous song Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (written while imprisoned,) was dedicated to him (it speaks of the flowers at her Waikiki home, Paoakalani.)

Johnny Wilson brought his wife Jennie Kini Kapahu to Pelekunu to live in 1902. The entry in Johnny’s diary for Tuesday, April 8, 1902, reads, “Arrived Pelekunu & occupied Koehana’s house”   According to Bob Krauss, Kini was “one of Hawai‘i’s premier hula dancers” and not used to country life; the Hawaiians in the valley wondered how long Kini would stick it out.

In the beginning Johnny and Kini lived at the shore, but sometime after the 1903 tsunami Johnny built Kini a house farther back in the valley.  Later, Johnny bought Kini a piano, the only one in Pelekunu.  (Krauss)

Kini did stick it out for quite a while. She helped teach the children in Pelekunu and ran their taro operation while Johnny was away. Eventually, however, Kini did leave the valley; in the summer of 1914, Kini finally got tired of the rain. She staged a one-woman mutiny and moved to a drier place on Molokai at Kamalō, where Johnny had a cattle ranch.

Wilson tried to aid the small native Hawaiian farmers by arranging for a steamer schedule to remote taro- and rice-producing areas.   When his plans for a commercial line fell through Wilson convinced the federal administration to place a post office in Pelekunu, guaranteeing regular steamer visits to deliver the mail. (Cook)

However, when his wife left (she was postmistress,) no one filled the post and the post office closed.  The steamships tried to keep regular schedules to Pelekunu to support the valley’s residents.  However, they were not regular enough and eventually others abandoned Pelekunu valley, deeming it as too isolated to remain viable in a cash economy. (Cook)

(Johnny Wilson served three times as mayor of Honolulu: from 1920 to 1927, 1929 to 1931 and from 1946 to 1954.)

In 1986, The Nature Conservancy purchased nearly 5,800-acres of Pelekunu Valley from Molokai Ranch to create a preserve to protect its natural and cultural resources.  (It contains nearly all the native Hawaiian aquatic fish, crustacean and mollusk species; in addition, 27-rare plant, 5-endemic forest bird and 2-endemic land snail species have been reported in the area.)  (TNC)

The Pelekunu Preserve is managed in partnership with the State Department of Land & Natural Resources through the Natural Area Partnership Program; due to its remote, rugged location, Pelekunu Preserve is not open to the public.

Pelekunu Preserve is bordered by four other managed natural resource areas: state-owned Pu‘u Ali‘i and Oloku‘i Natural Reserve Areas (NARs), Kalaupapa National Historic Park and the Conservancy’s Kamakou Preserve.

It is a part of the East Molokai Watershed Partnership (EMoWP); (a public-private partnership that protects more than 30,000 acres of contiguous ecosystems that range from sea level to 4,970 feet in elevation.)

The image shows an image of Pelekunu Village (Stokes, Bishop Museum – 1909.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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