Historic Curbs and Sidewalks

As early as 1838, sidewalks along Honolulu streets were constructed, usually of wood.  Paved streets were unknown until 1881; in that year, the first, Fort Street, was paved.

The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 fronting a shop on Merchant Street; Hawaii’s first concrete sidewalk was poured in front of a store on Queen Street in 1886.

Here are a couple stories about some ‘historic’ curbs and sidewalks in Honolulu. (Remember, State law, §6E-2 says "Historic property" means any building, structure, object, district, area, or site, including heiau and underwater site, which is over fifty years old.)

As a UH graduate, I am very familiar with the area known as “the Quarry” on the UH campus.  We still go down to that area of the campus to watch UH athletics.

From 1889 to 1949, Mōʻiliʻili Quarry provided the stone that was used to build Honolulu’s streets, sidewalks and curbstones, as well as some of its prominent buildings.

Holes were cut into the rock wall, using pneumatic drills. Dynamite was fitted into the holes, and its detonation would bring the entire face of the wall down, then they took the rock to the crushing plant within the Quarry site.

The University wanted the Quarry site for campus expansion and the Hawaiʻi legislature authorized the purchase in 1945

The first major and permanent construction of facilities in the Quarry began in 1956; and in 1957 Klum Gym, Team Lockers-Varsity Building, Locker Building, classrooms and an indoor enclosed boxing room were completed.

As you walk along Honolulu streets, look at the old lava rock curbs; it’s very likely these came from the Mōʻiliʻili Quarry.  These curbs are historic and serve as examples of the distinctive method of street construction in Honolulu during the late-1800s and the early-1900s.

These curb stones are rough-hewn below grade, but squared at their exposed surfaces. The width and height of the exposed surfaces are typically about 6 inches, but the buried depth is several feet. They are of varying lengths, from 2' to over 5'. Some curbs at intersections exhibit a slight curvature to follow the contour of the street corner.

In the mid- to late-19th century, sailing vessels from China or the continent bound for Honolulu to pick up sandalwood or sugar cane would fill their holds with granite as ballast (it added stability to the sailing vessels and weren't needed when loaded with heavy cargo.)

As more and more ships dumped their granite ballast on the docks, someone came up with the idea to use them for sidewalks.  These blocks are scattered throughout Chinatown, and many were used in the construction of a few buildings.

The original stones were several inches thick and were placed side by side with no gap between them - many of these are still around.  However, today, there are reproductions of these sidewalks on Maunakea Street

In the early 1900s, the city of Honolulu was engaged in modernizing its streets and replacing dusty footpaths with broad sidewalks.  The following appeared in the Hawaiian Annual of 1900:
"Official notice had been published requiring property owners to construct concrete sidewalks throughout the city, as far out as Thomas Square, according to specifications.  This public improvement is in progress, to be followed by the re-macadamizing (paving) of many streets."

John Walker (later, the firm Walker-Moody) pursued this business and soon his sidewalks proliferated throughout the city.  Unlike modern sidewalks, his were a very dark gray due to the addition of charcoal, and were given a smooth, almost polished finish, many of them labeled with the name John Walker etched in the curbstones (few remain.)

Back then, the name John Walker was virtually synonymous with sidewalks.  So well known was the name the unemployed men, when asked, "Who are you working for”, often answered, "John Walker”.  In other words, they were pounding the sidewalks looking for work.

Again, historic property is generally defined as something that is over 50-years old.  In addition to criminal penalties, State law may impose Civil Penalties on any person who violates the law with fines up to $10,000 for each separate violation (each day of each violation constitutes a separate violation.)

Rather than remove the stones, when contractors are making repairs to City streets, they are required to reinstall the curbing after the completion of the work.  If reinstallation isn't possible, contractors are required to salvage the stones and hand them over to the city for storage and later reuse on other city road projects.

When I was at DLNR, we were involved with a case where historic curb stones were being used as part of a decorative walkway in a private garden.  (They were ultimately returned.)

The image shows a John Walker sidewalk paving block (Walker-Moody, taken in 1971.)  In addition, I have added other images related to historic curbs and sidewalks in a folder of like name in the photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Puʻukoholā Heiau, Kawaihae, South Kohala, Hawaiʻi

One of the most famous heiau in Hawaiʻi is Puʻukoholā Heiau ("whale hill",) a significant structure (224-feet by 100-feet) with walled ends, and open and terraced on the makai side – sitting above the Kohala shoreline.

In the 1780s, there were warring factions were fighting for control. The island of Hawaiʻi was in internal struggle when one of the aliʻi nui, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, died.

He passed his title to his son Kīwalaʻo and named his nephew, Kamehameha, keeper of the family war god, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Kīwalaʻo, the new ali‘I, then bestowed gifts of land to his uncle Keawemauhili, but left his own half-brother, Keōua Kuʻahuʻula, with nothing.

Kīwalaʻo was later killed in battle, setting off a power struggle between Keōua, Keawemauhili and Kamehameha.  The 1782 Battle of Mokuʻōhai gave Kamehameha control of the West and North sides of the island of Hawaiʻi.

By 1790, the island of Hawaiʻi was under multiple rule; Kamehameha (ruler of Kohala, Kona and Hāmākua regions) successfully invaded Maui, Lānaʻi and Molokaʻi.

While on Molokaʻi, he sent an emissary to the famous kahuna (priest, soothsayer,) Kapoukahi, to determine how he could conquer all of the island of Hawaiʻi.  Kapoukahi prophesized that war would end if Kamehameha constructed a heiau dedicated to the war god Kū at Puʻukohola.

Called back to Hawaiʻi by an invasion of Kohala by his cousin, Keōua (ruler of Kaʻū and part of Puna,) Kamehameha fought more battles without gaining a decisive victory.

One part of the legend stated that Kamehameha first intended to refurbish and rededicate Mailekini heiau, on the lower slope. But Kapoukahi, who had joined Kamehameha's staff as royal architect, suggested that a new heiau on the summit would be more appropriate and provide greater benefits.

According to Thrum, Kapoukahi instructed Kamehameha "to build a large heiau for his god at Puʻukoholā, adjoining the old heiau of Mailekini."

Thrum continues: "Of Mailekini heiau little of its history is learned, or what connection, if any, it had in its working with Puʻukoholā within two hundred feet above it. In early days it was said that traces of an underground passage existed, though it was difficult to tell whether or not the two temples were connected by it. ... A tradition is current that this was the one that Kamehameha set out to rebuild that he might be successful in war, but on the advice of Kapoukahi he transferred his labors to the upper one of Puʻukoholā."

According to Samuel Kamakau, Kamehameha "...summoned his counselors and younger brothers, chiefs of the family and chiefs of the guard, all the chiefs, lesser chiefs, and commoners of the whole district. Not one was allowed to be absent except the women. . . .The building of the heiau of Puʻu-koholā was, as in ancient times, directed by an expert ... by a member of the class called hulihonua who knew the configuration of the earth (called kuhikuhi puʻuone) ..."

"When it came to the building of Puʻu-koholā no one, not even a tabu chief, was excused from the work of carrying stone. Kamehameha himself labored with the rest. The only exception was the high tabu chief Ke-aliʻi-maikaʻi [Kamehameha's younger brother]. ...”

“Thus Kamehameha and the chiefs labored until the heiau was completed, with its fence of images (paehumu) and oracle tower (anuʻunuʻu), with all its walls outside and the hole for the bones of sacrifice. He brought down the ʻōhiʻa tree for the haku ʻōhiʻa and erected the shelter house (hale malu) of ʻōhiʻa wood for Kū-kaʻili-moku according to the rule laid down for the kahuna class of Pā‘ao."

According to Historian Kuykendall, basing his information on Kamakau and Fornander, in 1790: "The building of this heiau was a great and arduous undertaking. Priests were everywhere about; they selected the site, determined the orientation, the dimensions, and the arrangement of the structure, and at every stage performed the ritualistic ceremonies without which the work could not be acceptable to the gods."

Recalling the words of Kapoukahi, Puʻukoholā Heiau was being used by Kamehameha to secure unification of the Hawaiian Islands (at the same time that George Washington was serving as the US’s first president (1790.)

Many of the stones on Puʻukoholā Heiau are believed to have come from Pololu Valley. It is storied that Kamehameha and his men formed a human chain nearly 20 miles long and passed the stones one person to another all the way to the heiau site.

After completing the heiau in 1791, Kamehameha invited Keōua to come to Kawaihae to make peace.  However, as Keōua was about to step ashore, he was attacked and killed by one of Kamehameha's chiefs.

With Keōua dead, and his supporters captured or slain, Kamehameha became King of Hawaiʻi island, an event that according to prophesy eventually led to the conquest and consolidation of the islands under the rule of Kamehameha I.

In early 1795, Kamehameha took Maui, Lānaʻi, and Molokaʻi. With the conquest of Oʻahu that year, Kamehameha succeeded in bringing all the islands, but Kauaʻi, under his control. In 1810, Kaumualiʻi, that island's paramount chief, acknowledged Kamehameha's supremacy, completing the consolidation of the islands into the Kingdom of Hawai'i.

Puʻukoholā Heiau was designated as a Historical Landmark by the Hawaiian Territorial Government in 1928.

The Queen Emma Foundation donated 34 acres of land in 1972, encompassing Puʻukoholā Heiau and the John Young Homestead, making it possible for the establishment of Puʻukoholā Heiau National Historic Site.

Through an act of Congress on August 17, 1972, this site became one of the chosen few to be recognized as one of our nation’s crown jewels and national treasures, to be preserved and protected for future generations.

The image shows Puʻukoholā Heiau in 1890; in addition, I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

USS Saginaw

Hawaiʻi's islands, atolls and reefs have gotten in the way of many transiting ships.  To date, seventeen ship wrecks have been discovered and documented in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (the northwestern islands in the Hawaiʻi archipelago.)

One such ship was the USS Saginaw, the first naval vessel built at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California in 1859.  She was a 155-foot wooden side-wheeler that was powered by sails and steam engines.

The new side-wheel ship sailed from San Francisco Bay on March 8, 1860, headed for the western Pacific, and reached Shanghai, China in mid-May. She then served in the East India Squadron, for the most part cruising along the Chinese coast to protect American citizens and to suppress pirates.

Over the next few years, the Saginaw worked in other parts of the Pacific, from Alaska to Mexico.

In 1870, she was assigned to Midway Atoll, where a coal depot in support of transpacific commerce was to be built. For six months, she served as a support vessel for divers as they labored to clear a channel into the lagoon.

Then, in October 1870, she sailed for San Francisco, but, as was the practice, she first sailed to Kure Atoll en route home to rescue any shipwrecked sailors who might be stranded there.

As she neared this rarely visited island, Captain Sicard navigated his ship cautiously through heavy swells under reduced sail. The moon had set, but they did not expect to be within range until daybreak. At 3:15 am, waves were observed breaking ahead of the ship.

The captain ordered the sails taken in and engines reversed but within minutes the Saginaw struck an outlying reef and grounded. Before the surf battered the ship to pieces, her crew managed to transfer much of her gear and provisions to the island.

At daylight, the ship's boats were lowered, and the crew of 93 men made their way across the reef to Green Island as the Saginaw broke apart and sank beneath the waves. One last match was used to start a fire. Short rations were a concern, but even more critical was the limited amount of fresh water.

In such a remote location, the captain and crew could not count on a passing ship to save them.  They fashioned the captain's 22' gig into a sailboat and five volunteers, headed by Lieutenant John G. Talbot, the executive officer, set off for Kauaʻi, nearly 1,200-miles away.  The others were Coxswain William Halford, Quartermaster Peter Francis, Seaman John Andrews and Seaman James Muir.

December 19, 1870, thirty-one days later, they reached Kauaʻi.  There, after 1,200-miles in a tiny boat, the 5-member crew suffered unfortunate losses.

Here's an account by Coxswain William Halford, "Sunday morning the wind allowed us to head southeast with the island of Kauai in sight, and Sunday night we were off the Bay of Halalea on the north coast. ... Just as I got to the cockpit a sea broke aboard abaft. Mr. Talbot ordered to bring the boat by the wind. ... Just then another breaker broke on board and capsized the boat. Andrews and Francis were washed away and were never afterwards seen."

"Muir was still below, and did not get clear until the boat was righted, when he gave symptoms of insanity. Before the boat was righted by the sea Mr. Talbot was clinging to the bilge of the boat and I called him to go to the stern and there get up on the bottom. While he was attempting to do so he was washed off and sank. He was heavily clothed and much exhausted. He made no cry."

"Just then the sea came and righted the boat. It was then that Muir put his head up the cockpit, when I assisted him on deck. Soon afterward another breaker came and again upset the boat; she going over twice, the last time coming upright and headed on to the breakers. We then found her to be inside of the large breakers, and we drifted toward the shore at a place called Kalihi Kai, about five miles from Hanalei."

Coxswain William Halford managed to pull James Muir ashore, but Muir died on the beach. All but Coxswain William Halford had died.  Within hours of Halford's arrival, the schooner Kona was dispatched for Kure.

He was brought to Oʻahu and the US Consul there. King Kamehameha V subsequently sent his steamer the "Kilauea" to rescue the shipwrecked sailors, which arrived sixty-eight days after the shipwreck. All of them survived on monk seals, albatrosses and rainwater.

Halford received the Medal of Honor for his bravery; he retired in 1910.  The 22-foot boat that carried the five heroic crew members now lies in the Castle Museum in Saginaw, Michigan.

In 2003, a team of maritime archaeologists discovered features of the wreck site inside the lagoon at Kure Atoll. A few days later, divers came across a portion of the wreck site that included two cannon, two anchors, a gudgeon and several small artifacts such as sheathing tacks and fasteners.

Later, a team of maritime archaeologists returned to the site and discovered dozens of new artifacts including bow and stern Parrott rifled pivot guns, 24-pdr broadside howitzers, steam oscillating engine, port and starboard paddlewheel shafts, rim of paddlewheel, anchors, brass steam machinery, boiler tubes, rigging components, fasteners, rudder hardware, davits and a ship's bell.

In 2008, a team returned to the site to continue survey. And, with plans to develop a maritime heritage themed exhibit at the Monument's Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo, NOAA maritime archaeologists obtained the appropriate permits to recover the USS Saginaw's ship's bell for conservation and display.

The 2008 team documented additional artifacts, and collected additional still photographs and the first high definition video footage of the site. The ship's bell and deep sea sounding lead now reside at the Mokupāpapa Discovery Center in Hilo.

Lots of information and images here are from a summary on the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument website.  The image here is a sketch of USS Saginaw on the reef at Kure Atoll (George H. Read, 1912 (NOAA.))

In addition, I have posted other related images and maps on the Saginaw in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Seaside Hotel (Before the Royal Hawaiian)

What we think of today as the “Royal Hawaiian Hotel” actually is the second hotel of like name (the first one was in downtown Honolulu – the location of the State Art Museum and office) and, the site of the present Royal Hawaiian used to be the home of the Seaside Hotel.

But there was a link between the site and the hotel’s name.  In the 1890s, the Seaside Hotel was a beach annex to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel located at Richards and Hotel streets.

There is now another “Seaside Hotel” in Waikīkī, but that’s different from the hotel we are discussing here.  That other “Seaside” was built in 1970 and has been used by United Airlines as a perk for employees and company retirees.

This Seaside was really on the water and until the Royal Hawaiian took its place, it was one of the earliest hotels in Waikīkī.

It was situated on 10 coconut-covered oceanfront acres on one of the best parts of Waikīkī Beach (Kamehameha V (and others) had a residence here, on land known as Helumoa.)

It was the only Honolulu hotel where guests were accommodated in separate and distinct cottages (bungalows and tent houses.)  Each was named for prominent people who stayed there (one was the Alice Roosevelt Longworth cottage - named for Teddy Roosevelt's cigar-smoking daughter.)

It was marveled as “folksy, family-style living”) and it was a favorite of author, Jack London, who noted, “The older I grow, the oftener I come back, and the longer I stay.”  (SagaOfSandwichIslands)

In 1907, the Seaside Hotel opened on the property, and was later acquired by Alexander Young's Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu.

In 1924, the Seaside Hotel's lease of the land at Helumoa was soon to expire and the land’s owners (Bishop Estate) put out a request for proposals to build a hotel.

Matson Navigation Co. had big plans to build luxury ocean liners to bring wealthy tourists to Hawaiʻi.  But, they needed a hotel equally lavish at Waikīkī.

Soon Matson's luxury ocean liner and its 650 wealthy passengers would be arriving in Honolulu every two weeks and the two largest hotels, the Alexander Hotel and the Moana, could not accommodate all of them.  The availability of the Bishop Estate land began putting wheels into motion.

In March 1925, William Roth, Manager of Matson Navigation Company, his wife Lurline (whose maiden name was Matson) and Mrs. William Matson, the widow of the founder of Matson Navigation Company, arrived in Honolulu for a three-week stay so that Roth could attend the annual Matson conference.

Famous New York-based architect Charles V. Wetmore also arrived in Honolulu at the invitation of Matson Navigation Company leadership.

Wetmore advised Matson Navigation that "Honolulu is one of the wonder spots of the world, and it should have a hotel that is as much of an attraction as the city itself."

Castle & Cooke, Matson Navigation and the Territorial Hotel Company successfully proposed a plan to build a luxury hotel, with 400 rooms, at a cost of $2 million on the parcel of Waikīkī beach to be leased from the Bishop Estate.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place on July 26, 1925, before a building permit was issued or a contract was signed with the building contractor, Ralph Wooley.  By the time the contract was executed on September 5, 1925, some three hundred men were already at work.

The building permit still was not signed by August, and the City withheld granting it unless the building codes were first revised (high rises were not, then, permitted.)  The planning commission did not want to revise the building code to allow high rises on Waikīkī beach.

The City and County Board of Supervisors disregarded their concerns and allowed the increase in heights.  This would forever change the landscape of Waikīkī, as the decision also allowed much taller highrises to be built in the area.

The opening of the Waikīkī Royal Hawaiian on February 1, 1927, ushered in a new era of luxurious resort travel to Hawai‘i.  The six-story, 400-room structure was fashioned in a Spanish-Moorish style, popular during the period and influenced by screen star Rudolph Valentino.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin described the newly opened Royal Hawaiian as “the first resort hostelry in America.”

The 1920 image shows the location of the original Seaside Hotel (and subsequent Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikīkī.)  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Kapiʻolani Park Bandstand

In the late-1800s and early-1900s the central area, and the dominant feature, of Kapiʻolani Park was an oval race track.  The western end of Kapiʻolani Park was a swamp fed by runoff and sediment carried by streams from the Koʻolau Mountains.

A duck pond and kalo loʻi were in what is now the site of the Honolulu Zoo.

At that time, there was the desire to create a watery landscape and areas of dry parkland; this resulted in the "construction of a system of canals and ditches from which water was drained to create a collection of small islands and ponds."

The largest of these ponds was located at the site of the current Honolulu Zoo. An island stood in the middle of the pond and was named Makee Island, after James Makee (a Scottish whaling ship captain, one of the founders of the Kapiʻolani Park Association that established Kapiʻolani Park and friend to King Kalākaua.)

The ponds created a watery landscape in an otherwise dry and flat park; the ponds were used for boating and the tree lined islands, which were accessible by footbridges, were popular spots for picnicking.

A small, covered bandstand (the first of several subsequent Kapiʻolani Park Bandstands) was located on Makee Island.

To get to there you either rowed across the waterway or crossed over on one of several narrow wooden plank bridges.

The Bandstand, originally built in the late-1890s, served as Kapiʻolani Park's stage for community entertainment and concerts, including regular performances by the Royal Hawaiian Band.

Founded in 1836 by order of King Kamehameha III, the Royal Hawaiian Band is one of the last living links to Hawaiʻi’s monarchy.   The “King’s Band,” as it was once known, became a staple of daily life with performances at state occasions, funerals and marching in parades.

The band accompanied reigning monarchs of the time on frequent trips to the neighbor islands and brought their music to remote destinations of the kingdom. Today, the Royal Hawaiian Band continues the legacy and performs and marches in over 300 concerts and parades each year.

By late-1920s the Ala Wai Canal project drained and filled Waikīkī’s waterways to create Kapiʻolani Park as we generally know it today.  In 1926 a replacement bandstand in the drained Park was built.

A double row of ironwood trees flanked a path comprised of crushed coral was planted to the east of this second bandstand. The trees were planted as an “allee,” a term borrowed from French landscape architecture of the seventeenth century to describe a long, avenue lined by a double row of trees.

The allee is about 500 feet long and is a remnant of a former carriage road or system or paths and roads that were constructed to provide access to scenic areas within the park.

Bandstand number three replaced this facility in 1968.  The pretty much concrete, utilitarian bandstand was designed by Wilson, Okamoto and Associates and was sited at the ʻEwa end of the Park (near the prior.)

Then, in 2000, the 4th and existing Kapiʻolani Park Bandstand was constructed in this location.  Designed in the “Contemporary Hawaiian Victoriana" style.

Kapiʻolani Park has hosted four different bandstands over the years, and it appears each served a useful life of about forty-years before being replaced with another in differing design and functionality.

While the design and scale of each bandstand has changed each time, a constant has been its role as a focal point for island entertainment and festivals.

The image shows the changing nature of each of the four Kapiʻolani Park Bandstands (several images from “Kapiʻolani Park a history.”)  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Mōʻiliʻili Karst (Mōʻiliʻili Water Cave)

Prior and into the 1800s, Mōʻiliʻili was an agricultural community. It was transformed in the early 20th century into a self-contained town center with expanded businesses along King Street by Japanese immigrants who made Mōʻiliʻili their home.

This area is part of the Waikīkī ahupuaʻa.  Waikīkī was once a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres.  Here, the Mānoa and Pālolo streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

With the arrival and settlement of the Hawaiians, this area gradually transformed from marsh into hundreds of taro fields, fish ponds and gardens.  The broad expanse of the Waikīkī ahupuaʻa was once one of the most productive agricultural areas in old Hawai‘i.

In the 1860s and 1870s, former Asian sugar plantation workers (Japanese and Chinese) replaced the taro and farmed more than 500-acres of wetlands in rice fields, also raising fish and ducks in the ponds.  By 1892, Waikīkī had 542 acres planted in rice, representing almost 12% of the total 4,659-acres planted in rice on O‘ahu.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

Many residents of the Mōʻiliʻili area (and beyond) may not be aware that just a few feet below their feet, cars, houses and businesses are remnant caverns and caves (and water) in the Mōʻiliʻili underground.

During the island’s formative stage, the sea level was more than 25 feet higher than its present level. This period of sea level elevation is responsible for the deposit of fossil reef limestone in southern coastal Oʻahu, including up to the region we now know as Mōʻiliʻili.

The weathering and erosion of Oahu’s dormant volcanoes, the Waianae and Koʻolau, paired with the rise and retrieval of the sea level resulted in the formation of “interbedded marine and terrestrial deposits”.

The underground cave system is thought to be part of the original channel of Mānoa stream – people call it the Mōʻiliʻili Karst (Karst being a geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, such as limestone.)

The wide upslope section of the cave is centered near the intersection of University Avenue and South King Street (down slope from the University Avenue – H-1 interchange.)  The lower edge is located at the intersection of University Avenue and Kapiʻolani Boulevard.

The environment above the karst is highly urbanized, containing busy streets, buildings and businesses. The consequences of such urbanization are evident. Before damages due to urbanization and cave-ins, the Mōʻiliʻili Karst contained a half-mile cave that seemed to be a single connected structure.

There were several ponds that were fed by the karsic springs. One was located west of University Avenue, upslope of Beretania Street (near the UH makai campus.) The Kānewai underground pond was important to Hawaiian culture, because its water was said to have healing properties.

According to Hawaiian folklore, fish swam underground from the sea to this pool to eavesdrop on the fishermen who frequented this area and listen to the fishers’ plans.

Another important spring-fed pond was the Hausten (formerly Kumulae) pond. Originally, the pond was a favorite of Queen Kamāmalu (sister of Kamehameha IV and V).  The Queen and her brothers loved swimming in the ponds, which were also said to have healing powers.  The pond became the site of the Willows restaurant, and served as an attraction to customers there.

In 1934, a construction project downslope struck a master conduit of the karst. This caused massive water drainage of the upslope area; “for more than four months, an average of 3.8 x 107 L was pumped daily before the hole could be sealed and construction resumed.” The total amount pumped before the leak could be sealed was greater than one billion gallons of water.

The spring-feed ponds vanished within 24 hours.  There have been several instances of collapses since the dewatering. One instance in 1952 involves the Standard Trading store falling through the ground into the karst below it.  Another instance involves the emergence of a large cavern downslope from the King-University intersection.

The leak was repaired, but had changed the karst forever. Several spots in the formation were deliberately filled.  Cave-ins greatly reduced the size of the cave network, and changed access to the underground.

The Mōʻiliʻili Karst (Mōʻiliʻili Water Cave) is the only place where bare limestone can be seen; the cave is approximated to be as high as ten feet, and have depth of up to five feet in places.

It is entered by only by a drainage grate, and despite the impacts of human intrusion, “construction fill, metal pilings, and trash swept into the system by floodwaters,” the cave has been able to retain its cool and clear water.

I have not been in the cave; reading people’s description of the experience, I am not sure I would spend much time down there.  The image is an 1897 photo (bishopmuseum) in the cave.   In addition, I have added some other images/maps in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

After December 7, 1941 - Submarines Continue Attack on Hawaiʻi

Most are very aware of the December 7, 1941 attacks by the Japanese on military installations on Oʻahu.

Their targets were Pearl Harbor; Hickam, Wheeler and Bellows airfields; Ewa Marine Corps Air Station; Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station and Schofield Barracks.

However, the attacks by the Japanese on Hawaiʻi did not end on December 7th.

A group of about nine Japanese submarines were kept in the vicinity of Hawaiʻi until mid-January - they were stationed there to find out just how much damage had been done to the American military.

In addition, they tried to do what damage they could, as well as stir up concern in the civilian population about the war.

Before December was over, the Japanese submarines brought war home to the neighbor islands.  Not by air attacks, but with periodic shelling from their submarines.

Over the next few weeks, on several occasions, they shelled more targets in Hawaiʻi - and, those attacks were not isolated to military targets; later in the month, civilian facilities were the intended targets.

Just before dusk on December 15th, a submarine lobbed about ten shells into the harbor area of Kahului on Maui, and three that hit a pineapple cannery caused limited damage.

Over a 2½-hour period during the night of December 30 - 31, submarines engaged in similar and nearly simultaneous shellings of Nawiliwili on Kauaʻi, again on Kahului, Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

Damage at all three points was slight, and no one was hurt. The principal result of these shellings was to stir up the war consciousness of all the Hawaiian Islands.

A report of the Kauaʻi shelling states, "At around 1:30 a.m. on the moonlit night of December 30, 1941, an enemy Japanese submarine estimated to be about 4 miles offshore shelled Nawiliwili Harbor with least 15 three-inch shells in what was the only attack on Kauai during WWII."  (kalapakibeach-org)

"The shrapnel from one shell riddled every room in the home of CL Shannon, which was located over the Kauaʻi Marine & Machine Works, Shannon's business, then situated along the stretch of harbor between what are today the Matson and Young Brothers terminals."

On the bluff above the harbor, where the bulk sugar storage warehouse stands today, a shell started a small cane fire.  Most of the shells were duds. One punctured a gasoline storage tank, others created water plumes in the bay.

Merchant Marine William S. Chambers, on a cargo ship docked in Kahului, noted. "We were shelled by a Japanese submarine in Kahului Harbor on December 30th, 1941, shortly before we left for San Francisco."  No damage was reported at Kahului.

Ten rounds were fired at ships docked at Kahului piers.  Two shells fell harmlessly into the harbor. Four rounds hit the Maui Pineapple Company cannery, doing some damage to the roof and smokestack. One fell on the driveway of the Maui Vocational School, another in a waste lumber pile on Pier I, and one broke a few windows at the Pacific Guano and Fertilizer building. Army guns unsuccessfully returned fire.

The second attack on Kahului, on December 31, took place after General Order No. 14 established wartime censorship in Hawai'i and therefore received limited coverage.

The News did, however, mention in its first edition of 1942 that Maui police, navy and marine forces, as well as "HC & S Co. cowboys," were patrolling on horseback to prevent looting. The death toll from the attacks: one unfortunate chicken.

None of the damage was considered major. Some frightened Kahului residents started to flee, but police and Boy Scouts persuaded them to return home.

In Hilo, residents were roused when a submarine surfaced about three miles offshore and open fired on Hilo Bay.  Ten rounds, with high explosive shells hit a seaplane tender, the pier and started a small fire in the vicinity of Hilo Airport.

In addition, I have added a few other images and maps of the areas targeted by the Japanese submarines in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

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