Gladstone

A memorial chiseled into a hard to find boulder is a vigilant reminder of the hazards of hiking in Hawaiʻi’s wilderness – and it continues the memory of its focus.

We often read about rockfalls on houses, cars and other property; in this case a 7½-pound rock killed a boy on a hike in Mānoa Valley.

The sentinel, with a cross carved into a neighboring boulder, commemorates the tragic death of a young boy on a Sunday school outing.

The Sunday school teacher carried him unconscious down the trail to his carriage and drove to Queen's Hospital; there, treated by Dr. Hildebrand, unfortunately, he died.  (Krauss)

He was 11-years old, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Wright.  They came to Hawaiʻi in the early-1880s.  Apparently, Thomas was a carriage maker who came to Hawaiʻi with two brothers who apparently operated a carriage business.  (Krauss)

The memorial simply states: Gladstone Wright Killed May 14 1891

Apparently, Gladstone’s cousin was George Fred Wright (April 23, 1881 – July 2, 1938,) later Mayor of Honolulu from 1931 to 1938. Wright, a native of Honolulu, died in office in 1938 while traveling aboard the SS Mariposa.  (Krauss)  (Mayor Wright Housing in Kalihi was named after him.)

The memorial is located on Waiakeakua Stream in Mānoa Valley.  It’s between its upper and lower falls on the east side of Mānoa Valley.

Waiakeakua (“Water of the Gods”) is the easternmost spring and stream at the back of Mānoa Valley.  Only the high chiefs were allowed to use this spring; it was kapu to others. A chief would often test the courage and fidelity of a retainer by dispatching him at night to fill a gourd at this spring.  (Beckwith)

Legends tell of Kāne and Kanaloa in Mānoa Valley.

“As they stood there facing the cliff, Kanaloa asked his older brother if there were kupua (descendants of a family of gods and has the power of transformation into certain inherited forms) in that place. The two climbed a perpendicular cliff and found a pretty woman living there with her woman attendant.”

“Kamehaʻikana (‘a multitude of descendants’) was the name of this kupua. Such was the nature of the two women that they could appear in the form of human beings or of stones. Both Kane and Kanaloa longed to possess this beauty of upper Manoa. The girl herself, after staring at them, was smitten with love for the two gods.”

“Kamehaʻikana began to smile invitingly. The attendant saw that her charge did not know which one of the two gods she wanted and knew that if they both got hold of her, she would be destroyed, and she was furious. Fearing death for her beloved one, she threw herself headlong between the strangers and her charge and blocked the way. Kane leaped to catch the girl, but could not reach her. … The original trees are dead but their seedlings are grown and guard Waiakeakua, Water of the Gods.” (hawaii-edu)

Regarding the trickling stream, Pukuʻi’s ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, No. 2917 notes, Wai peʻepeʻe palai o Waiakekua. The water that plays hide-and-seek among the ferns.

Waihi is a tributary that feeds into Waiakeakua.  Just east of the popular Mānoa Falls are three other waterfalls: Luaʻalaea (pit of red earth), just off of the Luaʻalaea trail; the tall Nāniuʻapo (the grasped coconuts), which also has a fresh spring; and Waiakeakua Falls, which features bathing pools.  (MalamaOManoa)

The spring, Pūʻahuʻula, just west of Waiakeakua Stream is where Queen Kaʻahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I, had a green-shuttered home near Pūʻahuʻula, where she died in 1832.  (MalamaOManoa)

The image shows the Gladstone memorial.  It is off Na Ala Hele’s Puʻu Pia trail, down to and up the Waiakeakua Stream.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Honolulu - About 1850

On the continent: the Donner Party was trapped in heavy snow (1846;) California Gold Rush was underway (1848;) and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, giving the United States Texas, California, New Mexico and other territories (1848.)  Europe was in political upheaval with the European Revolutions of 1848 (aka "Spring of Nations" or "Springtime of the Peoples.")

In Hawaiʻi, Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, was King and the Great Māhele (1848) was taking place; it was the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi that separated land title to the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents,) and eventually the people.

At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents.  Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors.)  Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right.)

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above.)  In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani's father-in-law.

Kawaiahaʻo Church (Stone Church) generally marked the eastern edge of town; it was constructed between 1836 and 1842.  The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the time to this day.

Honolulu Harbor was bustling at that time.  Over the prior twenty years, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846; 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Shortly after, however, in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the Hawaiʻi whaling industry.

At the time, Honolulu Harbor was not as it is today and many of the visiting ships would anchor two to three miles off-shore - cargo and people were ferried to the land.

What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

From 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the "Esplanade" (where Aloha Tower is now situated) and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor was underway.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) was demolished in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor - some of the coral blocks are still visible at Pier 12.

The old prison was built in 1856-57, to take the place of the old fort (that also previously served as a prison.)  The custom-house was completed in 1860.  The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes was laid down in 1861.

The city was regularly laid out with major streets typically crossing at right angles - they were dirt (Fort Street had to wait until 1881 for pavement, the first to be paved.)  Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood (as early as 1838;) by 1857, the first sidewalk made of brick was laid down on Merchant Street.

Honolulu Hale was then located on Merchant Street (now the park/vacant lot between the Kamehameha V Post Office and Pioneer Plaza.)  County governance was still 50-years away (1905) and what we now know as Honolulu Hale today was 75-years away (1928.)

To get around people walked, or rode horses or used personal carts/buggies.  It wasn't until 1868, that horse-drawn carts became the first public transit service in the Hawaiian Islands.

At that time, folks were 50-years away from getting automobiles (the first gasoline-powered arrived in 1900;) that same year (1900,) an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and by 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation (1838:) "I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land... Because of the lack of streets some people were almost killed by horseback riders …."  By 1850, there was much improvement.

By the 1840s, the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing, and many of the old traditional trails - the ala loa and mauka-makai trails within ahupua‘a - were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that caused the animals to slip.

At the time, "Broadway" was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest - about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the "plains" (to Mānoa.)

There were five food markets in Honolulu (in thatched sheds) one of which was more particularly a vegetable market.  Irish potatoes were $2-$3 per bushel (about 50-lbs;) eggs were $0.25 to $0.75 per dozen; oranges $0.25 per dozen and turkeys and ducks were about $.05 each, chickens started at about $0.25 a piece.

Butter was mostly made on the Big Island and Kauaʻi - about 19,000-lbs produced - and sold at an average price of $0.30 per pound; milk was 12 1/2 cents a quart.  Fresh beef sold for $0.06 per pound.

The fledgling sugar industry was starting to spread across the islands (with the first successful commercial sugar plantation founded in 1835 at Kōloa, Kauaʻi.)  It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands.  Of the nearly 385,000 foreign contract workers that eventually came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Founded in 1839, Oʻahu's first school was called the Chief’s Children’s School.  The school was created by King Kamehameha III to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief's children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii's Kingdom.

Missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke were selected by King Kamehameha III to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.

Here, Hawai‘i sovereigns (who reigned after Kamehameha III over the Hawaiian people after his death in 1854) were given Western education, including, Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) Queen Emma, Lot Kapuaiwa (King Kamehameha V,) King William Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Lili‘uokalani.

Lots of information here from 'The Polynesian' (January 1, 1847,) Greer and Gilman.  The image shows Honolulu from the Harbor in 1854.  In addition, I have added some other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hawaiian Woods – Hawaiian Royal Residences

Most houses at the time of Cook's contact with the Hawaiian Islands consisted of a framework of posts, poles and slender rods - often set on a paving or low platform foundation - lashed together with a coarse twine made of beaten and twisted bark, vines, or grassy fibers.  This was then covered with ti, pandanus or sugarcane leaves, or a thatch of pili grass or other appropriate material.

When covered with small bundles of grass laid side by side in overlapping tiers, these structures were described as resembling haystacks.  One door and frequently an additional small "air hole" provided ventilation and light, while air also passed through the thatching.  Grass or palm leaves covered the raised earth floors of these houses.

When a chief needed a house, his retainers assembled the materials and erected the structure under the direction of an individual (kahuna) expert in the art of erecting a framework and applying thatch.

Many of these more modern royal residences were named – some were named after the material they were made from.  Here are three such royal residences.

Hale Kauila (Downtown Honolulu - Queen Kīna‘u)

Hale Kauila (house built of kauila wood) once stood on the street in downtown Honolulu that still bears the name of this large council chamber or reception room (some refer to it as Kina‘u’s house.)

While the thatch is attached in the usual way, the posts are much higher than usual and have squared timber; but the most foreign touch, apart from the windows, are the cross braces at the top and between the posts and the plate (they were never used in genuine native work.)

The description by Captain du Petit-Thouars of this house (which he calls the house of the Queen Kīna‘u:) “This house, built in wood and covered with dry grasses, is placed in the middle of a fortification closed with a fence.”

“The platform on which it rests is high above the ground in the yard about 30 centimeters and it is surrounded, externally, a covered gallery which makes it more pleasant.”

“Its shape inside, is that of a rectangle lengthens; in one end, there is a flat shape by a wooden partition which does not rise to the roof.”

“This piece serves as a bedroom, in the remaining of the area, box, and at the other end, there is a portion of the high ground from 28 to 30 centimeters, which is covered with several mats: it is this kind of big couch that was placed the ladies and they are held lying on one side or stomach, or they stand to receive and to make room.”

Hale Lama (Waikīkī - King Kamehameha V)

King Kamehameha V’s Waikīkī home was built in 1866.  It was called Hale Lama.  As described by George Kanahele, the residence “was quite modest with only one bedroom, but was notable for its neo-Hawaiian architecture – a low, rectangular-shaped structure, with a high-pitched, hipped roof that was thatched and descended to the poles of the lanai that sounded three of the four exterior walls.”

“The design suited Waikiki’s climate perfectly.  The high pitched roof allowed for the upward expansion of warm air, thus cooling the inside of the house, and the wide overhanging eaves kept out both sun and rain, while inviting the serenity and beauty of the natural setting.”

“It has been mentioned that the lama wood was especially used for building houses of the gods, that is, the thatched houses within the enclosures of the heiau or luakini, and its use in building the house for King lot, Kamehameha V, gave an excuse for its reported use by an old kahuna in the King’s establishment, for a house of prayer, and I am assured by an old resident that prayers to the gods were frequently offered therein”.

After the Kamehameha V’s death in 1872, the house and property went to went to Princess Ruth who bequeathed the property to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.  The Princess and her husband Charles Bishop renovated and enlarged the house with servant quarters.

Hale Kamani (Lāhainā – Princess Nahiʻenaʻena)

When Keōpūolani returned to Maui to live her final years, she had a house on the beach in Lāhainā; her daughter, Nahiʻenaʻena, lived in her own home next door - Nahiʻenaʻena called her house Hale Kamani.

It had an early and convenient addition to the common grass house in a land where the people lived so generally in the open air, was the lanai, with extensions of the rafters at the same or a slightly reduced slope.

This verandah was, generally speaking, the most comfortable part of the house.  This lanai was often detached as in the Hale Kamani and was sometimes large with walls of coconut leaves intertwined, and a nearly flat roof of similar substance which was intended to furnish shade rather than shelter from heavy rain.

At least one other Royal Residence was named after a native wood ‘Āinahau (Princess Kapi‘olani’s home in Waikīkī;) however, it was named such because it was situated in a hau grove, not that its wood was used in the structure.

The image shows Hale Lama, Kamehameha V's summer residence at Helumoa.  In addition, I have included other wood-named royal residences in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Only The Stars Of The Heavens Know

Kamehameha I died May 8, 1819 at Kamakahonu at Kailua-Kona.

"His bones, in accordance with traditions afforded high kings, were separated from his flesh and placed in a kaʻai, a basket woven of sennet cordage."  (Bill Maiʻoho, Mauna Ala Kahu (caretaker,) Star-Bulletin)

"Mother of pearl was inlaid for the eyes and the king's own teeth formed the mouth; his flesh was thrown far out to sea." (Maiʻoho)

"Kamehameha was a planner, so he talked to Hoapili and Hoʻolulu about where his iwi should be hidden," noting Kamehameha wanted his bones protected from desecration not only from rival chiefs, but from westerners who were sailing into the islands and sacking sacred sites. (Maiʻoho)

Hoapili (originally known as Ulumāheihei) (c. 1775–1840) and Hoʻolulu (1794–1865) were brothers. Both were trusted advisors to Kamehameha.

Their father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the "royal twins" who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

When the days of purification were ended and the platform for the body was covered with kapa and a girdle of leaves had been placed, then the high priest finished his ceremonies within the temple house where he had been praying that the spirit of the dead might be given life and welcomed to the company of the good spirits to dwell with Wākea. (Thrum)

When these ceremonies were finished, Hoapili and Hoʻolulu prepared to obey the command given them by Kamehameha to take care of his body and thoroughly secrete it. (Thrum)

The chief's bones belonged by right to the family of Keawe-a-heulu and to the hidden burial places of its members from Kiolakaʻa and Waiʻōhinu in Kāʻu, but Kamehameha doubted whether this family could keep the place secret, for the place where the bones of their father, Keōua, were hidden was pointed out on the cliffs of Kaʻawaloa. (Kamakau)

Kamehameha had therefore entrusted his bones to Hoapili and Hoʻolulu, with instructions to put them in a place which would never be pointed out to anyone.

Different stories suggest different places where Kamehameha’s bones are located: to an undersea cave that could only be accessed at low tide; over the rough lava plains of Puʻuokaloa to Kaloko in Kekaha; within Kaloko fishpond and others. All stories note he was buried in secret under the cover of darkness.

The ceremonial burial of iwi kupuna (ancestral Native Hawaiian remains) and moepū (funerary objects) involves great secrecy in order to protect the burial site and ensure the peace and sanctity of ancestors who have passed away, as well as the spiritual, physical, and psychological well-being of their descendants.  (He Ho‘olaha, OHA)

Kamehameha’s final resting place and his bones have never been found; a saying related to that site notes: ‘Only the stars of the heavens know the resting place of Kamehameha.’

For Hawaiians, burial locations were one of the most secretive traditions in a culture over a thousand years old, and proper handling of ancient burial remains uncovered today; continue to be a highly sensitive cultural concern. (Yardley)

State law (§6E) addresses dealing with burials; §6E-43 Prehistoric and historic burial sites - at any site, other than a known, maintained, actively used cemetery where human skeletal remains are discovered or are known to be buried and appear to be over fifty years old, the remains and their associated burial goods shall not be moved without the department's approval.

§6E-43.5 Island burial councils; creation; appointment; composition; duties. (a) The department shall establish island burial councils for Hawaii, Maui/Lanai, Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai/Niihau, to implement section 6E-43.

The councils shall: Determine the preservation or relocation of previously identified native Hawaiian burial sites; Assist the department in the inventory and identification of native Hawaiian burial sites; Make recommendations regarding appropriate treatment and protection of native Hawaiian burial sites, and on any other matters relating to native Hawaiian burial sites.

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

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook 

Follow Peter T Young on Google+ 

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Henry J Kaiser

In 1954, a bold, rotund tourist arrived on Hawaiʻi’s shores.

Vacationing with his second wife, he rented a Diamond House, rather than the scarce hotel accommodations.  He made Hawaiʻi his home.

While, today, we look back at Henry J Kaiser for his developments such as Hawaiʻi Kai and the Hilton Hawaiian Village, these things are part of his later legacy.

Kaiser had a long successful career prior to coming to Hawaiʻi.

Before getting here, he had several successful enterprises as wartime shipbuilder, automaker, steelman and millionaire chief of a vast industrial empire.

Kaiser was born on May 9, 1882 in Sprout Brook, New York; at 13, he left school to work to help support his parents and three sisters, by working in a dry goods store.

He moved to the West in 1906, and his sales jobs led him into the construction business and the first company he formed in 1914.

Let’s fast-forward a bit through several of his endeavors.

Through the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California during World War II, Kaiser built “Liberty Ships” and “Victory Ships” (cargo ships.)

His operations built more ships than any other during the war (now part of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Park.)  (He formed Kaiser Steel to supply steel plate for the shipbuilding.

He also made automobiles (including jeeps,) and later formed Kaiser Aluminum (where the operations included mining, refining, aluminum production and fabricated aluminum parts.)

In addition to building medical hospitals, centers and school, he formed a foundation focusing on health care needs in the country and also founded Kaiser Permanente.  (In 1958, he opened Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Honolulu.)

A consortium, called Six Companies, Inc., with Henry J. Kaiser as chairman of the executive committee, was formed to build Hoover (Boulder) Dam on the Colorado River.

This group, with Kaiser at the helm, also collaborated on the building of Bonneville, Grand Coulee and Shasta Dams, natural gas pipelines in the Southwest, Mississippi River levees, and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge underwater foundations.

The two most notable Kaiser products in Hawaiʻi are the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel (today known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village) and Hawaiʻi Kai.

Back in 1891, at Kālia, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikīkī to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped (1928) as the Niumalu Hotel.  Kaiser bought it and adjoining property and started the Kaiser Hawaiian Village.

He sold to Hilton Hotels in 1961 and the property (now totaling 22-acres) continues to be known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

That year, Bishop Estate leased a 6,000-acre area, which included Kuapā Pond, to Kaiser Aetna for subdivision development. The development is now known as "Hawaiʻi Kai."

Kaiser Aetna dredged and filled parts of Kuapā Pond, erected retaining walls and built bridges within the development to create the Hawaiʻi Kai Marina.

Henry J Kaiser died on August 24, 1967 at the age of 85 in Honolulu.

By the time of his death, Henry J. Kaiser had founded more than 100 companies, which operated 180 major plants in 32 states and 40 foreign countries, employing 90,000 people and making 300 products and services, with assets of $2.5 billion.

The Kaiser pink … it was reportedly the favorite color of his wife Alyce Chester Kaiser (his second wife.)  Since Kaiser often wore pink, it was likely also a favorite of his.

The image shows Henry and Bess Kaiser (his first wife, she died in 1951.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Mother Waldron

By the 1880s, residential construction began with the filling of fishponds, marshes and mudflats starting with the area closest to downtown Honolulu; Kakaʻako flourished as a residential settlement where immigrant workers joined the Hawaiian community to form areas such as Squattersville, a shantytown which sprang up along the district’s makai border.  (KSBE)

The Territory saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

Back then, much of the makai lands from Honolulu to and including Waikīkī were characterized with lowland marshes, wetlands, coral reef flats and farming of fishponds along with some limited wetland kalo (taro) taro agriculture (and later rice.)

However, they were also characterized as, “stretched useless, unsightly, offensive swamps, perpetually breeding mosquitoes and always a menace to public health and welfare”.

This set into motion a number of ‘reclamation’ and ‘sanitation’ projects in Kakaʻako, Honolulu, Waikīkī, Lāhaina, Hilo and others.  The first efforts were concentrated at Kakaʻako – it was then more generally referred to as “Kewalo.”

The Kewalo Reclamation District included the area bounded by South Street, King Street, Ward Avenue and Ala Moana Boulevard.  They filled in the wetlands.

As the area grew and developed, so did the need for public facilities.  In 1909, Governor Frear helped pass the “Act to Provide for the Establishment of the Public Library of Hawaii”.  On May 15, 1909 the Honolulu Library and Reading Room and the Library of Hawaiʻi signed an agreement by which the former agreed to turn over all books, furnishings and remaining funds to the latter.

The building's final location, though, had not been selected.  Several possible sites were considered.  Ultimately, Governor Frear made a lot available on the corner of King and Punchbowl streets.

The site he picked had been purchased in 1872 from Lunalilo and transferred to the Board of Education.  In 1874, the government-supported Pohukaina School for Girls was built on the site.  Just up the street was the Royal School for Boys.

In the late-1800s to early-1900s, the Pohukaina School served as a school for the illegitimate offspring of Hawaiian women and foreign men.  (KSBE)

In order to accommodate the new Library of Hawaiʻi, after 36-years at King and Punchbowl, Pohukaina School was relocated to Kakaʻako on the reclaimed land.

Pohukaina School was moved to Kaka‘ako, within the city block bounded by Pohukaina Street, Keawe Street, Halekauwila Street, and Coral Street;  the new school opened in 1913.

One of the teachers at the Pohukaina School was Margaret Waldron. Mrs. Waldron taught at Pohukaina for 18 years until her retirement in 1934.  They called her Mother Waldron.

Mother Waldron was an orphan.  She was raised by the Judd and Castle families and educated at Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.  She was 1/8-Hawaiian and 7/8-Irish. She was part saint and part cop.  (Dye)

Her philosophy was simple, “Never help anybody who isn’t willing to help someone else.  When I help anyone, I make him promise to pay for it.  But they don’t pay me directly; they pay me by promising to do just as much or more for the next person in need.”  On her 50th-birthday, she was given a bar pin inscribed with the word “Mother.”  (Dye)

She was also noted for her volunteer work in Kaka‘ako, and was “generally credited with being the individual who had most influence in transforming the so-called ‘Kakaako gangs’ into law abiding groups and wiping out the unsavory reputation which at one time clung to the district”.  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin; May 8, 1936)

One time she wanted to clean the school playground of rocks and needed the help of some of the children.  WWI was raging at the time, so she put a picture of the Kaiser in a vacant lot across the park.  The kids threw rocks at the Kaiser and thus cleared the park (Dye)

Margaret Waldron died on May 8, 1936.

The following year, when a new 1.76-acre playground was constructed across Coral Street from Pohukaina School, the Honolulu Board of Supervisors authorized the park’s designation as “Mother Waldron Playground.” The playground, designed by Harry Sims Bent, was opened in September 20, 1937 on the site of the former County stables.

In 1933, Bent was chosen as the park architect for the City and County of Honolulu.  Most playgrounds in the early twentieth century consisted of large areas of pavement used to get children off of the street and had no aesthetic value.

Bent’s design went beyond the modern level and into the realm of art deco, allowing for play, as well as contact with nature.  His works at Ala Moana Park include the canal bridge, entrance portals, sports pavilion, banyan courtyard and the lawn bowling green.

The Mother Waldron Playground includes a historic one-story comfort station, two basketball courts, a volleyball court, an open field and benches along the historic boundary walls.

It features a painted brick perimeter wall, approximately 3-feet high, which zig-zags down Coral Street.  Brick curbing and paving is used to further embellish the corner entries and delineates the sidewalk from the parking on the Coral Street side.

The Mother Waldron Playground was then the most modern facility in the Territory. The following year, Lewis Mumford, the noted author and social scientist, was invited by the Honolulu Park Board to study the county’s parks and playgrounds.

He noted the “spirit called forth in the Mother Waldron Playground.” Mumford defined that spirit exemplified by Mother Waldron Playground and other county parks.

Pohukaina School remained in operation in Kaka‘ako until 1980, by which time it had developed into a special education facility. The buildings were demolished, and in 1981, the Pohukaina School special education program was transferred to the campus of Kaimukī Intermediate School.

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

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

East Maui Irrigation System

At the time of Haiku Sugar Company's charter in 1858, there were only ten sugar companies in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.  Five of these sugar companies were located on the island of Maui:  East Maui Plantation at Kaluanui; Brewer Plantation at Haliʻimalie; LL Torbert and Captain James Makee's plantation at Ulupalakua; Haiku Plantation; and Hana.

In 1871, Samuel T Alexander became manager of the Haiku mill on Maui.  Alexander and his partner, Henry Perrine Baldwin, saw the need for a reliable source of water, and to this end undertook the construction of the Hāmākua ditch in 1876.

The first part of the work was completed in the summer of 1877; the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, on July 14, 1877, noted:   “The great display of the day was at Haiku, where several hundred Natives and Foreigners assembled to celebrate the completion of the Big Ditch, and to see for themselves, the water from the mountain gushing through great iron pipes, emptying itself into the ditch, and rolling on to the valley, and spreading over the cane fields, making the earth glad with its presence. The motto, “The Grass Grows And Water Runs,” was pointed on canvas and stretched across the principal avenue; flags were flying apparently from every bush,—the Wailuku brass band was in attendance and discoursed screech music. Too much credit cannot be bestowed upon Messers. Alexander and Baldwin for their perseverance and energy in completing so great and valuable an enterprise.”  (Kuykendall)

The completed Old Hāmākua Ditch was 17-miles long and had a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.  A second ditch was added, the Spreckels Ditch; when completed, it was 30-miles long with a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.  Before World War I, the New Hāmākua, Koʻolau, New Haiku and Kauhikoa ditches were built.

A total of ten ditches were constructed between 1879 and 1923; this system makes up what is known today as East Maui Irrigation (EMI.)

This privately financed, constructed and managed irrigation system was one of the largest in the United States.  It demonstrated the feasibility of transporting water from steep tropical forested watersheds with high rainfall across difficult terrain to fertile and dry plains.

East Maui Irrigation system consists of 388-separate intakes, 24-miles of ditches and 50-miles of tunnels, as well as inverted siphons, numerous small dams, pipes, flumes and 8-reservoirs, spanning 39 drainage basins.

The aqueducts bring water from the steep, wet eastern slopes of Haleakalā to the fertile semi-arid central Maui plain. They provide half the irrigation water to the sugar growing area of Maui.

Sugar production dramatically increased with irrigation and improved cultivation practices.  Sugar yields increased from 2-tons per acre to over 13-tons per acre grown with 2-year crop cycles.

Eventually sugar production from the Islands exceeded 1.2-million tons per year, comprising the major economic sector of Hawaii for 100-years.

Over the years of the development of this system, many engineers gained experience in building irrigation systems. They used what they learned from the East Maui Irrigation System to develop other irrigation systems; EMI System was the forerunner of major aqueducts in the Western United States by the Bureau of Reclamation for irrigation districts and regional domestic supplies.

In 2003, the East Maui Irrigation System was designated as an ASCE National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.   It is the third National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in the State of Hawaiʻi.  The other two landmarks are the Kamehameha V Post Office Building, dedicated in 1987, and the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility, dedicated in 1994.

Today, the EMI System conveys billions of gallons per year from high rainfall slopes on the Windward side of Haleakalā to the semi-arid region between east and west Maui for sugar cane cultivation.  In addition, some of the water diverted serves 10,000 Upcountry customers.

The issue of stream diversion, at EMI and elsewhere, however, is not simply engineering success and diversion on one part of the island to irrigate crops on another part of the island.  Taking too much from a stream can impact the stream ecosystem.

This relates to Instream Flow Standard which is “a quantity or flow of water or depth of water which is required to be present at a specific location in a stream system at certain specified times of the year to protect fishery, wildlife, recreational, aesthetic, scenic, and other beneficial instream uses.”

The technical language of the law is complicated; I simplify this to say that the instream flow standard simply allows a stream to be a stream.

Because ground and surface waters of the state are held in public trust for the benefit of the citizens of the state, the people of the state are beneficiaries and have a right to have the waters protected.

The object of the public trust is not maximum consumptive use, but rather the most equitable, reasonable and beneficial allocation of state water resources, with full recognition that resource protection and natural processes also constitute “use.”

Adequate provisions must also be made for the protection of traditional and customary Hawaiian rights, the protection and procreation of fish and wildlife, the maintenance of proper ecological balance and scenic beauty, and the preservation and enhancement of water of the state for municipal uses, public recreation, public water supply, agriculture, and navigation.  Such objectives are declared to be in the public interest.

Related to this, EMI and other diversion systems have been the subject of conflict, litigation and contested case hearings before the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the State Commission on Water Resource Management (CWRM.)  In the past few years, CWRM adopted interim instream flow standards for 27 of the EMI streams. The saga continues.

While taking water for appropriate off-stream uses, at issue with diversions are the fundamental principles of letting a stream be a stream (don't divert too much to cause ecological changes in the stream) and protection of downstream user rights (allowing downstream users to also use the water resource - especially for taro cultivation.)

I was fortunate to have served as the Chair and Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Chair of the Water Commission, working on these and other related issues.

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

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC