John Young

It’s hard to tell the story of John Young without including Isaac Davis.

They arrived in Hawai‘i at the same time (on different boats) and they served Kamehameha I as co-advisors.  I’ll try to keep the focus on Young, here (but remember, their roles in Hawai‘i are pretty similar.)

John Young, a boatswain on the British fur trading vessel, Eleanora, was stranded on the Island of Hawai‘i in 1790.  Kamehameha brought Young to Kawaihae, where he was building the massive temple, Pu’ukoholā Heiau.

For the next several years, John Young, and another British sailor, Isaac Davis, went on to assist Kamehameha in his unification of the Hawaiian Islands.

Because of his knowledge of European warfare, Young is said to have trained Kamehameha and his men in the use of muskets and cannons.  In addition, both Young and Davis fought alongside Kamehameha in his many battles.

With these powerful new weapons and associated war strategy, Kamehameha eventually brought all of the Hawaiian Islands under his rule.

Young was instrumental in building fortifications throughout the Islands, which included the conversion of Mailekini Heiau (below Pu‘ukoholā Heiau) into a fort, which he armed with as many as 21 ship cannons.

Because of his common practice of yelling “All Hands!” during battle and training, the Hawaiians came to know Young by the name Olohana, a Hawaiian use of this English phrase.

Young also served as a negotiator for the king, securing various trade and political agreements with many of the foreigners that visited the Islands.

When Captain George Vancouver visited Hawai‘i Island in 1793, he observed that both Young and Davis “are in his [Kamehameha's] most perfect confidence, attend him in all his excursions of business or pleasure, or expeditions of war or enterprise; and are in the habit of daily experiencing from him the greatest respect, and the highest degree of esteem and regard.”

Of all the lands given to Young (on various islands,) he chose a homestead near Pu‘ukoholā Heiau in Kawaihae to raise his family; he called it Pahukanilua.  He built his houses of basalt, the heavy, dark lava rock readily available near his site.

Young also had coral blocks brought by canoe from the reef at Puako, dried them, and made a plaster of sand and burnt coral mixed with poi and hair.

Kamehameha appointed John Young as Governor of Kamehameha's home island, Hawai‘i Island, and gave him a seat next to himself in the ruling council of chiefs.

In 1819, Young was one of the few present at the death of Kamehameha I.

He then actively assisted Kamehameha II (Liholiho) in retaining his authority over the various factions that arose at his succession to the throne.

Young was also present for the ending of the kapu system in 1819 and, a few months later, advised the new king to allow the first Protestant missionaries to settle in the Islands

He was married twice.  His descendants were also prominent in Hawaiian history.  The most prominent of his descendants was his granddaughter, Queen Emma.

Besides her most notable accomplishment, the founding of the Queen’s Hospital, which still serves the people of Hawai‘i, she gracefully represented the Kingdom throughout the world, making official visits to the White House and Buckingham Palace.

Both Davis and Young lived out their lives in the Islands. When Davis died in 1810, Young adopted the Davis children.

Finally, in 1835, at the age of 93, John Young, statesman, high chief, friend and advisor to Kamehameha the Great, died at his daughter’s home on O‘ahu.

Although Young had died by the time of the Great Māhele land division, his property was awarded to his wife and children, including the children of Isaac Davis.  His service to Kamehameha was considered to be so great that Young's heirs did not have to pay commutation for their māhele awards.

John Young and his granddaughter Emma are buried at Mauna ‘Ala (the Royal Mausoleum on O‘ahu,) the final resting place of the high chiefs and royalty of the Kamehameha and Kalākaua dynasties.

The image is of John Young, a colorized drawing initially by Jacques Arago.  I have also added some additional images related to John Young (including his granddaughter Queen Emma and Queen's Hospital) in a folder of like name in the Photos section of my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-T-Young/1332665638

O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L)

The story of Hawaii’s “Big Five” companies (Alexander & Baldwin, Amfac (American Factors), Castle & Cooke, C. Brewer & Co. and Theo. H Davies & Co.) dominates the state’s economic history.

Their common trait: they were founded in agriculture - sugar and pineapple.

Another Hawai‘i family and company, Dillingham, started business in the late-1800s; although not a “Big Five,” deserves some attention.

It’s beginning, in part, is traced to O‘ahu Railway and Land Company.  They didn’t necessarily produce agriculture, but they played a critical role in agricultural operations.

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham formed OR&L (a narrow gauge rail,) whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.

In 1885, Dillingham embarked on a land development project west of Honolulu and, like his continental counterparts, realized that this venture would not succeed without improved transportation to the area.  He also figured that a railroad needed to carry freight, as well, in order to be profitable.

The drilling of the first artesian well on the Ewa Plain by James Campbell in 1879 presented Dillingham another opportunity.  He obtained 50-year leases beginning in 1887 from Campbell in Ewa.

In 1888, the legislature gave Dillingham an exclusive franchise “for construction and operation on the Island of O‘ahu a steam railroad ... for the carriage of passengers and freight.”

Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples for Dole.

Likewise, OR&L hauled various stages in the pineapple harvesting/production, including the canning components, fresh pineapple to the cannery, ending up hauling the cased products to the docks.

By 1895 the rail line reached Waianae.  It then rounded Kaena Point to Mokuleia, eventually extending to Kahuku.  Another line was constructed through central O‘ahu to Wahiawa.

Passenger travel was an add-on opportunity that not only included train rides, they also operated a bus system.  However, the hauling for the agricultural ventures was the most lucrative.

They even included a “Kodak Camera Train” (associated with the Hula Show) for Sunday trips to Haleiwa for picture-taking.  During the war years, they served the military.

Just like the rail programs on the continent, the railroad owned and operated the Haleiwa Hotel and offered city folks a North Shore destination with beaches, boating, golf, tennis and hunting.

In addition, OR&L (using another of its “land” components,) got into land development.  It developed Hawai‘i’s first planned suburban development and held a contest, through the newspaper, to name this new city.

The winner selected was “Pearl City” (the public also named the main street, Lehua.)

The railway owned 2,200-acres in fee simple in the peninsula.  First they laid-out and constructed the improvements, then invited the public on a free ride to see the new residential community.

The marketing went so well; ultimately, lots were auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Multiple factors affected the ultimate demise of the rail operations: sugar/pineapple production fizzled in the islands; more and more people were getting automobiles for travel; a 1946 tsunami damaged tracks and the war’s end stopped military travel.

The last ride on OR&L’s train operations was on December 31, 1947, ending 58-years of steam locomotives hauling all kinds of people, freight and other around O‘ahu.

The Dillinghams were out of transportation, but were active in development, construction and dredging.

My father served as manager of the land department of OR&L (1952-1961.)  When OR&L and Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company merged to form the Dillingham Corporation, he was manager and vice president at Dillingham until 1968.  As a kid, I remember going down to the old OR&L facility in Iwilei.

Hawaiian Railway Society is resurrecting railroading; they have a facility in Kalaeloa and run a train out to Kahe Point on Sundays call: (808) 681-5461 for details.

The image shows the OR&L facility in Iwilei.  I have also posted a folder of OR&L images in a folder of like name in the Photos section of my Facebook page.  (Information in this post taken, in part, from “Next Stop Honolulu,” which is a good book on early-Hawai‘i rail.)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-T-Young/1332665638

Entering Honolulu Harbor – The Early Years

There are certain things you should not or cannot do into the wind.

Tradewinds blow from the Northeast, the channel into Honolulu Harbor has a northeasterly alignment.  Early ships calling to Honolulu were powered only by sails.

The entrance to the harbor was narrow and lined on either side with reefs.

Ships don't sail into the wind.

Given all of this, Honolulu Harbor was difficult to enter.

The first European entry of Honolulu Harbor is credited to Captain Brown of the British schooner Jackal, accompanied by Captain Gordon in the sloop tender Prince Lee Boo.

They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown's Harbor.)

Following this, boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled, warped or tracked into the harbor (this was done with canoes; or, it meant men and/or oxen pulled them in.)

This might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow. Otherwise you had to contend with tradewinds blowing out of the harbor.

It was a narrow with reefs, but it was the only deep water harbor in the central Pacific.

In 1816 (as stories suggest,) Richards Street alignment was the straight path used by groups of men, and later oxen, to pull ships through the narrow channel into the harbor.

(Later, downtown’s Richards Street was named for a man who had a store on the street selling luggage to tourists.)

A few years after, in 1825, the first pier in the harbor was improvised by sinking a ship’s hull near the present Pier 12 site.

In 1854 the first steam tug was used to pull sail-powered ships into dock against the prevailing tradewinds.

Between 1857 and 1870, about 22-acres of reef and tideland was filled through a combination of fill and dredging, forming the “Esplanade” between Fort and Merchant Streets.

This created the area where Aloha Tower and Aloha Tower Marketplace are now located (prior to this, the waterfront was near Queen Street.)

In 1889, the Honolulu Harbor was described as “nothing but a channel kept open by the flow of the Nuʻuanu River.”  In 1890-92 the channel was widened and deepened by dredging.

A channel 200 feet wide by 30 feet deep was dredged for about 1,000-feet through the sand bar which had limited depth to as shallow as 18 feet, restricting entry of the largest ocean vessels.

A series of new piers were constructed at the base of Richards Street in 1896, at the site of Piers 17 and 18 in 1901 (to accommodate sugar loading) and then at Piers 7 and 12 in 1907.

Today, Honolulu Harbor continues to serve as Hawai‘i’s commercial lifeline to the rest of the world.

The image shows Honolulu Harbor in 1816 during the Otto von Kotzebre expedition  (one of the earliest charts of Honolulu.)  In addition, I have included images and charts of Honolulu Harbor around this early timeframe in a folder of like name in the Photos section.

(Several of the maps are from UH-Mānoa, Hamilton Library and shared with permission for personal, non-commercial and educational purposes.)

http://www.facebook.com/people/Peter-T-Young/1332665638

No One Calls Themselves Greedy

So, we are not ‘greedy,’ but others are?

I suspect each of us is by nature self-interested and we want the best for ourselves and our families.

Even first lady Michelle Obama recently told Barbara Walters in a 20/20 special that it is “practical” for her to put herself highest on her priority list; is that ‘greedy?’

Our forefathers acknowledged this self-interest and self-evident truth in expressing certain unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence.

Some folks call it the American Dream – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.  These rights are granted to each of us.

While we may have differing dreams, we still retain the same rights.

How is pursuing one’s own dreams considered ‘greedy’ for some, but not for others?

I think we would be better off admitting that we each carry some self-interest and self-enrichment within us – some people may want more; why is that not OK for them?

Because someone has more than others does not make them bad people; if you really think so, why are they bad?

Personal responsibility is not a zero-sum game.  Somebody else’s success is not another’s failure.

In attacking the so-called “greedy,” how does taking someone else down bring you up?

Why has there been all this name calling and class warfare, suggesting others are ‘greedy’ (and somehow, each of us pursuing our own self-interest is not?)

By the way, what is the threshold between greed and not greedy?

I think some use ‘greedy’ because it’s a catchy word to get people riled up and finger-pointing.

To me, name calling is a childish defense of attacking the other person – it can show signs of immaturity, insecurity and anxiety.

Some say it is envy.

Often times, people raise the volume in their name calling, in hopes that drowning out another view will somehow make themselves appear correct.

We each define success, happiness, living comfortably and fulfilling our dreams under our own terms; why do we all need to be the same?

Each of us is different; it is unfair to judge someone else under our terms – they are living their lives under their terms.

No one else is in our dreams; why should we compare ourselves with others?

And, why do we care what someone else has or is doing?

Scouting and Classroom Lessons

I was a Boy Scout for three weeks.

I can’t remember why it was so short, but I do recall that limited tenure.

I learned one very important lesson from that scouting experience.

It was reinforced by constant reminders from my teachers in school.

Today, several decades later, I still try to ‘Be Prepared’ and ‘Do My Homework’.

I appreciate the reinforcement of these principles; it makes life a little easier to deal with in this complicated world.

These are important life lessons we should learn to live with.

Too often, we don’t prepare or check - and fall into the trap of incorrectly assuming something or another.

Ala Loa - Hawaiian Trail Systems

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, A.D. 1400s - 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, transportation and communication within the Hawaiian kingdom was by canoe and by major trail systems.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai‘i, extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival. 

Ancient trails, those developed before western contact in 1778, facilitated trading between upland and coastal villages and communications between ahupua‘a and extended families.

These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the land.  Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they were paved with water worn stones.

Over time, as needs and technology changed, the trails evolved to address these changes.

Various archaeologists note the following evolution of Hawai‘i trails:

• Pre-contact/Early historical … Single-file footpath … Follow contours of coast

• 1820-1840 … Widened for one horse … Coastal - curbstones added

• 1820-1840 … Built in straight lines, inland

• 1841-1918 … Widened for two horses … Straight, leveled

•  Late-1800s-early 1900s … Widened for horse cart … Straight, leveled

In 1892, Queen Lili‘uokalani and the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i signed into law an “Act Defining Highways, and Defining and Establishing Certain Routes and Duties in Connection Therewith,” to be known as “The Highways Act, 1892.”

Through this act, all roads, alleys, streets, ways, lanes, courts, places, trails and bridges in the Hawaiian Islands, whether laid out or built by the Government or by private parties were declared to be public highways; ownership was placed in the Government (typically, under the control of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.)

Today, trails serve more as recreational features, rather than transportation links.  While I was at DLNR, we oversaw “Na Ala Hele,” the State of Hawai‘i’s Trail and Access Program, administered by DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

It was established in 1988 in response to public concern about the loss of public access to certain trails and the threat to historic trails from development pressure.

The goal of the Na Ala Hele Program is to provide public outdoor recreation opportunities for hiking, biking, hunting, camping, equestrian and off-highway vehicle use.

Na Ala Hele has become increasingly engaged in trail management and regulatory issues due to both public and commercial recreational activities and emerging legal issues.

In addition, Na Ala Hele is charged with locating and determining whether a historic road or ancient trail falls under the Highways Act of 1892.

Likewise, the program is responsible for the inventory, and documenting ownership of specific historic trails and non-vehicular old government roads for public use where it is feasible and culturally appropriate.

There are lots of trails open for public use; Na Ala Hele only administers a portion of them.  Here’s a link to their website:  http://hawaiitrails.org

Wine at the Brasserie - Dijon, Burgundy

There was a time that I traveled to Napa Valley three times a year and once a year to the Northwest (I love wine country.)

However, I have only been to France once, in 2000.  I chose Burgundy, home to pinot noir and chardonnay wines.

We enjoyed our meals with a bottle of local wine.

It’s unpretentious and simple – Rouge, Blanc or Rose (reminiscent of the wine list at the former Dorian’s restaurant in Kona: Red, White or Blush.)

At lunch they bring the bottle to the table, it’s unlabeled and already opened.

No pomp and circumstance, no table ceremony – it’s wine, drink it and enjoy it – that’s what the French do.

Dinner that night was not much different.

We were offered a wine list – obviously dominated by the Burgundy region, but also including nearby Bordeaux, Champagne and Rhone regions … it only had French wines.

The bottle was presented for confirmation of the order, but there was no following cork presentation – just a simple taste and pouring of the wine.

No pomp and circumstance, no table ceremony.

If only we could approach wine as simply and comfortably as the French do.

No matter what country you are in: wine - pull a cork and enjoy it ... and share the moment with someone.  Good Friends, Good Food, Good Wine … Waaay Cool.