Kailua | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 16, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battery 405

The windward region of Koʻolaupoko has long been considered the ‘bread basket’ of Oʻahu and highly favored with well-watered agricultural lands and verdant fishing grounds. (Sinoto)

Based on the oral traditions and legendary accounts, the Kaneʻohe Bay region was favored as a rich and productive agricultural, as well as marine resources area during the prehistoric period.

Dry land cultivation of such crops as sweet potato, yams, and breadfruit; wetland cultivation of taro; and aquaculture in the coastal fishponds and in the estuarine areas were practiced along with fishing in the near shore, lagoon and deep ocean zones. (Sinoto)

Mokapu ‘to separate by imposing a taboo’ is derived from the combination of two words, Mo is short for Moku (‘district or island’ and kapu ‘sacred, no trespassing, or keep out.’ If you entered a kapu district, you were killed.

Mokapu was named this because this is where King Kamehameha met with chiefs. The name of the meeting place was named ‘the sacred land of Kamehameha.’ (ksbe)

Mahinui, named for a legendary hero (translates as ‘great champion’ (Pukui) was known as a “regular place of rest for the travelers, called oioina by the ancients”. (Hoku Hawai‘i, 1925; Cultural Surveys)

The US military first established a presence on the Mokapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation on 322-acres on the northeast side of Mokapu.

The army was responsible for the seacoast defense of Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, commissioned in 1939 on the Mokapu Peninsula. Permanent seacoast batteries were needed for long-term defense, while temporary defenses were necessary until the permanent defenses could be funded and constructed. (Bennett)

The Army stayed there until August 1940 when the Navy decided to acquire all of Mokapu Peninsula to expand Naval Air Station Kaneʻohe; it included a sea plane base, it began building in September 1939 and commissioned on February 15, 1941.

Between 1939 and 1943, large sections of Kāneʻohe Bay were dredged for the dual purposes of deepening the channel for a sea plane runway and extending the western coastline of the peninsula with 280-acres of coral fill.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft bombed and strafed Kaneʻohe Naval Air Station, several minutes before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The bulk of the Harbor Defense facilities were equipped and deployed for a naval attack or amphibious landing; their defenses against an air attack failed to keep up with the magnitude of the aerial assault on December 7, 1941. (Williford)

Following the attack, to defend the military facility at Mokapu, a number of gun batteries were built. On June 14, 1942, authorization was given for installation of coast artillery armament for the defense of the Kaneohe Bay Air Station.

The battery site, and most others built on Oʻahu during World War II, was chosen for its field of fire coverage and ease and economy of construction. Preliminary reconnaissance of potential locations was made by the Corps of Engineers Design Division and the Hawaiian Seacoast Artillery Command. (Bennett)

In 1944, with two 8-inch guns, Battery 405 was built on the northeast lower slope of Puʻu Papaʻa, about 145- feet above sea level. The 542-foot peak is at the north terminus of the Oneawa Hills, on the dividing line between Kailua and Kaneʻohe.

Two tunnels were excavated into the hillside; each tunnel measured about 210-feet long by 10-feet wide, with 12-foot crowns, arched ceilings, and slab sidewalls. The walls and floors were concrete. The tunnels converged somewhat as they penetrated the hillside. (Bennett)

The guns were mounted in the open with no protection from bombardment, besides camouflage. The powder magazines, shell rooms, plotting room and support facilities were tunneled into the hillside.

The 8-inch guns did not have armored shields, leaving them and their crews vulnerable to enemy surface attack and even more to air attack. A metal lath structure resembling a farmhouse rooftop affixed to the carriage traversed with the guns, but only provided minimal camouflage. *Bennett)

Command and control functions were centered in the battery commander’s station above the gun emplacements, about the 300-foot elevation of Puʻu Papaʻa.

A single-story rectangular reinforced-concrete building dug into the ground was equipped with three narrow horizontal observation slots on the front and both side walls, with dropdown outside-hinged steel shutters. (Bennett)

Following the war (August 27, 1946,) Battery 405 was named Battery DeMerritt, after Robert E DeMerritt, a Colonel with the Coast Artillery Corps during World War II (he died in the “Line of Duty” of a non-battle related incident on July 25, 1942.)

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BCN 405-Metal lath camouflage resembled a rooftop-Bennett

8-inch Mark VI M3A2 Gun and M1 Carriage, USA TM 9-442-1

BCN 405-projectile_magazine-Bennett

BCN 405-powder magazines-Bennett

8-inch MkVIM3A2 #2 Gun at BCN-405. USAMH

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Fort Hase from the southwest rim of Ulupau Head. Arrow points to BCN 405-Bennett

BCN 405-map-Bennett

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Battery_405

September 13, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Oneawa

“Ka ulu koa i kai o Oneawa”
“The koa grove down at Oneawa”

The Island of O‘ahu has six Moku (districts:) Kona, Koʻolaupoko, Koʻolauloa, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ʻEwa. Each Moku is divided into ahupua‘a. For the Moku of Koʻolaupoko, these include (West to East) Kualoa, Hakipuʻu, Waikāne, Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Waiheʻe, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia, Kāneʻohe, Kailua and Waimānalo.

Kailua Ahupua‘a is the largest ahupua‘a of the Moku of Koʻolaupoko and the largest valley on the windward side of O‘ahu. From the Koʻolau ridge line it extends down two descending ridge lines which provide the natural boundaries for the sides of the ahupua‘a.

Some ahupuaʻa were further subdivided into units (still part of the ahupuaʻa) called ʻili. Some of the smallest ahupuaʻa were not subdivided at all, while the larger ones sometimes contained as many as thirty or forty ʻili. Kailua had many, including the ‘ili of Oneawa.

Traditional Hawaiian land use in this area focused on irrigated taro farming, inland fishponds, and coastal and deep water fishing grounds. Kawainui Marsh is the largest body of fresh water in the archipelago and was utilized both for lo‘i and fresh water fishponds.

The sandy soil in Kailua supported peripheral crops such as coconut and banana. Fishing villages were presumably scattered along the shore. It is probable that the occupants of the shoreline ‘ili were socially tied to those of the ‘ili along the marsh or the ridge line in order to exchange the surplus of their respective efforts. (Dye)

The northern boundary of Kailua ahupua‘a, known traditionally as Pu‘u Pāpa‘a, or scorched hill, it was given the name of Oneawa Hills in the 1970s.

A stream runs through Oneawa ‘ili to the sea, providing a natural drainage for the Kawainui marsh. The Kawainui Canal was constructed in 1952 to provide flood control and stability for real estate development. (Dye)

In one related story of the area, the large inland pond of Kawainui is referred to in a legend concerning trees (that had the power to attract fish.) Haumea, a goddess traveling through the area, assisted the daughter of the ruler in childbirth.

In return she was given the tree named Ka-lau-o-ke-kähuli, which bears the exceedingly beautiful flowers Kanikawï and Kanikawä. Haumea eventually sets it down on Maui, where it takes root. When a man comes by and chops it down, a fierce storm arises and washes it to sea.

Months later, a branch washes up at Oneawa in Kailua. The fish follow, rendering Oneawa a place where schools of fish gather. “When this branch (that is, Mākālei) was taken inland of Kailua, the fish of Kawainui Pond followed it inland”.

In another story, Koʻolaupoko was one of the stops in the celebrated journey Pele’s younger sister Hi‘iakaikapolioPele (Hiʻiaka) made from Kïlauea Crater to Kaua‘i, to fetch Pele’s husband and dream lover Lohi‘au.

Hi‘iaka and her human companion Wahineʻōmaʻo (Green-woman) choose the windward route across O‘ahu. The travelers reach Koʻolaupoko apparently in the rainy season, for they complain bitterly of the weather.

Hi‘iaka and Wahineʻōmaʻo visit Kawainui Fishpond, where they catch sight of two beautiful women sitting on the banks of a stream. Hi‘iaka insists they are not real women, but mo‘o. She tested them with a chant and they disappeared, confirming they were moʻo.

From Kailua, Hiʻiaka and Wahine‘ōma‘o headed to Heʻeia. Somewhere en route, Hiʻiaka notices the “koa grove at sea,” a poetical reference to Oneawa’s numerous canoes in the saying “Ka ulu koa i kai o Oneawa, The koa grove down at Oneawa.” (Rose & Kelieger)

Oneawa was a famous fishery off the beach for awa (milkfish) and ʻōʻio (bonefish.) Awa are surface feeders that eat seaweed, while ʻōʻio are bottom feeders that forage in the sand, especially for crabs. (Clark)

Awa (milkfish) raised at Kawainui were considered so tame they were “easily caught.” Like ʻoʻopu, “The fish did not like persons with strong smelling skins (ili awa) and kept away from them. Otherwise they swam right up to a person in the water”.

The sea off Oneawa (Milkfish sand) – also the name of the ridge between Kāne’ohe and Kailua, as well as a land division – was “famous for the quality and quantities of the ʻōʻio, which are found in immense schools in the adjoining water; it was formerly a favorite residence of the Old Oahu chiefs”. (Rose & Kelieger)

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Oahu_Fisheries-DAGS2482-4-Kaneohe_Bay_Section-1913-Oneawa and Oneawa Fishery noted

Kailua-Bishop-Reg1434_(1888)-Oneawa noted

Kailua-Wall-Reg2049_(1899)-Oneawa noted

Awa Milkfish

Oio Bonefish

July 23, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kōnāhuanui

The Hawaiian Islands were formed as the Pacific Plate moved westward over a geologic hot spot. Oʻahu is dominated by two large shield volcanoes, Waiʻanae and Koʻolau. Koʻolau volcano started as a seamount above the Hawaiian hotspot around 4-million years ago. It broke sea level some time prior to 2.9-million years ago.

About 2-million years ago, much of the northeast flank of Koʻolau volcano was sheared off and material was swept more than 140-miles north of O‘ahu and Molokai onto the ocean floor (named the Nuʻuanu Avalanche) – one of the largest landslides on Earth. Ko‘olau’s eroded remnants make up the Koʻolau Mountain Range.

Mountains are one of ‘āina’s most enduring bodies, not as easily leveled as hills or forests; Kōnāhuanui (among others on the Koʻolau capture rain clouds coming in on the trade winds, and silvery shimmering steams of water tumbling down their pali have come to symbolize the sky father Wākea bringing new life to the earth mother Papa. (Kawaharada)

Ku luna ‘o Kōnāhuanui i ka luku wale e, “Mountainous Kōnāhuanui reveals the onslaught” is the tallest on Koʻolau; Kōnāhuanui is actually two peaks (3,150 feet and 3,105 feet.) It forms the northwest corner of the Mānoa Ahupua‘a boundary.

Kōnāhuanui plays a part in the ‘Punahou’ story told by Emma M. Nakuina, a tradition of the creation of Punahou Spring by a moʻo god named Kakea.

The main characters in ‘Punahou’ are twin rain spirits: a boy named Kauawa‘ahila (a rain of Nuʻuanu and Mānoa) and his sister Kauaki‘owao (a rain and fog carried on a cool mountain breeze.)

The twins were abused and neglected by an evil stepmother named Hawea while their father Kaha‘akea was away on Hawai‘i Island. The siblings fled from their home near Mount Kaʻala, the highest peak on O’ahu (4,020 ft) to Kōnāhuanui above Manoa.

The affinity of the twins for mountain peaks suggests their rain cloud forms and also their moʻo ancestry; their flight from Kaʻala to Kōnāhuanui depicts the movement of rain clouds associated with cold fronts which sweep over the islands from west to east during the rainy season of Ho‘oilo (October to April).

Pursued by their mean-spirited stepmother, the twins fled from Kōnāhuanui to the head of Mānoa Valley. Like a cold north wind behind a passing front, Hawea followed her stepchildren to the head of the valley, so the twins went down the valley to Kukao‘o Hill; then to the rocky hill behind Punahou School.

The movement of the twins down the valley represents the path of the rains called Kauawa‘ahila and Kauaki‘owao sweeping from the wet uplands toward the dry plains. Each stop is drier than the last, with less food.

At Kukao‘o hill, the twins planted and ate sweet potatoes, a dry-land crop, not as prized as the wetland taro of the upper valley. At the rocky hill near the mouth of the valley, they lived on leaves, flowers, and fruits and on ‘grasshoppers and sometimes wild fowl.’ The rocky hill marks a rain boundary: it may be pouring rain in the upper valley, while it is sunny and dry below the hill. (Kawaharada)

Translated “his large seeds (testicles,)” the name Kōnāhuanui is said to come from a story summarized by T Kelsey: “when a man, probably a giant, chased a woman who escaped into a cave, he tore off his testes and threw them at her”. (Kawaharada)

Kōnāhuanui is the highest peak in the Koʻolau Mountains and is the northwest corner of the Mānoa Ahupua‘a boundary. It was the home of the gods Kāne and Kanaloa.

It was where their parents came on their way to and from the east from above and from the right (mai kahiki a mai ka hiwamai), meaning it was the starting and resting point of the gods since the formation of the islands. (Cultural Surveys)

It is home to a moʻo goddess, a large mythic lizard that lives in freshwater pools and streams. Rain clouds gather around its peak, and its Kona side, often ribboned with waterfalls, is the wettest area of Honolulu: here is the source of the waters of Manoa and Nuʻuanu valleys.

On the Ko‘olaupoko side, below Konahuanui, is a stream called Kahuaiki (the small seed,) one of three streams said to be wives of the god Kāne (the other two are Hi‘ilaniwai and Māmalahoa).

The three join together as one, Kamo‘oali‘i (the royal mo‘o), which brings life-giving water to the fields and plains of Kāne’ohe before entering the bay near Waikalua fishpond. Huanui, big seed, and huaiki, small seed, both speak to the fertility of the land.

To the northwest of Konahuanui is Lanihuli (swirling heavens,) a name suggesting rain clouds moving in the wind around the peak; northwest of Lanihuli is Kahuauli, the dark seed. Uli may refer to the dark rain clouds, their shadows on the land below, and the dark green vegetation along the summit and below it. (Kawaharada)

“There is only one famous hiding cave, ana huna on Oʻahu. It is Pohukaina… This is a burial cave for chiefs, and much wealth was hidden away there with the chiefs of old … Within this cave are pools of water, streams, creeks, and decorations by the hand of man (hana kinohinohiʻia), and in some places there is level land.” (Kamakau)

Pohukaina involves an underground burial cave system that connects with various places around O‘ahu and is most notable as the royal burial cave at Kualoa. The opening in the Honolulu area is in the vicinity of the Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) residence (the grounds of ʻIolani Palace,) where also many of the notable chiefs resided. (Kamakau; Kumu Pono)

The opening on the windward side on Kalaeoka‘o‘io faces toward Ka‘a‘awa is believed to be in the pali of Kanehoalani, between Kualoa and Ka‘a‘awa, and the second opening is at the spring Ka‘ahu‘ula-punawai.

On the Kona side of the island the cave had three other openings, one at Hailikulamanu – near the lower side of the cave of Koleana in Moanalua—another in Kalihi, and another in Pu‘iwa. There was an opening at Waipahu, in Ewa, and another at Kahuku in Ko‘olauloa.

The mountain peak of Kōnāhuanui was the highest point of the ridgepole of this burial cave “house,” which sloped down toward Kahuku. Many stories tell of people going into it with kukui-nut torches in Kona and coming out at Kahuku. (Kamakau; Kumu Pono)

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Konahuanui-USGS-marker

November 20, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Kainalu Plane Crash

2nd Lt William Wright and Kainalu Elementary School student Steven Schmitz were killed at 8:30 pm, November 20, 1961, when a “Skyhawk” attack bomber crashed in Kailua.

Two marine jet bombers collided over a residential area and one of them crashed into a home, killing the pilot and the 8 year old boy (son of Coast Guard Commander Frank C Schmitz.)

The planes were returning from a run at the target island (Kahoʻolawe). One plane made it back and landed safely with vertical stabilizer and rudder damage, the other plane went down.

In reconstructing the pieces of the plane in a base hangar, it was evident that Lt. Wright survived the initial impact and could have ejected, but chose to stay with his airplane and tried to dead stick it over the town and into Kailua Bay. Unfortunately, it wasn’t successful despite the heroic efforts of Lt. Wright. (Norm Spilleth)

A military crash crew reported it was unable to approach the plane for an hour after the crash. The jet hit the house squarely after parts of it fell near the Kainalu Elementary School.

Mrs. Robert Craig, principal of the school, said she heard the jets fly over during the PTA meeting (held that night,) then a loud explosion. She said a fence near the school was set afire and she saw the nearby home in a huge sheet of flame. (Chicago Tribune, November 21, 1961)

The matter was the subject of a public presentation by Dr Paul Brennan at a Kainalu Elementary School PTA meeting.

The following link will take you to a video of the presentation; it is followed by a forum discussion by some of the eye witnesses to the event.

The presentation by Brennan and following discussion by the eyewitnesses gives a broad perspective of what happened.

(I had been a 2nd grade student at Kainalu Elementary the year before – Nelia has been a Kainalu 5th grade teacher for the past 10+ years.) The image shows the sad headline.

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Kainalu_Crash-Honolulu Advertiser, November 21, 1961

Kainalu_Crash-Kingsport News, TN, November 22, 1961

Kainalu_Crash-Long Beach, CA Press-Telegram, November 21, 1961

Kainalu_Crash-Evening Times, MD, November 21, 1961

September 7, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Coconut Grove

Kailua Ahupua‘a is the largest on the windward side of O‘ahu, and the largest ahupua‘a of the Koʻolaupoko District. From the Koʻolau ridge line it extends down two descending ridge lines which provide the natural boundaries for the sides of the ahupua‘a.

The natural environment includes the sand accretion barrier upon which Kailua Town stands, the mountainous upland terrain and alluvial valley of Maunawili, the largest fresh water marsh in Hawai‘i (Kawainui Marsh), another inland pond (Kaʻelepulu) and intermittent streams. (Cultural Surveys)

When the first Polynesians landed and settled in Hawaiʻi (about 900 to 1000 AD (Kirch)) they brought with them shoots, roots, cuttings and seeds of various plants for food, cordage, medicine, fabric, containers, all of life’s vital needs.

“Canoe crops” (Canoe Plants) is a term to describe the group of plants brought to Hawaiʻi by these early Polynesians. One of these was ‘niu,’ the coconut; they used it for food, cordage, etc.

Later, others saw commercial opportunities from coconuts.

In 1906, Albert and Fred Waterhouse were walking over sand dunes along the approximately one-mile wide by two-and-a-half-mile long area between Kawainui Marsh and the ocean, when they envisioned the idea of planting coconut trees there.

“During the week papers will be filed with the Treasurer for the incorporation of the Hawaiian Copra Co, having lands under (a 29-year) lease from Mr Castle. …”

“(The land) is … two-hundred and fifty acres adapted to the cultivation of cocoanut trees, of which it has twenty thousand, half of which are nearly three feet high and the balance recently planted.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 12, 1907)

“Samples of copra (dried meat of coconut) grown here have been forwarded to San Francisco …. The quality of the product is excellent, comparing favorably with that of the best grade received in that market, and the price per pound is satisfactory. So well pleased are the people on the Coast that they have signified a willingness to take all that can be shipped to them.”

“The copra is compressed and the extracted oil used in the manufacture of soaps, and as oils in the manufacture of high-grade paints. Another use to which it is put is the manufacture of shredded cocoanut, which is utilized by confectioners and bakers. The fiber is made into hawsers (ropes) for towing purposes.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 12, 1907)

They “leveled the sand dunes and smoothed out the sand hillocks,” and planted approximately 320-acres with over 130,000-coconut trees.

Many rows of ironwood trees were also planted as a windbreak and a fence had to be built to keep cattle out. (Drigot)

“The (coconuts were) secured from Kauai …. We have sunk one well and found water at a depth of 51-feet. It is our intention to sink about 25-such wells for irrigation purposes.”

“Our trees will be of the Samoan variety and will bear when about seven years old. There is very little labor needed. Eight men will take care of the whole place, so we will have no labor problem to contend with.” (Maui News, September 17, 1907)

“One of the uses to which copra is put and for which there has not yet been found an available substitute is in the production of salt water soap, soap that will lather and be effective in salt water.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 15, 1907)

Things looked up.

“George A Moore & Co, commission merchants, of San Francisco, see no reason why Hawaiian copra should not compete more than favorably with other South Sea copra in the mainland market.… (He noted,) We beg to call to your attention the large consumption in this market of dried cocoanut, commercially known as copra, which reaches as high as fifteen thousand tons per annum.”

“Most of our importations are brought from the Pacific and South Sea Islands, but having recently seen a small parcel which issued from the Hawaiian Islands of very good quality it occurs to us and we see no reason why large quantities of this could not be brought from the American island possessions, notably the Hawaiian Islands.”

“For your information we would say that the ripe cocoanuts are cracked open and exposed to the sun, whereupon the meat shrinks from the shell and the dried meat itself constitutes the commodity above referred to, which is today realizing in our market 3 3/8 c US gold.”

“Cocoanut plantations in the Pacific Islands for the production of copra have now become quite an extensive and profitable venture, and we have no doubt it would prove so to your planters. ” (Peters; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 17, 1908)

It didn’t last. … In 1916, the copra/coconut oil enterprise failed.

The Waterhouses sold their “Coconut Grove” to AH Rice, who planned a residential subdivision in the area. In 1924, Earl H Williams, of Liberty Investment Co, acquired 200-acres from Rice and began the subdivision process (the Coconut Grove Tract.) (Drigot) At the end of World War II, Kailua began a real estate and development boom.

As the landscape became urbanized, flooding became a problem. There are reports of major flooding in this area in the years 1921 and 1940. In 1939, Congress instructed the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a survey of the Marsh area and to assess its value as a flood control basin.

Kailua town as a whole suffered a severe flood in 1951 and 250-people were forced to evacuate their homes in the area. The Oneawa Channel (Kawainui Canal) was under construction in 1952 to prevent the major flooding of the Kailua residential area situated on the edge of the marsh. Subsequent severe floods occurred in 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1963.

Finally, the “permanent” stage of the Federal-State Kawainui Flood Control Project, first targeted for this area in the 1930s, was completed in 1966. This project entailed “dredging the debris and widening the Kawainui Canal, and building a 9-foot high levee to hold back storm water and widening the inner canal”.

However, from December 1968 through January 1969, as much as 8-inches of water covered a large area from Oneawa Street to Kihapai Street. The levee and Canal had eliminated direct overflow from the marsh, but flooding still occurred. (Drigot)

In 1988, floodwaters breached the levee. it was later modified by the Army Corps and City in 1997 raising its height and constructing a concrete floodwall to address the 100-year flood level estimated for Kawainui Marsh. (HHF)

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