Koloa | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 17, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Money

Ancient Hawaiians did not use money. They provided for themselves or simply traded for the things they needed.

As commerce came to Hawai‘i, initial transactions included trading – sandalwood became the primary medium of exchange for Ali‘i, who traded it for western goods.

The adoption of a Western style economy created a demand for money. At first, this money consisted of coins carried in from the variety of countries having interest in the islands.

Coins

This source proved unreliable and coins were in chronically-short supply.

King Kamehameha III set out to rectify the shortage of coinage and currency by including a provision for a Hawaiian monetary system in his new legal code of 1846.

This system provided for a unit known as the dala, which was based on the American dollar. The dala was divided into 100 keneta (cents.)

Several denominations of fractional silver coins were included in this system, as well as a copper piece to be valued at one keneta.

As prescribed by law, these copper pieces bore on their obverse a facing portrait of Kamehameha III with his name and title Ka Moi (the King).

Hawaii’s first coins were issued in 1847. They were copper cents bearing the portrait of King Kamehameha III. The coins proved to be unpopular due to the poor quality image of the king.

Although it is claimed the denomination was misspelled (hapa haneri instead of hapa haneli), the spelling “Hapa Haneri” was included until the end the 19th century.

The spelling “Haneri” (Hawaiian for “Hundred”) appears on all $100 and $500 Hawaiian bank notes in circulation between 1879 and 1900.

In 1883, silver coins were issued in denominations of one dime (umi keneta), quarter dollar (hapaha), half dollar (hapalua) and one dollar (akahi dala).

The vast majority of these coins were struck to the same specifications as current US coins by the San Francisco Mint.

Hawaiian coins continued to circulate for several years after the 1898 annexation to the United States.

In 1903, an act of Congress demonetized Hawaiian coins, and most were withdrawn and melted, with a sizable percentage of surviving examples made into jewelry.

Paper Money

As early as 1836, with coins in shortage, private Hawaiian firms began to issue paper scrip of their own redeemable by the issuing company in coins or goods.

At Kōloa Sugar Plantation, script was issued in payment for services and redeemable at the plantation store; it started with simply a notation of denomination and signature of the owner on cardboard.

However, due to counterfeiting, in 1839, script was printed from engraved plates, with intricate waved and networked lines.

This more formal Kōloa Plantation script became the first paper money from Hawai‘i. Not only was this script accepted at the Plantation store, it became widely accepted by other merchants on the island.

In early 1843, apparently, the Lahainaluna Mission Seminary first issued its own paper money.

The Hawaiian government occasionally issued its own banknotes between 1847 and 1898 in denominations of $10, $20, $50 and $100 Hawaiian Dollars.

However, these notes were only issued in small numbers and US notes made up the bulk of circulating paper money.

In 1895, the newly formed Republic of Hawai‘i issued both gold and silver coin deposit certificates for $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. These were the last Hawaiian notes issued.

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Hawaiian_Islands_Banknote_500_Dollars-1872-1891, reign of King David Kalākaua.

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April 27, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kōloa Field System

One of the great achievements of the ancient Hawaiians in this region is evidenced in the agricultural Kōloa Field System on the South Shore of Kauai.

Evidence indicates the Kōloa area was forested to the shore before the arrival of the first Polynesians. When they started to settle in this area, they cleared the land for agriculture by burning.

Because rainfall is low in this area, the early Hawaiians constructed sophisticated irrigation systems for growing taro and other crops. Ultimately, the Kōloa Field System of agriculture was established with formal growing areas and irrigation system tapping off of Waikomo Stream.

Its elements include parallel and branching ʻauwai (irrigation ditches,) terraced loʻi (taro growing ponds,) and dryland plots. Later intensification includes aqueducted ʻauwai, irrigated mound fields, and subdivision of lo’i and kula plots.

Beginning possibly as early as 1450, the Kōloa Field System was planned and built on the shallow lava soils to the east and west of Waikomo Stream.

It is characterized as a network of fields of both irrigated and dryland crops, built mainly upon one stream system. Waikomo Stream was adapted into an inverted tree model with smaller branches leading off larger branches.

The associated dispersed housing and field shelters were located among the fields, particularly at junctions of the irrigation ditches (ʻauwai).

In this way, the whole of the field system was contained within the entire makai (seaward) portion of the ahupuaʻa of Kōloa stretching east and west to the ahupuaʻa boundaries.

The field system, with associated clusters of permanent extended family habitations, was in place by the middle of the 16th century and was certainly expanded and intensified continuously from that time.

Long ʻauwai were constructed along the tops of topographic high points formed by northeast to southwest oriented Kōloa lava flows. These ʻauwai extended all the way to the sea.

Habitation sites, including small house platforms, enclosures and L-shaped shelters were built in rocky bluff areas which occupied high points in the landscape and were therefore close to ʻauwai, which typically ran along the side of these bluffs.

From A.D. 1650-1795, the Hawaiian Islands were typified by the development of large communal residences, religious structures and an intensification of agriculture.

The Kōloa Field System is unique in a number of ways; its makeup and design tells us much of the pre-contact world and the ingenuity of the ancients with respect to planning, architecture, agriculture and social system.

A complex of wet and dryland agricultural fields and associated habitation sites occur in the lava tablelands of the makai portion of Kōloa ahupua’a on the south coast of Kauai. Although soil deposits are thin and the land is rocky, plentiful irrigation water was available.

This agricultural system which at its peak covered over 1,000 acres extends from the present Kōloa town to the shoreline and includes a complex of wet and dryland agricultural fields and associated habitation sites.

The Kōloa System, at its apex in the early 19th century (probably due to the opportunity for provisioning of the whaling ships,) represents one of the most intensive cultural landscapes in Hawaiʻi.

Kōloa Field System was in use through 1850 AD. Remnants of this field system still remain in parts of the region.

The Koloa Field System is a significant Point of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway. We worked with the Kōloa community in preparing the Corridor Management Plan for this project; one of our recommendations is to restore a portion of the field system.

A special thanks to Hal Hammatt and Cultural Surveys for information and images used here that is based on their extensive research in this area.

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Trail or Auwai

Koloa_Field_System-Aqueducts of earthen core and rock faces with rock lined channels to deliver water across the depression-Hammatt

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Koloa_Field_System-conformity to ahupuaa boundries with Weliweli on the east and lawa’i o the west-Hammatt

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October 11, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Silk

“Kōloa is, and always has been, a delightful place, with a natural situation that has made it a most charming spot. The line of hills against the skyline is broken only by the gap on the way to Lihue.”

“These hills, while protecting the lowlands from the trade winds that blow across the island, attract enough rain clouds to insure the water supply.”

“There are several interesting volcanic cones, three of which, at least, have a close connection with Kōloa’s past. On the slopes of Puu o Hewa, the hill on the Lawai side of the road to Līhu‘e, may be seen the marks of an ancient holua slide.”

“On the other side of the road almost opposite Puu o Hewa are two companion hills known as Mauna Kilika (apparently Kahoano and Kumanumanu). The name is all that survives of an attempt to cultivate silk on this site nearly a century ago.” (Judd)

“A number of attempts have been made to establish a silk industry in Hawaii at intervals … when the first mulberry plantings were made on the Island of Kauai.”

“The silkworm is a temperate-zone insect and although it can be successfully reared in the warmer portions of the islands, the cultivation is only uniformly successful in the cooler zone above 2,000 feet where climatic conditions approach those of more northern countries.”

“The food of the silkworm, the mulberry, thrives from sea level up to 4,000 feet. The experiment station has introduced and is propagating varieties of mulberries which are considered the best for silk production.” (Philippine Agricultural Review, 1908)

In 1835, Ladd & Company, secured tenancy rights to a tract of land near Kōloa on Kauai for silk and sugar culture. (Cultural Surveys)

“The success of Ladd & Co. drew other white men with independent capital to Kōloa to try their own efforts at making a profit in agriculture. The most ambitious attempt was made by Charles Titcomb and Sherman Peck.”

“In 1836 they leased about 300 acres from Ladd & Co. and proceeded to experiment in silk culture. Later they were joined by James Jackson Jarves and JFB Marshall, two men well-known in Hawaiian history.”

“The partners were all young, energetic men determined to spare no money or effort to make the enterprise a success. They planted thousands of mulberry trees, both native and foreign varieties, to be sure of a continuous supply of leaves as food for the silk worms, which were imported from China and America.”

“The mulberry trees were planted in rows ten feet apart and two feet separate in the row. It was found that the trees after being plucked took but a short six weeks to leaf out again so completely that they could not be told from the ones that had not been stripped.” (Judd)

Sereno Bishop wrote, that at the age of eleven, in 1838, he visited the home of Rev. PJ Gulick at Kōloa, Kauai, where he saw silkworms fed and silk reeled in Mr. Gulick’s own house.”

“At the same time. Mr. Titcomb had a considerable plantation of mulberry-trees in the vicinity, and was breeding silkworms and reeling silk on considerable scale. The missionary, Gulick, certainly favored the undertaking.”

“Mr. Hooper was at the same time conducting a small sugar plantation at the same place; and much was said about the immense advantage it was to the natives to be able to earn twelve and half cents a day by their labor, as they could do nowhere else in the Islands except in the sea-ports.” (SE Bishop; The Friend, July 1903)

“Mr. Peck spent the winter of 1838-39 in New England to learn more about the silk business. He also bought machinery for reeling by steam and engaged ‘a family of three persons’ to superintend the cocooneries and to teach the natives to reel silk.”

“At this time, because of the mild climate at Kōloa and the cheapness of labor and buildings, the outlook was so favorable that Mr. Peck could have sold the business at a two hundred per cent profit.”

“The preliminary experimentation had been so promising that ultimate success seemed certain. Another company was formed in 1839, by John Stetson who had as his associates Asa Rogers and James Lindsey. These men made an agreement with Ladd & Co. for a sub-lease of 150 acres bounded on the south by Waihohonu stream.”

“The next year, 1840, was expected to be a banner year and to show profits which would fully pay for the investments made.”

“But it proved otherwise. An extreme drought followed by continued high winds killed the mulberry trees. A heavy financial loss resulted. This reverse on top of previous set-backs was too much for Peck and Company, who had over-expanded.”

“Mr. Peck left for Lahaina in 1841, to enter business there. After five years of success, he went to the United States but returned to Hawaii in 1859 as senior partner of C. Brewer & Company.”

“Mr. Titcomb stayed on at Kōloa, for a number of months and did not abandon his efforts until his entire crop of silkworms was lost by a disease aggravated by wet weather.”

“He then moved to Hanalei, where he had been conducting experiments for some time. Later, after losing several thousand dollars, in the enterprise, he turned his attention to growing coffee. Stetson and Company continued at Kōloa, until the end of 1842 when they, also, were forced to admit failure.” (Judd)

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Silkworms and their favorite food, mulberry leaves

May 16, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Silva’s Stores

Reportedly, the first Portuguese in Hawai’i were sailors that came on the Eleanora in 1790. It is believed the first Portuguese nationals to live in the Hawaiian kingdom sailed through on whalers, as early as 1794, and jumped ship.

The first recorded Portuguese visitor was John Elliot de Castro, who sailed to Hawaiʻi in 1814. During his days in Hawaiʻi he became a retainer of King Kamehameha I, serving as his personal physician and as member of the royal court.

For 50 years after these early visitors arrived, Portuguese sailors came ashore alone or in small groups, jumping ship to enjoy Hawaiian life and turning their backs on the rough life aboard whalers and other vessels.

The reciprocity treaty in 1875 between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States opened the US sugar market to Hawaiʻi and greatly increased the demand for workers.

Jacinto Pereira (also known as Jason Perry,) a Portuguese citizen and owner of a dry goods store in Honolulu, suggested in 1876 that Hawaiʻi’s government look for sugar labor from Madeira where farmers were succumbing to a severe economic depression fostered by a blight that decimated vineyards and the wine industry.

São Miguel in the eastern Azores was also chosen as a source of labor. In 1878, the first Portuguese immigrant laborers to Honolulu arrived on the German ship Priscilla. At least one hundred men, women and children arrived to work on the sugar plantations. That year marked the beginning of the mass migration of Portuguese to Hawaiiʻ, which continued until the end of the century.

John Ignacio Silva was born at Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal on October 15, 1868, son of Jose Ignacio and Angelica de Jesus (Gomes) Silva.

He reportedly came to the Islands in the early-1880s and began his business career as clerk in store of PA Dias, Kapaʻau, Kohala, 1885-86; clerk, A Enos & Co, Wailuku, Maui, 1887-90; salesman, Gonsalves & Co, on Island of Maui, 1890-93; travelling photographer, Gonsalves and Silva, Honolulu, 1893-94. (Siddall)

He moved to Kauai; the local paper noted, “Copartnership. The undersigned having bought out the general merchandise business of M. Gonsalves, jr., ʻEleʻele, Kauai, will carry on the business under the name of Frias & Silva. Jose De Frias, JI Silva” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 21, 1894) He bought out Frias in 1896; beginning in 1901, he was for many years the postmaster at ʻEleʻele.

He expanded; “JI Silva, the pioneer merchant of ʻEleʻele, has three flourishing establishments, the main, big store being at ʻEleʻele, with branches located at Homestead and at Hanapepe.”

“He formerly had branches at Koloa and Kalihiwai, but on account of the tremendous growth of his ʻEleʻele and other enterprises near home, found that he had not time to properly look after his distant establishments, so closed them up.”

“At ʻEleʻele Mr. Silva carries a very large and complete stock of general merchandise. He has his ‘drummers’ on the road and maintains a very complete auto truck delivery service to great distances.”

“Mr. Silva is general manager of his stores. AM Souza is manager of ʻEleʻele store, John G Abreu of Homestead store, and MR Jardin of the establishment in Hanapepe. Mrs Silva is postmistress at ʻEleʻele, while Mr. Silva is acting postmaster at Homestead.” (The Garden Island, December 22, 1914)

For a short while he was in politics; “Silva knows the political situation of Kauai so well that whatever he says in matters political, will be accepted as final.”

“Silva, while a member of the house of representatives, of the legislature of 1907, was called by his colleagues the ‘red salt’ representative from Kauai. This was due to his presentation to each member of the house of a small bag of red salt, brought from his place at ʻEleʻele.” (The Garden Island, September 8, 1914)

His operation was a success, “A little further on, ’round the corner, we discovered the ʻEleʻele Store, Kauai’s ‘Temple of Fashion,’ the largest private commercial house on Kauai, and which is owned by Hon JI Silva.”

“The nature of the proprietor of this very prosperous looking institution is evidence by the fact that he is the only manager to use the gasoline truck for delivery purposes on the island – having recently purchased a Buick from the Kauai Garage Co.”

“It required but a very short interview with the genial manager to acquaint us with the secret of his success. Up to date window dressing is a feature of this attractive store which enjoys a large patronage from the surrounding community.” (The Garden Island, July 25, 1911)

All seemed to go well; until, “Notice is hereby given that John I. Silva, doing a general merchandise business at ʻEleʻele, Island of Kauai, Territory of Hawaiʻi, under the name of ‘ʻEleʻele Store,’ has this day assigned all of his property – to the undersigned for the benefit of his creditors.”

“All creditors of the above named John I. Silva and all persons having claims against him will present same, duly authenticated and with proper vouchers, if any exist, to the undersigned, at said ʻEleʻele Store, within sixty (60) days from the date thereof, otherwise they will be forever barred. Dated March 17th, 1922. Theo H Davies & Company, Ltd, Assignee for the benefit of the creditors of John I. Silva. (The Garden Island, March 21, 1922)

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J. I. Silva Homestead Store, Kauai-PPWD-14-3-003-(1900)

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J. I. Silva Homestead Store, Kauai-PPWD-14-3-003-(1900)

Sugar Plantation, Eleele Kauai,PPWD-18-3-027 c. 1885

March 28, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kauai’s South Shore

“The history of Koloa is in many ways Hawai‘i’s history in microcosm.” (Wilcox) The focus of interest is the region‘s history and the role this area played in helping to shape Hawaiʻi‘s socio-economic past, present and future.

The South Shore of the island of Kauai has many scenic, natural and recreational qualities that travelers may experience and enjoy. Along the coastal area of Poʻipu there are popular beaches for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba or sunset watching.

You enter the historic Old Koloa Town and Poʻipu Beach, Kaua‘i’s premier resort destination, through a tree-formed tunnel. The native Hawaiian history, archaeology and culture can be seen throughout the area and are the foundation of the historic events that followed.

Scattered throughout the area are remnants of pre-contact ancient Hawaiʻi life in the forms of heiau (Hawaiian temples) the Koloa Field System (agricultural) and culturally-significant natural geologic features in the forms of peaks, hills, streams, caves, bays and coastal features.

The native Hawaiians along the Koloa shore were the first to see the white man in Hawaiʻi. It was in 1778, along Kaua‘i’s South Shore, that Captain James Cook first traveled, landed and made “contact”, introducing Hawaiʻi to the rest of the world. His arrival was the beginning of multiple changes in Hawai‘i’s socio-economic framework.

Koloa Landing at Hanakaʻape Bay (the Kingdom’s first Royal Port of Entry) became the favored and major port of call on the island – because of the ability to maneuver in and out of the anchorage – whatever the wind direction, and the region had ample water and food crops to provision the ships. This led to a series of economic activities that shaped the history of the islands.

One of the first exports from Hawaiʻi was sandalwood trees that grew throughout the islands; exported primarily to China. Sandalwood was a desirable cash crop in Hawaiʻi because it could be harvested year round and did not have to be irrigated or cultivated.

Starting in 1790, trade in Hawaiian sandalwood became an important export item. As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition, by the Hawaiian leaders.

However, by 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed for two reasons: Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from other areas drove down the price in China which made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.

On October 23, 1819, the first group of missionaries from the northeastern United States set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven couples sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.

With them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School, including Prince Humehume (son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i.) In modern times, three churches on Poʻipu Road all trace their roots to the same Christian denomination – Congregational.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 and replaced the sandalwood trade. At that time, whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

Whalers, seeking water and food supplies, called at Koloa Landing, the Island’s foremost port. Koloa was a center for agriculture and, as such, became the center of activity for Kauai. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the islands’ economy for about 40 years.

Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands. The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

In 1835, the first commercially-viable sugar plantation was started in Hawaiʻi at Koloa. Other plantations soon followed. Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century. Several sites found in this area highlight the historic past of the sugar economy.

Koloa Plantation was the birthplace of the Hawaiian sugar industry. By 1883, more than 50 plantations were producing sugar on five islands.

However, during this growth, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing sugar plantations became a challenge; the only answer was imported labor. It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese (1850,) Japanese (1885) and Filipinos (1905.) Several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese (1877,) Norwegians (1880,) Germans (1881,) Puerto Ricans (1900,) Koreans (1902) and Spanish (1907.)

Sugar changed the social fabric of Hawai‘i. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the planet.

Old Koloa Town grew up around the Plantation industry. Plantation workers not only labored, lived and shopped on the plantation, they also received medical care. Koloa’s buildings housed plantation stores, services and churches for these people, including Kauai’s first hotel.

When Hawaiʻi became a US territory, at the turn of the century, it drew adventuresome cruise ship travelers in a tourism boom. Hotels blossomed.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day economic make-up of Hawai‘i, Statehood and jet-liner service between the mainland United States and Honolulu. These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry.

Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s recent economic status and standard of living. Koloa-Poʻipu hosts an organized, supportive Poʻipu Beach Resort Association that organizes and promotes destination marketing and promotion of visitor accommodations/activities on behalf of its membership.

Poʻipu Beach coastal roads have visitor accommodations including hotels, condominium and vacation rental homes. The Visitor Industry remains the primary economic influence in the islands.

We prepared a corridor management plan for the Holo Holo Koloa Scenic Byway. We were honored and proud when the Plan received the Community-Based Planning Award from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter and a Historic Preservation Commendation from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation.

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