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September 22, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hobo Hat

In 1922, an imaginative shipping clerk at the Delaware & Hudson freight station in Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) decided to take an old straw hat and send it on a trip of its very own to see how far it could go. (Luzerne County Historical Society)

(It was not a completely original idea; word of a traveling hat was found in a North Carolina newspaper from 1908. However, this Hobo Hat was the first to travel around the world.)

Patrick Fagan started the Hobo Hat send off for the Pacific Coast on September 5, 1922, as a way to advertise the good shipping and handling service of the freight line.

Fifty post cards were attached, along with a note asking those freight agents who received the hat to send back a card telling of its travels, and to please keep the hat going.

Mr. Fagan received postcards from Massachusetts, Chicago, and California, before receiving word that the hat was going to be traveling to the Orient via Hawaii, thanks to some friendly staff at the Matson Navigation Company freight office across the country.

In March 1923, Mr. Fagan received a post card from freight agents at Yokohama, Japan telling of the arrival of the hat in good condition, and that it was being sent next to Hong Kong.

The hat also traveled to West Australia, Java in the Dutch Indies, South Africa, and Brazil, before coming back to Hawaii after two years.

By this point, “Mr. Hobo Hat” was a famous world traveler and was traveling aboard the ships of the Dollar Steamship line. (Luzerne County Historical Society)

“The famous ‘Hobo Hat’ sent on a trip around the world by Patrick Fagan, employee of the Delaware & Hudson freight station, in September 1923, and which is now making its third tour of the globe, was las heard of at Honolulu.”

“Mr Fagan yesterday received a card from MW Mitchell, agent of the Dollar Steamship line, to the effect that the hat had arrived at Honolulu on the SS Garfield February 21 and was presented to the Hon. Wallace R Farrington, governor of the Territory of Hawaii at the executive building.”

“The fame of the hat had probably reached the territory before the hat itself and legislative business was suspended in the Senate and the House of Representatives, temporarily in order that the ‘world tourist’ might be viewed before it started again on the journey.”

“Mr Mitchell said that the hat was decorated and left with the Aloha of Hawaii (the best of luck0 on board the SS President Garfield which departed for Japan on the same day.”

“The owners of the Dollar Steamship Line has a specially made hat box prepared for the hat. It is a leather case on which has printed’ Mr Hobo Hat’ in large letters and with the words ‘Round the World’ at the bottom.”

“The ‘Hobo Hat,’ an old straw lid, the property of Patrick Fagan of this city, was started on its first trip around the world three years ago for the D&H station yards in this city and is now on its third tour of the world.” (Wilkes-Barre Record (Pennsylvania, March 23, 1925)

“On the last lap of his third trip around the world. ‘Mr. Hobo Hat’ accompanied by ‘Uncle Joe’ Fordney, former chairman of the House ways and means committee, has landed in this country and is en route to the Capital to pay his respects at the White House to the President.”

“This hobo hat is a battered straw ‘lid’ that started on its wanderings from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on September 12, 1922. It went first to New York, thence across the continent to the Pacific coast, next to the Orient. It traveled on the steamers President Adams and President Hayes, and its last voyage was on the President Garfield, traveling ‘de luxe’ with a special ticket personally indorsed by Capt. Robert Dollar, president of the Dollar Steamship Co.”

“Mr. Hobo Hat wears many tags in token and testimony of his around the globe voyaging, which now aggregate more than 100,000 miles. In each country and in many important cities, Mr. Hobo Hat has called upon the most prominent persons in political and social life.” (The Sunday Star (DC), May 10, 1925)

When Hobo Hat finally returned home after all his travels, he was displayed in the window of MacWilliam’s Store in Wilkes-Barre in June 1925 to coincide with Poppy Day for the American Legion, which raised money for the wounded veterans of World War I and their families.

After that, the Hobo Hat was in 1935 when he came to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society (for Wyoming Valley, PA; now the Luzerne County Historical Society) to be displayed, along with his “entourage” of hat box, autographed ticket, postcards, luggage tags and photographs, and ended up staying to become a permanent part of the collection (donated in 1959 by Patrick Fagan).

In addition to various foreign dignitaries, President Calvin Coolidge’s name is among the now-faded signatures to be found on the ticket, testifying to the widespread popularity that Mr. Hobo Hat once enjoyed. (Luzerne County Historical Society)

September 21, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pioneer Inn – Maunalei Sugar Connection

Getting a little back into posting historical summaries, I have wanted to correct the record on a couple of the prior posts …

I previously posted a summary on the Maunalei Sugar Company on Lanai. I also did one on the Pioneer Inn in Lahaina.

I never knew of a connection between the two.

Then, Rick Towill loaned me a book and I was shocked to learn of their connection – something that never showed up in any of the research I did on each.

You can read the prior posts on each. I’ll let Ruth Tabrah (who wrote a book on Lanai that Rick loaned me) tell the rest of the story …

“The Hayselden venture was named Lanai Sugar Company. Later, the name was changed to Maunalei Sugar Company. The lands, like much of the old Gibson holdings, were on lease. The annual ground rent on the beach portions was $10 an acre, that of the valley lands $5 an acre.”

“Fred Hayselden had renegotiated many of the Gibson leases in his own name. He 78 bought several small kuleanas outright.”

“Lanai, which had the reputation thirty years earlier of being the sheep raising center of the kingdom, still supported a population of livestock far larger than the human population.”

“There were nearly 50,000 sheep, large herds of goats and hogs, flocks of wild turkeys, but only 174 people on Lanai when Maunalei Sugar Company began.”

“Hayselden worked hard to boost the water resources and the reservoir capacity of the island. Water was the key to high sugar yield and one of the three wells advertised in the prospectus was already in operation. It produced between one and two million gallons of water a day. This was fortunate, since the other two wells did not turn out.”

“The decision was made not to build a mill, but to ship the cane to Olowalu, Maui for grinding. A wharf was built at Halepalaoa and a railroad between there and Keomuku to haul the harvested cane and plantation supplies.”

“Had Walter Murray Gibson been alive, or had Talula been consulted, the engineer would never have torn down the walls of Kahe‘a heiau to make the roadbed. The Hawaiians of Keomuku predicted that because of this, there would be trouble.”

“At first, everything prospered.”

“A spacious verandahed two story building went up. The plantation offices and the company store were on the ground floor. On the second floor were rooms for visitors, a company boarding house and quasi-hotel.”

“Camp houses and barracks were built as the population of Lanai ballooned with contract laborers. Those Lanaians who applied were hired, but the majority of the work force had to be brought in.”

“There were Gilbert Islanders, the first Japanese to arrive on Lanai, and fellow countrymen of that first sugar maker of them all, Wu Tsin, who had been the first Chinese on Lanai nearly a century before.”

“By August 1899 there were 710 laborers at Maunalei. Wages varied for each ethnic group.”

“Chinese were paid either $18.75 or $20 a month depending on their jobs. Japanese field laborers were paid $15 a month for men, $10 a month for women. Cooks earned $15 a month. Carpenters were paid at the rate of $1.50 a day.”

“Since the company made all deductions for room and board in advance, and allowed workers to run up accounts at the company store, many sugar workers on Lanai like their counterparts on the other islands, were always in debt to their employer.”

“The only cash that seemed to reach and stay in working hands was that earned by the Chinese. In Honolulu the most affluent of the merchants were Chinese, and they invested their money in the Maunalei venture to such an extent that they soon owned seventy-five per cent of the shares.”

“For its first year, the company did well.”

“Then, plague flared up among the Chinese laborers.”

“The shacks they lived in were burned, but this did not stop the epidemic. The church at Keomuku was turned into a dispensary. Those who were not already too sick to do so, fled.”

“The curse predicted when the walls of Kahe’a were broken fell heavily now on the plantation. The water in the well turned brackish. The sugar content of the cane was too low to make it worthwhile to harvest.”

“By June of 1900 the payroll of Maunalei Sugar Company carried only 38 men and by March 1901, 12 were left to shut the plantation down.”

“The two-storied company store and hotel was left up until 1905 when it was carefully dismantled, a section at a time, and floated on rafts to Lahaina. There it was hammered together again to become the Pioneer Inn.” (Tabrah)

Whoa … Who knew the Pioneer Inn was originally a structure on Lanai?

All prior research did not note the Maunalei building and Pioneer Inn connection.

In fact, newspaper accounts of that time only noted the formation and construction of the hotel in Lahaina, not that it was formerly built on Lanai and floated to Lahaina and then reassembled.

A notice in the Hawaiian Star, October 9, 1901, noted “New Hotel For Lahaina. Articles of association were filed yesterday by the Pioneer Hotel Company, with the principal place of business at Lahaina, Island of Maui.”

“The object of the association is to conduct a general hotel and restaurant business, and billiard tables. … The officers and principal stockholders are J. J. Newcomb, president, twenty-five shares; A Aalberg, secretary, twenty-five shares; P. Nicklas, treasurer, two shares; George Freeland, thirty-five shares.”

Three weeks later, the newspaper reported “George Freeland, manager of the Pioneer hotel at Lahaina, is in town for the purpose of purchasing supplies and furniture for the establishment. He will return to Lahaina nest Tuesday. (Honolulu Republican, October 31, 1901)

“Lahaina now boasts two new and up-to-date hotels. Matt. McCann has just finished and moved into his new hosterie (Lahaina Hotel,) and is not able to handle all the travel at present, consequently he is compelled to turn away guests this week.”

“The Pioneer Hotel is practically completed and under the management of Mr. Freeland, will be thrown open for the reception of guests about December 1.” (Maui News, November 23, 1901) Thanks, Rick.

September 20, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lehi IV

According to the Book of Mormon, “An account of Lehi and his wife Sariah and his four sons, being called, (beginning at the eldest) Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi.”

“The Lord warns Lehi to depart out of the land of Jerusalem, because he prophesieth unto the people concerning their iniquity and they seek to destroy his life.”

“He taketh three days’ journey into the wilderness with his family. Nephi taketh his brethren and returneth to the land of Jerusalem after the record of the Jews. The account of their sufferings.”

“They take the daughters of Ishmael to wife. They take their families and depart into the wilderness. Their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness. The course of their travels. They come to the large waters. Nephi’s brethren rebel against him. He confoundeth them, and buildeth a ship.”

“They call the name of the place Bountiful. They cross the large waters into the promised land, and so forth. This is according to the account of Nephi”. (Book of Mormon)

DeVere Baker, a Mormon, sought to establish the authenticity of his church’s views on the first peoples to visit American shores by making a series of daring raft trips over a 30-year period.

From 1952 to 1979, he sailed – sometimes successfully, sometimes not – in an attempt to show that the Book of Mormon is correct and that members of some of the Lost Tribes of Israel had crossed the sea to North America.

Unlike primitive rafts, Baker’s were equipped with electronic navigation gear and could be propelled by outboard motors.

On Lehi IV in 1958, he managed to successfully drift to Hawaii from California to prove that crossing oceans by raft was an ancient probability.

(The Lehi reference generally refers to one of six or seven craft launched from California to try to help prove the story from the Book of Mormon about Lehi sailing from the Middle East to Central America.)

The Lehi IV didn’t have a favorable start, “The raft Lehi IV, in the tradition of its predecessors, met with bad luck yesterday as it headed out to sea for a tentative start to Hawaii.”

“Four miles out of Redondo Beach a tow line broke and the raft poked a hole in the yacht Quest, which was to tow it to Santa Catalina Island. The Quest then towed the Lehi IV to Los Angeles Harbor instead.”

“Lehi skipper Devere Baker, undismayed, said he would try to get started again tomorrow. Baker had planned to go only to Catalina, approximately 22 miles off the coast, on the first stage of his ocean voyage.”

“Three previous tries by Baker to accomplish a transoceanic drift ended in failure. Baker said he would stay at Catalina several days, taking on additional provisions and trying to arrange for someone to tow the raft 200 miles westward.” They left July 5, 1958.

“He hoped there to pick up currents favorable for drifting to Hawaii. Baker, 42, who sold his shipyard 12 years ago to devote himself to early inhabitants of this hemisphere drifted on currents across the Pacific from Asia.”

“The 18 by 28-foot raft has a sail, a cabin, two-way radio and an outboard motor for harbor maneuvering. Baker’s crew this time includes Milt Farney, 29, photographer; Larry Foglino, 31, psychologist; Don McFarland, 27, student at the University of New Mexico, and Ed Kekaula, 27, a native of Samoa.” (San Bernadino Sun, July 6, 1958)

Of this voyage, a newspaper reported, “An adventurous Mormon elder and his three young crewmen — who drifted to Hawaii from California aboard the raft Lehi IV …”

“The raft arrived off Maui Saturday afternoon (September 20, 1958) after a 69-day voyage from Long Beach, 2,100 miles to the east. When Baker and his bearded crew and their dog Torgoroa were sighted, they were down to their last four cans of spinach and tomatoes.”

“The raft was towed into port at Kahului by a tuna boat. All the mariners were in good condition.”

“Asked what his trip proved, Baker told newsmen: ‘The Coast Guard put it very nicely when they congratulated us on proving Hawaiians thousands of years ago came from the Americas, the same way we did.’”

“With Baker were Larry Foglino, 31, a UCLA psychologist; Don McFarland, 27, University of New Mexico student, and Ed Kekuala, 27, a Brigham Young University dental student.” (Nome Nugget, Sep 24, 1958)

Baker wrote a series of books on his faith and his adventures, many of which ended in Coast Guard rescues. In 1980, he made a brief bid for the nation’s presidency as a world peace candidate, but withdrew after a loss in the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. (Los Angeles Times)

September 19, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Aloha from Vermont

In 1777, the thirteen colonies were fighting the Revolutionary War with England. Vermont was not one of the 13 Colonies; rather, in January of that year, delegates from towns around Vermont held a convention and declared their independence.

They called the new republic ‘New Connecticut;’ later that year, they changed the name to Vermont. (Vermont Secretary of State)

Although an independent republic, Vermonters fought with the Colonists against the British. A turning point in the revolution was at the Battle of Bennington, Vt. It was a major victory for the Americans and helped to convince France that the rebels were worthy of support.

Between 1777, when Vermont established its independence, and 1791 (when Vermont joined the Union as the 14th state,) Vermont was truly independent – as a republic it had its own coins and its own postal service. (Vermont Secretary of State)

At this same time (October 30, 1789,) Hiram Bingham was born to Calvin and Lydia Bingham in Bennington Vermont. Thirty years later (October 23, 1819,) Bingham led the Pioneer Company of Protestant missionaries to Hawaiʻi.

This is not the only tie Vermont has to the Islands. A lasting legacy is through descendants of another Hawaiʻi missionary, Peter Johnson Gulick, a member of the Third Company of missionaries to the Islands.

First of all, Hawaiʻi-born grandson Luther Halsey Gulick, Jr. MD and his wife Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Emily Vetter founded Camp Fire Girls (now known as Camp Fire.)

Another Hawaiʻi born grandson Edward Leeds Gulick and his wife Harriet Marie Gulick later settled in Vermont and started the “Aloha Camp” there in 1905. It started as a success and is still going strong today.

“Aloha began as a picnic. Three young couples, one summer day of 1898, were cycling around Lake Morey, seeking the loveliest spot at which to enjoy their lunch, brought from Hanover, NH. At just the very place where all agreed the views were most beautiful, stood a plain, substantial house, with no paint, no blinds, and a porch only big enough for two small chairs.”

“The sign, ‘For Sale; Inquire at the next house,’ fired the imagination, and while Mr. Gulick, ‘just for fun,’ went over to make inquiries, the rest ran around, peeking in at each window, and promptly imagining themselves spending a gay summer in that ideal spot.”

“July 1899 found the Gulicks with a new baby, Harriet, later known to campers as ‘Johnnie, the bugler,’ taking the long ride from New Jersey to their new summer home.”

“The name of the new cottage was a source of lively and humorous discussions. Aloha, meaning ‘Love to you,’ in Hawaiian, was finally chosen, for its euphonious sound, and its kindly meaning. Who better should name this cottage Aloha, than one who was son and grandson of men who had spent their lives in uplifting the natives of those beautiful Islands?”

“For six happy summers Aloha cottage housed the quartette of Gulick children, and their cousins and uncles and aunts and friends, filling it full from the attic down. But just when and how Aloha camp was thought of, it is hard to say.”

“Believing that girls and their parents would soon see the immense advantages of camp life, – the health, the beauty, the sanity, and the wholesome democracy of such a life, – we started bravely in.” (Harriet Farnsworth Gulick)

In 1905 – 15 years before women were allowed to vote, when floor length skirts and lace up boots were mandatory for playing any sport; when popular conduct books for girls encouraged a “retiring delicacy” and declared that “one of the most valuable things you can learn is how to become a good housewife” – Harriet and Edward Gulick created a world in which every girl could discover her most adventurous self.

That world, Aloha Camp on Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont, afforded young women the knowledge, skills and freedom to explore wild nature on foot and on horseback, by skiff and by canoe; to kindle campfires in the woods and cook meals in the open air; to pitch tents over rough ground and sleep out of doors under the stars.

“Imagination necessary. The very fabric of human civilization depends on it.” Harriet Farnsworth Gulick wrote these words in a notebook of ideas for assembly talks at Aloha Camp, a camp for girls.

Next, the Gulicks turned their imagination to opportunities for women ‘age eighteen to eighty,’ opening Aloha Club in 1910 on the secluded shore of Lake Katherine in Pike, New Hampshire. The success of Aloha Camp and Aloha Club inspired the Gulicks to imagine how camp could benefit younger girls. Having purchased 400-acres of farmland on Lake Fairlee in Ely, Vermont, they developed Aloha Hive, which opened in 1915.

At the turn of the century (1900,) girls’ camps were rare. Then, the girl camper was about twelve to twenty. She usually came from a home of luxury and enjoyed the novelty of sleeping in tents, the unhampered opportunities for learning to swim, to row, to paddle – in short, to live close to friendly Mother Nature – through eight or nine happy weeks of the camp season. (Coale)

At Aloha Camp, girls received ‘Kanaka’ awards – “The little figure in bloomers is won by a camper whose tent and land adjoining it is perfect as to order and neatness for a week. If to that virtue is added punctuality at all the appointments of a week – meals, assembly, crafts, etc – the girl wins a Kanaka”. (Aloha Kanaka)

Every summer one whole camp has an opportunity to vote for just one girl. It is not the most popular girl; nor the most athletic; nor yet the best-looking. Not any of these. The highest honor the camp has to bestow is given for Camp Spirit – and it goes to the girl who has proved to be the most thoughtful, generous, and kind-in short, the best friend. (Worthington)

After launching Hive, the next question for the Gulick’s imagination was “what about all the little brothers of Aloha and Hive campers?” Far from the military camps that prevailed for boys in those days, they envisioned Camp Lanakila, a camp that promoted a spirit of adventure, discovery, creativeness, respect for others and individual growth.

After Edward Gulick’s death in 1931, Harriet Gulick continued for twenty years as the central, caring presence for all the camps. She passed away in February 1951 at the age of 86. In the mid-1960s, the camps faced a major challenge as members of the Gulick family’s next generation followed pursuits other than the management of Aloha (1905,) Hive (1915) and Lanakila (1922.)

The Aloha Foundation was formed as a nonprofit organization that continues operating the camps and endeavors to sustain the Gulick traditions.

In Hawaiʻi, one of the lasting legacies and reminders of the Gulick family in Hawaiʻi is heard in almost every morning’s Honolulu traffic report with reference to conditions at the Gulick Avenue overpass in Kalihi. (Lots of information here from Aloha Kanaka and Aloha Camp website.)

September 18, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ho‘olehua Airport

When Emory Bronte and Ernest Smith made history on July 15, 1927 with the first successful trans-Pacific flight by civilians, there was no airport on Molokai.

They were expected to land at Wheeler Field on Oahu, but ran out of fuel over Molokai and crashed into kiawe trees on the southeast coast of Molokai.

Later that year, the Territorial Governor signed Executive Order No. 307 setting aside an area of 204.8 acres of Territorial land at Ho‘olehua, Molokai; the Territorial Legislature appropriated funds for an airport.

On December 15, 1927, what was then called Ho‘olehua Airport was placed under the control and management of the Territorial Aeronautical Commission. It was effectively a level grassy field that was marked and cleared so that take offs and landings could be made.

It was proposed to eventually fully-improve the field for all commercial and military purposes. The field could be used by the large and heavy trans-Pacific land planes expected to pass through the Territory.

Inter-Island Airways inaugurated interisland air service from Honolulu to Molokai on November 11, 1929 in Sikorsky S-38 amphibians. The fare was $17.50.

By the end of 1929, a small waiting room and telephone booth were added and a pole and windsock were erected. In 1930, it was renamed Molokai Airport.

The Army got interested in the airport in 1931 and by 1937 Molokai Airport consisted of three runways—1,000, 2,600 and 2,600 feet long, 300 feet wide with 100 feet of grading on each side. The Army called it Homestead Field Military Reservation.

Molokai Airport was one of the principal airports of the Territory during the pre-war development of aviation in the Islands. The Army maintained a radio station and Inter-Island Airways, Ltd. had a Station House at the field.

On December 7, 1941 the airport was taken over by the Army and Navy and the services remained in possession until 1947. During this period the U.S. Army made extensive improvements (two paved runways, one 4,400 feet in length and the other 3,200 feet in length, each with a width of 200 feet; taxiways, plane parking areas and runway lighting.

By agreement with the Army, the Territory assumed responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the airport in 1947 under the management of the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission.

In addition to its peace-time function, the airport had continuing importance to the Army and Navy. The extension of the North-South Runway was particularly important because the runway was not adequate for large aircraft except with restricted loading.

Location of this field was such that during heavy rains excess mud and water flowed onto the operating area, sometimes necessitating closing the field until an emergency crew was able to clean up. A system of drainage ditches was designed and completed in September 1953 to alleviate this.

Hawaiian Airlines, Ltd. and Trans-Pacific Airlines, Ltd., provided scheduled service to Molokai, and Andrew Flying Service flew on a non-scheduled basis.

A new Molokai Airport Terminal was officially dedicated on June 15, 1957 with pioneer aviator Emory Bronte in attendance.

In the mid-1970s, there were preliminary planning for moving the site of Molokai Airport. The engineering analysis to be used in the site selection for a new airport for Molokai continued. Construction of new hotel facilities on Molokai accounted for the increase in passengers served at Molokai Airport.

The site study for a new Molokai Airport was completed in 1978 with a recommendation that 500 to 600 acres of land be set aside in the northwest corner of the island.

The report recommended against immediate construction at the new site in view of the high cost for a new airport compared to the relatively low air traffic to Molokai. The estimated cost was $25.8 million in 1978.

The report recommended continued improvements to the existing airport at Hoolehua until such time that traffic warranted the construction of the new airport.

A renovated passenger terminal and support facilities were dedicated on October 19, 1994. The 24,000 square foot terminal had an upgraded passenger waiting area, ticket lobby, air cargo handling facilities and tenant lease area. (Information here is from Hawai‘i DOT Airports.)