Peter T Young

September 22, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver was born on June 22, 1757 at King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, the youngest of five children of John Jasper Vancouver (collector of customs) and his wife Bridget.

At about age 15, Vancouver joined the navy and spent seven years under Captain James Cook on Cook’s second (1772-74) and third (1776-80) voyages of discovery (the latter was when Cook commanded the first European exploring expedition to visit the Hawaiian Islands.)

The story of Cook’s death at Kealakekua Bay, on February 14, 1779, has been often described, but the small part played by midshipman George Vancouver is not widely known.

The day before Cook’s death, for the second time in one day, a Hawaiian took some tools from the Discovery and escaped in a canoe. Thomas Edgar, master of the Discovery, and midshipman Vancouver were part of the chase to retrieve the stolen tools – a scuffle later occurred, which included Edgar marooned on a rock close to shore.

As Edgar later reported the incident in his journal: “I not being able to swim had got upon a small rock up to my knees in water, when a man came up with a broken Oar, and most certainly would have knock’d me off the rock, into the water, if Mr. Vancover, the Midshipman, had not at that Inst Step’d out of the Pinnace, between the Indian & me, & receiv’d the Blowe, which took him on the side, and knock’d him down.” (Speakman, HJH)

That same night the cutter itself was taken, setting off the events which culminated in Cook’s death on the beach. The following day, Vancouver was again involved in momentous events when Lieutenant King chose him to accompany the armed party ashore to recover Cook’s body. (Speakman, HJH)

In 1791, Captain George Vancouver entered the Pacific a dozen years later in command of the second British exploring expedition. (HJH)

In the introduction to Vancouver’s journals of his voyage to the Pacific, his brother John wrote, “that from the age of thirteen, his whole life to the commencement of this expedition, (to the Pacific) has been devoted to constant employment in His Majesty’s naval service.”

Vancouver visited Hawaiʻi three times, in 1792, 1793 and 1794. He completed the charting of the Islands begun by Cook and William Bligh.

On the first trip, Vancouver’s ships “Discovery” and “Chatham” first rounded the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and traveled to Tahiti, via Australia and New Zealand, and then sailed north to the Hawaiian Islands.

Arriving off South Point, on March 1, 1792, the Discovery and the Chatham sailed close to the western coast of the island of Hawaiʻi. Later, leaving Kawaihae Bay, Vancouver’s ships made their way past Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Molokai and Lānʻi, to Oʻahu, anchoring off Waikīkī – they later made their way to Kauai.

It is clear from Vancouver’s Journal and other accounts of events in Hawaiʻi in 1792, that neither Vancouver nor the Hawaiian chiefs were completely confident of the good will of each other. On Hawaiʻi, he had found that the people refused to trade except for arms and ammunition, which Vancouver refused to agree to, and on Kauai he was alarmed by tales of Hawaiian hostility. (Speakman, HJH)

Vancouver was also concerned about the apparent drop in the Hawaiian population since his earlier visit with Captain Cook. Waikīkī was “thinly inhabited, and many [houses] appeared to be entirely abandoned.” On Kauai, the village of Waimea had been “reduced at least two-thirds of its size, since the years 1778 and 1779.” (Speakman, HJH)

Vancouver did not seem to have been conscious of disease among the Hawaiian people, but he was aware of the arms trade and interisland warfare and attributed the decrease in the population to the deplorable sale of arms by avaricious European traders to “ambitious and enterprizing chieftains.” (Vancouver, Speakman, HJH) He later left Hawaiʻi and sailed to survey the Northwest coast of the American continent.

On his second trip in February 1793, the “Discovery” and “Chatham” first circled and surveyed the Island Hawaiʻi. From a meeting he had with Kamehameha, he noted in his Journal, that he was “agreeably surprised in finding that his riper years had softened that stern ferocity, which his younger days had exhibited, and had changed his general deportment to an address characteristic of an open, cheerful, and sensible mind; combined with great generosity, and goodness of disposition.” (Vancouver, 1798)

He also met John Young and Kaʻahumanu, noting, “the kindness and fond attention, with which on all occasions (Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu) … seemed to regard each other.” Vancouver was delighted at “the decorum and general conduct of this royal party. … They seemed to be particularly cautious to avoid giving the least cause for offence….” (Vancouver, 1798)

When Kamehameha came aboard the ship, taking Vancouver’s hand, he “demanded, if we were sincerely his friends”, to which Vancouver answered in the affirmative. Kamehameha then said “he understood we belonged to King George, and asked if he was likewise his friend. On receiving a satisfactory answer to this question, he declared the he was our firm good friend; and according to the custom of the country, in testimony of the sincerity of our declarations we saluted by touching noses.” (Vancouver, 1798)

In the exchange of gifts, after that, Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and other items, Vancouver gave Kamehameha the remaining livestock on board, “five cows, two ewes and a ram.”

The farewell between the British and the Hawaiians was emotional, but both understood that Vancouver would be returning the following winter. Just before Vancouver left Kawaihae on March 9, 1793, he gave Isaac Davis and John Young a letter testifying that “Tamaah Maah, with the generality of the Chiefs, and the whole of the lower order of People, have conducted themselves toward us with the strictest honest, civility and friendly attention.” (Speakman, HJH)

On the third trip to the islands, arriving in early-January 1794, Vancouver brought three ships, “Discovery,” “Chatham” and “Daedalus.” They headed to Hilo.

Here, he met Kamehameha and Vancouver noted Kamehameha was “with his usual confidence and cheerful disposition. It was impossible to mistake the happiness he expressed on seeing us again which seemed to be greatly increased by his meeting us at this, his most favorite part of the island.” (Vancouver 1801)

Shortly after, Kamehameha assembled the principal chiefs from all over the island for a meeting at Kealakekua. There they had a serious discussion of cession. A treaty was discussed that afforded British protection of Hawaiians from unscrupulous traders and predatory foreign powers. It would be achieved through the cession of the Island of Hawaiʻi to Great Britain.

“Tamaahmaah opened the business in a speech, which he delivered with great moderation and equal firmness. He explained the reasons that had induced him to offer the island to the protection of Great Britain; and recounted the numerous advantages that himself, the chiefs, and the people, were likely to derive by the surrender they were about to make.” (Vancouver, 1801)

The chiefs stated clearly that this cession was not to alter their religion, economy, or government, and that Kamehameha, the chiefs and priests “were to continue as usual to officiate with the same authority as before in their respective stations ….”

“(T)he king repeated his former proposition, which was now unanimously approved of, and the whole party declared their consent by saying, that they were no longer ‘Tanata no Owhyhee,’ the people of Owhyhee; but ‘Tananta no Britannee,’ the people of Britain.” (Vancouver, 1801)

To commemorate the event, an inscription on copper was made stating, “On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamaahmaah, king of Owhyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board His Britannic Majesty’s sloop Discovery in Karakakooa bay, in the presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop; Lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of his said Majesty’s armed tender the Chatham; and the other officers of the Discovery; after due consideration, unanimously ceded the said island of Owhyhee to His Britannic Majesty, and acknowledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain.” (Vancouver, 1801)

Vancouver then noted in his Journal, “Thus concluded the ceremonies of ceding the island of Owhyhee to the British crown; but whether this addition to the empire will ever be of any importance of Great Britain, or whether the surrender of the island will ever be attended with any additional happiness to its people, time alone must determine.” (Vancouver, 1801)

The British government did not receive a copy of the “cession” until after Vancouver’s return to England a year later, and then the British parliament never acted on it. The British ship and men expected by the Hawaiians never arrived, and Kamehameha and his chiefs resumed the wars against Maui and the other islands until, in 1810, Kamehameha was King not only of Hawai’i but of all the islands of the Hawaiian chain. (Speakman, HJH)

Captain George Vancouver died on May 10, 1798 at the age of 40.

September 21, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Virginia Declaration of Rights

After the members of the Fifth Virginia Convention voted in favor of preparing a new plan of government, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason.

As a landowner and near neighbor of George Washington, George Mason took a leading part in local affairs. He also became deeply interested in Western expansion and was active in the Ohio Company, organized in 1749 to develop trade and sell land on the upper Ohio River.

At about the same time, Mason helped to found the town of Alexandria, Virginia. Because of ill health and family problems, he generally avoided public office, though he accepted election to the House of Burgesses in 1759. Except for his membership in the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, this was the highest office he ever held – yet few men did more to shape US political institutions.

A leader of the Virginia patriots on the eve of the American Revolution (1775 – 1783), Mason served on the Committee of Safety and in 1776 drafted Virginia’s state constitution. (Britannica)

Early in 1776 John Adams published Thoughts in Government, a pamphlet laying out his framework for a republican form of government that influenced colonies as they created their individual state constitutions. Virginia, like many of the states, would include a list of rights guaranteed to its citizens.

Mason’s initial draft contained ten paragraphs that outlined rights, such as the ability to confront one’s accusers in court, to present evidence in court, protection from self-incrimination, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a trial by jury, and the extension of religious tolerance. The final version of the Virginia Declaration of Rights consisted of sixteen sections.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was unanimously adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates, on June 12, 1776. The same Convention also framed and adopted the Virginia Constitution.

Among the delegates were Mason, the most important contributor, and twenty-five-year-old James Madison, who drafted the section on the “free exercise of religion.”

Also present at the creation of the Virginia Declaration and Constitution were John Blair and Edmund Randolph. Eleven years later, these four delegates were chosen to the seven-member Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was an influential document and a forerunner for many documents that followed. This declaration was the first state declaration establishing the fundamental human liberties that government was created to protect.

It was widely read by political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic. Thomas Jefferson drew upon it when writing the Declaration of Independence and James Madison expanded on Mason’s ideas of guaranteed rights when he wrote the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. (Virginia-gov)

The declaration was particularly influential on later state constitutions because it represented the first protection of individual human rights under state constitutions of the American revolutionary period.

It also represented the shift from colonial charters to state constitutions, as the nation moved toward independence from Great Britain. (Middle Tennessee State University)

Declaration of Rights Is Similar to the Declaration of Independence

In language echoed later in the Declaration of Independence (it was drafted the next month by Thomas Jefferson). Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration proclaimed that all men “are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights,” including “the enjoyment of life and liberty” and property and that of “pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

Section 2 recognized that the people were the source of all power, and Section 3 proclaimed the right of the people to replace governments that did not meet these needs. Section 4 reflected the republican principle that no individual is entitled to power on the basis of hereditary, while Section 5 proclaimed the idea of separation of powers.

The Rights are Similar to First Amendment Rights (Bill of Rights)

Much of the rest of the Declaration of Rights outlined rights similar to those later incorporated into the US Bill of Rights.

At least two of these rights are similar to those incorporated in the First Amendment. Section 12 proclaimed that “freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

Although the Virginia Declaration does not contain a provision on freedom of speech, its provision for religious freedom is actually more extensive than those incorporated in the First Amendment.

Mason had originally phrased this declaration in terms of “tolerance” for all, but, consistent with the teachings of John Witherspoon, the president of College of New Jersey (later Princeton) under whom he had studied, Madison insisted that religious practice was not a matter of majority grace but of natural rights.

Although the content of the Virginia Declaration and the later US Bill of Rights overlap in many ways, there are differences.

Madison appears to have constructed most provisions of the Bill of Rights more forcefully, so that courts could more readily protect individual rights by enforcing such provisions – for example, the First Amendment provision stating that “Congress shall make no law”. (Middle Tennessee State University)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Virginia Declaration of Rights:

Click to access Virginia-Declaration-Of-Rights.pdf

September 20, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

This Was a Place of Peace

Puʻuhonua is a Hawaiian designation for a land of refuge or sanctuary, stemming from early Polynesian cultural traditions. Each Hawaiian island had several puʻuhonua. Christian missionaries to the Sandwich Islands noted the similarity of puʻuhonua to ancient Hebrew “cities of refuge,” a function assigned to church buildings in western religion.

A decree by Queen Kaʻahumanu, before her death in 1832, re-established Maui puʻuhonua grounds which had existed from prehistoric times, one of which was Olowalu Valley.

Between 1-million and almost 2-million years ago, lava from Puʻu Kukui formed the fifteen-mile long West Maui mountain ridge. It was named Puʻu Laina in Lāhainā and called Kahalawai in Wailuku.

Olowalu Ahupuaʻa begins atop Pu’u Kukui at the 4,457-foot elevation; it is directly behind the head of ʻIao Valley in Wailuku. From this narrow point its boundaries trace downhill through Olowalu upper valley.

In the fourteenth century, King Hua of Maui sent his men into the mountains of Olowalu to trap nesting ʻuaʻu birds; the mountains were thick with ʻiliahi, koa, kou and ʻōhiʻa and cloud drip was captured as the moist tradewinds blew through. When the hills were cleared of sandalwood and other hardwoods in the early-1800s, Olowalu Valley is drier today than it was in the past.

Trails extended from the coast to the mountains; a trail known as the alanui or “King’s trail” built by Kihapiʻilani, extended along the coast passing through all the major communities between Lāhainā and Makena.

A trail to Wailuku once ran near the top of Puʻu Kukui and continued back over the northeast wall into the head of ʻIao Valley; it was a land route between Wailuku and Olowalu, with the upper valley serving as a rest stop before attempting the crossing of the Olowalu mountains to ʻIao Valley.

In 1790, when Kamehameha conquered Maui at the Battle of Kepaniwai, defeated Maui ali’i escaped through Olowalu Pass and Olowalu Valley and fled by sea to Moloka’i and O’ahu.

At lower elevations, Olowalu valley opens up to a gently sloped, fanned alluvial plain. Near the stream was wetland kalo (taro) cultivation, which incorporated pond fields and irrigation canals. In areas where water was not as abundant, food crops such as sugar cane, banana, and sweet potato and material crops like kukui, wauke, ʻolona, pili and naio. were grown. Olowalu was known for dry-land taro and breadfruit groves. Agriculture in this area of the island was believed to have started in about 1200-1400 AD.

Inshore lowlands of Olowalu and Ukumehame ahupua’a were once salt marsh habitats for nesting sea birds, shore birds, fish and mollusks. These wetlands supported native grasses and shrubs.

The name “Olowalu” translates to “a cluster of hills;” multiple cinder cones are common features of southwest rift zones on Hawaiian Islands. Early Hawaiian planters and modem sugar growers quarried or leveled some of these in the process of farming. (In modem times, “split hill” in northern Olowalu was completely removed to Kāʻanapali Beach for the construction of their executive golf course; only the tip of the hill makai of the highway remains.)

“Olowalu” is also a Hawaiian verb/adjective, used to describe a number of sounds occurring at once, or a din, such as drums beating, dogs barking, or chickens crowing at the sun. La’amaikahiki, who is credited with bringing the drum to Hawai’i from Tahiti in the eleventh century, is called, “O ke ali’i ke olowalu a ka pahu a Hawai’i.” “The ali’i is the rumble of Hawai’i’s drums.” Both definitions apply at Olowalu Valley.

Kaʻiwaloa Heiau (“the great ‘ʻiwa” – 100 by 150-feet) served entire region from Ukumehame (to the south) to Kekaʻa on the north.) The ʻiwa bird frequented Olowalu, it is an aid to Polynesian navigators and is often pictured at the center of the navigators’ sky compass. Kaʻiwaloa heiau faces south-southwest toward Kahoʻolawe and Ke Ala i Kahiki navigation lane to Tahiti.

Petroglyphs were inscribed and are still visible on the bare stone sides of a hill about a mile in from the highway past the present Olowalu Store. The figures are of several types and timeframes, including those of dogs, women, children and letters from the English alphabet.

In 1789, Simon Metcalf (captaining the Eleanora) and his son Thomas Metcalf (captaining the Fair American) were traders; their plan was to meet and spend winter in the Hawaiian Islands. The Eleanora arrived in the islands first at Kohala on the island of Hawaiʻi. After a confrontation with a local chief, Metcalf then sailed to the neighboring island of Maui to trade along the coast.

Captain Simon Metcalf anchored his trading ship the Eleanora off shore, probably at Makena Bay, to barter for necessary provisions. Someone stole one of Metcalfe’s small boats and killed a watchman. Captain Metcalfe fired his cannons into the village, and captured a few Hawaiians who told him the boat was taken by people from the village of Olowalu.

He sailed to Olowalu but found that boat had been broken up for its nails. (Nails were treasured like gems in ancient Hawaiʻi; they were used for fishhooks, adzes, drills, daggers and spear points.) An enraged Metcalfe invited the villagers to meet the ship, indicating he wanted to trade with them.

However, he had all the cannons loaded and ready on the side where he directed the canoes to approach. When they opened fire, about one hundred Hawaiians were killed, and many others wounded. Hawaiians referred to the slaughter as Kalolopahu, or spilled brains.

This tragedy, termed the Olowalu Massacre, set into motion a series of events which left two Western seamen and a ship (the Fair American) in the hands of Big Island chief Kamehameha. John Young (off the Eleanora) and Isaac Davis (off the Fair American) befriended Kamehameha I and became respected translators and his close and trusted advisors. They were instrumental in Kamehameha’s military ventures and his ultimate triumph in the race to unite the Hawaiian Islands.

Kalola ruled the puʻuhonua of Olowalu and presided over Kaʻiwaloa Heiau. Kahekili, ruler of Maui, lived at Halekiʻi Heiau around 1765. This indicates the important spiritual, political and economic connection between ʻIao and Olowalu. Kalola was still ruling at Olowalu in 1790 when Simon Metcalf fired cannon on Honua’ula and Olowalu.

Several months after the massacre at Olowalu, Kalola watched the great Battle of Kepaniwai from a panoramic flat area in the back of ʻIao Valley. Kamehameha stormed Maui with over twenty thousand men, and after several battles Maui troops retreated to ʻIao Valley. Kalola, her family and seven high chiefs of Maui escaped through the pass to Olowalu, where they boarded canoes for Molokaʻi and Oʻahu.

Commercial sugar is said to have started here by King Kamehameha V, who reigned from 1863 to 1872. The mill was probably constructed in the 1870s. Included with the mill was a 2-foot gauge railroad, a manager’s house and 3 other plantation houses.

The plantation was incorporated as the Olowalu Sugar Company in May 1881 and eventually was sold to Pioneer Mill Company, Ltd. in 1931. Lands in Olowalu eventually became a part of the former Pioneer Mill lands until the closure of the mill in the late-1990s. Since then, much of the former sugar lands have laid fallow. (Lots of information here from Olowalu Cultural Reserve.)

September 19, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wahiawa Dam and Reservoir (Lake Wilson)

“The greatest irrigation proposition ever undertaken in the Hawaiian Islands is the Wahiawa dam, which will soon be under course of construction in the Wahiawa valley, some miles from Honolulu. …”

“It will also be used for irrigating fruit lands belonging to a colony of settlers in the immediate vicinity of the dam and for generating electric power.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

“This dam will conserve in a great natural reservoir basin over two and a half billion gallons of water which will be used chiefly to irrigate the upper cane lands of the Waialua Agricultural Company’s great sugar plantation, eight miles away.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

“The dam will be built by the Wahiawa Water Company, which consists of the Waialua Agricultural Company and members of the colony of fruit growers who own the land which the reservoir will occupy when filled.”

“The site that has been selected, is just below the junction of the north and south forks of Kaukonahua, the largest and longest stream on the island of Oahu. The reservoir basin lies between the Waianae and Koolau ranges of mountains and extends up the north fork of the stream 3.5 miles and 4.5 miles up the south fork.” (Louisiana Planter, September 19, 1904)

By 1889, sugar cane had become a rapidly-developing crop on Oahu. Despite the fact that the Hawaiian Islands receive significant amounts of total rain, it falls sporadically onto volcanic soil that does little to hold it. For agricultural purposes, much of the terrain is practically desert unless the rainfall can be captured and held. (HeritageMuseumOC)

Initially the sugar plantations were dependent on irrigation systems that used massive pumps to lift rainwater up to 650-feet from artesian wells along the coast to the level of the plantations. This was a very expensive proposition and most likely required a great deal of maintenance. So the idea of building a dam became very attractive.

Leonard Grant (LG) Kellogg had settled in the colony of Wahiawa, which was primarily engaged in pineapple farming. He organized the Wahiawa Water Company with the purpose of providing drinking water and irrigation to the colony. The company constructed a ditch from a local water source to the colony.

The Wahiawā Colony Tract covered an area of 1,300-acres. The homesteaders formed an agricultural cooperative called the Hawaiian Fruit and Plant Company; later, they set aside the central town lots for the use and benefit of the Settlement Association of Wahiawā resident landowners. Within a few years, Wahiawā Town was underway.

In 1902, LG called in his mainland brother, Hiram Clay Kellogg, to survey the area as the site of a potential reservoir. He also turned to the Waialua Sugar Plantation to help finance a reservoir project and be a customer of the water after the dam was built.

Once the survey was completed, LG called on James Dix Schuyler, a prominent consulting engineer from Los Angeles. Schuyler recommended a dam structure that used a combination of rock fill (loose boulders packed together) and hydraulic fill (soil that is moved into place and compacted by water). Clay was hired to do the detailed plans for the dam and to supervise its construction.

Although officially named Wahiawa, the dam is also known as the Waialua. It was constructed at a fork in the Kaukonahua River, backing the water up into two separate valleys to form what may have been considered two reservoirs, implying two separate dams.

Construction began in 1903 and was completed in 1905. The logistics of the construction were challenging. Railroad track was laid for bringing in the boulders for the rock fill portion from as far away as 6-miles. A high trestle was built over the dam site, and the rocks were dropped into place. The long drop compacted them so they held in place.

At its completion, it was the highest dam and largest reservoir in the Hawaiian Islands. The dam rose 98-feet above the stream bed, was 460-feet long and 25-feet wide at the crest, and 580-feet wide at the base. The original capacity of the reservoir was 2.5-billion gallons. It cost $300,000 to build, and was considered something of a bargain.

The water from the Wahiawa dam was transported to the higher cane lands of the Waialua plantation by means of tunnels and ditches and reduced the cost of water from an average of $63-per acre to about $20-per acre. It will also served lands between the 700 and 400-feet levels which could not be supplied by pumps for less than $90 to $100-per acre.

The water supply feeding the reservoir was ample to fill it from 4 to 6-times per year; with rainfall distributed throughout the year, the reservoir was refilled in rapid succession as it is emptied. The average depth is 26-feet, with the maximum depth of 88-feet at the dam.

At the time, the capacity of the pumping plant on the Waialua plantation was 72,000,000-gallons daily (more than double the average consumption of the city of San Francisco, CA.)

Since 1957, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, through a cooperative agreement with Castle & Cooke, Inc., has managed Wahiawa Reservoir as a public fishing area. In 1968, a 14-foot wide concrete boat launching ramp and parking area were constructed by the State for public use.

The reservoir is stocked with both large and small mouth bass, bluegill sunfish, Channel catfish, Threadfin shad, tilapia, peacock bass, oscar, Chinese catfish, and carp. It is the responsibility of DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources to manage these gamefish populations within the reservoir for recreational fishing purposes.

In 1999, the invasive aquatic plant, salvinia molesta, invaded the reservoir; within months, its growth exploded to a point in 2003 that it covered 95% of the reservoir’s surface area.

Salvinia molesta is a plant that under ideal conditions will double in number in 2-3 days and double in volume in 7-10 days. Apparently, little was done to stop it. In addition to other concerns, at risk was a die-off of 500-tons of fish.

In the first month of my service at DLNR (January, 2003,) I asked our Chief Engineer (Eric Hirano) to prepare and oversee a plan to rid the reservoir of salvinia. By May 24 2003 (after approximately $1.7-million,) DLNR reopened the popular state park for public use of shore portions.

The park reopening, after nearly 3-months of closure, followed successful completion of intensive bulk extraction activities by State, City and County, and federal and military agencies. A month later, Wahiawa Freshwater Recreation Area was reopened to boat fishing. (Lots of information here from Heritage Museum of Orange County.)

September 18, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Shirakawa Motel

“A kupua, a spirit came from Kahiki and lived below the Ha‘ao springs. He married a Ka‘u woman, and had a son named Kupa. They killed many people, and hid their bodies among tall weeds by the springs.”

“A cloudburst would bring grease from the corpses into the stream of Wai-o-hinu. With a ruse the people caught the boy and his father in a net and burned them in an imu. Some people credit this story for the name Waiohinu or “water shining like oil”. (Wilson Okamoto)

“Quite distinct from the rest of Ka-‘ū is the valley of Wai‘ōhinu, which is flanked in such a way by the mountainside that it escapes the violence (and evaporation power) of both trade and southernly winds, while receiving a generous share of rainfall. This was the locality chosen by the chiefs (ali‘i) for their residence.” (Handy & Pukui)

Wai‘ōhinu was a favored location within Ka‘ū Ahupua‘a by Hawaiian ali‘i (royalty). An upland forest of ‘ōhi‘a lehua, a permanent stream watered from Hā‘ao Springs, moderate rainfall, and a sheltered valley created a comfortable environment with fertile soils. (Wilson Okamoto)

In the 1800s, Wai‘ōhinu was the main village in Ka‘ū District. The nearest port for small vessels was in Ka‘alu‘alu which joined the village by a cart road built in 1852.

In 1857, an Agricultural Society was formed and agricultural pursuits in Wai‘ōhinu were improved; “farming has actually commenced in Kau during the past year. Within this time the first plow has been brought in and the first ground ploughed.”

“There are a dozen houses at Waiohinu, and they have got sound roofs, which is well, because the place is tolerably high upon the mountain side and it rains there pretty much all the time. The name means ‘sparkling water,’ and refers to a beautiful mountain stream there, but they ought to divide up and let it refer to the rain also.”

“A sugar plantation has been started at Waiohinu, and 150 acres planted, a year ago, but the altitude ranges from 1,800 to 2,500 feet above sea level, and it is thought it will take an other year for the cane to mature.” (Mark Twain, 1866)

“From 1859 to 1885, pulu fiber from the Hawaiian tree fern (hāpu‘u) was gathered and sold to American traders. The pulu was typically shipped to California and used to fill pillows and mattresses.

Through the mid-1800s to early 1900s, commercial sugarcane cultivation dominated the Ka‘ū landscape. The need for an increase in field workers let to an influx of contracted laborers from around the world, including China, Portugal, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. In 1850, Native Hawaiians accounted for 97 percent of the population, but only 33 percent by 1899. (Wilson Okamoto)

The Hawaiian Agricultural Company started between the years 1876 and 1880 and became the largest plantation company in Hawai‘i. It was also locally referred to as the Pahala Plantation, as the laborers housing was located in Pāhala. Mills were built in Nā‘ālehu and Pāhala. Wharves were built at Honu‘apo and Punalu‘u to ship out all the Ka‘ū sugar.

In 1900, Wai‘ōhinu became the county seat of Ka‘ū within the territory of the United States. The courthouse, jail, post office and school were all situated in Wai‘ōhinu until the 1930s

Sales people would take the long journey to Wai‘ōhinu to stock plantations and stores and then need a place to spend the night. They found such a place in Wai‘ōhinu.

“The original building, opened in 1926 as a way stop for salesmen, [was later] home to the family of Takumi Shirakawa.” (NY Times) It was a family-operated lodging house.

During WWII, the military took over the hotel. The Shirakawa family then ran a motel of thirteen rooms “amid trees dripping red and yellow hibiscus flowers”. (Wilson-Okamoto)

“The signboard of the Shirakawa Motel is partly hidden in lush greenery, and the motel itself is nearly in the shadow of Mark Twain’s Monkeypod Tree, planted by Twain during visit to the islands in 1866.” (NY Times)

“In a wonderful juxtaposition of then and now, guests who want to call him at his nearby nursery farm just press the button on a portable telephone buzzer in the foyer.

“There was no food service at the Shirakawa [some rooms had kitchenettes]; the nearest grocery and restaurant are two miles down a slight curve of the road to Naalehu, the southernmost town in the United States.” (NY Times)

Later, Pacific Quest, incorporating an outdoor-based, integrated therapy program for teens and young adults, took over the property and had its Ka‘ū facilities in the former Shirakawa Motel. (Pacific Quest left Ka‘ū in 2019.) (Ka‘ū Calendar)