Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Garden Contest

“Impressed with the barrenness of plantation camps, Mr (Frank S) Scudder (editor of The Friend) arranged for a supply of government seeds and shrubs. He then offered prizes … In a few months’ time, districts without grass or trees were converted into what, comparatively speaking, might well be termed veritable beauty spots.” (The Friend, February 1, 1917)

“We desire to furnish plantation laborers with fruit seed so they can have fruit in their own dooryards. If you have fine mangoes, or aligator pears, don’t throw away the seeds, keep them and let us have them to distribute. Any fine strawberry guavas? or any suggestions as to other fruits that can be easily raised?”

“Our ears are open to suggestions as to ways in which hardworking people, without much restful leisure, may be led to improve their home surroundings—to make the camps more delectable places to live in. Any suggestions as to flower or decorative plants? The Friend will be glad to receive Seed Thoughts.” (The Friend, February 1, 1911)

“In 1909 we planned a tree planting campaign. Mr. Ralph W. Hosmer, superintendent of forestry, kindly agreed to raise 2000 trees for free distribution in the camps.”

“The To mo – a Japanese magazine published by the Hawaiian Board – to add zest to the competition, offered four prizes for the best results in tree culture which could be attained in one year. Mr BD Baldwin, of Makaweli, offered $25 in prizes for his plantation.”

“Arbor Day, 1909, was set as the day for delivering and planting the trees. … The awarding of prizes was a delicate task. Some contestants had excelled in securing artistic effects, some in producing the finest trees and some in attaining remarkable results in spite of serious handicaps.”

“The consequence was that instead of giving five prizes as at first promised, the judges had to award eight second prizes as the only possible way out of their dilemma.”

“The writer was so perplexed that his dreams were disturbed by visions of trees and prizes and judges, and he chose as the subject of his prize awarding address the words, ‘I see men as trees, walking.’ The saplings, when set out on Arbor Day, 1909, averaged about 8 inches in height. At the close of the contest Dec. 31, 1910, they ranged from 6 to 15 feet.” (The Friend, March 1, 1911)

“Improved conditions throughout the plantation camps of the islands may be said to be a byproduct of this initial attempt to interest the people in producing a prize winning garden.” (The Friend, February 1, 1917)

Then, the Star-Bulletin sponsored the contest. In January, 1917, the Honolulu Star- Bulletin began an interesting experiment in the form of a school and home garden contest in cooperation with the school department, offering a series of prizes for the best gardens on each of the islands. (Kuykendall)

“With greater financial backing and a more elaborate publicity campaign, the Star-Bulletin can hardly fail to get results. Interest in school gardens has a direct bearing upon the much-mooted question of the small farmer in Hawaii. We bespeak for the campaign a well merited success.” (The Friend, February 1, 1917)

At the close of the contest, three months later, the Star-Bulletin said, with pardonable enthusiasm, “This garden contest has been a remarkable eye-opener, not only to the teachers and pupils, but even to the agricultural experts here, an eye-opener in proving how quickly boys and girls can be trained to raise edible and marketable produce.”

“As a result of this contest, not less than 5,000 boys and girls in Hawaiʻi are becoming producers – are becoming practical gardeners. Twice that number are interested in the gardening.” (Kuykendall)

The Honolulu Advertiser generously acknowledged the good results of this contest, stating that “the management of the Star-Bulletin has, apparently, hit upon a scheme which has accomplished much and promises more. …”

“The best part of the project is that it demonstrates to those who need the knowledge, that vegetables can be produced in all parts of the Territory, if proper care and attention is given them. … The Advertiser congratulates the Star-Bulletin upon the success of its public spirited efforts which are doubly beneficial at this crisis when food production may become one of the vital issues of the day.” (Kuykendall)

“So successful the home and garden contests recently conducted by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and so urgent has been the demand for continuation of the work for which the foundation already has been laid, this paper has decided repeat the contests during the coming school year.” (Star-Bulletin, August 17, 1917)

“The Star-Bulletin contest is a splendid thing both in attracting the attention of the public to the subject and in reaching in a practical and effective way those who, I believe, have the first right to be and ought to be encouraged to be, the future farmers in the Islands – the children born in the land.”

“I am afraid that I have but little sympathy with the idea of encouraging white farmers from the mainland to come to Hawaii.”

“In addition to this work of encouraging the boys and girls to look forward to life on the farm, which the Star-Bulletin is so splendidly helping along, there is need of providing a decent opportunity for them when they are ready to go on the land, and of surrounding their life there with conditions conducive to success and contentment.”

“However, there is cause for much encouragement too. Behind one of the most important measures is the splendid backing of Mr CH Cooke and Mr HA Baldwin, which ensures its passage.” (Edwin C. Moore, Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, Star-Bulletin, January 24, 1917) The contest continued for a few more years.

An interesting side note related to the Garden Contest came from a report by J Vincent, Principal of Kealahou School in Kula, “For years the Kula farmers have planted small plots to onions but from any seed they happened to purchase in five-cent jackets in our local stores and no special variety was even thought of.”

“This spelled failure end the majority of our farmers had come to the conclusion that onions could not be successfully grown in Hawaii.”

“Our school experimented with a number of varieties but did not have much success until a representative from Aggeler & Musser (Seed) Company called on us and recommended that we plant Bermudas, which we did.” (Bermuda is a variety of sweet onion.)

“We then succeeded in raising a fair crop and in a remarkably short time, as Bermudas mature very early. The farmers became enthusiastic and purchased over 50 pounds of seed. They also raised a fine crop ….” (Star-Bulletin, April 14, 1917)

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Where Curtis Lived

“On Thursday, September 20, at the office of ED Baldwin, Hilo, Hawaii, will be sold at public auction about 200 lots, of 50 acres each, at upset price of from $1 to $12 per acre … The purchaser may not acquire more than one lot.”

“Purchaser shall substantially improve his holding within one year from date of agreement, and shall from the end of second year have under cultivation at all times at less than ten per cent of the premises.”

“To entitle him to Patent Grant giving fee simple title, he shall continuously maintain his home upon the premises for a term of six years and have at the end of such term 25 per cent of the premises under bona fide cultivation, or shall have maintained his home continuously upon the premises for four years and have under cultivation, at end of such period, 50 per cent of the premises”.

“He shall plant, if not already growing, and maintain in good growing condition from end of second year until termination of agreement an average of not less than ten timber, shade, or fruit trees per acre.” (Commission of Public Lands Report , January 1, 1900)

“The first tracts of land in the Olaʻa District, a very fertile one and now becoming famous for the sugar and coffee being raised within the belt … (were to be sold with) the intentions of the Government to preserve them as homesteads for bona fide settlers who would build up a family home thereon”. (San Francisco Call, September 2, 1899)

“In the opening up of the Olaʻa tract on Hawaii to settlers, (there was) the consequent impetus to business which followed at Hilo.” (Thrum, 1901)

“The amount thus sold, about 4,000 acres, is portion of a large tract having the same general qualities and a total area of about 20,000 acres, which has all been carefully surveyed and upon which an expenditure for surveys and the building of roads has been made by the local authorities to the amount of $30,000 or $40,000.”

“These lands are connected by good roads with the town of Hilo, and lie from 10 to 20 miles from same.” (Hawaiian Investigation, Congressional Report, 1903)

The records note AG Curtis acquired Lot #219 (50.00-ac) and Virginia H Curtis acquired the adjoining Lot #220 (49.08-ac.)

Olaʻa was one of Hawaiʻi Island’s main coffee growing areas; it claimed the largest total area and the greatest number of planters, the land actually under coffee is about 6,000 acres. (Thrum)

However, from various causes, the interest in coffee growing was not long-lived. Advantages offered by a change to the cultivation of sugar cane, where the land was found suitable, transformed most of the Olaʻa coffee plantations into one vast sugar estate. (Thrum)

The Olaʻa Sugar Company was incorporated in 1899, and soon entered into a contract to grind the crop of Puna Sugar Company, another newly formed plantation. That same year, Olaʻa Sugar contracted with the newly founded Hilo Railroad Co., with the laying of tracks to Olaʻa and parts of lower Puna beginning that fall.” (County of Hawaiʻi)

Curtis grew “cane at Olaʻa which they sell to Olaʻa Sugar Company under contract.” However, the financial arrangements later did not satisfy Curtis or others. “Their chief complaint that they are paid too low prices for their cane, and that the mill makes an unproportionate profit.”

“Olaʻa Plantation has been purchasing cane from small planters for several years past under three forms of contract viz: the 1904 contract (under which Mr. Curtis has been operating), a contract known as the 1908 contract, and, latterly, under the ‘Eckart’ or 1913 contract. The prices to be paid to the planters under all of these contracts are based upon the price of raw sugar in New York.” (Star Bulletin, April 24, 1915)

That wasn’t all Curtis grew … “A few rubber trees have been planted on the homestead lot belonging to Mr AG Curtis at Eleven Miles, on the Volcano Road. These trees look exceedingly healthy and have attained a height of twenty-five feet. They were planted about four years ago.” (Hawaii Ag and Forestry, 1904)

“Mr Curtis (also) started a general store after which a postoffice was allotted to ‘11 miles’, as (the town) is colloquially known on Hawaiʻi.” Curtis sold it.

“11 miles from Hilo, on the Volcano road … the store, store building and store site, has been sold to T Dranga, a Crescent City business man, for approximately $10,000, according to reports reaching Honolulu today.”

“The transfer was made last week, after AG Curtis, the owner, returned from the mainland. It is his mercantile business which Mr Curtis has disposed of, but be still retains much of his cane land, from which he has made an independent fortune in the last few years.”

“Mr Curtis is now bound again for San Francisco where he proposes starting a purchasing agency for Island patrons.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 19, 1917)

“Kurtistown on Hawaiʻi was named after AG Curtis who was one of the pioneers in Olaʻa in 1902 when the Olaʻa Sugar Company began operations there.”

“A United States Post Office was established in the general store owned by AG Curtis and named Kurtistown the name by which the settlement between 11 and 13 miles on Volcano Road was also called.”

“The name was spelled ‘Kurtis’ instead of ‘Curtis’ because there is no ‘C’ in the Hawaiian alphabet.” (A Gazetteer)

(The explanation of the first letter is noted; however, it seems they overlooked that the alphabet and spelling of Hawaiian language initiated by the initial missionaries, and in use today, also does not have the letters ‘R,’ ‘S’ or ‘T.’)

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Pearl Harbor Historic Trail

Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is a partially-existing (some refer to that as the 5 mile Pearl Harbor Bike Path) heritage and recreational corridor that has the goal of establishing an 18+ mile multi-use recreational trail that will highlight historic sites from the USS Arizona Memorial to the west coast Oʻahu community of Nānākuli.

The full Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is still only an idea, but there is already a multi-use trail from the Arizona Memorial parking lot to Waipi’o Point Access Road. The path is intended to be improved as part of the historic trail project.

The long-range Master Plan (prepared in 2001) stemmed from the Aiea-Pearl City Community Vision Group’s Year 2000 project.

The Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is a vital element in the Aiea-Pearl City Livable Communities Plan as its proposed projects for the area are integrated into the Plan.

The former Oahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) right-of-way is the foundation upon which the proposed Pearl Harbor Historic Trail will be built.

A key project of the Master Plan is the re-establishment of the historic railway operation for the entire 18+ miles of the Trail.

The Hawaiian Railway Society (HRS) currently operates a six-mile long narrated railway train tour between its Ewa station museum and Kahe Tracks Beach Park in Nanakuli.

The Community Vision Group saw the 40-foot wide OR&L right-of-way as a valuable asset within their community that had the potential to meet a number of community needs such as safe bicycle and pedestrian paths, a natural and historic preservation project, a recreation resource, a means of opening up shoreline access, and an opportunity for economic revitalization.

The Master Plan incorporates a combination shared-use path and railway that includes major components, attractions and activity centers that will establish the Trail as a world-class heritage and recreation corridor.

The Trail will feature a continuous path for bicyclists and pedestrians alongside an historic train, diverging from the OR&L right-of-way where advantageous to take in shoreline views.

Miles of greenway and bikeway connections and gateways to the path are proposed, enhancing access to nearby communities and attractions.

A long while back, Nelia and I biked from Aiea Bay State Recreation Area, first to the Arizona Memorial side, then to Waipiʻo Peninsula along the existing portion of the trail.

At that time, it was in generally good condition; it is used daily by bikers, joggers and walkers. There are great views of Pearl Harbor, as well as other odds and ends along the way.

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Hilo Teachers School

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai­ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The missionaries were the teachers and the chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

When the arrived in Hilo … “there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region, that built by Mr. [Joseph] Goodrich.”

“There were no roads, only footpaths, no fences and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … I might add that there were no trees except the breadfruit, which were abundant and flourishing. Coconut trees fringed the beach. The people were numerous and had a healthy look … very friendly.”

“A few schooners, owned by the chiefs, came here occasionally, not to bring blessings to the natives, but to levy contributions of tapa, nuts, dried fish, pigs, etc …” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. 

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pī­ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

In 1830 “Mr. [Lorrin] Andrews left Lahaina to go to the aid of the Hilo Station and he started a school for the improvement of the teachers.” (Lothian)

In 1831, Lahainaluna Seminary, was created in Maui to be a school for teachers and preachers so that they could teach on the islands. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

In 1832, “The school system was admirable for the times; there being school buildings through the two districts at convenient distances for all to attend, and they did pretty generally attend. And all whose eyes were not dim with age learned to read.”

“Each school had two sets of teachers, and whilst one was teaching, the other was here attending the teachers school, which was taught by the missionaries.” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

On January 6, 1835, “our children’s (Station) school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward (ie. advanced) children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward.”

In 1836, “For several years the forming of a boy’s boarding school had been discussed at the Annual Meetings and while they were all in favor of said venture they were not sure of its success; no one had offered to start a school.”

“At the 1836 meeting it was decided that the school should be in Hilo ….. ‘leaving it for the brothern to decide as to who should develop the much desired thing. The great object in view was to train more intelligent teachers for the common schools. So we were given carte blanche for the Island of Hawaii.’” (Sarah Joiner Lyman Journal; Lothian)

“Mr. Abner Wilcox, who had arrived with the recent Company that spring [1836], was assigned to Hilo to take charge of the teachers school and the educational department of the boarding school [Hilo Boarding School].”

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.”  (Lothian)

Hilo Boarding School, under the leadership of the Lymans, was an immediate success. In 1837, six graduates were sent to Lahainaluna Seminary.

At first, greater emphasis was placed upon producing teachers and preachers than upon molding farmers or craftsmen.  However, with the loss of Lahainaluna to the government, the Hilo school became reoriented to stress vocational training.

Hilo Boarding School was never a purely vocational institution, however, its founder’s focus of educating the head, heart and hand carried throughout its history (rigorous academic drills (Head), religious/moral (Heart) and manual/vocational (Hand) training).

In 1839, the old thatch buildings were torn down and Lyman purchased the entire first shipment of lumber to arrive in Hilo to build a new school building, as well as a cookhouse and infirmary which would accommodate sixty to seventy boys.

The new school building lodged fifty-five pupils in its first year, most of them coming from outside Hilo.  In 1840, sugar cultivation commenced on adjacent mission land, and was worked entirely by the boys of the school along with a “monthly concert” of labor by all members of the parish. The cane was probably ground in a Chinese-owned mill in Hilo.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849.  (By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.)

“The fact that Lahainaluna became a Government and the public schools starting high schools started the Hilo Boarding school moving into a new era. The Boarding School began as an academic institution whose purpose was to teach boys and young men and prepare them so they could attend Lahainaluna School and … come out as teachers and ministers”. (Lothian)

More than one-third of the boys who had attended Hilo Boarding School eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that Hilo Boys School “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

Common schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) sprang up in villages all over the islands.  In these common schools, classes and attendance were quite irregular, but nevertheless basic reading and writing skills (in Hawaiian) and fundamental Christian doctrine were taught to large numbers of people.  (Canevali)

The Hilo Boarding School closed in 1925, although its facilities were used for several years thereafter.  It first became a community center.

Then, in 1947, it was the first home of the Hilo Branch of the University of Hawaiʻi a center of the University Extension Division.  UH programs expanded there with a permanent summer school in 1948 – then, in 1949, the institution changed its name to University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo center (which later moved to its present site on Lanikāula Street, in 1955.)

All of the Hilo Boarding School buildings are gone; in 1980 the Hilo Center affiliated with the Boy’s Clubs of America – Hilo Boys and Girls Club now occupies the site.

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About 250 Years Ago … Gerrymandering

It seems we have been pronouncing Gerrymandering incorrectly.  More often than not, we pronounce it with a soft “g” (as in sounding like Jerry); we should be pronouncing it with a hard “g” (as in Gary).

The word was a concoction from 1812, and the namesake for the word – Declaration of Independence signer Elbridge Gerry – pronounced his name with a hard “g” – his name sounds like ‘Gary’.

“Acting on the request of a former Marblehead schoolteacher, the town’s board of selectmen sent a letter to [US Supreme Court] Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr [in 2018] asking the justices to use the hard “g” pronunciation”. (ABA Journal)

Elbridge Thomas Gerry [1837-1927], grandson of Founder Elbridge Gerry, was a prominent and influential Gilded Age New York trial lawyer, philanthropist and bibliophile whose library became the foundation of the United States Supreme Court Library. (Shelley Dowling)

US Supreme Court staff, “assured the selectmen that ‘not only do we tend carefully to our Gerry collection, but we pronounce it with a hard “g”.

In a follow-up statement to the Boston Globe, a public information officer said there is ‘a solid consensus’ on the pronunciation of Gerry, but the pronunciation of gerrymandering “remains ‘sub judice.’”

Here is Elbridge Gerry explaining a little about himself: https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Gerry-Elbridge-MA-White-House-Founders-Museum.mp4

The legend of the gerrymander came into being in 1812 at a meeting of Federalist political leaders and newspapermen in Boston.

Gerrymandering was coined from a political cartoon published in 1812. The cartoon bashed Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry for signing a bill that redrew state senate districts to disadvantage Federalists. (ABA Journal)

“The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure — and from a mythological salamander. The term, originally written as “Gerry-mander,” first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette.”

“Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Democratic-Republican Party, it was [Massachusetts’s Governor] Gerry who signed the bill in 1812. As a result, he received the dubious honor of attribution, along with its negative connotations. Gerry, in fact, found the proposal “highly disagreeable.’”

“He lost the next election, but the redistricting was a success: His party retained control of the legislature. One of the remapped, contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a mythological salamander.” (LOC)

Complaints about the efforts of their Jeffersonian Republican opponents to rig state elections by altering voting districts led artist Elkanah Tisdale to add a head and wings to an outlined map of a new senatorial district in Essex County and name it the “gerrymander” after the leader of the Jeffersonians, Governor Elbridge Gerry.

The cartoon shocked the public and proved very effective. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Elbridge Gerry was a merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States. Born on July 17, 1744, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Gerry came from a family of successful merchants. He graduated from Harvard College and worked closely with Samuel Adams.

After a brief time in commerce, he entered public service as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and General Court. In 1775, Gerry was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence, and continued to serve until 1780.

In response to Shays’ Rebellion, Gerry was selected to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He chaired the committee that helped forge the Great Compromise, which created a bicameral legislature with popular representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and equal representation for each state in the Senate.

Concerned about centralized power, Gerry – along with Edmund Randolph and George Mason – refused to sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. After ratification, he served two terms in Congress, retiring in 1793.

He later served as Governor of Massachusetts beginning in 1810, where the state legislature’s redistricting decisions led to the term “gerrymandering.” In 1813, he became vice president under James Madison, serving until his death in 1814 at age 70. (Founders Museum)

Elbridge Gerry left us a message … “It is the duty of every man, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the good of his country.”

With respect to the legality of politically-based gerrymandering, the US Supreme Court concluded, “Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust.”

“But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles,’ … does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary.  We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”

“Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions.”

“‘[J]udicial action must be governed by standard, by rule,’ and must be ‘principled, rational, and based upon reasoned distinctions’ found in the Constitution or laws. … Judicial review of partisan gerrymandering does not meet those basic requirements. …”

“No one can accuse this Court of having a crabbed view of the reach of its competence.  But we have no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absence of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority.”

“‘It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’ …  In this rare circumstance, that means our duty is to say ‘this is not law.’”

“The judgments of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland are vacated, and the cases are remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.”  (Decision of the US Supreme Court, Rucho et al. v. Common Cause et al.)

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