Peter T Young

October 19, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ko‘olau Railway

As Hawai‘i’s most populous island, O‘ahu has probably the most expansive railway history, other than perhaps arguably the Big Island. The island was home to plantation railroads and military railroads.

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham, the same father of the Hilo Railroad, conceived the Oahu Railway & Land Company in an effort to improve transportation on the island.

Beginning service in 1889 between Honolulu and Aiea, the railroad only continued to grow. By 1898, the mainline extended to Kahuku.

It was proposed, although never seriously considered to circumnavigate the island in a circle. Rather, numerous branch lines were constructed.

The development of sugar plantations in the Ko‘olauloa District began at Lā‘ie around 1868, when the first mill in the region was built.

In 1890, the Kahuku Plantation Company was organized, and shortly thereafter took on the processing of both the Lā‘ie and Kahuku crops.

By 1903 a railway between Lā‘ie and Kahuku Mill had been laid out, and James B Castle, partner in the corporation, was also planning his own plantation venture under the Koolau Agricultural Company and Koolau Railway Company, Limited. (Maly)

On July 5, 1905 Castle and others formed an association and filed with the Treasurer of the Territory of Hawaii a petition to incorporate under the name of Koolau Railway Company Ltd. for a term of fifty years.

The line was initially planned to run from the end of the Oahu Railway and Land Company’s track at Kahuku to Heeia, a distance of 25-miles.

By 1905, Castle’s Koolau Agricultural Company and Koolau Railway Company were initiating plans for the laying out of fields and planting sugar, and development of the railway system and support facilities in Kaluanui (‘Sacred Falls’) and other lands between Kahuku and Kahana Valley. (Livingston)

In 1906, Castle also secured a lease from Bishop Estate for more than 125 acres of kula lands in Kaluanui, for the term of 50 years, bringing to a close the tenure of the Hui Hoolimalima Aina o Kaluanui (Bishop Estate Lease No. 1219).

(The total acreage planted in Kaluanui was around 160 acres; and by 1922, cement-lined irrigation channels and flumes were developed to transport water from the Kaluanui-Kaliuwa‘a Stream to the fields – including those of neighboring ahupua‘a.)

The first 10 miles of the rail line to Kahana were completed in 1907 where construction stopped even though surveys were completed all the way to Honolulu. By late-1908, the Koolau Railway Company, Limited, system was in service between Kahuku and Kahana.

Construction never resumed, probably due to the extremely high cost to build along the windward side of Oahu and a decided lack of traffic.

Joseph F Smith, a missionary whose first Mormon mission to Hawai‘i was in 1854, visited Lā‘ie in 1915, and remarked on the great changes made by the missionaries since his first visit …

“Besides the almost omnipresent automobile, a railroad nearly circumscribes this Island, with vast networks or rails permeating the sugar-cane fields. The old grass-thatched huts have given place to comfortable and pleasant homes and grounds beautified with evergreens and flowers.”

“Modern furniture, comforts, and conveniences of homes have supplanted the gourds, calabashes and pandanus-leaf mats, on which the natives slept, and the native kapa, which furnished their clothing and the covering of their beds. To a great extent the ancient and dim light of the kukui-nut and the oil lamp has given place to the brilliant illumination of modern electric lights.”

In 1916, the Kahuku Plantation leased some of its land for pineapple cultivation to one large grower (C Okayama) and other individual growers on small pieces of land.

The growers were obligated to sell their crop to the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Libby, McNeill & Libby of Honolulu, and the California Packing Corporation (which later became the Del Monte Corporation).

The Kahuku Plantation remained relatively small, with less than 4,000 acres under cultivation until the early 1900s, when it expanded to the southeast as far as Hau‘ula.

The Kahuku Plantation Company expanded by buying or incorporating other sugar plantation lands. In 1924, it bought the fields of the Koolau Agricultural Company as far south as Kahana Bay.

In 1931, the Laie Plantation Corporation was dissolved and their sugar lands, totally 2,700 acres, were purchased and added to the Kahuku Plantation.

Under the caption of “Laie Purchase,” the 1931 Kahuku Plantation Manager’s report for the year comments as follows: “Your company acquired the lease of Zion Securities agricultural lands and the transfer of leases previously held by them through Laie Plantation for a period of 25 years, dating from July 1, 1931.”

“Koolau Railway Company Ltd. was also bought from the Zion Securities Corporation. This railroad will be disincorporated as soon as possible and become purely a plantation railroad.”

The end for the cane hauling railroad at the Kahuku Plantation came in 1972, when this notice in the Honolulu Advertiser appeared: “The company had been losing money on the plantation for the last few years.”

“In 1968, A&B announced the closing of the plantation and the mill. The last crop was harvested in 1968, the last cane was ground at the mill on November 25, 1971, and the final paperwork was completed on February 1972, when the mill was locked to prevent vandalism.”

October 18, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman

A Cherokee Indian, John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman was born on August 1, 1777. (Chu Chu is a Cherokee name, not Chinese.) Some suggest he came from Natchez, Louisiana, or possibly Oklahoma. He arrived in the Hawaiian Islands about 1817. (“The Polynesian” Oct. 19, 1852.)

In the islands he was called Kuene, but also went by the names John Neddles and John Neddles Gilman (he’ll go by Neddles, here.)

He first married Louisa Piʻilani Poʻokui in March, 1820; they had four children. He was married a second time to Harriet Kapu Kewahaea of Kaʻawaloa, Hawaiʻi; they had four sons and one daughter.

Neddles had an adopted daughter, Louisa Chu Chu Gilman (November 13, 1828-November 30, 1909.) She married twice to Chung Hung (or Ahung,) and later Arthur Peter Brickwood.

Here’s a little side-story on one of the weddings. This is how Stephen Reynolds described his friend Ahung’s wedding: “April 19, 1843—Fine morn … Lord George Paulette (Paulet) and French Frere called on Ahung—took a piece of cake and glass of wine and went away. …”

“Evening Ahung was married to Miss Louisa Neddles by Richard Armstrong … French & American Consuls, E & H Grimes … and many others present. Came at 1/2 before 8 o’clock. Dancing at 1/4 past 8 til 11 … when everyone left apparently well pleased. … April 26, 1843—Went over to Hungtai’s to lunch many people in who were at the wedding.” (HHS)

Around that time, Paulet, representing the British Crown, overstepped his authority and seized the government buildings in Honolulu and forced King Kamehameha III to cede the Hawaiian kingdom to Great Britain. Paulet raised the British flag and issued a proclamation formally annexing Hawaii to the British Crown. This event became known as the Paulet Affair.

Queen Victoria, on learning these activities, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty. The day began early that Monday, July 31, 1843, with soldiers and the public gathering at what we now refer to as Thomas Square.

After five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored and Adm. Thomas ordered the Union Jack removed and replaced with the Hawaiian kingdom flag. That day was known as Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day.)

Back to Neddles.

He apparently performed services for the early Hawaiian monarchy and was rewarded with some property in Pālama/Kapālama on Oʻahu.

Because of its proximity to Honolulu and its rich lands, Kapālama was frequently distributed by the king to foreign business partners, as well as to lesser chiefs. (HH&F)

Testimony before the Land Commission noted, “Claimant received this land from the present King in 1833 and confirmed in 1835 by Kaikioewa, then Guardian of the King and he has ever since held it without dispute unto the present. The land originally belonged to the King and that of Kaʻaione which is outside of it.”

Most of these houses in the area were hale pili (grass huts, common at that time;) however Neddles had a wood-frame house on his land. He also had kalo land with several patches on his property.

Upon his return from a voyage to the Spanish Main in 1847, he discovered that “squatters” had settled on parcels of land belonging to him.

A notice in the newspaper he made in 1848 informed the public that he opened a Butcher’s Shop – (Choice pieces for family use were selling for 5-cents per pound.) He owned the schooner SS Honolulu (a newspaper announcement he made in 1851 notes the ship simply as “SS”) and was engaged in shipping produce and cattle between island ports.

He published a notice in The Polynesian, March 15, 1851 – “Caution – All persons are forbidden to trespass upon the land of the undersigned, at Waikakalaua. Horses of cattle found trespassing after that date, will be proceeded against according to the law.”

Records indicate that on April 5, 1850, Neddles became a naturalized citizen of the kingdom.

John Neddles Anthony Chu Chu Gilman died at the age of 75 on October 18, 1852. (Amos S Cooke was Administrator of the estate – Cooke and his wife were missionaries who had been appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children at the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.))

October 17, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahekili

Born at Haliʻimaile, Maui, Kahekilinui‘ahumanu (Kahekili) was the son of the high chief Kekaulike-kalani-ku‘i-hono-i-ka-moku (Kekaulike) and high chiefess Keku‘iapoiwanui-a-kalaninui-kaulele-ia-iwi.

Kalola (Kahekili’s sister and daughter of chief Kekaulike’s second wife) played an integral part in Kahekili’s reign over Maui Nui and O’ahu. Kalola, too, was a very high born ali’i.

In 1765, Kahekili inherited all of Maui Nui and O‘ahu and was appointed successor to his brother Kamehamehanui’s kingdom (not to be confused with Hawai‘i Island’s Kamehameha I.)

The power, however, that he received through this inheritance did not satisfy his desire to gain political influence through his own accomplishments. Therefore, Kahekili chose to prove himself through warfare.

He was a formidable competitor and demanded his warriors follow his lead, which they did. And, with each success, Kahekili’s power increased.

Kahekili first proved himself a formidable adversary by defeating the Hawaiʻi army led by Kalani‘ōpu‘u in 1775. Kalani‘ōpu‘u promised revenge and, in 1776, he again went to battle against Kahekili. Unfortunately, Kalaniʻōpuʻu was not aware of the alliance between Kahekili and Kahahana, an ali‘i of O‘ahu.

This alliance greatly outnumbered Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army. Therefore, Kahekili and Kahahana’s army defeated Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army as they entered the sand hills of Wailuku. This battle became known as Ahulau-ka-piʻipiʻi-i-kakanilua.

In a desperate act to save what was left, Kalani‘ōpu‘u requested that his wife, Kalola, plead for peace from her brother Kahekili.

However, knowing that Kahekili would not look upon her with favor, Kalola suggested their son, Kiwalaʻō be sent instead. Kahekili’s welcomed Kiwalaʻō and sealed his acceptance of peace.

For a time, after the great sand hills battle in Wailuku, peace and tranquility returned. Kahekili took his leadership seriously; he was faithful to his people, made changes, established rules and took active interest in the welfare of his people and lands.

During times of peace and celebration, when tournaments that required great strength, stamina and ability were held, Kahekili continued to amass great respect with his victories. Such victories assisted in further cementing his position as the son of the divine ruling family of Maui.

Later, Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, were carrying on war and conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.

Through subsequent inter-island conquest, the marriage of his brother to the Queen of Kauaʻi, and appointment of his son to alternately govern Maui, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe and Oʻahu during his periodic absences, by 1783, Kahekili dominated all the Hawaiian Islands, except for Hawaiʻi.

In the late-1780s into 1790, Kamehameha conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought to conquer the rest of the archipelago.

In 1790, Kamehameha travelled to Maui. Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remained on O‘ahu to maintain order there.)

Kahekili’s rule stretched for almost thirty years. He became known for his extreme measures whether it was making sure his people were obeying the kapu and the gods, or by destroying his enemies.

He ruled on Maui before he fell ill and returned to Waikīkī, until his death in 1793 at the age of eighty-seven. As with all ali‘i, Kahekili’s bones were carried away and hidden – thought to be in North Kohala.

Kahekili’s son, Kalanikūpule, inherited his kingdom. Kamehameha faced Kalanikūpule in the famous battle “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters) in ‘Iao Valley (which Kamehameha decisively won.)

Maui Island was conquered by Kamehameha and Maui’s fighting force was destroyed – Kalanikūpule and other chiefs escaped and made their way to O‘ahu (Kalanikūpule was later defeated by Kamehameha at the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795.)

(Lots of good information here is from “Kahekilinuiʻahumanu – Kahekili Study Guide” (Kauahea Inc and Maui Arts & Cultural Center.)) Image of Kahekili is by Brook Parker.

October 16, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pua‘a Pepeiaohao

With the arrival of Western ships, new plants and animals soon found their way to the Hawaiian Islands.

The simple‐seeming gift of a few cattle given to Kamehameha I by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 made a major impact on the Hawai`i’s economy and ecosystem.

Having never seen animals with horns before, the Hawaiian called them pua‘a pepeiaohao, literally “pigs with iron ears.”

It also spawned a rich tradition of cowboy and ranch culture that is still here today.

Spaniards introduced the first cattle to Veracruz, Mexico in 1521. Vancouver picked up descendants of these animals from the Spanish mission in Monterey when he set off across the Pacific, intending to use them as food and gifts.

Cattle were not the only animals introduced to Hawai`i during this period. In 1778, Captain Cook left both goats and pigs.

British introduced sheep in the 1790s and they all soon roamed on Mauna Kea and Hualālai. In 1803, American Richard Cleveland presented horses ‐ a stallion and a mare ‐ to Kamehameha.

When Vancouver landed additional cattle at Kealakekua in 1794, he strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance. By 1846, 25,000-wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000-semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.

A wild bull or cow could weigh 1,200 to 1,500-pounds and had a six‐foot horn spread. Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people.

Kamehameha III lifted the kapu in 1830 and the hunting of wild cattle was encouraged. The king hired cattle hunters from overseas to help in the effort; many of these were former convicts from Botany Bay in Australia.

Hunting sometimes ended in inadvertent tragedy. In 1834, the trampled dead body of Scottish botanist David Douglas, for whom the Douglas Fir tree is named, was discovered in a cattle-trap pit on Mauna Kea.

Hawaiʻi’s wild cattle population needed to be controlled for safety reasons, but the arrival of cattle hunters and Mexican vaquero (“Paniolo”) also happened to coincide with an economic opportunity.

In the early-1830s, trade in sandalwood slowed down as island forests became depleted. At about the same time, whaling ships hunting in the north Pacific began wintering in Hawaiian waters.

Ships provisioning in Hawaiʻi ports provided a market for salt beef, in addition to hides and tallow. With the economic push of providing provisions to the whaling fleets, ranching became a commercial enterprise that grew in the islands.

Cattle ranching remains an important export and food industry in Hawai‘i. Currently, ranchers provide calves for finishing on the mainland and produce cattle for local consumption.

Cattle are Hawaii’s third most valuable agricultural commodity, worth about $44.8 million in 2017, though a history of having to respond to the whims of greater market forces has forced ranchers to constantly adapt to new changes in the supply chain. And for the past 30 years, cow-calf operations have been the best way for ranchers to make a living.

In 2019-2020, Idaho billionaire Frank VanderSloot assumed the leases for and purchased the slaughterhouses on O’ahu near Kapolei and on the Big Island in Paauilo, which together account for 70% of the state’s animal harvest capacity.

VanderSloot, founder of wellness company Melaleuca (the largest online wellness shopping club), recently completed upgrades to the O’ahu operation and work on the Big Island facility is underway. (Civil Beat)

When living in Waimea, I had a brief experience in “ranching.”

We picked up a day-old dairy bull calf from an Āhualoa dairy; we named him “Freezer Burn.” We removed the middle seat and transported him back home in our VW van. (I know; real cowboys don’t name their steers.)

After bottle-feeding him and briefly pasturing him, he ditched the premises and hooked up with part of the Parker Ranch herd.

October 15, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona Sugar

Kona’s first sugar plantation was started by Judge C. F. Hart in 1869; a small mill was erected and a dozen horses were used to pull the rollers. The plantation, which covered 50 acres, was unprofitable and soon abandoned. (Social History of Kona)

In 1899, Kona’s first and only sugar mill was built in Wai‘aha. Sugarcane was grown mauka of a railroad track that was built to support the mill. (Maly)

The Kona Sugar Co, was established for the purpose of cultivating sugar cane and manufacturing sugar and generally to carry on a sugar plantation and general agricultural business. (Hawaii Supreme Court)

In the early 1900s, the Kona Sugar Co, under the auspices of a number of affiliated companies, constructed a railway line from Wai‘aha, North Kona, to Keōpuka in South Kona. The railway was built at approximately the 700-foot elevation. The train that ran on this railroad was a 3 ft. wide narrow gauge. (Birnie, Maly) The railway was intended to run 30-miles.

“The Kona Sugar Company failed completely”. (Hawaii Supreme Court) In 1906, the West Hawaii Railway and the Kona Development Company were formed. “The Kona Development Company is a successor of the old Kona Sugar Company and will take over its property.” (Hawaiian Star, Apr 5, 1906)

“The Kona Development Co. has its prime field of operations in North Kona, and the Kona Agricultural Co. a corresponding relation to South Kona, the two being closely allied, while the railroad is primarily designed to connect them up and carry sugar cane from their respective plantations to the mill of the Kona Development Co which is situated in North Kona.”

“Seven miles of the track have been built, three miles more is under construction and it is proposed, from the proceeds of the bonds, to build an extension of twenty-two miles, making a total of thirty-two miles. As stated it will be a general public road and do a common carrying business as well as the transportation of cane for its owning companies.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Oct 30, 1907)

The railway ended up to be a total of about 11-miles. “they have a railroad track somewhere around – below Kainaliu. From just below Konawaena School, that’s quite a ways down, toward the ocean, they had the railroad. They used to haul the cane on the train to Holualoa. KD [Kona Development Company] Mill. They call KD Mill.”

“That’s where they crush the cane. But until then, they have a station built. They used to slide the cane – bundle up the cane with a chain – and then they slide through the cable, down to the train track.” (Yosoto Egami; Social History of Kona)

“The cane was cut in the fields. They had a cable wire from way up here or whatever field they had, reach down to the railroad. The railroad had cars. Up here, they bundle the cane, and they hook it on the wire with a roller. The wire had enough slope, so they grease that roller all the time. It went down fast. Then, it went down there [to the railroad]. Had a switch there.”

“The bundle of cane dropped right into the truck [railroad car], see? (And one man would pick up the rollers and take it back up to the field.) Then, the train hauled it back to the sugar mill to grind it. Oh, was quite a job.” (John DeGuair, Sr, Social History of Kona)

“Mr. Kondo was the owner of the railroad … In Kona, the sugar was transported to the railway by means of cables, cultivation took place mauka of the railway. Mr. Ide remembers hearing from Jack Greenwell, that Masao Kuga invented a trigger on the cable from which the sugar would fall when it reached its destination near the railway.” (Maly)

“Although the greater part of the work on the plantations of the [Islands] is done by Japanese, there is but one plantation in the Islands exclusively owned and managed by men of that race.”

“This is the Kona Development Company property which has about 2500 acres under cultivation in the Kona district. From an area of 1285 acres this plantation produced 3205 tons of sugar in 1919.”

“The plantation is managed by T. Konno, a Japanese who gained his knowledge of the sugar industry as a contract planter at Papaaloa on the Hilo coast of Hawaii. He, with a number of countrymen, organized a company and took over the property from J. B. Castle and associates in 1915.”

“The cane land of the Kona Development Company lies amidst fields of coffee for which the Kona district is most noted, industrially. The Kona Development Company, with lands cultivated by small farmers, gives employment to several hundred persons.”

“At the end of the last grinding season, the Kona Development Company began making some needed improvements in its mill. The old brick and stone foundations of the power room were removed and a new boiler was installed. The mill has a capacity for making 30 tons of sugar in 12 hours.”

“Arrangements have been made recently for the saving and marketing of all the molasses from the mill. To do this tanks, with a capacity of 100,000 gallons have been erected at the mill, which is situated just above Kailua. Previously the only use made of the molasses was its consumption for feed and fuel.”

“The Kona plantation is favored by the fertility of its soil which does not make replanting at the end of two or three crops necessary. The stools of the cane continue to bear for many years. Under the management of T Konno the planted area has increased 500 acres.”

“Throughout the district under cultivation the plantations operates a narrow gauge railway upon which the cane is hauled to the mill to be ground.”

“The Waterhouse Trust Company are the Honolulu agents of the Kona Development Company. The skilled employees are as follows: T. Uchimura, bookkeeper; T. Kudo, office Assistant; A.N. Smith, chemist; F. Sato, engineer; N. Tokunaga, sugar boiler; C. Suzuki, mill and railroad superintendent …”

“… D. Tatsuno, head luna; K. Sasaki, Kainaliu section timekeeper; T. Iseri, Holualoa section timekeeper; Manuel Silva & Frank Mederios, lunas; Henry deAguiar, Holualoa section luna; Y. Hatanaka, private secretary to T. Konno.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Centenary Number, April 12, 1920)

The Kona Development Mill quit operations on July 3, 1926. “As the concern has been bankrupt for some time, the 1927 crop had been entirely neglected”. (Hawaii Tribune Herald, June 25, 1926) The companies went into foreclosure and receivership and the assets were sold at public auction.

“Sugar cane, it is feared, is a thing of the past in Kona, and energies are next to be devoted to raising coffee and cotton more extensively.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, June 25, 1926)

Then (1928), the Treasurer of the Territory of Hawaii issued notices of the intent to dissolve the Kona Development Company and West Hawaii Railroad Company. Shortly thereafter (1931), the County Engineer surveyed the abandoned West Hawaii railroad right-of-way for road purposes.

Today, Hienaloli Road follows the alignment of the West Hawaii Railway and remnants of the sugar mill may be seen along that road (as well as a stacked rock truss near Hualalai Road).