Peter T Young

May 21, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nootka Sound

“Their Britannic and Catholic Majesties being desirous of terminating, by a speedy and valid agreement, the differences which have lately arisen between the two Crowns, have considered that the best way of attaining this salutary object would be that of an amicable arrangement which …”

“… setting aside all retrospective discussions of the rights and pretensions of the two parties, should regulate their respective positions for the future on the bases which would be conformable to their true interests …”

“… as well as to the mutual desires with which Their said Majesties are animated, of establishing with each other, in everything and in all places, the most perfect friendship, harmony, and good correspondence.” (Nootka Sound Convention)

Let’s look back …

Spain claimed the Pacific as its exclusive territory by right of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494). Britain argued that navigation was open to any nation, and territorial claims had to be backed by effective occupation.

British and Spanish claims to the Pacific Northwest had overlapped since the 16th century, though conflict developed only after voyages to the region by Cook, Dixon, Meares and others. (Boston Rare Maps)

In July 1789 Esteban Martínez, Spanish commandant at Nootka Sound, seized several British merchant ships. John Meares, part owner of these ships, reported the seizure to his government in his Memorial of 30 April 1790.

Britain demanded compensation and threatened war, but Spain declined to pay compensation and prepared for war, hoping its long-standing Bourbon ally, France, would provide assistance. (Historica Canada)

The resulting crisis brought the two nations close to war, but the Spanish backed off after realizing that without the help of France—distracted by the Revolution—they could not hope to match British naval power.

The result was the first Nootka Convention (signed October 28, 1790), in which the Spanish acknowledged the British right to maintain outposts in Nootka Sound and engage in whaling outside a “Ten-League Line” off the Northwest coast. (Boston Rare Maps)

Under the terms of 3 conventions Spain was obliged to accede to British requests and compensate the British for their losses. Under the third Nootka Convention (January 11, 1794) Spain and Britain recognized each other’s rights of trade at Nootka Sound and in other Pacific coast areas not already controlled by Spain.

Subjects of either nation could erect temporary buildings at Nootka, but not permanent garrisons or factories. Neither nation could claim exclusive sovereignty.

Nootka Sound was to be maintained as a free port by Spain and Britain, and to be open to other nations. On March 28, 1795 both countries completed their withdrawal from Nootka Sound. The controversy ended in symbolic victory for British mercantile and political interests. (Historica Canada)

Peace in the Pacific allowed for commerce to the Hawaiian Islands to expand, as well as expand the roles of a new player, the US.

In those days, European and East Coast continental commerce needed to round Cape Horn of South America to get to the Pacific (although the Arctic northern route was shorter and sometimes used, it could mean passage in cold and stormy seas, and in many cases the shorter distance might take longer and cost more than the southern route.)

The traders and whalers found ‘The Islands,’ as they called the Hawaiian group, an ideal place to procure fresh provisions, in the course of their three-year voyages.

“… the Sandwich Islands offer a station for intermediate repose, where health animates the gales, and every species of refreshment is to be found on the shores.” (Meares)

Of the ships that visited the islands, all but a small fraction were American. “The commerce of the United States, which resorts to the Sandwich islands, may be classed under five heads, viz.:”

“First, Those vessels which trade direct from the United States to these islands, for sandal-wood, and from hence to China and Manilla, and return to America.” (Annually, the number may be estimated at six.)

“Second, Those vessels which are bound to the north-west coast, on trading voyages for furs, and touch here on their outward-bound passage, generally winter at these islands, and always stop on their return to the United States, by the way of China.” (The number may be estimated at five.)

“Third, Those vessels which, on their passage from Chili, Peru, Mexico, or California, to China, Manilla, or the East Indies, stop at these islands for refreshments or repairs, to obtain freight, or dispose of what small cargoes they may have left.” (The number may be estimated at eight.)

“Fourth, Those vessels which are owned by Americans resident at these islands, and employed by them in trading to the northwest coast, to California and Mexico, to Canton and Manilla.” (The number may be estimated at six.)

“Fifth, Those vessels which are employed in the whale-fishery on the coast of Japan, which visit semi-annually.” (The number may be estimated at one hundred.).” (John Coffin Jones Jr, US Consulate, Sandwich Islands, October 30th, 1829)

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Vancouver-Friendly-Cove

The launching of the North West America Ships of Meares at Nootka Sound in 1788-Webber

Seizure of Capt. Colnett during the Nootka Crisis in 1789

Nootka Sound

The New South Sea Fishery or A Cheap Way to Catch Whales-Political-Cartoon-1791

Nootka_Sound_NASA

May 20, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pele and the Missionaries

“Had Vulcan employed ten thousand giant Cyclops, each with a steam engine of one thousand horse-power, blowing anthracite coal for smelting mountain minerals, or heaving up and hammering to pieces rocks and hills, their united efforts would but begin to compare with the work of Pele here.”

“Though our mission had now been in the islands nearly four years, yet some of the people of Puna and Hilo were as much afraid of the palapala, as they had been of Pele. Some retained their superstitious regard to the volcanic deities.”

“Some, in their self-complacency, questioned or doubted whether any benefit equal to the trouble, could be obtained by attention to missionary instruction.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Tho’ we do not dispair of benefiting the adults, many of whom are susceptible of religious and moral impressions, & some of whom we hope have already been brought into the kingdom of our Lord, yet generally speaking …”

“… this class of persons are so inveterately addicted to their ancient customs, and so deeply immersed in low and vicious habits, that it is to the rising generation we principally look for the subjects of the transforming grace of God.” (Thurston & Bishop, 1825)

“So far from renouncing their belief in the former Gods of Hawai‘i, it is supposed that more than two thirds adhere to them in some measure, and sacrifice unto them in private.”

“This is more especially the case in the remote parts of the island, where Pele, the god of Volcanoes, has a great number of votaries. Such in brief is the present condition of this people among whom we dwell.” (Thurston & Bishop, 1825)

“Many of the natives still believe that a deity exists in the volcano by the name of Pele. Some tried to dissuade Kapiʻolani from going up to the volcano. They told her that Pele would kill her & eat her up if she went there. She replied that she would go, & if Pele killed & ate her up, they might continue to worship Pele; but if not, i.e., if she returned unhurt, then they must turn to the worship of the true God.”

“Nothing very material occurred during the remainder of the way, except that at every place where they encamped for the night, Kapiʻolani’s first request would be to unite in prayer, to express her gratitude to the Most High for his loving kindness to her through the day. (Goodrich & Ruggles, 1825)

“Taking my field as a whole it has not differed much the past year in its general characteristics from previous years. Perhaps the long spell of warm & pleasant weather may be an exception. For this some believe, right or wrong, we are indebted to Madame Pele who has been most lavish even to prodigality of her warming & burning influences.” (Lyons, 1857)

“The volcano of Kīlauea is always in action. Its lake of lava and brimstone rolls and surges from age to age. Sometimes these fires are sluggish, and one might feel safe in pitching his tent upon the floor of the crater.”

“Again the ponderous masses of hardened lava, in appearance like vast coal-beds, are broken up by the surging floods below, and tossed hither and thither, while the great bellows of Jehovah blows upon these hills and cones and ridges of solidified rocks, and melts them down into seas and lakes and streams of liquid fire.” (Titus Coan)

“There is a remarkable variety in the volcanic productions of Hawaii, – a variety as to texture, form and size, from the vast mountain and extended plain, to the fine drawn and most delicate vitreous fibre, the rough clinker, the smooth stream, the basaltic rock, and masses compact and hard as granite or flint, and the pumice or porous scoria, or cinders, which, when hot, probably formed a scum or foam on the surface of the denser molten mass.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Steam and gases are constantly issuing from a thousand holes and fissures over the crater, but scarcely a spark of fire is to be seen by day or night. In fact Mother Pele has buried her fires, stopped her forges, extinguished her lamps and retired within the deep recesses of her infernal caverns.”

“Is she dead? Does she sleep? or has she only closed her adamantine doors, and with Pluto and Vulcan descended to the fiery bowels of the earth to prepare with deeper secrecy her magazines of wrath which shall one day burst forth with more desolating terror?”

“To us it is a lonely idea that the volcano should become extinct; for we confess that her mutterings, her thunderings, her flashings, the smoke of her nostrils and the shaking of her rocky ribs are music, beauty, sublimity and grandeur to us. They seem so like the voice of Almighty God, so like the footsteps of Deity.” (Lydia Bingham Coan)

“A mighty current instantly overflowed, and they ran for their lives before the molten flood, and ascended from the surface of the abyss to the lofty rim with heartfelt thanksgiving to their great Deliverer. This proves the real danger of meddling with Pele’s palace and trifling with her power.”

“Had this occurred in the days of unbroken superstition, it would doubtless have been ascribed to the anger of that false deity, and multiplied her worshippers.”

“But now such a deliverance was justly ascribed to the care and power of Jehovah, the knowledge of whose attributes displayed in the works of creation, providence, and grace, has introduced the Hawaiian race into a new life.” (Hiram Bingham)

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‘Kilauea_Volcano’,_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_William_Pinkney_Toler,_c._1860s

May 19, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Environmental Zones

Traditionally in Hawai‘i, environmental zones were perceived and determined by various natural features and resource criteria. The following is a summary of Handy and Handy description of the terrestrial environmental zones:

The land area with which the Polynesian migrant first became familiar was of necessity that along shore, wherever his voyaging canoe made its landfall.

This area he termed ko kaha kai (place (land) by the sea). This might comprise a broad sandy beach and the flats above it, or the more rugged shore of cove or harbor with its rocky terrain-in fact many and varied descriptions might fit, according to locale.

Kaha was a special term applied to areas facing the shore but not favorable for planting. Kekaha in Kona, Hawaii, was one so named, and Kekaha on Kauai another.

The ko kaha kai was not without its own verdure of a sort, however. In fact the terrain just above the sandy stretches (pu‘eone) was often called ‘ilima, because of the low-growing, gray-foliaged, golden-flowering ‘ilima bushes found in abundance there.

Pohuehue, the beach morning-glory, also had its natural habitation there, along with ‘auhuhu., whose leaves yielded a juice used to stupefy fish for ready catching in the inlets and sea pools. In fact most of the varied low growth of the ko kaha kai found use in the planter’s or fisher’s economy.

Next above were the plains or sloping lands (kula,) those to seaward being termed ko kula kai and those toward the mountains ko kula uka (uka, inland or upland.)

Here were the great stretches of waving pili grass, which was used to make the thick rain-repellent thatch for dwellings (hale). Before cultivation took over the area, the carpeting grass was interspersed with vines (such as the koali, morning-glory) and many shrubs, all of which found practical uses by the immigrant folk. There were also a few stunted trees.

On the ko kula uka, the upland slopes, were found the native ginger and other flowering plants, medicinal herbs, and thick-growing clumps of shrubs. Here too the great variety of trees attained to greater height, and their wood became the source of valuable materials for many necessities of life.

This word kula, used by Hawaiians for sloping land between mountain and sea, really meant plain or sloping land without trees. There is a large land area in the southerly kula slopes of East Maui that is named Honua‘ula (Red-earth.)

Typically, on all the islands the kula lands are covered with red soil, both on leeward and windward coasts. This is the soil in which sugar cane and pineapples flourish today. It is soil in which sweet potatoes grow well. (In contrast, dark soil, rich in humus washed down from the forests, is what wet taro requires.)

Some kula lands, such as those of southern and eastern Hawaii and the southern slopes of Haleakala on Maui, were covered with lava or soil evolved from the dust of recent volcanic eruptions.

The red soil is oldest geologically, having evolved from decomposed basalt oxidized by sun, rain, and air. Next in age is the humus of valley bottoms.

Most recent is decomposed lava, such as is typical of Kona, Ka’u, Hilo, and Puna on Hawaii, and of some areas on the southern slope of Haleakalā on East Maui.

In terms of use, from the Hawaiian planter’s point of view it was the area beyond or intersecting the kula lands that was of prime importance indicating his habitation and his favored type of subsistence.

This was the kahawai (the place (having) fresh water,) in other words, the valley stretching down from the forested uplands, carved out and made rich in humus by its flowing stream.

Here he could find (or make) level plots for taro terraces, diverting stream water by means of ‘auwai (ditches) into the lo‘i, or descending series of lo‘i until from below the whole of the visible valley afforded a scene of lush green cultivation amidst fresh water glinting in the sun.

The planter might have his main dwelling here, or he might dwell below and maintain here only a shelter to use during periods of intensive cultivation in the kahawai. Here also was a source of many of his living needs and luxuries, from medicinal herbs to flowers for decorative garlands, and with a wide range in between.

Two other descriptive terms applied to land areas, one belonging to the kahawai and one not. The first was pahe‘e, meaning a wet, soft, or slippery area; and the other was apa‘a, meaning arid or dry. From its derivative (pa‘a) meaning firmly bound, the latter became a term of affection for land long lived upon.

Wao means the wild – a place distant and not often penetrated by man. The wao la‘au is the inland forested region, often a veritable jungle, which surmounts the upland kula slopes on every major island of the chain, reaching up to very high elevations especially on Kauai, Maui, and Hawai‘i.

The Hawaiians recognized and named many divisions or aspects of the wao: first, the wao kanaka, the reaches most accessible, and most valuable, to man (kanaka;) and above that, denser and at higher elevations, the wao akua, forest of the gods, remote, awesome, seldom penetrated, source of supernatural influences, both evil and beneficent.

The wao kele, or wao ma‘u kele, was the rain forest. Here grew giant trees and tree ferns (‘ama‘u) under almost perpetual cloud and rain.

The wao kanaka and the wao la‘au provided man with the hard wood of the koa for spears, utensils, and logs for boat hulls; pandanus leaves (lau hala) for thatch and mats; bark of the mamaki tree for making tapa cloth …

… candlenuts (kukui) for oil and lights; wild yams and roots for famine time; sandalwood, prized when shaved or ground as a sweet scent for bedding and stored garments. These and innumerable other materials were sought and found and worked by man in or from the wao.

The term for mountain or mountain range – a mountainous region – is kuahiwi (backbone). Kuamauna is the mountain top, and kualono the high reaches just below it. Mauna is the term for a specific mountain mass, and may have a descriptive designation following, as Mauna Loa (Long Mountain.) The term mauka is directional, and means toward the mountains or uplands, or merely inland. (All here is from Handy.)

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May 18, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Camp POW

According to the Convention of 1929 relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 118 LNTS 343, entered into force June 19, 1931, prisoners of war were subject to “internment” and may “be interned in fenced camps.” The Geneva Convention of 1949 also used “internment” as the definition for incarcerating prisoners of war. (NPS)

On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific; while the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war.

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that was underway by 1939. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US entered the conflict.

American entry into World War II necessitated a rapid expansion of facilities in dealing with enemy prisoners. Following the transfer of 50,000 German POWs from the British in September 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps camps were secured to house the first arrivals; more camps were constructed throughout the war.

By mid-1945, the American POW camp system consisted of 155 base camps in 44 states, Alaska, and Hawai‘i. At its height, the system held 371,683 German, 50,571 Italian, and 5,413 Japanese POWs. (Encyclopedia)

Of the 50,000 Italian captured soldiers and sailors, 5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi and held at Schofield, Kāneʻohe, Kalihi Valley and Sand Island.

Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation.

Another prisoner of war facility was in Hilo; it was simply known as Camp POW. It was in Ponahawai, up Kaumana Drive.

Land use in Ponahawai Ahupua‘a was used as homestead lands. The ahupua‘a of Ponahawai appears to have been given by Kamehameha to Keawe-a-Heulu, one of his trusted warriors.

At the start of the Māhele, Ponahawai was given up by Keawe-a-Heulu’s nephew Kinimaka. The ahupua‘a became Crown Lands during the Māhele and in the following years numerous, small Land Grants were awarded within the ahupua‘a.

Following the Māhele, the population of Hilo grew and scattered upland habitation gave way to other activities. Visits by ships representing foreign governments, whaling, the establishment and development of American Protestant missions in the Hilo area and the foreign sandalwood trade brought changes in long-established patterns of settlement and land-use patterns. (Escott)

Hilo became the center of population and settlements in outlying regions declined or disappeared. Sugar cane plantations dominated the uplands, displacing traditional farming, and processing and shipping facilities were established near the shore.

Commercial sugar production lasted in Ponahawai until the mid-twentieth century, at which time many of the fields were converted to pasturage associated with cattle ranching.

In 1894, the government opened the Ponahawai Homestead Lots. Road improvements over the next six years gave access to more lots and spurred development in the area. In 1901 Antone Carvalho bought 110 acres on the upland agricultural zone above Hilo. Carvalho sold the property to Charles Chong who subdivided it into house lots.

During WWII the Army’s 27th Infantry division was housed and trained on the property. Later, the Marines were stationed there and Japanese prisoners of war were confined there.

The camp became known as Camp POW.

After the war, Chong converted the camp buildings into rental properties. For safety reasons the buildings were eventually demolished in the 1980s.

In an archaeological survey of the area in 2012, two concrete foundations were identified – they are in close proximity to each other. It was determined these were from a modern (1940s to 1970s) structure, most recently used as a residential rental, based on household refuse that dates to that era.

An archaeologist concluded the site is likely part of the remains of the Camp POW buildings used by the military during WWII. (Lots of information is from Escott) Camp POW appears to have been in, or in the immediate vicinity of Kaumana Lani County Park.

Many of the photos in the album are from Raymond W McCracken’s son’s post on flickr. McCracken was with the 5th Marine Division spent time in three camps on Hawai‘i Island. The photos were taken during his stay between April 13, 1945 and August 25, 1945.

Camps Tarawa and Banyan were camps where they were trained for the attack on Iwo Jima and Camp POW was the camp they were at after Iwo Jima preparing for the invasion of Japan until the war ended.

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unidentified-marines-camp-pow-1945-Raymond W McCracken

unidentified-camp-pow-hilo-hawaii-1945-Raymond W McCracken

5th-pioneer-bat-headquarters-Raymond W McCracken

unknown-marine-camp-pow-1945-Raymoind W McCracken

volleyball-hilo-hawaii-july-45-Raymond W McCracken

unidentied-hilo-hawaii-1945-Raymondf W McCracken

raymond-w-mccracken-camp-pow-hilo-hawaii-1945-Raymond W McCracken

px-camp-pow-hilo-hawaii-1945-Raymond W McCracken

camp-pow-1945-Raymond W McCracken

Pohohawai-Kaumana-USBS-UH_Manoa-1471-1954-portion-Camp POW site noted

Layout of concrete foundation

May 17, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Train Terminal, Depot

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham’s OR&L company, created in 1889, changed the landscape of west Honolulu. Its first train depot was created between a fishpond and North King Street, next to Prison Road, later renamed Iwilei Road.

The first section of track extended only as far as Aiea, but by the 1920s, tracks had been laid all over the island. The train was the primary mode of transportation. (Burlingame)

“Among the most important works now in progress of rapid construction, is the Oahu Railway to Pearl Harbor, which is already approaching completion, so far as grading is concerned.”

“Eleven miles of this line will have the grading completed in two weeks; and of this length ten miles are already finished. The material for the bridges is already on the ground, and the work of driving the piles has been begun at the larger estuaries of Kalihi and Moanalua.”

“A few of the bridges on this line will be of considerable length; but, with the present energy being displayed only a short time will elapse before the gaps in the line will all disappear.”

“Many of the smaller bridges and culverts have been already built. There will be altogether twenty bridges between Honolulu and Ewa, of various lengths—from 16 to 300 feet, with an aggregate length of 1250 feet.”

“Plans have been approved by which the main depot will be placed 180 feet from King street in what is now a fish-pond dividing Oahu prison from the royal stables.”

“A large portion, if not all of this extensive fish-pond will be filled in without delay, and this substantial and eligible building ground, artificially firmed, will become of great value by close proximity to the main depot buildings.”

“The depot itself will be of imposing size and made as ornamental in appearance as convenience and traffic requirements will allow. The grading of the whole division of this line, twelve miles, will be completed within the next month; and the laying of the rails will commence immediately upon their arrival by the bank Deutschland now nearly due from Germany.”

“The progress of this important work has been so rapid during the month of July that we give it first place among works in progress. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 27, 1889)

The inauguration of the OR&L rail service was November 16, 1889. (LOC)Eventually, the railroad ran west out of Honolulu to Waianae, around Kaena Point and on to Kahuku, and is significant in the development of the sugar industry on the island of Oahu.

As a result of the development of this rail line the lands of western and northern Oahu were able to be opened for the cultivation of sugar, with plantations started at Ewa, Waipahu, Waianae, Waialua, Kahuku and other areas. Besides freight, the OR&L also provided plantation workers with easy access to Honolulu. (NPS)

In 1924-1925, a new Depot was constructed to replace an earlier 1889 wooden terminal building, and was the main Honolulu rail terminal for OR&L’s passenger operations.

The building was designed by local architect Guy N. Rothwell. The contract to erect the terminal was officially given to the Hawaiian Contracting Company (a company that was owned by the Dillingham family), though much of the work was performed by OR&L’s in-house construction crews.

Upon completion, the building had dual functions, with the 2nd floor providing offices for the company’s daily railroad operations, and the 1st floor accommodating passengers. The 1st floor layout included a porte-cochere, a ticket office and lobby with a restaurant and bar, as well as a news stand.

The offices upstairs were occupied by OR&L’s president, general manager, superintendent and treasurer, as well as the station’s dispatcher.

Both floors also included spacious restrooms for travelers and employees. As soon as the building was completed, an extension was constructed on the north side, to accommodate the company’s growing freight department.

The railroad prospered until the 1930s when the advent of improved roadways led to its decline. The railway continued in operation through World War II, but in 1947 all operations outside of Honolulu were abandoned. (NPS)

The company continued to use Depot building as a terminal well after rail passenger operations ceased at the end of 1947. The property was acquired by the State of Hawaii in 1961. After OR&L moved off the premises eighteen months later the building was used as office space.

A 1975 renovation completely reconfigured the interior of the building for office use, and an elevator and expanded stairwell were added at an unknown date. Various state organizations have occupied the offices, with the current users being the Division of Accounting and General Services, Department of Human Services in the terminal building. (HABS)

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