Peter T Young

October 21, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻau

“Go hence to your father,
‘Tis there you find line and hook.
This is the hook-‘Made fast to the heavens’
‘Manaia-ka-lani’ – ‘tis called.
When the hook catches land
It brings the old seas together.
Bring hither the large Alae,
The bird of Hina.”

(Queen Liliʻuokalani, in a translation of the Kumulipo, Hawaiʻi’s creation chant, speaks of Hina’s advice to her son Maui.)

The demi-god Maui is the subject of extraordinary stories throughout Polynesia. In many of the accounts he is a mischievous trickster, stealing the secret of fire and helping his mother to dry kapa by lassoing the sun to slow its progression across the sky. (Bishop Museum)

“The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of the demigod Maui was his attempt to rearrange the Islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass.”

“Having chosen his station at Kaʻena Point, the western extremity of Oʻahu, from which the island of Kauai is clearly visible on a bright day, he cast his wonderful hook, Mana-ia-ka-Iani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself in the foundations of Kauai.”

“When he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge boulder, the Pōhaku O Kauai, fell at his feet.”

“The mystic hook, having freed itself from the entanglement, dropped into Pālolo Valley and hollowed out the crater, that is its grave.” (Manaiakalani, therefore, formed Kaʻau Crater.)

“This failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Māui’s part. It was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces.”

“Had Maui been more polite, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success.” (Emerson)

Another story of Kaʻau relates to how Helumoa at Waikiki got its name. It involves Kakuhihewa, Maʻilikukahi’s descendent six generations later, ruling chief of O‘ahu from 1640 to 1660 (Maʻilikukahi is honored as the first great Chief of O‘ahu and legends tell of his wise, firm, judicious government.)

It is said that the supernatural chicken, Kaʻauhelemoa one day flew down from his home in Kaʻau Crater in Pālolo and landed at Helumoa.

Furiously scratching into the earth, the impressive rooster then vanished. Kākuhihewa took this as an omen and planted niu (coconuts) at that very spot.

Helumoa (meaning “chicken scratch”) was the name he bestowed on that niu planting that would multiply into a grove of reportedly 10,000-coconut trees.

This is the same coconut grove that would later be called the King’s Grove, or the Royal Grove, and would be cited in numerous historical accounts for its pleasantness and lush surroundings.

Kamehameha and his warriors camped near there, when they began their conquest of O‘ahu in 1795. Later, he would return and build a Western style stone house for himself, as well as residences for his wives and retainers in an area known as Pua‘ali‘ili‘i.

Kamehameha I resided at Helumoa periodically from 1795 to 1809. He ended Waikīkī’s nearly 400-year reign as O‘ahu’s capital when he moved the royal headquarters to Honolulu (known then as Kou) in 1808 (to Pākākā.)

Here’s a little geological background on Kaʻau Crater …

The Hawaiian Islands were formed as the Pacific Plate moved westward over a geologic hot spot. Oʻahu is dominated by two large shield volcanoes, Waiʻanae and Koʻolau that range in age from two to four-million years old.

The younger volcanic craters formed after Oʻahu had moved well off the hot spot and the main shield volcanoes had gone dormant for at least two-million years.

Somewhat more than half of the craters of southeast Oʻahu are arranged in linear groups, those dominated by the craters Tantalus, Diamond Head and Koko Crater. In the Diamond Head group is the main Diamond Head vent, Kaimuki crater and Mauʻumae crater. Kaʻau is an extension of this line of craters up into the Koʻolau range.

The Koko group crater line extends for a distance of about six miles, through the Koko Crater vent and from Mānana Island to Koko Head. It includes no less than fourteen separate vents and dikes, of which most are distant from a straight line but a few yards. (Bishop Museum)

“The Kaʻau tuff and basalt flows were erupted during a high stand of the sea (probably during plus 95-foot (Kaʻena) stand of sea)” (about 1-million years ago – a ‘youthful’ volcanic outburst.) (USGS)

Rising magma encountered groundwater and generated steam explosions. Kaʻau crater was probably blasted out by the explosions. Its walls are Koʻolau basalt, overlain by tuff and mudflow debris.

Toward the end of the eruption, lava rose in Kaʻau crater, probably forming a lava lake. Slight recession of the lava in the crater at the end of the eruption left a poorly drained hollow forming a swamp that sometimes contains an open pond. (Volcanoes in the Sea)

(Kaʻau Crater is reached from the end of the Pālolo valley. The trail (muddy and wet) is a closed trail and is not open to the public – news reports note people are repeatedly rescued from there and a couple people recently died on the trail (portions of the trail involve ascending the waterfalls along the way.)

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Kaau_Crater

Kaau_Crater_Trail-map

Caldera and Rift Zones

Two_Parallel_Rift_Zones

Three types of cones – Cinder, Lava and Tuff

Eruptive Features and Main Streams

Manaiakalani-PVS

October 20, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Russell Hubbard

Russell Hubbard was born in Hamden (then part of New Haven,) Connecticut on October 18, 1784, the eldest son of Deacon and General John and Martha Hubbard, of Hamden, Connecticut (and grandson of the Rev. John Hubbard of Meriden.)

He is said to have studied for the ministry after graduation from Yale, but a fondness for travel drove him abroad. (Dexter, Yale)

Hubbard had gone to sea following his graduation in 1806, hoping that a change of air and climate could resolve some unspecific health concerns.

In 1807, Hubbard, aboard the Triumph (Captained by Caleb Brintnall) anchored in Kealakekua Bay. There, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, a Hawaiian who had recently lost his parents in the island war that was waging, was contemplating his future.

“For some time I began to think about leaving that country, to go to some other part of the world. I did not care where I shall go to. I thought to myself that if I should get away, and go to some other country, probably I may find some comfort, more than to live there, without father and mother.”

“About this time there was a ship come from New York; – Captain Brintnall the master of the ship. As soon as it got into the harbour, in the very place where I lived, I thought of no more but to take the best chance I had, and if the captain have no objection, to take me as one of his own servants and to obey his word.”

“After supper the captain made some inquiry to see if we were willing to come to America; and soon I made a motion with my head that I was willing to go. This man was very agreeable, and his kindness was much delighted in my heart, as if I was his own son, and he was my own father. Thus I still continue thankful for his kindness towards me.”

“My parting with them (grandmother, aunt & uncle) was disagreeable to them and to me, but I was willing to leave all my relations, friends and acquaintance; expected to see them no more in this world.”

“We set out on our journey …” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

“Among these men I found a very desirable young man, by name Russell Hubbard, a son of Gen H of New Haven. This Mr Hubbard was a member of Yale College.”

“He was a friend of Christ. Christ was with him when I saw him, but I knew it not. ‘Happy is the man that put his trust in God!’ Mr Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

After travelling to the American North West, then to China, they landed in New York in 1809. They continued to New Haven, Connecticut. ʻŌpūkahaʻia was eager to study and learn – seeking to be a student at Yale.

“In this place I become acquainted with many students belonging to the College. By these pious students I was told more about God than what I had heard before … Many times I wished to hear more about God, but find no body to interpret it to me.”

“I attended many meetings on the sabbath, but find difficulty to understand the minister. I could understand or speak, but very little of the English language.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia “was sitting on the steps of a Yale building, weeping. A solicitous student stopped to inquire what was wrong, and Obookiah (the spelling of his name, based on its sound) said, ‘No one will give me learning.’”

The student was Edwin Dwight, distant cousin of the college president. “(W)hen the question was put him, ‘Do you wish to learn?’ his countenance began to brighten and … he served it with eagerness.” (Haley)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia latched upon the Christian religion, converted to Christianity in 1815 and in 1817 became the first student at the Foreign Mission School established at Cornwall, by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died in 1818. A story of his life was written (“Memoirs of Henry Obookiah”.) This book was put together by Edwin Dwight (after ʻŌpūkahaʻia died.) It was an edited collection of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s letters and journals/diaries. This book inspired the New England missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi.)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia is also associated with another book. It is believed ʻŌpūkahaʻia classmates (and future missionaries,) Samuel Ruggles and James Ely, after ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s death, went over his papers and began to prepare material on the Hawaiian language to be taken to Hawaiʻi and used in missionary work.

The work was written by Ruggles and assembled into a book – by Herman Daggett, principal of the Foreign Mission School – and credit for the work goes to ʻŌpūkahaʻia.

Just as Russell Hubbard used an English spelling book to start ʻŌpūkahaʻia with his studies aboard the Triumph, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s “work served as the basis for the foreign language materials prepared by American and Hawaiian students at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, in the months prior to the departure of the first company of missionaries to Hawai’i in October 1819.” (Rumford)

In his journal, ʻŌpūkahaʻia first mentions grammar in his account of the summer of 1813: “A part of the time (I) was trying to translate a few verses of the Scriptures into my own language, and in making a kind of spelling-book, taking the English alphabet and giving different names and different sounds. I spent time in making a kind of spelling-book, dictionary, grammar.” (Schutz)

But his spelling was unique …

References to Webster’s ‘Spelling’ book appear in the accounts by folks at the New England mission school. As you know, English letters have different sounds for the same letter. For instance, the letter “a” has a different sound when used in words like: late, hall and father.

Noah Webster devised a method to help differentiate between the sounds and assigned numbers to various letter sounds – and used these in his Speller. (Webster did not substitute the numbers corresponding to a letter’s sound into words in his spelling or dictionary book; it was used as an explanation of the difference in the sounds of letters.)

The following is a chart for some of the letters related to the numbers assigned, depending on the sound they represent.

Long Vowels in English (Webster)
..1…..2…..3……4…….5……6……..7…….8
..a…..a…..a……e…….i…….o……..o…….u
late, ask, hall, here, sight, note, move, truth

It seems ʻŌpūkahaʻia used Noah Webster’s Speller in his writings and substituted the numbers assigned to the various sounds and incorporated them into the words of his grammar book (essentially putting the corresponding number into the spelling of the word.)

Some believe this manuscript is the first grammar book on the Hawaiian language. However, when reading the document, many of the words are not recognizable. Here’s a sampling of a few of the words: 3-o-le; k3-n3-k3; l8-n3 and; 8-8-k8.

“Once we know how the vowel letters and numbers were used, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s short grammar becomes more than just a curiosity; it is a serious work that is probably the first example of the Hawaiian language recorded in a systematic way. Its alphabet is a good deal more consistent than those used by any of the explorers who attempted to record Hawaiian words.” (Schutz)

Using ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s odd-looking words mentioned above, we can decipher what they represent by substituting the code and pronounce the words accordingly (for the “3,” substitute with “a”(that sounds like “hall”) and replace the “8” with “u,” (that sounds like “truth”) – so, 3-o-le transforms to ʻaʻole (no;) k3-n3-k3 transforms to kanaka (man;); l8-n3 transforms to luna (upper) and 8-8-k8 transforms to ʻuʻuku (small.)

“It might be said that the first formal writing system for the Hawaiian language, meaning alphabet, spelling rules and grammar, was created in Connecticut by a Hawaiian named Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia. He began work as early as 1814 and left much unfinished at his death in 1818.” (Rumford)

I encourage you to review the images in the folder; I had the opportunity to review and photograph the several pages of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s grammar book. (Special thanks to the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives and the Hawaiian Historical Society.)

Back to Russell Hubbard, who first taught ʻŌpūkahaʻia the letters … “in November or December, 1810, in his 27th year, (he was) lost at sea, with his next younger brother, on board the brig Triton, on a voyage from New Haven to the West Indies.” (Dexter, Yale)

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Henry_Opukahaia,_ca. 1810s

View_of_Kealakekua_Bay_from_the_village_of_Kaʻawaloa_in_the_1820s

Hikiau_Heiau_illustration-William_Ellis_(Captian_Cook’s_Crew)-1782

Cornwall-home_of_the_Foreign_Mission_School-by_Barber-(WC)-1835

John Webber art, Kealakekua Bay and Hawaiian people-1779

Foreign Mission School (CornwallHistoricalSociety)

YaleCollege-1825

Yale University

Memoirs_of_Henry_Obookiah

Noah_Webster’s_The_American_Spelling_Book-Cover-1800

Webster’s_The_American_Spelling_Book-Number_assignment_to_vowel_sounds-(page_13)-1800

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Opukahaia_Grammar_Book-(HHS)-Adverbs-Spelling

Opukahaia_Grammar_Book-(HHS)-Adverbs-Prepositions

Opukahaia_Grammar_Book-(HHS)_Spelling

Opukahaia Plaque – Mokuaikaua

October 19, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Waiāhole Water Company

Oʻahu Sugar Company constructed the Waiāhole Ditch System to transport, by gravity, water from the northeastern side of the Koʻolau Range. The Waiāhole Ditch collection and delivery system was constructed during 1913-1916.

The general plan or scheme of development adopted for the Waiāhole Water Co. was that recommended by Mr. J. B. Lippincott, C. E., who made an exhaustive study of the project, going fully into the past history and study already made by Mr. J. Jorgensen and other parties, and reported to the Board of Directors of the Oahu Sugar Co., Ltd., under date of August 19, 1911.

The general plan provided for collecting the water from the many streams and gulches on the windward side of Oahu by means of tunnels through the ridges or spurs, and conveying the water, after collecting, through the mountain in the main tunnel to the leeward side of the island, thence by tunnels, ditches and pipes, to the upper levels of Oahu Sugar Plantation.

The tunnels connect up the various streams on the North side, and take in the water at the adits in the gulches. There are 27 of these tunnels on the North side, varying in length from 280 feet to 2,332 feet, the aggregate length of the North side tunnels being 24,621 feet, or 4.66 miles, being in reality one continuous tunnel.

The maximum elevation at which water is taken into the tunnel is 790 feet above sea level, and the grade or slope of the North side tunnels is 1.3 feet per thousand. The length of the main tunnel through the Koʻolau Ridge is 14,567 feet, or 2.76 miles, the grade or slope being 2.0 feet per thousand.

The elevation of the North portal of the main tunnel is 752 feet above sea level, and at the South portal 724 feet. The size of tunnel section is approximately 7 feet wide and 7 feet high, but in many places the section is larger, due to the uneven cleavage of the rock, and the fact that certain portions are unlined.

From the tunnel, the water is then conveyed by means of cement-lined open ditches, elevated concrete ditches, four steel pipes, and three redwood pipes. It is delivered to the upper boundary of Oahu plantation at an elevation of 650 feet through several distributaries, and by the main ditch, which reaches this elevation at the boundary of Honouliuli.

The water is also delivered into numerous reservoirs, especially at night, when irrigating the cane fields is inconvenient. One of the larger reservoirs, on the line of the Waikakalaua storm water ditch, has long been in use. It is called Five Finger Reservoir. Its elevation was a determining factor in establishing the grade elevation of the Waiāhole conduit.

When the work was undertaken, the time of completion was considered an important element, and Mr. Bishop’s organization was planned to secure the most expeditious execution of the project. The General Superintendent of Construction, Mr. Albert Andrew Wilson, who was in direct charge of all the constructing work.

At the beginning of the tunnel work, three shifts of eight hours each were kept going. This was continued until the large amount of water coming into the tunnel, at North heading, became troublesome, and on account of the hardship on the men, working for eight hours in the cold water, it became necessary to cut the shifts down to six hours each, so that four shifts per day were employed for this heading.

The temperature of the water in the tunnel was approximately 66° F., or about 8° colder than the artesian water in Honolulu, or, roughly, about 1° for each 100 feet of elevation.

Camps were established and sanitary conveniences were built to comply with the requirements of the Board of Health. No serious sickness, such as typhoid fever, gave any trouble.

Special tribute should be paid to the Japanese tunnel men, without whom the excellent progress made on the tunnel would have been impossible.

These “professional” tunnel men, as they call themselves, prefer this work to any other, and they apparently take delight in the hardships incident to the work, the exposure to the cold water, and the risk in handling explosives.

They were on the job all the time and never failed to deliver the goods in situations in which white men or native Hawaiians would have been physically impossible. Most of the drilling and mucking was done by these tunnel men as subcontractors – a bonus being given for rapid work, which sharpened their interest and never failed to give results.

While it was suspected at the outset that considerable water might be encountered in the main bore through the mountain, it was not anticipated at the beginning that enough water would be developed to materially interfere with the progress of the excavation.

This hope was not realized, however, for the main bore had proceeded only about 200 feet from the North portal when water to the extent of two million gallons daily was developed—this on breaking through the first dyke.

These dykes are hard, impervious strata of rock lying approximately at an angle of 45° to the tunnel axis, and nearly vertical, and they occur at intervals of varying length. Between the dykes was the porous water-bearing rock, thoroughly saturated, and with the water pent up between the dykes often under considerable pressure.

When a dyke was penetrated, the water would spout out from the drill holes and would gush forth from the openings blasted in the headings. As the work progressed, the water increased in quantity and the difficulty of the work was enormously greater on account of the water.

The texture and hardness of the rock varied considerably— some of it being particularly soft and porous and much of it hard and flinty—particularly at the dykes. The dykes varied in thickness from 14 feet down to about 4 feet, all composed of very hard, close-grained rock which was apparently waterproof.

From the South portal the progress was rapid, often as high as 630 feet per month, or about 21 feet per day on an average, notwithstanding the long haul, which at the last was over two miles.

Eighty-percent of the length of the main tunnel was driven from the South portal, and 20% of the length was driven from the North portal, the difference in these proportions from the two headings being due to the presence of water at a much earlier stage in the North heading. Had there been no water to contend with, the length driven from each heading would have been approximately the same.

This system of tunnels is essentially a closed-conduit system, that is, the flow is entirely through closed tunnels, not subject to interruption by freshets or washouts or from rubbish or wash from the mountain streams, the intakes being so built as to admit only water as free from rubbish as practicable.

Only at three points in the tunnel system—and these are on the South side, one of which is a gaging station—does the water flow in open channels for an aggregate length of 160 feet.

It is intended to use the reservoirs so far as possible to take care of the water flowing at night, so as to utilize the conduit to its fullest capacity.

The Waiāhole Water Co. has taken over from the Oahu Sugar Co. The water delivered by the Waiāhole System is chiefly used on newly planted cane on land above the lift of the pumps. During construction the water developed in the main tunnel near the South portal was at times utilized for irrigation.

On May 27, 1916, with Mr. H. Olstad as Superintendent, continuous operation of the project was begun. (This post is from portions of a paper read by Chas H Kluegel before the Hawaiian Engineering Association, published in Thrum, 1916)

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Waiahole-Tunnel-(SugarWater)

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Waterfall at one of the water sources of Waiāhole Stream, windward O‘ahu, Hawai‘i-(USGS)

Byron Alcos, superintendent of the Waiahole Irrigation Co., shines a light pon the source of the Waiahole water-(star-bulletin)

Waikane_Valley-Loi_Kalo-Bishop_Museum-photo-1940

Monument at the Waiahole Ditch announces the completion date and names of contractor Mizuno, his surveyor, stonemason, and workers-(hawaii-gov)

Waiahole_Ditch-(oceanit)

Waiahole_Ditch-System-map

Waiahole Ditch-Land-use and land cover-(USGS)

Waiahole Ditch-generalized geology-(USGS)

October 18, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

War Memorial Municipal Auditorium

“Dedicated to All the Sons and Daughters of Hawai‘i Who Served Their Country in Time of War and in Special Tribute to those Who Gave Their Lives in Order That Freedom and Justice Might Prevail Throughout the World”

Apparently, so said the plaque outside what was initially referred to as the War Memorial Municipal Auditorium; its name was changed a few times.

And, the plaque is now missing – and apparently, so is the memory and original intent of the complex as a War Memorial.

Let’s look back …

In 1955, the Territorial Legislature passed Act 145 authorizing $3-million in bonds for the City and County to construct a War Memorial Municipal Auditorium. Then Congress stepped in to approve the State’s bond proposal.

By then, the idea was for the auditorium to honor those from Hawai‘i who served and sacrificed in WWII and Korea.

The house bill (HB 900) noted, “a municipal auditorium in the City and County of Honolulu would be a proper and fitting memorial to the said veterans (of WWII and Korea) and further would enhance the general welfare of the people of the city of Honolulu.”

Petitions and Bills were discussed seeking authorization for the “board of supervisors of the city and county of Honolulu to issue bonds in the sum of $3 million …”

“… for the purpose of land acquisition, plans, construction, equipping, and furnishing a war memorial municipal auditorium in the city and county of Honolulu.” Congressional Record, Volume 101, page 1143, June 9, 1955)

“HB 7755. A bill to enable the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii to authorize the city and county of Honolulu, a municipal corporation, to Issue general obligation bonds; to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.” (Congressional Record, Volume 101, page 807, July 30, 1955)

“404. Also, petition of the city and county clerk. Honolulu, T. H., requesting the enactment of legislation appropriating $3-million for land acquisition, plans, construction, equipping, and furnishing war memorial municipal auditorium in the city and county of Honolulu; to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.” (Congressional Record, Volume 102, page 32, January 5, 1956)

Finally, on July 11, 1956, the Senate and House of Representatives of the US Congress enacted Public Law 694 and approving the bond in the Territory’s Act 145, giving the City and County of Honolulu the authority to move forward. The site was the former ‘Old Plantation’ of the Ward Estate.

Initial legislation referred to the facility as the War Memorial Municipal Auditorium; on September 24, 1963, the City Council adopted a resolution naming the complex the ‘Honolulu International Center; then, on January 14, 1976, the City Council renamed the center as the ‘Neal S Blaisdell Memorial Center.’

Finally, on September 12, 1964 the Center was dedicated by Mayor Blaisdell; apparently, a memorial plaque noted the dedication of the facility as a war memorial (apparently, with the language noted at the top, here.)

However, over the years, the memorial plaque has been lost and the Neal S Blaisdell Center’s intended purpose as a war memorial has been forgotten.

Through persistence of Tanya Harrison and other volunteers at the Neal S Blaisdell Center War Memorial Project, Honolulu’s war memorial is no longer forgotten.

Recently (March 11, 2015,) the Honolulu City Council adopted Resolution 15-44, stating, “the City is currently considering long-range plans for the redevelopment of the fifty year-old Neal S Blaisdell Center complex …”

“… as such plans are discussed, the public should be reminded of the Neal S. Blaisdell Center’s heritage as a war memorial and its original purpose to honor Hawaii’s fallen heroes”. They sought rededication of the Blaisdell Center as a War Memorial.

The Honolulu City Council also noted, “all of the counties of the State of Hawai‘i honor and remember Hawai‘i’s war dead and war veterans in living memorials …”

“… such as the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, Maui’s War Memorial Stadium Complex and Hilo’s Kalākaua Park War Memorial Pond”.

They asked the City administration to rededicate the Blaisdell as a War Memorial and erect new plaques.

The good news is that the rededication ceremony of Blaisdell is scheduled for 5 pm, Tuesday, November 10, 2015, on the Blaisdell Center lawn between the Concert Hall and Ward Avenue.

The City will be unveiling a new replacement memorial plaque during the rededication ceremony. The public is invited. (Lots of information and images are from the Neal S Blaisdell Center War Memorial Project.)

Visit the Blaisdell Memorial Project at:
http://www.blaisdellmemorialproject.org

Visit and ‘Like’ their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/blaisdellmemorialproject

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Byron-Trimble-June-1963

Blaisdell_Arena-(WC)

Blaisdell_Concert_Hall-(WC)

Blaisdell_Exhibition_Hall-(WC)

Ward_Estate-Old_Plantation-form use of Blaisdell site-DMYoung)

Concert Hall Construction Ceremony plaque-1963

October 16, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Laniākea Cave

Reverend Asa and Lucy Thurston were in the Pioneer Company of American Christian Missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Kailua-Kona on the Thaddeus in 1820.

“After an accurate investigation of the places adjacent, in which they thought it might be found, they chose a valley, about half a mile from the residence of the governor, and near the entrance of Raniakea, as the spot where they were most likely to meet with success.” (Ellis)

They made their home in Kailua Village, in a home the Hawaiians named Laniākea. Thurston received Laniākea, a 5.26 acre homestead parcel as a gift from Governor Kuakini.

As noted by Rev. Sereno Edwards Bishop, in his book “Reminiscences Of Old Hawaii” (1916:) “In the early (1830s,) Kailua was a large native village, of about 4,000 inhabitants rather closely packed along one hundred rods of shore, and averaging twenty rods inland.”

“It had been the chief residence of King Kamehameha, who in 1819 died there in a rudely built stone house whose walls are probably still standing on the west shore of the little bay. Nearby stood a better stone house occupied by the doughty Governor Kuakini.”

“All other buildings in Kailua were thatched, until Rev. Artemas Bishop built his two-story stone dwelling in 1831 and Rev. Asa Thurston in 1833 built his wooden two-story house at Laniākea, a quarter of a mile inland.”

“Most of the native huts were thatched with the stiff pili grass. The better ones were thatched with lau-hala (pandanus leaf) or with la-i.” (Bishop)

“Five acres were enclosed with a stone wall three feet wide and six feet high, with simply the front gate for entrance. A large thatched house was erected. Space was allowed for a yard twenty-five feet in breadth.” (Lucy Thurston)

“Thatched houses are not durable, therefore, in the course of years, we had a succession of dwellings, but this was the general arrangement. In the 12th year of the Mission, a two-storied wooden house was erected in the children’s yard, and the wall for their special enclosure removed, as the times no longer required such an accommodation.” (Lucy Thurston)

In 1823, English protestant missionary William Ellis joined forces with American protestant missionary Asa Thurston and a party of explorers to circumnavigate the island of Hawaii.

“In the course of the forenoon, two of our number visited the ruins of an old military fortification, formerly belonging to the makaʻāinana, (common people.)”

“All that at present remains, is a part of the wall, about twelve feet high, and fourteen feet thick at the bottom, built of lava, and apparently entire.”

“In the upper part of the wall are apertures resembling embrasures; but they could not have been designed for cannon, that being an engine of war, with which the natives have but recently become acquainted.”

“The part of the wall now standing, is near the mouth of Raniakea (Laniākea,) the spacious cavern … which formed a valuable appendage to the fort.” Ellis)

“The whole face of the country marked decisively its volcanic origin; and in the course of their excursion they entered several hollows in the lava, formed by its having cooled and hardened on the surface, while, in a liquid state underneath, it had continued to flow towards the sea, leaving a crust in the shape of a tunnel, or arched vault, of varied thickness and extent.

“After entering it by a small aperture, they passed on in a direction nearly parallel with the surface; sometimes along a spacious arched way, not less than twenty-five feet high and twenty wide…”

“… At other times, by a passage so narrow, that they could with difficulty press through, till they had proceeded about 1,200 feet; here their progress was arrested by a pool of water, wide, deep, and as salt as that found in the hollows of the lava within a few yards of the sea.” (Ellis)

“One may walk along it for about fifteen minutes, through a passage which often reaches a considerable height. … The cave runs into a deep subterranean pool of very cold water, and further progress can be made only by swimming through an aperture in the makai end, when one may enter an inner cave, which is said to lead to the sea.” (Kinney, 1913)

“More than thirty natives, most of them carrying torches, accompanied (Ellis’ group) in their descent; and on arriving at the water, simultaneously plunged in, extending their torches with one hand, and swimming about with the other.”

“The partially illuminated heads of the natives, splashing about in this subterranean lake; the reflection of the torch-light on its agitated surface; the frowning sides and lofty arch of the black vault, hung with lava, that had cooled in every imaginable shape …”

“… the deep gloom of the cavern beyond the water; the hollow sound of their footsteps; and the varied reverberations of their voices, produced a singular effect; and it would have required but little aid from the fancy, to have imagined a resemblance between this scene and the fabled Stygian lake of the poets.”

“The mouth of the cave is about half a mile from the sea, and the perpendicular depth to the water probably Not less than fifty or sixty feet.”

“The pool is occasionally visited by the natives, for the purpose of bathing, as its water is cool and refreshing. From its ebbing and flowing with the tide, it has probably a direct communication with the sea.” (Ellis)

When war threatened the early inhabitants of Kona, and it was not uncommon, those who could not fight took refuge in the cave, and while the battles raged overhead, the refugees sent forays up the mountain and to the sea, via the cave, to gather food and water. (laniakea)

“In this cavern, children and aged persons were placed for security during an assault or sally from the fort, and sometimes the wives of the warriors also, when they did not accompany their husbands to the battle.”

“The fortification was probably extensive, as traces of the ancient walls are discoverable in several places; but what were its original dimensions, the natives who were with us could not tell. They asserted, however, that the cavern, if not the fort also, was formerly surrounded by a strong palisade.” (Ellis)

When the Thurstons retired to Honolulu, the house and land became the property of Mokuʻaikaua Church.

In 1980, sections of the cave had collapsed and the entrance was choked with debris and the entrance near the Thurston House was disturbed by squatters.

Waste products and debris have been dumped into the cave, causing an accumulation of sediment and muck within the cave. The western entrance to the cave near Hale Halawai is blocked. Large concrete pillars within the cave apparently were place to support improvements above. (Rasmussen)

The Laniākea house fell into disrepair, and in the 1990s the Laniākea Foundation was formed to save the ruins of the cave and home site from development. (laniakea)

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