Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Haraguchi Rice Mill

The Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society was formed in 1850 to develop Hawaiʻi’s agricultural resources.  It was then that rice made its mark in the Hawaiʻi economy. The group purchased land in the Nuʻuanu Valley and rice seed from China and planted in a former taro patch.

At first the Society offered the rice seed to anyone in Hawaiʻi who wanted to plant it. King Kamehameha IV also offered land grants for cultivation of rice.  Because there were no proper milling facilities in Hawaiʻi, it didn’t take off as a viable crop right away.

Then, in 1860, imported rice seed from South Carolina proved very successful and yielded a fair amount of crop.  This, combined with the collapse of the taro industry in 1861-1862 (as the Hawaiian population declined, the demand for taro also declined,) added value to the numerous vacant taro patches and a boom in the rice industry.

In 1899, Hawaiʻi’s rice production had expanded so that it placed third in production of rice behind Louisiana and South Carolina.

The Agricultural Extension Service of the University of Hawaiʻi encouraged rice production, primarily in Hanalei.  As a result the acreage planted in rice on the island rose from 759 acres in 1933 to 1,058 in 1934.

For areas like Hanalei Valley, such efforts, coupled with the valley’s general remoteness and absence of competing demands for the land, allowed rice cultivation to continue as a regional activity.

The Hanalei Valley of Kauaʻi led all other single geographic units in the amount of acreage planted in rice. The valley was one of the first areas converted to this use and continued to produce well into the 1960s.

The Commercial Pacific Advertiser noted on October 3, 1861, “Everybody and his wife (including defunct government employees) are into rice – sugar is nowhere and cotton is no longer king. Taro patches are held at fabulous valuations, and among the thoughtful the query is being propounded, where is our taro to come from?”

When the Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaiʻi, their tastes preferred a shorter grain rice than the Chinese long-grain variety. With the decline of the Chinese population and increase in the Japanese population, more of the Japanese rice was being imported from Japan.

As the Japanese left the plantations, they started their own farms and cultivated their own staple rice.

It was at Hanalei where some Chinese built a rice processing facility; it as later purchased by the Haraguchi family in 1924.  At one time, the Haraguchis cultivated about 75-acres in Hanalei Valley.

Fire destroyed the original wooden mill in March of 1930; a new mill consisted of a 3-foot thick concrete foundation with corrugated iron for its roof and siding.  Interior spaces included engine room, milling area, and storage area for both finished and unprocessed rice.

This main engine operated all the mill machinery by turning a main shaft that connected all the other machines by a pulley system.  The rice in a pit would be delivered up by cups on a belt located on a “triple chute” system. One chute served the belts going downward, another chute for the belts returning upwards and a third to suck the dust up which traveled to the blower.

The cups carried the rice over the wall onto another chute and into the strainer. This strainer would shake the rice and separate any rubbish or stones to prevent it from entering the husking machines.  From the strainer, the rice would proceed to the first husker that removed part of the husk.

About 80% of the husks would be removed by this husker. The husks would travel up the air ‘chute to the blower which blew the husks out the back of the mill into a ditch that carried the husks into the river.

The partly husked rice would exit the first husker and was taken up a chute by belted cups and dropped onto another chute into the second husker. The second husker would remove the rest of the husks and the grains would continue up another “triple chute” which would carry it up and over into the polishing machine.

The fine dust from the second husker was collected in a basket under the machine and also taken up the chute into the blower.  Cowhide was used to polish the rice which prevented the grains from cracking which ensured high quality rice.  The rice would exit the polisher and taken up another chute to the grader.

The grading machine constantly shook to move the rice to the three different grades of rice. The whole grain would bypass the grading holes and a trowel was used to push the rice onto a small trough into the rice bag which hung at the end of the funnel.  From there the bags were scaled, sewn by hand and then stacked.

Despite the competition from the California grown rice, the Japanese farmers continued to produce on a smaller scale than the Chinese farmers. By the early 1950s there were about 50 growers cultivating 170 acres of rice on Kauaʻi. Hanalei Valley held 90 acres, 48 acres in Wailua and the rest was split between Hanapepe and Waimea valleys.

In addition to the staple rice, “mochi rice,” used for traditional Japanese cake on New Year’s and other special occasions, was grown.

The mochi rice from Hanalei Valley was noted for its quality throughout the Islands. It was largely a luxury crop and most of it was consumed in the Islands; about 200-bags were shipped to the Mainland.

Some mochi rice was imported from the Mainland but local buyers preferred the local crop since it was said to produce a larger yield of mochi per pound.

In 1959, Hurricane Dot left the mill intact except for an air vent at the roof peak that was torn off and not replaced.  The mill ceased operating in 1960 when Kaua`i’s rice industry collapsed. Hurricane Iwa on November 23, 1982 toppled 85% of the building onto the machinery; then came Hurricane Iniki in 1992.

The Haraguchi Rice Mill was the last mill to operate in Hanalei Valley and the only remaining rice mill in the State of Hawaiʻi.  A nonprofit organization was formed to preserve and interpret the mill; the organization is guided by an unpaid Board of Directors (many of them are members of the Haraguchi family.)  The Haraguchi family now farms taro on the adjacent lands that once supported rice.

Today, the Hoʻopulapula Haraguchi Rice Mill is an agrarian museum located in the taro fields of Hanalei Valley.  The Rice Mill Kiosk is open to the public, Monday through Saturday, 11 am – 3 pm.  No Public access into the farm & Rice Mill unless through guided tours, available Wednesdays at 10 am (reservations are required.)  (Lots of information here from NPS.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“People think of the islands as a white place”

“Time erases stories that don’t fit the preferred narrative.” (BC historian Jean Barman to BBC writer Diane Selkirk)

This summary is inspired by a random e-mail I received that included just a link – the link was to a BBC story about Hawaiians in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.

Captain Vancouver claimed the islands for the British Crown, and referred to them as being located in a “gulf.” While the Gulf Islands are clearly not in a gulf, the name stuck.

In the same year, Spanish and British cartographic expeditions also explored the area, intent on finding a passage to the northwest Atlantic. (Gulf Islands Tourism)

Canada’s Gulf Islands are scattered across the Salish Sea between Vancouver and Southern Vancouver. The area is now home to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve—an ecological paradise of land pockets on 15 islands, plus numerous small islets and reef areas. The forested Gulf Islands include Mayne, Galiano, Hornby, and Gabriola. The largest is Salt Spring. (Destination BC)

“The Gulf Islands are comprised of dozens of islands scattered between Vancouver and Southern Vancouver Island. With a mild climate and bucolic landscapes, it’s been the continuous unceded territory of Coast Salish Nations for at least 7,000 years.”

“The Spanish visited in 1791 and then Captain George Vancouver showed up, claiming the Gulf Islands for the British Crown. Not long after, settlers began arriving from all parts of the world. Many of them were Hawaiian, while black Americans, Portuguese, Japanese and Eastern Europeans also settled on the islands.”

“(I)n the late 1700s, during a period of strife when Indigenous Hawaiians (including royalty) were losing their rights and autonomy at home, many of the men joined the maritime fur trade.”

“A large number of Hawaiians settled on the western shore of Salt Spring Island where they could continue their traditions of fishing and farming “

“Employed by the Hudson Bay Company, hundreds, if not thousands, of Hawaiians found their way to Canada’s west coast. By 1851, some estimates say half the settler population of the Gulf Islands was Hawaiian.”

“Then in the late 1850s, as the border between the US and present-day Canada solidified, many Hawaiians who had been living south moved north, where they were afforded the rights of British citizenship.”

“Once in BC they became landowners, farmers and fishermen. Gradually, they intermarried with local First Nations or other immigrant groups and their Hawaiian identity was almost lost. But during the years when the land containing the orchards was researched and studied, their story was revived, and Hawaiian Canadians began reclaiming their heritage.”

“British Columbia’s Gulf Islands are testament of an era when, during a period of internal strife, Hawaiian royalty left their tropical home for distant islands.”

“Maria Mahoi, a woman born on Vancouver Island in about 1855 to a Hawaiian man and a local Indigenous woman … spent her young adulthood sailing a 40ft whaling schooner with her first husband, American sea captain Abel Douglas.”

“As they had children and their family grew, they settled on Salt Spring Island. Here a large number of Hawaiian families had formed a community on the western shore extending south from Fulford Harbour to Isabella Point, overlooking the islands of Russell, Portland and Cole.”

“Mahoi’s first marriage ended, leaving her a single mother with seven children. She then married a man named George Fisher, the son of a wealthy Englishman called Edward Fisher and an Indigenous Cowichan woman named Sara. The two had an additional six children and made their home in a log cabin on 139 acres near Fulford Harbour.”

“The restoration of Mahoi’s story ended up helping to shape part of a national park.”

“Much of what we think of as Hawaiian culture – hula dance, lei making and traditional food – are the customary domain of women. So those parts of the Hawaiian culture didn’t come to the Gulf Islands with the first male arrivals. But the Hawaiians left their mark in other ways.”

“The community provided both the land and the volunteer builders for the St Paul’s Catholic Church at Fulford Harbour; and Chinook Jargon, the local trade language of the time, included many Hawaiian words. The culture also showed in where the Hawaiians chose to live: most settled in the islands where they were able to continue their practices of fishing and farming.”

“Visitors can enter Maria Mahoi’s house on Russell Island and hear stories about her life on the island .“

“In Mahoi’s case, she also left behind the family home. The small house – with doorways that were just 5’6” – reflects the small stature of the original inhabitants, something that intrigued later owners.”

“Over time, as more of Russell Island’s unique history became clear, it was acquired by the Pacific Marine Heritage Legacy in 1997 and then deemed culturally distinct enough to become part of GINPR in 2003.”

“In 2003, Portland Island, with its winding trails, sandstone cliffs and shell-midden beaches, had become part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR), a sprawling national park made up of protected lands scattered across 15 islands and numerous islets and reefs in the Salish Sea.”

“Over the next 15 years, 17 abandoned orchards, on eight of the islands, were studied by Parks Canada archaeologists and cultural workers in order to gain a glimpse into the lives of early settlers in the region.”

“On Portland Island, a new park sign told me, the heritage apples including Lemon Pippin, Northwest Greening, Winter Banana and Yellow Bellflower had been planted by a man called John Palau, one of the hundreds of Hawaiians who were among the earliest settlers in the region.”

The article notes, “History, though, can become obscured. And the story of the Gulf Islands became an English one. ‘People think of the islands as a white place,’ BC historian Jean Barman told [the author]. ‘Time erases stories that don’t fit the preferred narrative.’”

The “island history had faded from general knowledge”. “ Part of the problem is the fact that the records of Hawaiians who came to the west coast are particularly challenging.”

“Newly arrived Hawaiians often went by a single name or just a nickname. Even when a first and last name was recorded, a name’s spelling often changed over time. So it became difficult to track a specific Hawaiian royal through his or her lifetime.”

“The legacy of the early Hawaiian settlers was virtually erased from history, but now Hawaiian Canadians have begun reclaiming their heritage.”

“‘When people share the stories of who they are, they’re partial stories. What gets repeated is based on how ambivalent or how proud you are,’ Barman said, explaining this is why many British Columbians of Hawaiian decedent she’s spoken to claim royal heritage. It was a story they were proud of.”

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hālawa Shaft

The Hawaiian Islands are made up of one or more shield volcanoes that are composed primarily of extremely permeable, thin basaltic lava flows (within the flows are a few ash beds.)  Ordinarily, basalts are among the most permeable rocks on earth.

When rain falls on the Islands, it does one of three things: (1) wets the land surface, shallow infiltration saturates the uppermost soil layer and replaces soil moisture used by plants and then is absorbed by the vegetation and/or evaporates (evapotranspiration;) (2) runs off, eroding the land, forming valleys and gouges in the mountain slopes (and also creates some spectacular periodic waterfalls;) or (3) percolates into the ground (slowly sinks into the ground and becomes groundwater.)

The latter contributes to the groundwater recharge of the area (in the Koʻolau, it takes about 9-months for the rain, now groundwater, to seep down through cracks and permeable materials in the mountain.) Other recharge components include cloud drip (moisture condenses on the trees and leaves as clouds/fog drift through) and irrigation of an area helps add to the recharge.

Rainfall percolating through the ground may accumulate in three principal types of groundwater bodies: (1) high-level bodies perched on relatively impervious soil, ash or lava layers; (2) high-level bodies impounded within compartments formed by impermeable dikes that have intruded the lava flows; and (3) basal water bodies floating on and displacing salt water.

The principal source of fresh ground water in the Hawaiian Islands is the roughly lens-shaped basal water body floating on and displacing denser sea water.  (It varies by area, sometimes there is high-level confined water.)  Recharge of the basal water body results directly from percolating rain water or by underground leakage from perched-water bodies and bodies impounded by dikes.

The Ghyben-Herzberg principle applies to this basal water that suggests the top of fresh water above sea level should be balanced by a thickness of fresh water below sea level about 40 times as great.  That generally means, for every foot of fresh water above sea level, there is 40-feet of fresh water below it.)

Water resources were becoming a challenge in the growing Honolulu community. “From the outset it was the Board’s major problem to supply the City of Honolulu with water from sources within its own boundaries as long as that remained possible.”

“The Board’s long range plan, however, contemplated the eventual necessity of going outside the boundaries of the District of Honolulu for additional artesian water but it had been thought that the time when this would have to be done was far in the future. However, when the emergency arose it was possible to advance this phase of the program by deferring the infiltration projects.”

“Bond moneys that would have been applied to infiltration were transferred to a new project through which additional artesian water will be brought into the city from a 284-foot inclined shaft and electrically-operated underground pumping station in North Hālawa Valley.”

“War has delayed the completion of the North Hālawa project and has greatly increased its cost. Army and Navy authorities have given us splendid cooperation on this project, and, although we cannot be certain how soon all the materials and equipment required for completion of the installation will reach us, progress on its construction has been satisfactory, and it should be completed within the year 1943.”  (Report of the Board of Water Supply, Ohrt’s Report, January 28, 1943)

North Hālawa Valley overlies the Pearl Harbor aquifer, an important source of potable water for the island of Oʻahu. Freshwater in the Pearl Harbor aquifer is part of a large, lens-shaped body of ground water that is thickest in the central part of Oahu and thins toward the coastline.

This lens of freshwater, known as the ‘basal lens,’ floats on saltwater that penetrates from the ocean into the basalt flows of which the island is composed.  (Izuka, USGS)

In some early installations, vertical wells were drilled in the tunnels to develop additional water.  Hālawa was different; it is referred to as a skimming tunnel.  It’s commonly called the Hālawa Shaft.

Skimming tunnels consist essentially of a vertical or inclined shaft constructed from the ground surface down to about the water table and one or more horizontal, or nearly horizontal, tunnels constructed laterally at, or just below, the water level to collect water.  (Peterson)

The fundamental advantage of the skimming tunnels over conventional wells is their capability to produce large quantities of fresh water from lenses so thin that drilled wells would recover only brackish water.

For this reason, skimming tunnels are especially useful in some of the dry leeward coastal areas of Hawaiʻi, as well as on many small oceanic islands with extremely thin fresh-water lenses.

Owing primarily to economic considerations and also to the greater flexibility of modern deep-well pumping stations, no new major skimming tunnels have been constructed in Hawaiʻi since the early 1950s. (Peterson)

The Hālawa Shaft facility is at an elevation of 165 feet above sea level; it’s one of five main shafts operated by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. (The other main shafts include Wai’alae, Kalihi, Makaha and Pearl City.)

Approximately 15-million gallons of pure water is pumped every day from the Hālawa shaft by three pumping units which have a capacity of 18 to 20-million gallons per day.

The water pool is a ‘hole’ at the top of a 919-foot long water development tunnel below. The Hālawa Shaft was put in operation on August 22, 1944.  (Papacostas)

The completion of the Hālawa Shaft made possible the importation of water from the Pearl Harbor area to Honolulu permitting a reduction in draft from the Honolulu aquifer.

This change in draft has raised the water levels in Honolulu to the extent that this aquifer now appears to be functioning well within the limits of its safe yield. (Ground Water Development, 1958)

While I was at DLNR, I had the opportunity to have a private tour of the Hālawa Shaft.  The lack of a key to unlock a gate on the stairs leading down the shaft caused quite an embarrassment to the Water staff.

Rather than turn back, we climbed over the gate and were able to view the shaft and water pool.  

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

City Mill

“The articles of incorporation of the City Mill Co, Ltd., were approved (June 13, 1899.) The names that appear are as follows: Wong Leong, CK Ai, WW Ahana, C Mun Kai, Pang Chong and Ho Fon. The capital stock is $60,000 to be divided into 60 shares at $100 per share.”

The officers were: Wong Leong, president; Chung Kun Ai, vice president, treasurer and manager; C Mun Kai, secretary; WW Ahana and Yeong Chee, auditors and Pang Chong, foreman.

“The company intends to carry on the business of rice millers, rice merchants, planing mill, builders and contractors, lumber merchants and dealers in builders’ and contractors’ supplies and any other business that can be carried on in connection therewith.”  (Evening Bulletin, June 14, 1899)

So it began; and it continues to provide much of the same core services it started with over a century ago.  Let’s look back.

In 1879, at 14 years of age, Zhong Wenyu (better known in later life as Chung Kun Ai or CK Ai and his father sailed for Hawaii on a three-masted German schooner from the port of Whang Poo near Canton, China. (Rhoads)

Chung Kun Ai’s father had been to Hawaiʻi eleven years earlier and was a merchant in Kona, Hawaiʻi. With a prospering business, he returned to China to bring his family to their new home.

As a young teenager, and speaking neither English nor Hawaiian, Chung Kun Ai enrolled in ʻIolani where he spent two years (his only formal schooling.)  It was here that Ai converted to Christianity, which was to remain the central force in his life.

It was also at ʻIolani where he met and developed a lasting friendship with a fellow student, Sun Tai-Cheong, later known to the world as Sun Yat Sen, father of the Chinese Republic.

Their friendship provided a foundation to formulate the principles of the Chinese Republic.  On his third trip in Hawaiʻi (on November 24, 1894) Sun established the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society,) his first revolutionary society. Among its founders were many Christians, one of them being Chung Kun Ai.)

Years later, Chung Kun Ai received the highest medal of honor from the Chinese government for his recognition of the needs of the people.

Following his education at ʻIolani, at the age of 17, Ai’s father bought him a partnership in a tailor shop. However, the business did not appeal to Ai and he left the business in 1887.  That same year, at the age of 21, Ai joined the firm of James Isaac Dowsett as a secretary, clerk and bookkeeper.

Dowsett (said to have been the first white child, not of missionary parentage, born in Hawaiʻi) was engaged in a conglomerate of activities in the islands.

Dowsett had first worked for the Hudson Bay Company; then, in the early-1860s he entered the whaling business, owning a fleet of whaling ships.  Besides his whaling activities, Mr. Dowsett engaged in the lumber business and owned a fleet of schooners and small steamers operating between the islands.

Dowsett also had extensive ranching interests; properties now occupied by Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter and Lualualei were once pastures for Dowsett’s cattle and horses.

Ai eventually became Dowsett’s protégé, earning his respect for his careful management skills. As a result, Dowsett allowed Ai to use a portion of his warehouse, and Ai started importing cigars, tea, peanut oil, shoe nails and other items.

Then, following Dowsett’s death, Ai and others started City Mill, a rice milling and lumber importing business in Chinatown, Honolulu.  Unfortunately, within 8-months after opening, it succumbed to the 1900 Chinatown fire.

Without insurance, they raised the necessary funds, rebuilt and added new product lines.   However, again, in 1919, a fire burned City Mill. Fortunately, this time, insurance covered the damage.

By the early 1920s, City Mill was so successful that Ai ventured into the pineapple business, and formed the Honolulu Fruit Company, which owned 5-pineapple fields and a cannery. (It did not survive the Great Depression of the 1930s.)

In 1926, City Mill took an interest in the Vigilant (a 244-foot sailing ship built in 1920) and placed her in service to carry lumber from Puget Sound to Hawaiʻi (it was capable of carrying 2,000,000-board feet of lumber each trip.)  (Gibbs; Caphoneirs)

Prior to World War II, in conjunction with its building supplies, City Mill had the distinction of having the only rice mill in Honolulu and having the largest rice mill in Hawaiʻi.

The war forced City Mill to abandon its rice operation and to concentrate on providing construction materials for the armed forces and civilians. By the war’s end, City Mill emerged as one of the largest building materials suppliers in the Pacific.

Along the way, Chung Kun Ai also ventured into other types of businesses with varying degrees of success in laundry, fishing, tobacco and oil drilling.

In 1950, Chung Kun Ai opened the present City Mill store on Nimitz Highway. The building was dedicated to James I. Dowsett, Ai’s mentor, friend and benefactor.

In 1956, in recognition of his exemplary family life, Chung Kun Ai was awarded “Father of the Year” by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce. In 1957, Governor Samuel Wilder King bestowed upon Chung Kun Ai the “Order of the Splintered Paddle” for Ai’s outstanding service to mankind.

In the summer of 1980, after 81-years of operation, City Mill phased out its Wholesale Division; this allowed City Mill to concentrate its energies on the expansion of its retail home centers.

With the success of the retail home centers, City Mill expanded into the Honolulu suburbs. The first branch store opened in Kāneʻohe in 1960; then Waipahu (1967,) Waimalu Shopping Center (Pearl City)(1975,) Kaimuki (1984,) Hawaii Kai and Mililani Town Center (1993,) Waianae (1999,) and relocation of the Waipahu store to Laulani Village Shopping Center in Ewa Beach (2012.)  (Lots of information here from City Mill.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kahakuloa

There were several major population centers on the Island of Maui: Kahakuloa (West Maui) region; the deep watered valleys of Nā Wai ‘Ehā (Waiheʻe, Wai‘ehu, Wailuku and Waikapū;) the ‘Olowalu to Honokōhau region of Lāhainā; the Kula – ʻUlupalakua region and the Koʻolau – Hana region.  (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Kahakuloa is a valley that sits between Nā Hono A Piʻilani, The Bays of Piʻilani (aka Honoapiʻilani – the six hono bays (uniting of the bays:) from South to North, Honokōwai (bay drawing fresh water), Honokeana (cave bay), Honokahua (sites bay,) Honolua (two bays), Honokōhau (bay drawing dew) and Hononana (animated bay) to the West) and Na Wai ʻEha to the East.

The importance of the region is reflected by the number of heiau that were reportedly present in precontact times.  There were a total of seven heiau that were recorded in the Kahakuloa area. These heiau included Hononana, Kaneaola, Kuewa, Keahialoa, Pakai, Waipiliamoo and Kukuipuka.  (Kukuipuka heiau was reported to have been a place of refuge for West Maui.) (Xamanek)

According to Handy the name Kahakuloa refers to a small and famous loʻi about one-half-mile inland in the bottom of Kahakuloa Valley.

This irrigated kalo patch belonged to the haku or lord of the land. Because of the isolation of the area, the haku became known as the “far away master” – ka haku loa.  Kahakuloa was “one of the most genuinely native communities still extant in the islands [with] a population of about 20 families, all Hawaiian and all taro planters.”   (Xamanek)

Descriptions differ on whether Kahakuloa is an ahupuaʻa or another type of land division.  The island (mokupuni that is surrounded by water) is the main division.  Islands were divided into sections within the island called moku; typically, there was a Kona on the lee side and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island.

These districts were further divided into ʻokana or kalana (smaller districts.)  The next subdivision of land is the ahupua’a, which has been termed the basic unit of land in the Hawaiian system.  Portions of ahupuaʻa were called ʻili.)

The region as Kahakuloa was known for extensive taro loʻi (irrigated taro cultivation.)  Here the taro that grew in the sacred patch of the aliʻi was reputed to be of great size. (Maly)  In addition, it was known for ʻUala (sweet potato cultivation.)

The Māhele land records indicate that much of the lands here were Crown lands with several properties going to Victoria Kamāmalu (daughter of Kīnaʻu, the wife of Kamehameha II) and a number of small awards were granted in the Kahakuloa Village region; many of these awards were granted for taro loʻi cultivation.

During the mid-1800s, a large portion of the surrounding region was used for sugar cane and macadamia nut agriculture, as well as extensive cattle grazing.

Haiku Fruit and Packing Co. utilized some lands in Kahakuloa to grow pineapple. Pineapple production in this part of Maui went into decline after the Great Depression in the 1930s and appeared to have ceased by the 1960s.

Kahakuloa is a small isolated village at the end of a valley – it is described to be a “cultural kīpuka that survived the onslaught of development after Hawaiʻi became a state.”  (McGregor)

Standing tall and overlooking the coastal shoreline is Kahakuloa Head, 636-feet high and known historically for a King Kahekili’s Leap.

During the late-18th century, Maui chief Kahekili, a rival of Kamehameha, was known for many legendary feats in the ancient Hawaiian sport of lele kawa (to leap feet first from a cliff into water without splashing.)  Legend says that in the early morning, the King would climb up the hill and “leap” into the ocean below from about the 200 foot height.

Access continues to be limited to this area (some suggest rental car agencies do not allow rentals to attempt to traverse the region.)

Coming from the West, you start on Honoapiʻilani Highway (Highway 30 – with ascending mile markers,) but as you travel through, the road transforms to Kahekili Highway (Highway 340 – with descending mileage markers.)

A lot of the way is single file on a single lane road – often without makai barriers.  There are hairpin turns, steep ocean-side drops and narrow one-lane sections.  Along the way are the Bell Stone, Olivine Pools and Nakalele Blowhole; in the valley is the Kahakuloa Congregational Church, founded in 1887.

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