Economy | Page 139 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 13, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Clippers

“From the earliest colonial days, ship-building has been a favorite industry in America. The first vessel built within the present limits of the United States was the Virginia, a pinnace of thirty tons, constructed in 1601 by the Popham colonists”.

In the year 1668, the ship-building in New England, small as it may now seem, had become sufficiently important … of 1332 vessels registered as built In New England between 1674 and 1714, no less than 239 were built and sold to merchants abroad.”

“(T)he American vessels showed a marked superiority in point of speed over British men-of-war and merchant ships during (the American Revolution and War of 1812)”. Then came the clipper ship.

“The origin of the word clipper is not quite clear, though it seems to be derived from the verb clip, which in former times meant, among other things, to run or fly swiftly.”

“The word survived in the New England slang expressions ‘to clip it’ and ‘going at a good clip,’ or ‘a fast clip,’ are familiar expressions there to this day.”

“It therefore seems reasonable to suppose that when vessels of a new model were built, which were intended, in the language of the times, to clip over the waves rather than plough through them, the improved type of craft become known as clippers because of their speed.” (Clark)

The Clipper ship, generally either a schooner or a brigantine, was a classic sailing ship of the 19th century, renowned for its beauty, grace, and speed.

“The Clipper Ship Era began in 1843 as a result of growing demand for a more rapid delivery of tea from China (and) continued under the stimulating influence of the discovery of gold in California and Australia in 1849 and 1851”. (Clark)

Fast forward, and a new clipper made the scene across the Pacific – the flying boat. The flying boat dominated international airline service in the 1920s and 1930s.

As airplane travel became popular, Pan American Airlines asked for a long-range, four-engine flying boat. Pan Am chief Juan Trippe called the airplanes ‘clippers’ to link his airline with the maritime heritage of the world’s great ocean liners. (Pacific Aviation Museum)

In October, 1931, Pan Am introduced the Sikorsky S-40, the first American Clipper. When it began to fly, record after record was broken for performance in the air. (Horvat)

At the beginning of the decade, flying across oceans was a life-risking experience. However, beginning in 1936, Pan Am began to fly across the Pacific. (Pacific Aviation Museum)

On November 22, 1935, Postmaster General James A Farley and Mr Juan Trippe ordered Pilot Musick, commanding Pan Am’s China Clipper, to take off on the first airmail flight, by way of Hawai‘i and the other islands, on to its Manila destination.

Twenty thousand spectators were on hand to watch festivities at Alameda (on San Francisco Bay), all eyes on the immense silver airplane. They saw an estimated 110,000 pieces of mail weighing nearly two tons being stowed on board. (hawaii-gov)

First to make the Pacific crossings by way of Hawaii and other islands, through the years Pan American steadily increased its world services.

The first Martin Clippers were augmented in 1941 by larger Boeing Clippers. On November 16, 1945, Pan Am resumed commercial operations with their Boeing Clippers which had been leased to the Navy during the war. (Horvat)

Passenger numbers on a clipper depended on fuel needs and cargo–air mail and packages had priority. Usually only eight or nine passengers (sometimes fewer) flew on the long mainland-Hawaii hop. The clippers flew one trip a week in each direction.

“Her interior was like that of no other airplane,” reported journalist H. R. Ekins. “Her lounge… would seat 16 persons comfortably, leaving plenty of space in which to walk about.” The seaplane seemed to him “as roomy as the [airship] Hindenburg and as steady as a rock.”

The main cabin also served as a dining room. “It was a conventional supper–grapefruit, celery and olives, soup, steak, vegetables, salad, ice cream, cake and coffee,” wrote passenger Charles McKew Parr. “The captain acted as though we were his guests.” (Smithsonian)

The first paying passengers of the Pan American Hawaii Clipper included: Richard F. Bradley, San Francisco; Mrs. Zetta Averill, Aberdeen, WA; TF Ryan, III, San Francisco; Alfred Bennet, Hightstown, NJ; Col. Charles Bradley, Chicago; Mrs. Clara Adams, Philadelphia; and Wilbur May, Los Angeles. (hawaii-gov)

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Pan American -California Clipper’ Honolulu-PP-1-5-001-1939

Sikorsky S-42 Clipper

Sikorsky S-40. The exposed struts and wires caused Charles Lindbergh to call the plane a ‘flying forest’

Pan American Clipper afloat off seaplane ramp on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-7-007-April 20, 1935

Pan American Clipper on ramp being fueled-PP-1-7-002-1935

Pan American Clipper flying over Waikiki with Diamond Head in background-PP-1-8-013-1935

Pan American Clipper in Middle Loch, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-8-015-1935

Pan American Clipper afloat off Ford Island, Pearl Harbor-PP-1-7-001-1935

Boeing 314 Dixie Clipper

Crowd inspecting the Pan American Clipper, Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Honolulu-PP-1-7-011-April 20, 1935

Pan American Clipper in Pearl Harbor-PP-1-8-016-1935

Martin M-130 China Clipper

Flight deck of Boeing 314

B314-seat-map

Boeing 314 Flight Deck

B-314-cutaway-interior

Baltimore clipper Ann McKim

The clipper Flying Cloud

The clipper ship Le-Rye-Moon, built for the opium trade

December 11, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Wa‘a Holo Honua

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai‘i. Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating canoe travel between villages.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi, extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.

Back then, land travel was only foot traffic, over little more than trails and pathways. These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the land. Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they were paved with water-worn stones.

Things changed on June 21, 1803, when the Lelia Byrd, an American ship under Captain William Shaler (with commercial officer Richard Cleveland) arrived at Kealakekua Bay with two mares and a stallion on board.

George Kanahele suggests the early name for the horse was “wa‘a holo honua” (canoes that travel on land). Malo suggests they were called lio – “a large animal. Men sit upon his back and ride; he has no horns on his head.”

In the 1820s and 1830s, more horses were imported from California, and by the 1840s the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing.

“(H)orses and cattle (became) numerous on Kauai because the foreigners had given many such to Kaumualiʻi. On O‘ahu there were only a few which had been brought in by John Young and Kamehameha from Kauai in 1809; afterwards more were brought in by Don Marin.” (Kamakau)

By the middle of the nineteenth century, riding on horseback had come to be both a common means of efficient travel and a common form of recreation and entertainment. The recreational aspect of horseback riding made the greatest appeal. Hawaiians became enthusiastic and expert equestrians. (Kuykendall)

Changes were made to the overland trails to accommodate horses, then were expanded to allow for the horse-drawn cart:
• Pre-contact/Early historical … Single-file footpath … Follow contours of coast
• 1820-1840 … Widened for one horse … Coastal – curbstones added
• 1820-1840 … Built in straight lines, inland
• 1841-1918 … Widened for two horses … Straight, leveled
• Late-1800s-early 1900s … Widened for horse cart … Straight, leveled

In the 1830s, King Kamehameha III initiated a program of island-wide improvements on the ala loa, and in 1847, a formal program for development of the alanui aupuni (government roads) was initiated.

Until the 1840s, overland travel was predominantly by foot and followed the traditional trails. By the 1840s, the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing, and many traditional trails – the ala loa and mauka-makai trails within ahupua‘a – were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that caused the animals to slip.

Eventually, wider, straighter trails were constructed to accommodate horse drawn carts. Unlike the earlier trails, these later trails could not conform to the natural, sometimes steep, terrain.

They often by-passed the traditional trails as more remote coastal villages became depopulated due to introduced diseases and the changing economic and social systems.

By the early 1850s, specific criteria were developed for realigning trails and roadways, including the straightening of alignments and development of causeways and bridges.

This system of roadwork, supervised by district overseers, and funded through government appropriations – with labor by prisoners and individuals unable to pay taxes in another way – evolved over the next 40 years.

Paved streets were unknown until 1881. In that year, Fort Street was macadamized (a paving process using aggregate layers of stone with a cementing agent binder – a process named after Scotsman John Loudon McAdam,) followed by Nu‘uanu Avenue.

In 1892, Queen Lili‘uokalani and the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i signed into law an “Act Defining Highways, and Defining and Establishing Certain Routes and Duties in Connection Therewith,” to be known as The Highways Act, 1892.

Through this act, all roads, alleys, streets, ways, lanes, courts, places, trails and bridges in the Hawaiian Islands, whether laid out or built by the Government or by private parties were declared to be public highways.

Ownership was placed in the Government (typically, under the control of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, although recent legislation transferred O‘ahu ‘roads in limbo’ to the C&C.)

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Mamalahoa_Trail_as_horse_trail-1900s-(HMCS-NPS)

Old_Honolulu_Courthouse-before-1875

Horse-Drawn_Trolley_on_Honoulu_Street-1900

Horse_Drawn_Trolley_and_Horse_Drawn_Carriage_Passing_on_Street-1900

Horse_drawn_tramcars,in_front_of_Aliiolani_Hale-Honolulu-1901

Horse races were a popular activity at Kapi‘olani Park-(waikikivisitor-com)

Records of the Fire Dept show horses were used as early as April 1886. On Aug 15, 1891 a new steam engine arrived for Engine Co 1. The members of the company received the horses from merchants and tranined them for connection to the engine. Horses were not

Horse Drawn Buggies at Pali Lookout

Honolulu Horse Drawn Buggies

The decorated buggy in foreground indicates a parade in progress in Honolulu, street unknown.

Horse tethering ring-Hilo town along the curb of Kamehameha Avenue

December 10, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Punalu‘u Hotel

The railroad from Punaluʻu to the village of Keaiwa (where the Pāhala Sugar Mill was located) was reported in June 1878 to be “the first railroad in these islands”. Railroads continued to operate in Kaʻū until the 1940s but the Pāhala – Punaluʻu railroad was discontinued in 1929. (Cultural Surveys)

Starting in the late-1800s, to get people and goods around the Islands, folks would catch steamer ships; competitors Wilder Steamship Co (1872) and Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co (1883) ran different routes, rather than engage in head to head competition.

For Inter-Island’s routes, vessels left Honolulu stopping at Lāhainā and Māʻalaea Bay on Maui and then proceeding directly to Kailua-Kona.

From Kailua, the steamer went south stopping at the Kona ports of Nāpoʻopoʻo on Kealakekua Bay, Hoʻokena, Hoʻopuloa, rounding South Point, touching at the Kaʻū port of Honuʻapo and finally arriving at Punaluʻu, Kaʻū, the terminus of the route. (From Punaluʻu, five mile railroad took passengers to Pāhala and then coaches hauled the visitors to the volcano from the Kaʻū side.)

The Punaluʻu Harbor and Landing served the communities of Punaluʻu and Nīnole and the sugar plantation at Pāhala and was considered the “port town for the district in 1880.” (Orr) By the mid-1880s Punaluʻu had storehouses, a restaurant, a store, and numerous homes constructed of lumber. (Cultural Surveys)

“The Interisland steamer W G Hall, 380 tons burthen, leaves Honolulu alternate Tuesdays and Fridays, at 10 A. M. She is one of the best sea boats plying in our waters, and tourists will find her accomodations and table equal to any, while her officers and stewards are ever on the alert to supply all their wants.”

“(T)he steamer at once proceeds to Punalu‘u, the terminus of the sea route. This is usually reached about 6 P. M. The passengers are landed in boats and will proceed to the Punalu‘u hotel, where they will find themselves comfortably taken care of.” (Whitney)

Peter Lee owned and operated the Punalu‘u hotel. He popularized the Punalu‘u-Pahala route to Kilauea. He built a 24-mile wagon road from Pahala to Kilauea, following by seven years the construction of a hotel at Punalu‘u, which then became a third takeoff point. (NPS)

“The hotel is clean, the table good, and the proprietor will be found very obliging and ready to afford any information required.” (Whitney)

Later, Lorrin Thurston became more interested in the Volcano … and the Volcano House and the Punalu‘u hotel, “In June 1890, I again visited Kilauea, and became so interested in it that I applied to Samuel G. Wilder, then head of Wilderʼs Steamship Co., who held leases of the Volcano House and site; I purchased some leases of him, and secured a new lease from the owner, the present Bishop Estate.”

“I also purchased a hotel at Punalu‘u from Peter Lee, and made him the manager of both hotels. A new company was formed; I got enough capital to remodel the Volcano House and to make additions so that it was much more commodious and attractive.”

“Formerly it had had only six bedrooms for visitors, a living room, a small dining room, a kitchen, and a room for the manager. The lumber and other materials for construction and repairs were shipped from Honolulu to Punalu‘u, whence they were hauled to Pahala by the plantation railroad, and thence to the volcano by the Hustace draying concern of Honolulu.”

The Paradise of the Pacific, noted, “Arrangements have been completed with the Wilderʼs Steamship Co. and the Inter-Island Com., so that a single round trip ticket can be obtained at the office of either Steamship Company for fifty dollars ($50) …”

“… which covers all room, meals, board and lodging at Hilo or Kau, transportation to and from the Volcano by either carriage or horse back, and board, lodging, steam sulphur baths and guide into the crater, at the Volcano.” (Maly)

“This ticket includes an absence from Honolulu, of eight days and gives five days on shore, which can be spent at any point the ticket-holder chooses, either at the Volcano, Hilo or Punalu‘u.”

“If the trip up to the volcano is made the day the steamer arrives, and return on the day she leaves, it allows four nights and three days at the volcano, or two days and two nights longer than heretofore allowed on this ticket.”

“Double route round trip tickets may also be obtained for seventy dollars ($70). This ticket includes all expenses covered by the other ticket and the holder may go by either the Hilo or Kau route and return by the other.”

“By taking this ticket an entire week may be spent at the Volcano, in a cool bracing climate, with invigorating sulphur baths at hand, and the Greatest Volcano on Earth in constant action in the front yard of the Hotel.” (Hawaiian Gazette, June 2, 1891)

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Punaluu village, Hawaii-S00084-1880

December 6, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Islanders Fill Labor Demands

As early as 1811, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. By 1824, HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rocky Mountains.

“On 21 January 1829 the Hudson’s Bay Company schooner Cadboro, Aemilius Simpson master, arrived at Honolulu from Fort
Vancouver with a small shipment of spars and sawn lumber.” (Spoehr)

The earliest location of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s store appears to have been on the Ewa, or north side of Nu‘uanu street, adjoining the ‘Blonde’ lot (Boki’s bar) cornering on King, premises that became well known as ‘Aienui’ – great debt.

“On 23 October 1833 the Governor and Committee in London appointed George Pelly the Company agent in Honolulu. … George Pelly arrived in Honolulu from England in August 1834. His instructions from London outlined his duties, paramount of which were the sale of Company produce from the Northwest Coast …”

“… provisioning of Company vessels passing through Honolulu, and providing freight for Company vessels homeward bound to England.” (Spoehr) Between 1829 and 1859, the Hudson’s Bay Company was a leading merchant house in Hawai‘i.

“The ships of the Company engaged in the North-west trade appear to have made Honolulu a port of call en route from London early in its career here, leaving such freight and miscellaneous merchandise as found a ready market, and occasionally so on the homeward voyage.” (Thrum)

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawai’i as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the U.S. mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

The number of Hawaiians working as contract laborers for the Hudson’s Bay Company steadily grew. The large number of Hawaiian workers in the village at Fort Vancouver led to the name “Kanaka Town” in the early 1850s.

In an agreement between Kekaunaoa (Governor of Oahu and father of Kamehameha IV & V) and Pelly (agent for Hudson’s Bay Company in Honolulu), notes,

“Kekuanaoa allows Mr. Pelly to take sixty men to the Columbia River, to dwell there three years and at the end of the said term of three years Mr. Pelly agrees to return them to the island of Oahu.”

“And if it shall appear that any of the men have died it is well; but if they have deserted by reason of ill-treatment, or remain for any other cause, then Mr. Pelly will pay twenty dollars for each man [who may be deficient].” (NPS)

The agreement illustrates the common practice for HBC, that drew workers from the Islands and elsewhere. “Delaware and Iriquois Indians mingled with men of the South Seas in its employ, and with Canadian yoyageurs and Scotch factor served out their lot, even if it meant, as it sometimes did, death in the wilderness.” (Blue)

The Islands “furnished valuable recruits to the explorers and traders who followed in Cook’s wake, and to the whalers who followed them.” (Blue)

As the year 1859 started, Pacific whaling entered its decline, the Agency’s competition in the importation of goods increased. Janion Green and Co. (forerunner of Theo H. Davies), Hackfeld and Co. (forerunner of Amfac,) C Brewer, and Castle and Cooke (the beginnings of the Big Five) were established firms.

The Honolulu market was overstocked with goods, and trade was slow. In 1859, HBC decided to close its Hawaiʻi operations; a couple years later, they were gone.

“In the summer of 1865 some Hawaiian fishermen and their “wahine,” who had sailed the placid Pacific in search of new realms for their nomad spirits, arrived in San Francisco bay only to discover that the cool fogs bred dire distress in lungs used to none but the fervid breezes of a tropic sea …”

“… so on they kept until, after a day and night of clear weather, they reached Vernon, a busy farming community on the banks of the Feather river.” (The San Francisco Call – March 26, 1911)

“It was here that San Mahalone and his companions built their huts and that today their children and grandchildren are peopling this colony this begun over 40-years ago …”

“… preserving their individuality and accumulating properties and competencies on the fertile lands of Sutter county.” (The San Francisco Call – March 26, 1911)

“Hawaiians also migrated to Yolo County, California to participate in the Gold Rush and created their own Kanaka Village. There is evidence that Hawaiians settled across California in the late-1800s and even intermarried with Native Americans. “

“Many scholars speculate that Hawaiians migrated to the mainland in order to gain more economic opportunity and to flee from the dramatic Westernization that was changing the face of Hawai’i.” (pbs-org)

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Hudson_Bay_Company,_Honolulu,_by_Paul_Emmert-1853

December 4, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Thrift Stamps

“Department of the treasury officials are planning a campaign beginning December 3 (1917) to raise $2,000,000,000 in small savings through the sale of thrift-stamps, war-savings stamps and war-savings certificate.” (Star Bulleting, November 14, 1917)

“If you own a Thrift Stamp, it means that you want to help Win the War that you belong to the big, invincible Army of Thrift which is standing like a human wall behind that other Army, the Army of our fathers and brothers, and all the men we are so proud of ‘Over there.’”

“It doesn’t take much to buy a Thrift Stamp save up the nickles and see! When you have bought one Thrift Stamp, it doesn’t take long to fill up your card and get a War Savings Stamp and with every Stamp you buy, you are helping the Flag to go forward. Don’t forget that!” (Thrift Stamp Advertisement, The Garden Island, May 28, 1918)

“The war stamp drive begins next Tuesday. Everybody – old and young – are expected to sign a pledge agreeing to buy a certain number of thrift stamps every week for the remainder of the year.” (Maui News, May 17, 1917)

“Details on the war savings certificates, war-savings stamps and thrift stamps campaign to be opened by the United States department of the treasury on December 1, have been received by Robert F. Stever, general executive secretary of the local liberty loan committee during the recent campaign.”

“The sale of the war savings certificates will give the citizens of small means an opportunity to make investments in government securities.”

“The war-savings campaign will be in line with the general movement towards economy which has been inaugurated through the United States and its territories.”

“The war-savings certificate will be worth $100, when it matures on January 1, 1923. The war-savings stamp will have a maturity value of $5 in five years. A thrift stamp will be valued at 25 cents at the time purchased.”

“The plan makes it feasible for anyone to buy a $100 certificate in instalments of 25 cents. A thrift card will be provided and every time one has 25 cents to spare a thrift stamp can be purchased.”

“When the sixteen spaces on the thrift card are all filled with ‘two-bits’ thrift stamps the card is worth $4. It is then turned in together with the difference between $4 and the current price of a war-savings stamp. The war-savings stamp will be issued for $4.12 with a maturity value of $5 in 1923.”

“So that when a thrift card is filled, it can be turned in together with 12 cents for a war-savings stamp which has a par of $5 in five years. With the purchase of a war-savings stamp a $100 war-savings certificate with 20 blank spaces to which war-savings stamps may be affixed will be given.”

“When the holder of the certificate has finally filled the document with 20 war-savings stamps he will have a government paper that will be worth $100 in 1923, but which has cost him $82.40 to get.” (Star Bulletin, November 24, 1917)

“Chairman R. A. Wadsworth states that he expects Maui to average $20 per capita. This should be entirely feasible. It means the saving of only about 70 cents per week per person.”

“Of course there are many who will not be able to do this well, but there are also a great many others who should do so very much better that it will bring up the average.”

“A big corps of workers have been appointed for the different districts and they will begin having pledge cards signed up on next Tuesday. When a solicitor gives you a card fill it in for every cent you believe you can spare each week and then keep your promise.”

“Don’t forget that while you are helping Uncle Sam by lending him your money, you are also saving the money for your self and getting good interest for it. You will be glad to have a nice little next egg at the end of the year.” (Maui News, May 17, 1917)

“A small-sums war thrift plan has been organized by the Federal government to go into operation Dec. 3, probably somewhat later here.”

“Twenty-five, cent thrift stamps are being issued to be sold by the post office and various other agencies.”

“These stamps are to be affixed to a card, and when this card, which will hold 16 stamps, is full, it can be exchanged for a War Saving $4 stamp which will bear interest at 4%, compounded quarterly.”

“These stamps in turn will be exchanged, when they amount to that much, for US $100 certificates, which will finally be redeemed in 1923.”

“Having the entire wealth of the United States back of them, and being redeemable as above stated, there is no danger of any depreciation in value of the certificates.” (Garden Island, December 4, 1917)

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