Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Puerto Ricans

The first inhabitants of Puerto Rico were the Taino, hunter-gatherers who lived in small villages led by a cacique, or chief. Despite their limited knowledge of agriculture, they grow pineapples, cassava, and sweet potatoes and supplement their diet with seafood. They called the island Boriken. (PBS)

On his second voyage to the Indies, Christopher Columbus arrived on November 19, 1493 on the island and claimed it for Spain, renaming it San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist.)

Juan Ponce de León, who had accompanied Columbus and worked to colonize nearby Hispaniola, was given permission by Queen Isabella to explore the island. On a well-protected bay on the north coast, he founds Caparra, where the island’s first mining and farming begins. (PBS)

Puerto Rico chasf three geological formations: a system of deeply ribbed mountains; lower hills and playa plains, consisting of alluvial soil and old estuaries.

It is roughly estimated that nine-tenths of the Island is mountainous and the remaining tenth is of the foothill and playa character. (Alvrez; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 25, 1901)

The brief Spanish-American War ended with the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898) that resulted in Spain relinquishing its holdings in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.

The island was governed by a US military governor from October 1898 until May 1900; then it became an “organized but unincorporated” territory of the US. (President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status)

On August 7 and 8, 1899, the San Ciriaco hurricane swept through Puerto Rico with winds up to 100-miles per hour. Twenty-eight days of torrential rain caused approximately thirty-four hundred fatalities, massive flooding, and at least $7-million dollars in agricultural damage. (Poblete)

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes and means of livelihood. The 1899 coffee crop destroyed; it would take at least 5-years before coffee would be profitable again. (Poblete)

Besides no jobs, no homes and no education (as there was no system of compulsory public education,) the poor also had no money. (Souza)

At the same time, the booming Hawaiʻi sugar industry was looking for more workers. Puerto Ricans looked for alternatives and were drawn to another US territory, Hawaiʻi, and its sugar plantations.

Workers and their families left Puerto Rico with hopes that life in the Pacific Islands would be less bleak and provide more opportunity for stability and success.

The first group, that included 114 men, women and children, left San Juan by steamboat on November 22, 1900. The journey took them by ship to New Orleans, by train across the land to San Francisco. About fifty refused to continue their voyage to Hawaiʻi and founded the San Francisco Puerto Rican community. (Chapin; HHS)

The rest (families, young single men and women, and some underage boys who left without parents’ permission) were forced to board the steamship Rio de Janeiro and endured a harrowing trip to Hawaiʻi, arriving on December 24, 1900. (Vélez)

Between 1900 and 1901, eleven expeditions of men, women and children were recruited by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA) to work alongside Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Portuguese and Italians in the pineapple and sugar fields.

Contractual accords stipulated incentives – credit for transportation expenses, the availability of public education, opportunities to worship in Catholic Churches, decent wages and standard living accommodations. (Korrol, Center for Puerto Rican Studies) Eventually 5,100 settled on plantations in the Islands. (Chapin; HHS)

What did the Puerto Ricans find when they came to Hawaii? The early immigrant’s answer was usually, “trabajo y tristeza”—work and sorrow. (Souza)

Pay was $15.00 monthly for the men, 40¢ a day for the women, 50¢ a day for the boys, and 35¢ a day for the girls (for ten hours’ daily labor in the fields and twelve hours in the mills.) Later, for the men, pay included a bonus, usually 50¢ per week if they worked a full 26-day month. (Souza)

Unrest among the worker contingents surfaced almost immediately as reports describing the migrants’ horrendous ordeals appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times and newspapers in Puerto Rico.

Desertion was not uncommon, and tales of individuals who refused to board Hawaiʻi-bound vessels account for the emergence of the earliest Puerto Rican settlements in California. (Korrol, Center for Puerto Rican Studies)

Even in 1921, when several volatile years of labor organizing among Filipinos led the HSPA to negotiate with the Puerto Rican government to resume labor recruitment, the promises of increased wages, free medical care, and fair housing and work conditions again proved to be hollow for Puerto Rican laborers. (Gonzales)

Despite the fact that a small contingent of contracted workers was brought into Hawaii as late as 1926, labor recruitment virtually ended in the first decade of the century. (Korrol, Center for Puerto Rican Studies)

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Puerto_Ricans_to_Hawaii-Souza
Puerto_Ricans_to_Hawaii-Souza
Caravalho Juan Maria Robello Caravalho Felicita, early 1920s.
Caravalho Juan Maria Robello Caravalho Felicita, early 1920s.
Threats-Force-Puerto_Ricans_to_Hawaii-SFO_Examiner-Dec_15,_1900-Souza
Threats-Force-Puerto_Ricans_to_Hawaii-SFO_Examiner-Dec_15,_1900-Souza
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Sugar_Cane-Workers-Puerto_Ricans-Souza
Puerto Rican Landing Monument - Honoipu-Betancourt
Puerto Rican Landing Monument – Honoipu-Betancourt
General_view_of_harbor_at_San_Juan,_Porto_Rico_looking_South to San Juan Bay, 1927
General_view_of_harbor_at_San_Juan,_Porto_Rico_looking_South to San Juan Bay, 1927
The results of Hurricane San Ciriaco over the island of Puerto Rico-LOC
The results of Hurricane San Ciriaco over the island of Puerto Rico-LOC
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San-Juan-Peurto-Rico
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puerto-rico
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Puerto_Rico_municipalities
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Path of Hurricane San Ciriaco over the island of Puerto Rico-LOC
Path of Hurricane San Ciriaco over the island of Puerto Rico-LOC
Caribbean-Map
Caribbean-Map

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Ulu Mau Village

What is known today as Aloha Festivals was created in 1946, as Aloha Week – a cultural celebration of Hawai’i’s music, dance and history intended to perpetuate our unique traditions.

A group of former Jaycees – known as the Jaycees Old-timers of Hawaiʻi – had the vision to create a public celebration to honor Hawai’i’s cosmopolitan heritage, yet created a celebration which has itself become a state-wide tradition. (Aloha Festivals)

The first Aloha Week was held during the fall as a modern-day makahiki, the ancient Hawaiian festival of music, dance, games and feasting. (By 1974, Aloha Week expanded to a month-long slate of activities, with events on six islands.) (Carroll)

A Hawaiian Village of thatched houses was constructed at the Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Park across from Waikiki Yacht Club for the Aloha Week celebration held in October 1947 (and several subsequent years.)

Then, around 1960, driving through Ala Moana Park, Herman and Malia Solomon noticed the cluster of thatched houses in a fenced enclosure. They learned from with the Parks Department that the place was only used during Aloha Week.

So, after some negotiation, they were able to lease the property with the idea of creating a “living” Hawaiian village where people could step back in time and get a glimpse of what life in Hawaiʻi was like 200 years ago – Ulu Mau Village was born.

Malia carefully chose the individuals that would become the “villagers”, people who were knowledgeable in various cultural aspects of ancient Hawaiian life and who possessed good speaking skills.

“All of us at Ulu Mau Village have a profound respect for our heritage, and we hope our village shall be the mirror to reflect this heritage to all of our people in Hawaii Nei and others who may also be interested.” (Solomon; kapahawaii)

Here, “old Hawaiʻi recreated right in the heart of bustling Honolulu, a ten-minute bus ride from Waikiki beach. At Ulu Mau Village in Ala Moana park a pili grass- thatched scattering of huts – complete to carp pond and carved Hawaiian images, stands in contrast to one of the world’s largest shopping centers across the boulevard.”

“For the admission price of $1.50 you can take a capsule course in Hawaiian culture – that will last about 90 minutes – but provide much insight into the bygone glories of Hawaii.”

“Ulu Mau means ‘ever growing’ and that is one of the first things a genial Hawaiian tutu, or grandmother, in flowered muumuu explains to you at the first hut you visit. She shows you taro growing ttro rool, then tells you how poi is made. Afterwards she pounds poi on the spot, passing out samples for everyone to try.”

“Next hut you step in displays colorful Hawaiian quilts on the walls. Here another muumuu-clad tutu starts with a brief lesson in Hawaiian. In front of her is a display of Hawaiian foliage, flowers, bananas, breadfruit and other plants. You learn the Hawaiian names of them all, as well as their many uses, both decorative and utilitarian.” (Independent Star, June 12, 1966)

Ulu Mau Village lasted at Ala Moana Park for about 10-years. Then, in 1969, “the village is relocated at Heʻeia (Ka Lae o Keʻalohi,) half an hour’s drive from Waikiki. Its neighbors are Kaneohe bay, an old Hawaiian fishpond, the coral reefs that poke out of the sea, and the Koʻolau mountains.”

“Often called the Williamsburg of Hawaii, Ulu Mau is a living exhibit of grass houses, inhabited by Hawaiians who work the ancient crafts, play the ancient games, and grow the traditional crops which fed and clothed the islanders two centuries before Capt. Cook dropped his anchor in an Hawaiian bay.”

“Like Williamsburg, Ulu Mau is at the opposite end of the wax-museum style of historical presentation. Its idea is to bring an ancient culture to life. The grounds that slope down to the sea are planted with sugar cane, banana trees, taro, ti leaves, breadfruit, and ginger.”

“Ti leaves are used to make skirts. Breadfruit was the plant that Capt. Bligh and the Bounty came to get and bring back to the West Indies, and taro gave the islanders their starchy staple.”

“The villagers of Ulu Mau also display the old Hawaiian games. Kōnane is a local brand of checkers played on flat rocks by the sea, a restful experience for those who would dissolve the tangle of a more complicated society.”

“Young visitors in Hawaii’s Ulu Mau Village sample the Hawaiian way of life as it was in the days before the white man arrived. The village is a living exhibit of grass houses inhabited by Hawaiians who work the ancient crafts, play the ancient games, and grow the traditional crops.” (Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1970)

Ulu Mau Village operated at Heʻeia for less than 10-years. When the land was proposed for urban development, the community reaction prompted the Legislature to purchase the property which was acquired as the Heʻeia State Park in 1977.

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David Douglas

“David Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, in 1799, being the son of John Douglas and Jean Drummond, his wife. His father was a stone mason, possessed of good abilities and a store of general information, rarely surpassed by persons in his sphere of life.”

“His family consisted of three daughters and as many sons, of whom, the subject of this notice was the second. At about three years of age he was sent to a school in the village … At the parish school of Kinnoul, kept by Mr. Wilson, whither he was soon sent, David Douglas evinced a similar preference to fishing and bird-nesting over book leaning …”

“His boyish days were not remarkable for any particular incidents. Like others at his time of life he was lively and active, and never failed of playing his part in the usual sports of the village. A taste for rambling, and much fondness for objects of natural history being, however, very strongly evinced.”

“From his earliest years nothing, it is said, gave Douglas so much delight as conversing about travelers and foreign countries, and the books which pleased him best were Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe.”

“In the gardens of the Earl of Mansfield, he served a seven years’ apprenticeship, during which time it is admitted by all who knew him, that no one could he more industrious and anxious to excell than he was …”

“… his whole heart and mind being devoted to the attainment of a thorough knowledge of his business … he acquired the taste for botanical pursuits which he so ardently followed in after life.”

“Having completed the customary term in the ornamental department, he was moved to the forcing and kitchen garden, in the affairs of which he appeared to take as lively an interest as he had previously done in those of the flower garden.”

“Lee’s Introduction to Botany and Don’s Catalogue, his former text books, if they may be so termed, were now laid aside, and Nicol’s Gardener’s Calendar taken in their stead.”

Douglas was recommended “to Joseph Sabine, Esq., the Honorary Secretary of the Horticultural Society, as a botanical collector; and to London he directed his course accordingly in the spring of 1823.”

“His first destination was China, but intelligence having about that time been received of a rupture between the British and Chinese, he was despatched in the latter end of May, to the United States, where he procured many fine plants, including a large number of specimens of various oaks, and greatly increased the society’s collection of fruit trees.”  (Sir William Jackson Hooker; Wilson)

“David Douglas has no rival as a collector of Northwest plants. He introduced thousands of them to Europe, some 215 of which were new, and many were named for him. He noted 7,032 in totaling his mileage for the two years of his first expedition, April 1825-April 1827, and another time mentioned adding some 7,000 distinct species of flowering plants to the collection—a plant a mile, it might be said.”

Of note, “He laid in specimens of pinus taxifolia (Douglas fir) with pine cones which were eventually distributed to nurserymen and to fellows of the Horticultural Society to plant on their estates. He even sent samples (two planks 20 feet long) of this durable, tough, straight-grained wood that is unsurpassed in the qualities that render lumber most valuable.”

“It has become on the one hand, the world’s greatest structural timber—the most important tree in the American lumber trade—and on the other, the favorite Christmas tree in millions of homes.”

“Upon his return to London, (1827-1829) Douglas was feted and honored, and made a fellow of several learned societies. He wrote a number of professional papers and was given a “handsome offer” by John Murray for a book of his travels; his portrait was painted by Sir Daniel Macnee and hung at Kew.”

“For a time he enjoyed being a celebrity and the distinguished plant hunter, Mr. David Douglas. One of his great pleasures was to walk about the gardens of the Horticultural Society and see his flourishing seedlings.”

“But Douglas was soon impatient to be back at work, so the summer of 1830 he spent once more botanizing along the Columbia. The Indians these days were surly and becoming more war-like as they realized the white men had come to take their thousand-year-old homeland from them.”

“In December, Douglas went on to California, where he remained for 19 months. But in spite of much travel he had to note, ‘my whole collection this year (1830) in California was about 500 species, a little more or less. This is vexatiously small.’” (Gould; Vassar)

“It was while he was at Monterey that he acquired the title ‘Doctor.’ A boy had been injured, and there was no medical person in the area. Douglas was able to set the boy’s broken arm and so earned the title ‘Doctor.’” (Greenwell)

“In the summer of 1833 he went with a brigade to the Fraser River country and there had a disaster which seriously affected his eyes and his health. He had in mind a trip across Russia, botanizing byway of Sitka, but returning to Fort Vancouver he had an accident.”

“At the Stoney Islands (now Fort George Canyon) on the Fraser, his canoe was dashed to pieces while shooting the rapids. Douglas was in the whirlpool an hour and forty minutes before being washed unconscious onto the rocky shore.”

“He lost everything—notes—specimens and equipment. Sick and discouraged he took a ship via California for Hawaii.” (Gould) “In Hawai‘i, he was called kauka, the Hawaiian word for doctor.” (Greenwell)

“As Douglas recuperated from his rheumatism and eye troubles in Hawaii, he botanized again. In 10 days he had a ‘truly splendid collection’ of some 50 species. The giant ferns especially awakened his admiring comment.  In the crater of a volcano he found the Silver Sword plant which is named for him.”

“In his enthusiasm for Hawaii he wrote, ‘One day here is worth a year of common existence.’ It was while waiting for a ship to take him to England that Douglas met the Rev. John Diell. They enjoyed climbing and botanizing together and early in July agreed to meet in Hilo on the Island of Hawaii.”

“The morning of July 12, 1834, he was crossing the north side of Manna Kea, when about six in the morning he appeared at the hut of Ned Gurney who was an English runaway convict from Botany Bay.”

“After breakfast, Douglas walked for about three quarters of an hour along the path. Gurney claimed he had warned Douglas to watch out for three bull pits ahead.”

“It was a native custom to trap the wild long-horned Spanish cattle by digging pits and covering them with brush. Douglas passed safely by the three pits, then retraced his steps to the third pit. When some natives came by later in the morning, they first saw the feet of a man sticking out of a mass of rubbish and stones.”

“A bull was already entrapped in the pit and the angry beast was standing on the chest of the young plant-hunter. … A suspicion of murder became so strong that it was eventually decided to pack the body in salt and take it to Consul Charlton at Honolulu, on Oahu. There was considerable evidence. The horns of the bullock were blunt and could not make such deep gashes.”

“Thus ended 9 years of botanical adventure along the Pacific for David Douglas. His death at 35 is one of the tragedies of botanical history. But in his short span of life, as one scientist wrote …

“‘No other explorer personally made more discoveries, or described more genera or species. No other collector of rare plants ever reaped such a harvest or associated his name with so many economically useful and beautiful plants as David Douglas.’” (Gould; Vassar)

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Mystery on the Mauna

It started like any other day … post the latest summary, check comments on the website and Facebook, and review emails.  As is also typical, emails came in asking about the identity of a photo, map, or just a general history question.

Then, an interesting issue was raised about a post I did on rock walls. The question was, do I have any “knowledge about a structure at 11,000’ on Mauna Kea’s SW aspect. It’s a roughly rectangular wall, about five feet high with a perimeter of 3,300 feet.”

“I think of it as an exclosure because it has no openings. A single cedar tree stands near its upper corner – I believe it’s higher than any other on the mountain.”

That led to a frustrating series of inquiries with others trying to identify the “Rock Wall” (that was labeled as such on several old maps).  It is situated above the tree line.

It was a structure that I had never seen before and was not aware of.  And, the options of the who, what and why started to expand in the process – with no clear indication of an answer to any of those.

I reached out to several archaeologists and others who prepare cultural impact assessments for help.  My first response was from a notable archaeologist who said, “I know nothing specifically … there were at least some bottles/bottle fragments inside the enclosure.  Generally, there are several upland corral-like enclosures”.

Another early response from another archaeologist stated, “This feature is quite intriguing. Regrettably we have no information to provide, although the presence of the tree at the site suggests there may be a spring in that location. Springs are present around this elevation on other parts of the mountain.”

Corral, water … that led me to look into springs and ranching activities on the mountain.  I looked through some reports and found …

“Ka-houpo-o-Kāne (literally, The-bosom-of Kāne), is the sacred region of Mauna Kea (between the 10,000 – 11,000 foot elevation), in which are found the springs fed by Ka-wai-hū-a-Kāne; by a rivulet from Waiau to the head of Pōhakuloa Gulch.”  (Maly)

Ka Houpo o Kāne represents the springs of the island of Hawaii. (Vredenburg)  “The area identified as Ka-houpo-o-Kāne is situated below Waiau, on the southwestern slopes of Mauna Kea, in the land of Ka‘ohe.” (Maly)

Another study addressing the springs at Houpo O Kāne noted, “One section of the valley is isolated by the steep walls of thick lava flows, above and below which are stone walls built many years ago as a trap in, which to impound wild cattle that frequented the spring area. The last of the wild cattle have been killed, but a few skulls were to be seen in 1939.”

According to another study, “there is reason to believe that [the cattle trap] probably dates to the same period of time (ca. 1820 – 1850).”

To help us understand the early cattle experience on the mountain, William Ellis wrote, “[Goodrich] saw at a distance several herds of wild cattle, which are very numerous in the mountains and inland parts of the island, and are the produce of those taken there, and presented to the king, by Captain Vancouver.”

“They were, at his request, tabued for ten years, during which time they resorted to the mountains, and became so wild and ferocious, that the natives are afraid to go near them.”

“Although there are immense herds of them, they do not attempt to tame any; and the only advantage they derive is by employing persons, principally foreigners, to shoot them, salt the meat in the mountains, and bring it down to the shore for the purpose of provisioning the native vessels.”

“But this is attended with great labour and expense. They first carry all the salt to the mountains. When they have killed the animals, the flesh is cut off their bones, salted immediately, and afterwards put into small barrels, which are brought on men’s shoulders ten or fifteen miles to the sea-shore.” (Ellis, 1820s)

Back then, wild cattle (bullocks) were captured in pits (typically one at a time) or shot at with rifles (that then scared the rest away).  It was pretty inefficient.  Kamehameha III had Spanish vaqueros brought to the islands to teach the Hawaiians the skills of herding and handling cattle.

So, if this applied to the “Rock Wall,” I did more research into Hawai‘i’s early ranching efforts  … The vaqueros found the Hawaiians to be capable students, and by the 1870s, the Hawaiian cowboys came to be known as the “paniola” for the Espanola (Spanish) vaqueros who had been brought to the islands (though today, the Hawaiian cowboy is more commonly called “paniolo”).  (Maly)

“One of the most important contributions of the vaqueros was their introduction of the rawhide lasso.”  A report stated, “‘The use of the rawhide lasso drastically changed the movement of cattle closer to market and into confinement for eventual domestication.’”

“‘The Spanish method replaced the labor-intensive system of packing salt to the mountain and hauling kegs of salted beef (i‘a kōpī or pipi miko) back to the shoreline communities. As part of the method, the bullock was roped in the remote range, snubbed to a tree, and tethered snugly over a night or two for a cooling-off period. This process is called po‘owaiū by the paniolo.’”

“‘At the appropriate time, usually at daybreak, the bullock was shorn of his horn tips (‘oki hau), and then led (alaka‘i) by a single head rope or two to a central corral. These corrals were often located at a rudimentary camp or village (kauhale).’” (Bergin; Cultural Surveys)

As part of an oral history project, some of the ‘old time’ Parker Ranch employees were interviewed; one stated, “When you’re looking from here it’s all mountain, but when you get up there it’s nice big flats and hollows, it’s cinders. The old people used to make traps, Pāloa, and they used to drive, mainly horses. Hit the sand and it goes right down to the corrals.”

More corral reference … was this one of those corrals?

Throughout this investigation, I had in the back of my mind the CCC.  My oldest map noting the “Rock Wall” was dated 1937.  That meant there was a possibility that the wall could be associated with Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

After a decade of national prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, Americans faced a national crisis after the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression saw an unemployment rate of more than twenty-five percent in the early 1930s.  (pbs)

To make work, Franklin D Roosevelt proposed in his New Deal (1933) the creation of “a Civilian Conservation Corps, to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.”


It was estimated that 8 to 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s young men were enrolled by the Civilian Conservation Corps during its tenure from 1934 to 1942. There were CCC camps on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauai, the island of Hawaiʻi and Molokai. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, NPS)

One of those project sites was at Pōhakuloa. Seven cabins were built around the base of the mountain at the present location of Gilbert Kahele Recreation Area run by the County (formerly, the Mauna Kea State Park.)

In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) undertook fencing, road building and visitor facilities on Mauna Kea.  The CCC built a stone cabin at Hale Pōhaku, which gained its name (house of stone) from that structure. The cabin at Hale Pōhaku provided a shelter for overnight hikers, hunters and snow players.

This fit in with the timeline, based on the mapping I had … however, this alternative was soon dropped, as I found a 1926 USGS ‘Ahumoa’ mapping that showed the “Rock Wall,” (suggesting it was probably not part of a Civilian Conservation Corps project).  But that did not explain the who, what and why.

I literally shot-gunned my request for information – I sent out lots of email requests, seeking information. I followed up on every recommended reference. No clear indication came up, until …

Mystery solved … the Hawai‘i District Manager from DLNR-DOFAW responded in an email saying, “I reached out to some of our retired foresters, Charlie Wakida, Ernest Pung and Libert Landgraf. “

“Charlie and Ernie thought it was for experimental plantings.  Libert did as well, and said that LW Bryan had the exclosure made in the late 20’s or early 30’s to exclude feral sheep and plant different trees.  He said Bryan had experimental plantings at various locations on Mauna Kea.” (Hawaii Branch Manager, DLNR-DOFAW)

Leicester Winthrop ‘Bill’ Bryan, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, reached Hawaii’s shores shortly after World War I; he was a forester on the Island of Hawai‘i.

“He supervised planting of more than 10 million trees island-wide, preservation of scores of endangered plants, introduction of hundreds of exotic plant species, establishment of arboreta. He helped develop the island’s network of weather stations, its parks.” (UPI)

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Saddle Road

By the early 1800s, foreign visitors began making regular trips across the ‘āina mauna [mountain lands] and to the summit of Mauna Kea. Based on their accounts, travel in the region through the middle 1800s basically followed the old trails, or cut across new areas.

By the 1850s, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i entered into a program of improving ancient trails and identifying new routes, by which to improve travel between various locations and facilitate commerce. (Maly)

At its May 23, 1849 meeting, the Privy Council of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (a private committee of the King’s closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state) sought to “facilitate communication between Kailua, the seat of the local government, and Hilo, the principal port.”

They resolved “that GP Judd and Kinimaka proceed to Kailua, Hawaiʻi, to explore a route from that place to Hilo direct, and make a road, if practicable, by employing the prisoners on that island and if necessary taking the prisoners from this island (Oʻahu) to assist; the government to bear all expenses”. (Privy Council Minutes, Punawaiola)

In planning the road, the words of the Privy Council’s resolution were taken literally, and the route selected ran to the high saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on a practically straight line between the terminal points.

What became known as the “Judd Road” (or “Judd Trail”) was constructed between 1849 and 1859; construction began at the government road in Kailua (what is now known as Aliʻi Drive) and traversed through a general corridor between Hualālai and Mauna Loa.  (Remnants of perimeter walls can still be seen at Aliʻi Drive.)

“This was the road that Dr. Judd … would have built from Kona in a straight line across the island of Hawaii. It was meant, of course, as a road for horsemen and pack animals. In the generation of Dr. Judd it was a great work, and the manner of its building showed that he meant it to be a monument to him for all time.”  (Ford, Mid-Pacific, 1912)

In 1859, when the road had been built about 12-miles from Kailua into the saddle between Hualālai and Mauna Loa, the project was abandoned – a pāhoehoe lava flow from the 11,000 foot-level of Mauna Loa crossed its path.  Though incomplete (it never reached its final destination in Hilo,) people did use the Judd Road to get into Kona’s mauka countryside.

This road was not the only attempt of linking East and West Hawaiʻi.  The western section of the trail from Waimea to Kalai‘eha (Humu‘ula Sheep Station) had become a ‘cart road’ by 1873; it was only a dirt road through the pasture then and in rainy weather it turned to mud.

There were no automobiles in 1910 and very few in the 1920s, all transportation was by foot, horse, or by wagon, carriage and buggy.  In 1920, the cart road left the Waimea/Kona road at Pu’u Nohona‘ohae and went through Waiki’i village to The Saddle.

The cart road initially began a little farther north, however, the manager of Parker Ranch, AW Carter, got the entrance of the road moved so that it passed between Pu‘u Nohona’ohae lki to the north, and Pu‘u Nohona‘ohae Nui to the south. (This is the alignment of the old Saddle Road where it meets the Waimea to Kona ‘Mauka Road.’)

In the saddle area, the old cart road ran directly east from Pōhakuloa to Kalai‘eha (Humu’ula Sheep Station).  The eastern section, from Kalai‘eha down to Hilo, remained a trail until World War II, except at the Hilo end. ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Countly Club Road intersection in Kaumana by the “FTRA” about 1936.

Because there was no road up from Hilo, to get to Kalai‘eha (near Pu‘u Huluhulu and the present Mauna Kea Access Road) and surrounding uses. From Hilo, you had to drive all the way along the Hāmākua Coast (Mamalahoa Highway) around through Waimea and back east through the Saddle.  As described by Roy Blackshear, to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch (owned by his grandfather):

“The first time I went to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was about 1931. But at that time, of course there was no Saddle Road there, and to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch we left Kea‘au before sunrise in the morning, traveled north along the Hāmākua Coast, going through all the valleys and small bridges and so on and finally we reached Waimea and had lunch at Waimea.”

“And then we continued from Waimea along the Mamalahoa Highway. Out to where, I think it was just about where the present Saddle Road takes off. …  And of course any car going up at that time would have to carry chains because they did run into mud.”

[They stopped first in Waiki‘i.] “And then we headed on east from there, climbing all the time. So then we continued on and we reach Humu‘ula sheep station. And they put more water in the radiator. And then we started from, there up towards the Keanakolu road …” (Blacksher; Rosendahl)

While ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Country Club Road intersection in Kaumana by about 1936, from there it was an unpaved wagon road until World War II and above that a horse trail.  Above Kaumana, the eastern section (from Kalai‘eha) remained a trail until World War II.

The Saddle Road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the US Army Engineer District, Honolulu (USED, now called the US Army Corps of Engineers) during World War II in order to provide an access route in case of Japanese invasion.

Near the top of Kaumana, the army had a camp and barred everyone who didn’t work there from traveling up into the interior of the Island.

Henry Auwae ran the lead bulldozer to clear the road in 1943, coming up from Hilo on the 1881 and 1855 lava flows and choosing a route which kept to no more than a 6% grade. Cinders were then hauled down from Humu‘ula toward Kaumana by the CCC and later the USED, then oiled to make a narrow “gravel” road.

The west section of the road was paved right after the war. The east section of the road was not paved until later, about 1949. At that time the road was moved at several points to cut off some large loops. These old loops still exist, including one north of the road around milepost 9 and another around milepost 22.

Then, starting with an accepted EIS in 1999, what is now known as Daniel K Inouye Highway (renamed on what would have been his 89th birthday) was realigned and widened.  Starting in 2007, successive phases of the improved road have been opened up.

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