Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Worst Possible Place For A Forced Landing In The Islands

While there is no good place to crash land an airplane, in 1941 the crew of the Army’s B-18 Bolo (serial number 36-446, constructors number 1747) found what was described as the “worst place.”

Prior to September 18, 1947 (the time the US Air Force was formed,) military aviation was conducted by the Army or Navy.

But let’s step back a bit.

In 1935, a design competition and “fly-off” was held to select a replacement for the Martin B-10/12 the standard bomber then in service with the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC.)

Douglas developed the B-18 “Bolo” to replace the Martin B-10; the new model was based on the Douglas DC-2 commercial transport.  The B-18 prototype competed with the Martin 146 (an improved B-10) and the four-engine Boeing 299, forerunner of the B-17 Flying Fortress, at the Air Corps bombing trials at Wright Field in 1935.

Although many Air Corps officers judged the Boeing design superior, the Army General Staff preferred the less costly Bolo; contracts were awarded for 82-planes, the order was increased to 132 by June of 1936.

Although designated a reconnaissance and bomber aircraft, the Douglas B-18 flew other important missions.  Hickam B-18s towed targets for gunnery practice by the coast artillery ground troops.   The targets were attached to steel cables and reeled several hundred feet aft of the aircraft.   (Trojan)

Though equipped with inadequate defensive armament and underpowered, the Bolo remained the Air Corps’ primary bomber into 1941. Thirty-three B-18s were based in Hawaiʻi with the 5th Bombardment Group and 11th Bombardment Group.

One of those Hawaiʻi B-18 Bolos, piloted by Boyd Hubbard Jr, took off from Hickam Field at 7 pm February 25, 1941 for a routine inter-island night instrument-navigation training flight.  Three other B-18s trained with them that night.

Their flight path took them over the Island of Hawaiʻi.  While flying on instruments at 10,000-feet, Hubbard’s B-18 suffered a main bearing failure in the left engine.  Hubbard headed to Suiter Field, the Army’s auxiliary field (it is now known as Upolū Point Airport.)

Although all possible fuel and cargo was jettisoned, the aircraft was too heavily loaded to maintain altitude on one engine.  As the aircraft descended the other engine began sputtering.  The crew believed they were over the ocean at the time in heavy fog during the dark night.

Hubbard made a last split-second correction prior to the crash. As he later described it, the mountain just loomed up before him in the darkness and he just reacted. He pulled back hard on the wheel and the aircraft stalled and belly flopped into the thick underbrush.

The undergrowth was so dense the plane settled into it and did not slide forward very far.  The crew felt the plane hit the tops of some trees and skid for about 75 yards before coming to rest at about the 3500-foot elevation in a gulch on the side of the Kohala mountain.  (Trojan)

Lee Webster, a Flight Engineer on one of the other B-18s in the group, reportedly gave this account of the accident, “I was just becoming accustomed to the eerie feeling of night flying by the time we started our second leg of the triangle toward a point somewhere off the northern tip of the island and to this point radio contact led us to believe we were in good shape.”

“Suddenly that was shattered by a report from one of the other planes having engine problems and then soon after a report of engine failure and that they were losing altitude. We immediately broke off our mission to accompany the disabled aircraft into Hilo airport, but to make matters worse we flew into some very bad weather. After what seemed a short period of time we lost radio contact with them and when attempts to locate the lost plane became futile we returned to Hickam Field.”  (Trojan)

The next morning at dawn a search was launched from Hickam Field using 24 bombers.  The wreck was soon spotted and an airdrop from Army planes provided the downed crew with blankets, food and hot coffee.

At dawn the following day (Thursday, February 27,) a rescue team departed from Suiter Field (Upolū.)  Members of the rescue party included Fred C Koelling (leader,) Ronald May, Leslie Hannah, Melvin Johnson and Hiroshi Nakamura.  (Pacific Wrecks)

They took the Kohala Ditch Trail on horseback for 2 ½-hours, then had to cut a new trail on foot for 8-miles through marshland and heavy brush for another 4-hours before nearing the crash site.

Firing pistols into the air to attract the downed fliers’ attention; the air crew responded with a burst of bullets and shot flares into the air; after 12-hours, they reached the downed plane.  (Veronico)

Remarkably, only minor injuries were sustained by Hubbard and the crew (crew members were Co-Pilot 2nd Lt Francis R Thompson; Engineer SSgt Joseph S. Paulhamus; Radioman Pvt William Cohn; Crewman Pvt Fred C Seeger and Crewman Pvt Robert R Stevens.)

Airmen from Hickam later described the site as the “Worst possible place for a forced landing in the Islands.”  (Trojan)

Hubbard continued on with a distinguished career in the Army, retiring as Brigadier General and earning Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster; Bronze Star Medal and numerous other medals, badges and citations.  (He retired March 1, 1966; he died February 15, 1982.)

The plane sat since on the side of Kohala mountain, just west of Waimanu Valley.  While various internet reports suggest Pacific Aviation Museum acquired the plane and has plans to restore and display it, the Curator of the Museum noted to me that “the plane is not ours”.  It continues to sit on the slopes of Kohala in Hāmākua.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

J Alfred Magoon

“A half-dozen mixed in a free-for-all fight, that originated between two lawyers, was the scene witnessed yesterday morning in the judiciary building close to the doors of the Circuit Court.”

“The principal combatants were Hon. Cecil Brown, lawyer, Senator of the Territory and president of the First National Bank of Hawaiʻi, and J Alfred Magoon, lawyer, owner of the Magoon block.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

“The trouble arose through the affairs of the American Savings and Trust Company, a branch of the First National Bank of Hawaii, of which Cecil Brown is president. A meeting of stockholders of the trust company was held last week, Magoon being attorney for the majority.”

“Brown as president ruled out some of their stock … As the Magoon faction was five shares short of a majority, President Brown declared that the old board of directors remained in office.”

“The differences between the stockholders have existed for nearly a year, and the courts will now be called upon to decide them if the Treasury Department at Washington does not step in.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

Whoa … let’s step back and get some perspective here.

John Alfred (J Alfred) Magoon was the son of John C and Maria Sophia Eaton Magoon.

John C Magoon was born on December 9, 1830, at Litchfield, Maine.  In 1857, he married Maria Sophia Eaton; the newly married couple started west and settled in Kossuth, Iowa, where their son and only child, J Alfred Magoon, was born on July 22, 1858.

After suffering intensely from fever they made their way back to Maine, having endured the greatest hardships in the journey owing to the primitive mode of travel.  In 1863, Mr Magoon went to California, where in 1869 his wife and son joined him.

J Alfred enrolled in Heald’s Business College remaining there until he graduated. He entered mercantile life immediately, filling the position of bookkeeper with several well-known firms. He was engaged for a time in the office of the Santa Rosa Democrat.

His father bought a ranch near Lower Lake in Lake County and was afterward engaged in quicksilver mining until he and his wife came to the Hawaiian Islands in 1876. Being a farmer he located at Wahiawa, Oʻahu, but a drought destroyed his crops and he moved to Honolulu.

J Alfred joined them shortly afterward and secured a position as bookkeeper on the Halstead plantation at Waialua. It was during this engagement that he decided to adopt law as a profession, and spent what spare time he had reading his law books.

He remained on the plantation for a year and then entered the office of Benjamin H Austin, where he remained for a year, when his straitened finances compelled him to abandon it for the more lucrative position of deputy sheriff at Makawao, Maui.

He afterward resigned and took the position of bookkeeper at Paia Mill and pursued his study of the law as the opportunity was offered. In 1883 he resigned and went to Ann Arbor University, where he took a law course. Upon his graduation two years later he returned to Honolulu and was admitted to the bar.

“He has, perhaps, the largest practice of any of the members of the Honolulu bar, and it was this fact that compelled him to refuse the judgeship when he was first called upon to take it.”

J Alfred Magoon has been selected by the Executive to fill the position of Circuit Court Judge caused by the appointment of Judge HE Cooper to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. Judge Magoon is one of the best young men practicing at the bar.  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 5, 1895)

J Alfred married Emmeline Marie Afong and had 7 children: Julia H S Kamakea Magoon (1887-1933) – Harmon Anderson Kipling of California; John Henry N “Lani” Magoon (1889-1975) – Juliet Carrol; Chun Alfred Kapala Magoon (1890-1972) – Ruth L; Eaton Harry Magoon (1891-1970) – Genevieve Burrall Sicotte (teacher in Makaweli;) Mary “Catherine” Kekulani Magoon (1892-1996;) Marmion Mahinulani Magoon (1896-1969) and Emeleen Marie Magoon (1898-1974) – Orville Norris Tyler.

Oh, the earlier fight … “The pugilistic encounter of the two competing leaders will pass into history. It has been ignored by the local press.”  (San Francisco Call, December 21, 1905)

OK – here are some connections, if you haven’t already seen them (there are more.)

J Alfred’s wife Emmeline was daughter to Chun Afong and Julia Fayerweather Afong.  Afong made his fortune in retailing, real estate, sugar and rice, and for a long time held the government’s opium license.  He was later dubbed, “Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains” and is Hawaiʻi’s first Chinese millionaire.

Mary Catherine, the second daughter of Emmeline and J Alfred Magoon, married Frank Ward Hustace, becoming step-mother to seven Hustace children.  (Kauai Historical Society) Hustace was the first son of Frank and Mary Elizabeth “Mellie” Ward Hustace, the eldest of seven daughters of Victoria Robinson Ward.  Victoria’s sister, Mary Robinson, married a Foster.

Here are some prior stories on those families:

That’s enough for now.

No wait, back to the Magoons …

Like many businessmen, Magoon bought properties as investments, for development or for sale for a profit at a later date. By 1914, he built on the Queen Street lot a two-story structure with shops on the ground floor and residential apartments on the top floor, described as “Hawaii’s First Apartment House.”

Additional structures were built in the early twentieth century in a parcel called the “Magoon Block” on the eastern side of Kakaʻako.  The apartments were generally low-rent and inhabited by bachelors, although some poorer families crowded into the larger apartments. (Cultural Surveys)

As the population of Honolulu swelled, tenement buildings were quickly constructed to meet the rapidly growing demand for housing. Hawaiians congregated in the Chinatown and the Kakaʻako districts, both of which were near the waterfront and the center of town. (McGregor)

Magoon Block had a meat market, a grocery store, an ice cream parlor, a furniture store, a little restaurant, and a barber shop on the ground floor, all in one big building. Above the storefronts were rooms with a common kitchen, bath and toilet facilities. It was a little shopping center for the district. (McGregor)

J Alfred Magoon helped found the Sanitary Steam Laundry, invested in Consolidated Amusement Co and the Honolulu Dairy.  He died and Emmeline took over leadership of his business interests.  In her 70s, she moved to South Kona and managed the Magoon Ranch at Pāhoehoe – riding horseback and overseeing the cattle ranch.  She died in 1946 at age 88.

J Alfred Magoon, prominent Honolulu lawyer and promoter of the Honolulu Consolidated Amusement Co. (which controlled the Bijou, Hawaii, Ye Liberty and Empire theatres at Honolulu), died July 26, 1916 at Baltimore, following a fall from a bridge. (Variety, 1916)

The family formed Magoon Estate, Ltd t.  In additions to land holdings in Hawaiʻi, the estate owned the 21,000-acre Guenoc Ranch; and also owned and operated Guenoc Winery, a producer of premium California wines. (The winery was sold to Foley Family Wines in 2012, and then to Langtry Farms LLC in 2021. The winery is now known as Langtry Farms Vineyard and Winery.)

OK, that’s enough, for now … by now, you should get the sense that there are more stories on this and related families, properties and businesses.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pantheon Block

It was a time before the automobile; folks rode horseback or were carried in horse or mule drawn carriage, trolley or omnibus (the automobile didn’t make it to the Islands until 1890.)

“James Dodd has leased the premises known as the Bartlett House, at the corner of Hotel and Fort streets, he called it the Pantheon Hotel. The premises have been renovated, repaired, painted and papered throughout, making them look almost as good as new.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 30, 1878)

“Mr. Dodd has had experience in the hotel business, and from his urbanity of manner and good business habits we doubt not but the new place will be well kept. He intends to have, in connection with the hotel, a finely arranged livery stable with a full complement of carriages and saddle horse for the accommodation of the public.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 30, 1878)

The May 23, 1883 issue of the Daily Bulletin noted, “James Dodd’s Pantheon Saloon is nearly finished building. It is very handsomely designed.”

He also had the Long Branch sea bathing baths in Waikīkī and ran an omnibus (bus) line from downtown to Waikiki.

“The Pantheon Saloon has a large commodius room attached to the bar where its patrons can sit at ease and pass their leisure tune reading the latest papers.”  (Hawaiian Star, February 13, 1895)

Then, the “Black Death” (Bubonic Plague) struck Honolulu.

Its presence caused pause in the opening months of 1900 and was on everybody’s mind, with good reason; the same disease had decimated a third of the world’s population during the fourteenth century.  It started to spread in Honolulu.

“The other center of infection is block 19, north and east of block 20 at the Pantheon livery stables and saloon. From this place 3 cases in all have been traced, 2 Chinese and 1 white American.”  (Public Health Reports, February 8, 1900)

As more people fell victim to the Black Death, on January 20, 1900, the Board of Health conducted “sanitary” fires to prevent further spread of the disease.

The Pantheon premises were condemned and burned.

With five fire engines strategically placed, the controlled incineration of the Pantheon stables and saloon took place in the morning of February 7, 1900. Other places connected with the four victims were also disposed of.  (Papacostas)

“The structure mainly consists of a series of heavy timbers for the walls upon which has been laid a corrugated iron roof.  … the premises in rear of the stables disclosed the same ramshackly series of lean-tos and sheds as were generally found all through the Chinatown district”.  (Hawaiian Gazette, February 6, 1900)

Another fire, started between Kaumakapili Church and Nuʻuanu Avenue, blazed out of control, due to the change in wind.  The fire burned uncontrollably for 17 days, ravaging most of Chinatown.  People trying to flee were beat back by citizens and guards into the quarantine district.

The extent of the fire and the estimates of the area ranged from 38-65 acres.  The fire caused the destruction of all premises bounded by Kukui Street, River Street, Queen Street (presently Ala Moana Boulevard) and Nuʻuanu Avenue.

Dodd died January 21, 1900 – but the Pantheon returned.

“Like the Phoenix the Pantheon arose from its ashes. Although it is not on the same spot it is so near it that one looking for the favorite drinking place cannot go far astray. Ever since the old Pantheon was started many years ago by the late James Dodd it has been noted for the good cheer obtainable there.”

“Now that its old proprietor is no more, the reputation of the place is kept up to its former old standard and there is nothing to be desired in the way of refreshment for the inner man that cannot be obtained there.” (Honolulu Republican, June 16, 1901)

“The Pantheon saloon reopened in the new building at Fort and Hotel streets last night. TA Simpson. FM Kiley and JF O’Connor are in charge there. The house is quite large and looks neat.”  (Hawaiian Star, September 25, 1900)

“The Pantheon is homelike and as an oasis in a desert to the tired and thirsty traveller. It is the place to drop in and take a drop. Never is a want left unsatisfied in the Pantheon. To make your want known is to have the want catered to and in a way that is satisfactory. Courteous treatments the rule and although there are other places there is but one Pantheon, the Pantheon on Hotel street.”

The name of the saloon is over the door. It is on Hotel street.  There the thirsty may be refreshed and the weary rest.  (Honolulu Republican, June 16, 1901)

On July 19, 1909 the Evening Bulletin announced, “Architect HL Kerr has just completed the plans for a two-story building on the Ewa-mauka corner of Hotel and Fort streets, and bids on its construction will shortly be called for. The building will be of concrete and steel construction and will be built so as to allow the erection of more stories if necessary.”

“The structure will be known as the Pantheon building and will be erected by the Pantheon Building Company, of which Mrs JM Dowsett is the principal stockholder.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, July 20, 1909)

In the 1950s, owners decided to modernize the facade. Concentrating on the shop-fronts the owners added shiny Arizona sandstone surrounds and new plate-glass windows.  Failing to transform the building sufficiently to attract shoppers heading to the new Ala Moana and Kahala shopping malls, the owners added paneled treatment for the upper story.   (Papacostas)

Contractor Lucas called it “an ornament to the city” and, in its retrospect for 1911, Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual described it as “the principal structure of the year.”   (Papacostas)  The Pantheon remains today at Hotel Street and the Fort Street Mall.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaumālapaʻu

The total land area of Lānai is 89,305 acres, divided into 13 ahupua‘a (traditional land divisions.)  In the traditional system, respective konohiki served as land managers over each. These konohiki were subject to control by the ruling chiefs.

At the time of the Great Māhele (1848,) lands on Lānai were divided between lands claimed by King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) (40,665 acres,) which were known as the Crown Lands, and the lands to be claimed by the chiefs and people (48,640 acres,) which were called the Government Lands.

By 1907, more than half the island of Lānai was in the hands of native Hawaiians. Just 14 years later, in 1921, only 208.25 acres of land remained in native Hawaiian ownership. By 1875 Walter Gibson had control, either through lease or direct ownership, of nine‐tenths of Lānai’s lands. (Lānai Community Plan)

When James Dole bought Lānai, ranching was a thriving business under the control of George Munro. Shortly after the purchase, Dole got Munro working at removing cattle from potential pineapple lands. As soon as cattle were fattened they were sold. Ranching operations became a secondary priority to pineapple development.

During 1923, the company embarked on making major improvements to the island of Lānai.  At first, Dole wanted to name the town Pine City, but the post office department objected because there were too many “pine” post offices in the mainland United States.  So the plantation town was called Lānai City.

Dole hired Mr. Root, an engineer, to lay out and plan the town. Root arrived at Mānele Bay to begin his work. He designed the central park with a symmetrical grid of residential streets, which remains the configuration of Lānai City today.” (Lānai Community Plan)

Between 1922 and 1992, pineapple plantation operations provided the people of Lānai with a way of life.  James Doles’ Hawaiian Pineapple Company evolved and many of the innovations in cultivation, equipment design, harvesting, irrigation and labor relations developed on the Lānai plantation, and came to be used around the world. (Lānai Culture & Heritage Center)

Mānele Bay was the main port of entry for Lānai; its primary purpose was to ship pineapple off the island. On the eastern side of the island, remnants of Halepalaoa Landing can be seen; this was used primarily to ship cattle. It’s also reported that in the late 1800s, a steamer landing was located on the western shore of Lānai Island and served as a docking grounds.

A new harbor was needed.  In 1923 to 1926, Kaumālapaʻu Bay, a natural, sheltered cove on the southwest side of Lānai, was developed into the main shipping harbor from which pineapple and all major supplies for Lānai were shipped and received.

“… we learned that the breakwater is composed of 116,000-tons of rock blasted from the cliffs and dropped into the water.  The Kaumalapau harbor entrance is 65-feet deep, and the minimum depth of the harbor is 27-feet.  The wharf is 400-feet long and the boat landing is 80-feet in length.”  (Lanai “The Pineapple Kingdom, 1926)

Bins filled with pineapple were unloaded from the trucks (steam cranes were still used through the 1960s), and placed on the barges for shipping to the cannery at Iwilei, Honolulu, Oʻahu. Tug boats were used to haul the barges – empty bins and supplies to Lānai, and filled pineapple bins to the cannery.

Because of the demands of work at Kaumālapaʻu, Lānai’s “second city” was developed, and known as “Harbor Camp.” The Harbor Camp included around 20 homes and support buildings, and sat perched on the cliffs above Kaumālapaʻu Bay.  (Lānai Culture & Heritage Center)

Surmising from the vast archaeological features on the cliffs above Kaumālapaʻu Gulch, Kaumālapaʻu Harbor was probably a very important settlement (seasonal and/or permanent) for native Hawaiians. (Social Research Pacific)

Access to fishing, whether by boat or off the shoreline, is easily attained at Kaumālapaʻu.  One of the sites immediately mauka of the harbor is called “Fisherman’s Trail.” In the 1862 letter requesting settlement and use of Lānai, even Gibson indicated the importance of fishing as the primary source of subsistence for the island’s inhabitants.

The village of Kaunolu, just to the south of Kaumālapaʻu was known as a “fishing village”. Given its proximity to Kaumālapaʻu, it is highly likely that neighboring Kaumālapaʻu also offered good fishing grounds to Hawaiians. The Kaumālapaʻu Trail extends from Lānai City down to Kaumālapaʻu.   (Social Research Pacific)

In the Māhele, the ahupuaʻa of Kamoku and Kalulu (which adjoin the existing Kaumālapaʻu Harbor) were retained by the King (Kamehameha III), though the ‘ili of Kaumālapaʻu 1 & 2 were given by the King to the Government.

The Kaumālapaʻu Harbor breakwater was in disrepair for many years following several hurricanes and seasonal storms.  Completed in 2007, 40,000-tons of new stone was added to the reshaped breakwater, 800 concrete Core-Locs (each weighing 35 tons) were put in place and a 5-foot- thick concrete cap was cast on top of the breakwater to complete the project.  (Traylor)

Today, as in the early 1920s, Kaumālapaʻu Harbor is the main commercial seaport and Lānai’s lifeline to the outside world, with Young Brothers’ barge and other commercial activity in and out of Lānai.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pāpōhaku

A chief from east Molokai and a few of his people boarded canoes and set off around the island. They found themselves on the southwest coast of Molokai.  They paddled up to some fishermen who had a large catch of opelu. Hungry, they began to eat.

As they were all eating with great satisfaction, another group of fishermen came by and cried: “Stop. Do not eat the opelu. This is the season of opelu kapu.” However, the visiting chief only had a kapu for eating turtle, so they continued eating.

The fishermen attacked the visiting chief and his men. Overpowered, they were brought before the kahuna. The visiting chief became very ill, and the only way to make things right was a human sacrifice to save the chief from death. One of his men offered himself as a sacrifice and the chief recovered.

The kahuna ordered a tree planted on the grave of the willing victim. The grave was on shore; when the tide was high, the waves would wash sand from the grave. Thus, in a very short time, the body would be exposed.

In respect and remembrance, the chief ordered his men to build a stone wall.  The chief himself put the last stone on the wall, saying as he did so, “I call this place Pāpōhaku, ‘Stone Wall.’” (DLNR)

Today, the sandy beach is seen as the primary feature here (it’s over 2-miles long and 300-feet wide, the largest on the island and one of the largest in the Islands.)  It lies between two headlands, Puʻu Koaʻe to the south and Puʻu o Kaiaka to the north.

The sand caught people’s attention.

First, folks looked to replenish eroding beaches by harvesting sand from one area and filled in at another (primarily at Waikīkī.)  Reports from the 1920s and 1930s reveal that sand was brought to Waikīkī Beach, via ship and barge, from Manhattan Beach, California.

As the Manhattan Beach community was developing, it found that excess sand in the beach dunes and it was getting in the way of development there.  At the same time, folks in Hawai‘i were in need for sand to cover the rock and coral beach at Waikīkī.

Later, Waikīkī’s sand was trucked from various points around Hawai‘i including O‘ahu’s North Shore – in particular, Waimea Bay Beach, a sand bar off the town of Kahuku and Pāpōhaku Beach on Molokai.

Reportedly, before sand mining operations removed over 200,000 tons of sand at Waimea Bay to fill beaches in Waikīkī and elsewhere, there was so much sand that if you would have tried to jump off Pōhaku Lele, Jump Rock, you would have jumped about six feet down into the sand below.

Then came statehood, and the building boom of the following decades.

“Increased use of concrete by building contractors resulted in more output of sand required for blending with crushed basalt fines used in concrete aggregate.  A substantial gain was noted in the use of coral dune sands from the north shores of Oʻahu Island.  By yearend, Honolulu Construction & Draying Co Ltd (HC&D) was prepared to barge sand from Molokai Island to supply some of Oahu’s requirements for the critical material.”  (Minerals Yearbook, 1959)

(HC&D was formed in 1908 by a quarry owner, three construction men and a retired sea captain. The base of the business was the draying (hauling) of construction materials by horse-drawn wagons. In late-1967, HC&D became a wholly owned subsidiary of American Pipe and Construction Co of Monterey Park, California (now it’s known as Ameron Inc.))

In the 1950s, a harbor was dredged and a wharf constructed at Hale O Lono by B&C (Brown and Clewitt) Trucking to ship out sand from Pāpōhaku (B&C also owned Seaside Inn and Pau Hana Inn.) A 1957 contract between Molokai Ranch and HC&D allowed for sand to be removed from a 297-acre southern parcel of Pāpōhaku Beach.

“Sand and gravel was produced at 16 principal beach, dune, and stream deposits. The largest operation was the Molokai sand facility of HC&D Ltd, Hawaiʻi’s major producer, consumer, and supplier of sand, cinder, and crushed stone.”  (Minerals Yearbook, 1964)

“Some of the land out on the western tip of the island is leased to Honolulu Construction and Draying Company Ltd, which mines something like 200,000-yards of sand a year from Pāpōhaku Beach for shipment to Oahu for use in making concrete.”  (Away From It All)

“All day long, every day, had trucks going back and forth from Pāpōhaku to Hale O Lono.”  From the early 1960s to 1975, this massive cache of sand was the site of the largest sand-mining operation in the state.

Some of the sand was drawn from below the high water mark, which was public land and required a government permit; at times the dredge bucket even drew the sand out of the ocean.

This was not legal and HC&D was caught and reportedly fined, resulting in a million-dollar settlement.  In lieu of payment of the fine, reportedly, Molokai Ranch gave the land at Ala Mālama in Kaunakakai.

Even with the decades of sand removal, Pāpōhaku Beach remains one of the longest white sand beaches, and the Pāpōhaku Dune system associated with the beach is among the largest in Islands.

Pāpōhaku Dune (like other sand dunes) is the first and last line of defense against coastal erosion and episodic high waves for the existing structures located behind it.

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