Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alexander & Baldwin

In 1843, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of early missionaries to Hawaiʻi, met in Lāhainā, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership.

Alexander was the idea man, more outgoing and adventurous of the two. He had a gift for raising money to support his business projects.

Baldwin was more reserved and considered the “doer” of the partners; he completed the projects conceived by Alexander.

After studying on the Mainland, Alexander returned to Maui and began teaching at Lahainaluna, where he and his students successfully grew sugar cane and bananas.

Word of the venture spread to the owner of Waiheʻe sugar plantation near Wailuku, and Alexander was offered the manager’s position.

Alexander hired Baldwin as his assistant, who at the time was helping his brother raise sugar cane in Lāhainā. This was the beginning of a lifelong working partnership.

In 1869, the young men – Alexander was 33, Baldwin, 27 – purchased 12-acres of land in Makawao and the following year an additional 559-acres.  That same year, the partners planted sugar cane on their land marking the birth of what would become Alexander & Baldwin (A&B.)

In 1871, they saw the need for a reliable source of water, and to this end undertook the construction of the Hāmākua ditch in 1876.

Although not an engineer, Alexander devised an irrigation system that would bring water from the windward slopes of Haleakala to Central Maui to irrigate 3,000 acres of cane – their own and neighboring plantations.

Baldwin oversaw the Hāmākua Ditch project, known today as East Maui Irrigation Company (the oldest subsidiary of A&B,) and within two years the ditch was complete.

The completed Old Hāmākua Ditch was 17-miles long and had a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.  A second ditch was added, the Spreckels Ditch; when completed, it was 30-miles long with a capacity of 60-million gallons per day.

Before World War I, the New Hāmākua, Koʻolau, New Haiku and Kauhikoa ditches were built. A total of ten ditches were constructed between 1879 and 1923.

Over the next thirty years, the two men became agents for nearly a dozen plantations and expanded their plantation interests by acquiring Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company and Kahului Railroad.

In 1883, Alexander and Baldwin formalized their partnership by incorporating their sugar business as the Paia Plantation also known at various times as Samuel T Alexander & Co, Haleakala Sugar Co and Alexander & Baldwin Plantation.

By spring of 1900, A&B had outgrown its partnership organization and plans were made to incorporate the company, allowing the company to increase capitalization and facilitate expansion.

The Articles of Association and affidavit of the president, secretary and treasurer were filed June 30, 1900 with the treasurer of the Territory of Hawaiʻi. Alexander & Baldwin, Limited became a Hawaiʻi corporation, with its principal office in Honolulu and with a branch office in San Francisco.

Shortly after, in 1904, Samuel Alexander passed away on one of his adventures. While hiking with his daughter to the edge of Victoria Falls, Africa, he was struck by a boulder. Seven years later, Baldwin passed away at the age of 68 from failing health.

After the passing of the founders, Alexander & Baldwin continued to expand their sugar operations by acquiring additional land, developing essential water resources and investing in shipping (Matson) to bring supplies to Hawaii and transport sugar to the US Mainland markets.

A&B was one of Hawaiʻi’s five major companies (that emerged to providing operations, marketing, supplies and other services for the plantations and eventually came to own and manage most of them.)  They became known as the Big Five.

Hawaiʻi’s Big Five were: C Brewer (1826;) A Theo H Davies (1845;) Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and Alexander & Baldwin (1870.)

What started off as partnership between two young men, with the purchase of 12 acres in Maui, has grown into a corporation with $2.3 billion in assets, including over 88,000 acres of land.

(In 2012, A&B separated into two stand-alone, publicly traded companies – A&B, focusing on land and agribusiness and Matson, on transportation.)

A&B is the State’s fourth largest private landowner, and is one of the State’s most active real estate investors.  It’s portfolio includes a diversity of projects throughout Hawaiʻi, and a significant commercial property portfolio in Hawaiʻi and on the US Mainland. (Information here is from Alexander & Baldwin.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pālolo Hill

“And they gathered their friends together and journeyed up into the hill country, and when they did not return others followed, saying unto them – ‘Why, therefore, do ye choose to dwell in the hill country?’“

“And they answered, ‘For it is here we obtain the freedom of the air, with all its freshness and purity; it is here we get strength for the mind and body, and it is here we enjoy the breath of life.’“  (Evening Bulletin, October 21, 1911)

So went the marketing for the Pālolo Hill development – the Homeland of Health – above Kaimuki.

The announcement of the project a year before carried the same positive enthusiasm, “Pālolo Hill may not only be destined to blossom as the rose, but it will be dotted with a thousand homes, the place of residence of delighted sojourners who seek the many incomparable advantages offered by climatic conditions only to be found in the Paradise of the Pacific, but Honolulu in particular.”

“The Kaimuki Land Company has completed all arrangements for setting a large force of men at work in the grading of fifty foot streets and plotting some twelve hundred lots in this sightly tract of land located at the terminus of the Hotel street and Waiʻalae car-line.”

“Pālolo Hill, commanding a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean, the frowning slopes of Diamond Head, and the bald prominence of Koko Head, will be transformed into a place of much activity before the close of the old year.”

“The plans as outlined by the land company are elaborate in the extreme. The first of the week will find teams and graders at work on the roads. … (The central) avenue will serve as a feeder for the curved and winding highways that weave their way in and around the brow of this eminence.”

“It is claimed, that there is not a lot in the entire twelve hundred that is of lower elevation than three hundred feet. The highest elevation recorded in the tract is eleven hundred feet. A visit to the tract, where grading operations have already begun, would show that there is no portion of the district that has an unobstructed marine view. (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Some background … William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.)  Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekauluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

When Kamehameha V died on December 11, 1872 he had not named a successor to the throne.   The Islands’ first election to determine who would be King was held – Lunalilo defeated Prince David Kalākaua (the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King.  Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.)

Lunalilo was the first of the large landholding aliʻi to create a charitable trust for the benefit of his people.  He was to reign for one year and twenty-five days, succumbing to pulmonary tuberculosis on February 3, 1874.

His estate included large landholdings on the five major islands, consisting of 33-ahupuaʻa, nine ʻili and more than a dozen home lots. His will, written in 1871, established a perpetual trust under the administration of three trustees to be appointed by the justices of the Hawaiian Supreme Court.

His will instructed his trustees to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and infirm people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people. The will instructed the Trustees to sell all of the estate’s land to build and maintain the home.    (Supreme Court Records)

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”.  Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg.  Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

Gear, Lansing & Co, one of Honolulu’s first real estate firms, envisioned Kaimuki becoming a high-class residential area, but was stymied by buyers’ lack of interest.

Later Charlie Stanton, FE Steere and Frank E Thompson formed the Kaimuki Land Company and took over the Kaimuki tracts. Eventually, they turned it over to Waterhouse Trust Company who sold the land for eight cents a square foot and nine cents for corner lots. (Takasaki)

(There appear to be some interchangeable names of the development  entity: Kaimuki Land Company, Pālolo Land Company and Pālolo Land and Improvement Co.)

The Pālolo Land Company is an organization composed of several gentlemen who own upper Pālolo Valley and the scenic portion of Pālolo Hill it overlooks Kaimuki, and from Upper Pālolo Hill half of Oʻahu Island may be seen. Splendid roads have recently been constructed.  (Mid-Pacific Magazine)

Not familiar with the Pālolo Hill subdivision name?

It’s not clear if any official name change took place, but we now typically refer to this area as “Wilhelmina Rise” and Maunalani Heights.  (Some incorrectly say it was developed by Matson in the 1930s; the above notes it was built 20-years before and by local real estate developers.)

However, “The streets are … named after the steamers that make regular calls at the port of Honolulu.  Wilhelmina Rise is a broad and absolutely straight thoroughfare extending for a mile and a half up the slope of Pālolo Hill.”  (Evening Bulletin, December 9, 1910)

Up Pālolo Hill (Wilhelmina Rise,) you’ll find Lurline, Matsonia, Maunalani, Mana, Sierra, Wilhelmina, and Claudine, Matson liners and freighters.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maritime Fur Trade

The maritime fur trade was a ship-based fur trade system that focused on acquiring furs of sea otters and other animals from the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and natives of Alaska. The furs were mostly traded in China for tea, silks, porcelain, and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States.  (ESDAW)

Before the European colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Its trade developed in the Early Middle Ages (500-1000 AD), first through exchanges at posts around the Baltic and Black seas.

“We have encountered a divine marvel … There are mountains, which slope down to the arm of the sea, and their height reaches to the heavens …. Within these mountains are heard great cries and the sound of voices and [some people] are struggling to cut their way out of this mountain …”

“Their language is unintelligible. They point at iron objects and make gestures as if to ask for them. If given a knife or an axe, they supply furs in return.” (Primary Chronicle, Etkind in the year 1096)

“In their quest for fur, the Russians colonized a huge, exotic, and inhospitable space, called “the land of darkness” by early Arabic travelers. Combining barter with coercion, the Russians locked the peoples of the Arctic North into a system of trade that led to the extermination of animals and humans.” (Etkind)

The maritime fur trade was pioneered by the Russians, working east from Kamchatka along the Aleutian Islands to the southern coast of Alaska. (ESDAW)

Originally, Russia exported raw furs, consisting in most cases of the pelts of martens, beavers, wolves, foxes, squirrels and hares. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Russians began to settle in Siberia, a region rich in many mammal fur species, such as Arctic fox, lynx, sable, sea otter and stoat (ermine).

In a search for the prized sea otter pelts, first used in China, and later for the northern fur seal, the Russian Empire expanded into North America, notably Alaska.

The European discovery of North America, with its vast forests and wildlife, particularly the beaver, led to the continent becoming a major supplier in the 17th century of fur pelts for the fur felt hat, as beaver hat and fur trimming and garment trades of Europe.

Fur was relied on to make warm clothing, a critical consideration prior to the organization of coal distribution for heating. Portugal and Spain played major roles in fur trading after the 1400s with their business in fur hats.

The North American fur trade began as early as the 1530s was a central part of the early history of contact between Europeans and the native peoples of what is now the United States and Canada.

In 1578 there were 350 European fishing vessels at Newfoundland. Sailors began to trade metal implements (particularly knives) for the natives’ well-worn pelts. The first pelts in demand were beaver and sea otter, as well as occasionally deer, bear, ermine and skunk.

Captain Chauvin made the first organized attempt to control the fur trade in New France. In 1599 he acquired a monopoly from Henry IV and tried to establish a colony near the mouth of the Saguenay River at Tadoussac

 French explorers, voyageurs and Coureur des bois such as Étienne Brûlé, Samuel de Champlain, Radisson, La Salle, and Le Saeur, while seeking routes through the continent, established relationships with Amerindians and continued to expand the trade of fur pelts for items considered ‘common’ by the Europeans.

England was slower to enter the American fur trade than France and Holland, but as soon as English colonies were established, development companies learned that furs provided the best way for the colonists to remit value back to the mother country.

Furs were being dispatched from Virginia soon after 1610, and the Plymouth Colony was sending substantial amounts of beaver to its London agents through the 1620s and 1630s. London merchants tried to take over France’s fur trade in the St Lawrence River valley.

From the 17th through the second half of the 19th century, Russia was the world’s largest supplier of fur. The fur trade played a vital role in the development of Siberia, the Russian Far East and the Russian colonization of the Americas.

The European discovery of North America, with its vast forests and wildlife, particularly the beaver, led to the continent becoming a major supplier in the 17th century of fur pelts for the fur felt hat, as beaver hat and fur trimming and garment trades of Europe. Fur was relied on to make warm clothing, a critical consideration prior to the organization of coal distribution for heating.  (ESDAW)

James Cook’s expedition brought the news about the sea otter. Cook’s sailors traded several pelts on Cook’s river for a few glass beads each, and then sold them to the Chinese in Canton for two thousands pounds. Published in 1784, this story caused new British and French expeditions to Alaska. (Etkind)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lānai Airport

Aviation history for Lānai began with the creation of an emergency landing strip, there, in 1919.  Aviation use was on-again, off-again in different areas of the island for the next few decades.

In its 1928 Annual Report, the Territorial Aeronautical Commission reported the excellent cooperation of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, in making a suitable field available for emergency airplane landings on the Island of Lānai.  The field was at Leinukalahua, Kaʻa.

Things got official in 1928, when Inter-Island Airways (now Hawaiian Airlines) began operations to Lānai with Sikorsky S-38 eight-passenger amphibious planes.  The landing field was owned by the Hawaiian Pineapple Company.

In July 1930, the Territorial Aeronautics Commission wrote to Hawaiian Pineapple Company asking if they wished to apply for a license for their field. There was no response.

During 1935, Inter-Island Airways started to replace its 8-passenger planes with 16-passenger planes, which were later (1941) replaced by 24-passenger Douglas DC-3s.

The Lanai field was not big enough to accommodate this type of aircraft and once the last of the S-38s were put out of service (shortly after the start of World War II,) air service to Lānai came to a halt.

In 1944, the Post War Planning Division of the Territorial Department of Public Works proposed to construct a new 5,000-foot runway and airport 4-miles southwest of Lānai City (Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd was looking to about 220-acres for the new facility.)

“The existing airport is too small for two-engine planes, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration has advised that it is willing to consider an application for a major airport,” the Public Works report stated.

“The dependence of the population upon air service justifies the proposed project.  The part of the Lānai pineapple plantation in the Territory’s economy is very great.  The present airport, although in operation, is unpaved and is in great need of adequate paving to prevent erosion from severe winds and relatively high rainfall.”

A new airport site for Lānai was chosen and on September 18, 1946, Hawaiian Airlines resumed service there using its DC-3s.  The unpaved sod strip field was practically unusable in wet weather and almost untenable due to dust and dirt in dry weather. In view of these conditions, air service was not reliable and it was therefore decided to pave the runway and taxiway.

A Master Plan was prepared (1946) that called for a single 4,200-foot runway.  The Territorial Legislature appropriated one-third of the funds, with the rest matched by Civil Aeronautics Administration funds.  In 1947, Lānai Airport management was put under the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission.

The 3,700 feet long runway and related facilities, the first field constructed by the Hawaiian Aeronautics Commission, was officially dedicated on July 12, 1948.

By 1950, the airport was served regularly by Hawaiian Airlines with twice daily passenger service in two directions and twice weekly freight service.  Air mail service was supplied.

Over the years, additions were made to the facility.  In 1960, the Maui County Board of Supervisors requested both the State and Hawaiian Airlines to use larger more modern aircraft to provide passenger air service to Lānai.  (Hawaiian had changed its fleet from DC-3s to Convairs.)

A new Master Plan called for extension of the runway to a total of 5,000-feet, as wells as new terminal facilities to match the requirements of the newer planes.  The new projects were completed and dedicated on October 16, 1966.

On October 1, 1979, the Civil Aeronautics Board Order 79-10-3, the Bureau of Domestic Aviation, defined essential air service for Lānai as follows: “Lānai: A minimum of two daily round trip flights to Honolulu and Kahului providing a total of at least 80 seats in each direction per day.”

After minor upgrades, the airport went through another expansion phase.  Dedicated April 19, 1994, the new single-story 15,000-square foot terminal was five times larger than the existing and included space for a gift shop and food and beverage concessions and counter space for six airlines.

The Lanai Airport Master Plan Update was published in June 1999.  Phase I of the proposed improvements (2000-2010) called for improvements to the airfield, terminal complex, and design, planning, project management and contingency costs.

Larry Ellison bought about 98 percent of the island of Lānai in June 2012; Ellison announced plans to extend the runway by 500 feet so larger planes could land there. (Lots of information from hawaii-gov.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Local Land Use Planning

I’ve been in the private sector for about 45-years, 2-years in County Administration and 4½-years in State Administration.  I firmly believe that issues are best dealt with at the level closest to the people affected – I am a ‘home rule’ kind of guy.

And, with respect to land use planning – let’s face it, the State doesn’t plan, it regulates.

Almost 120 years ago – 1905 – the State legislature passed “The County Act” (Act 39.) Contrary to the suggestion in the name, State government retained many traditional county government functions and over the next many decades took on even more, making Hawai‘i the most centralized state government.

This included Act 187, the Land Use Law, enacted in 1961 and Act 100, the Hawaii State Plan in 1978.

The 1961 Land Use Law created the Land Use Commission (LUC) and gave over-arching land use control to the State – in part, because the Counties did not have the resources or authority to deal with controlling the post-statehood building boom.

However, we need to remember; in 1961, Counties were under the heavy hand of the state and were not authorized self-governance.  Essentially, with the strong, centralized state government, Counties weren’t allowed to do much of anything.

It wasn’t until 1968 – when the State Constitution was amended – when the Counties were given the power to adopt charters of self-governance.

The Counties have grown up over the past 50+years – it’s time the State backs-off and gives the Counties the opportunity for true self-governance.

Sure, we tried planning at the State level, but we have obviously moved from the context of “planning” (as a policy function) to permitting (a move strictly toward regulatory activity.)

Even the LUC website notes: “The Commission acts on petitions for boundary changes submitted by private landowners, developers and State and county agencies.”

In addition, even though the law requires the state to review classifications and districting of all lands every five years, it hasn’t done so since 1992 (over 30-years ago.)

The Land Use Commission process is a reactionary, regulatory process, not a visionary (i.e. planning) process.

And, the Land Use Commission is quasi-judicial – it’s like a courtroom with lawyers and witnesses that are subject to cross-examination – making it legalistic and confrontational.

Most agree that Planning requires community involvement and input.

Given this, who is in the better position to engage the public in genuine and meaningful land use planning discussions?  I think it is the Counties and evidence confirms this.

Think back … when was the last time the State asked you what you thought about land use or planning matters? 

On the other hand, Counties are constantly including the community in their planning functions.  Simply recall the numerous island-wide public forums on creation and updates to General Plans, Sustainable Community Plans, Community Development Plans and other localized plans across each of the Counties.

How could (does) the State possibly match this level of community participation?  What more could a few Honolulu bureaucrats and consultants possibly add by holding a couple more meetings per island to discuss that Island’s or community’s land use concerns?

And, why should we impose Honolulu bias on the neighbor islands?  Let’s leave land use matters at the on-the-ground level – in each respective County, by each County.

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