Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pony Express

The Mongol empire, ruled by Genghis Khan and his descendants in the 1200s and 1300s, covered most of Asia, the Middle East, and Russia. Far larger than any empire built by the Greeks, Romans, or Russians, it stretched from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean, the largest mass of connected land ruled by anyone in history, before or since. (American Museum of Natural History)

In 13th-century China Marco Polo described a “system of post-horses by which the Great Khan sends his dispatches.” Using this as an example, Oregon missionary Marcus Whitman in 1843 proposed using horse relays to deliver mail from the Missouri River to the Columbia River in 40 days. But in 1845 it still took six months to get a message delivered.

Congress established postal service to the Pacific Coast in 1847 and, in 1851, set the rate for a half-ounce letter at three cents for delivery if less than 3,000 miles and six cents if it went farther. Private contractors handled the business, which required huge government subsidies.

In 1848 the US Post Office awarded a contract to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to carry mail to California. The mail traveled by ship from New York to Panama, moved across Panama by rail, then by ship again to San Francisco.

By the late 1850s a half million people had migrated West, and they wanted up-to-date news from home. Something had to be done to deliver mail faster and to improve communication in the expanding nation.  (NPS)

In 1855 Congress even appropriated $30,000 to see if camels could carry mail from Texas to California – they proved impractical. Then, John Butterfield won a $600,000 contract in 1857 that required mail delivery within 25 days. His overland stagecoach service began in 1858 on a 2,800-mile route that left Fort Smith, Arkansas and reached San Francisco.

Pre-Civil War settlers who had already reached California and its promise of gold found themselves cut off from the rest of the world. Butterfield Express’s took twenty-three days for delivery.

Most people knew it was a matter of time before the telegraph and railroad would span the continent, but with the Civil War looming, something was needed to replace the existing overland route.  (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

With civil war threatening to close southern routes, northern politicians sought a central route. Benjamin F Ficklin had carried US Army dispatches from Utah Territory and proposed that the government could provide express mail service using a horse relay. (NPS)

William Russell of the freighting firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell created the Pony Express almost by accident. Russell, William Waddell, and Alexander Majors were Missouri business partners with vast experience hauling cargo and passengers – and a great interest in government mail contracts.

Their firm already provided mail and stagecoach service between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City. Russell felt that a horse relay, a Pony Express, would promote his company and gather congressional support to win the mail contract for a central overland route.

The three partners started a new firm, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company (COC & PP) – the official name of the Pony Express.  (NPS) It ran from St Joseph, Missouri (that was connected to the East by railroads and the telegraph) to Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

The St Joseph Daily Gazette declared it would “forward, by the first Pony Express, the first and only newspaper which goes out, and which will be the first paper ever transmitted from the Missouri to California in eight days.” This Pony Express Edition also announced, “The first pony will start this afternoon at 5 pm precisely.” (NPS)

On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously left St Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. (History A&E)

COC & PP established home stations every 75 to 100 miles (to house riders between runs) and smaller relay stations every 10 to 15 miles (to provide riders with fresh horses).

Some of the Pony stations were set up at the various forts along the Oregon Trail.  Many stations were upgraded from existing stagecoach stations, but some stations were built from scratch. The operation expanded from 86 stations on the Pony’s first run to 147 stations by mid-1861.  (NPS)

The company employed between 80 and 100 riders and several hundred station workers. Riders had to weigh less than 120 pounds and carry 20 pounds of mail and 25 pounds of equipment.

Riders earned wages (based on initial advertisements for riders, they were paid $50 per month) plus room and board. They joked that the company’s initials, C.O.C.& P.P., stood for “Clean Out of Cash & Poor Pay.”

Riders had to sign a pledge promising not to swear, drink alcohol, or fight with other employees. The riders carried the mail in the four pockets of a pack which fit snugly over the saddle and was quickly switched from one horse to another. Letters were wrapped in oil silk to protect them from moisture. (Postal Museum)

The company bought 400 to 500 horses, many thoroughbreds for eastern runs and California mustangs for western stretches. Horses averaged 10 miles per hour, at times galloping up to 25 miles per hour. During his route of 75 to 100 miles a rider changed horses eight to 10 times.

The Pony Express charged five dollars per half-ounce for mail (about $85 in today’s money), later reducing the fee to one dollar. At first the Pony ran once a week in each direction. Starting in July 1860 it ran a second weekly trip, delivering mail in 10 days or fewer between St. Joseph and San Francisco.

Newspapers relied on the Pony Express to deliver the latest headlines like when Abraham Lincoln was elected president or when the City of San Francisco opened its first railway that ferried passengers around the city on horse-drawn streetcars.

The Pony Express also helped deliver international news. Headlines that traveled over the ocean by ship could reach the opposite coast in just 18 days. (newspapers-com)

In April 1861 the Pony delivered word of the outbreak of the Civil War. (Pony Express National Museum) On October 26, 1861, the completion of the transcontinental telegraph from New York to San Francisco made the Pony Express obsolete.

On that day the Pony Express was officially terminated, but it was not until November that the last letters completed their journey over the route. (NPS)

News relayed via Pony Express, and then on to ships coming to Hawai‘i, was reported in the local newspapers (under ‘Foreign News’).  At least one letter made its way to/from Hawai‘i.  In 1861, the US Consul in Honolulu sent a letter to John C Underwood, the fifth auditor of the United States Treasury in Washington DC.  (Stamp Auction)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Halfway House

The way is long, the way is steep,
the road is crooked, the holes are deep;
on the Half Way House a blessing be?
Lord bless this house, and the thoroughbred flea,
For man may swear, and woman may weep.
But the cursed flea won’t let you sleep;
In the early morn, arise and go
The remaining way to the Lava flow
To the brink of the Pit of fiery depth
The Volcano House upon its width. …
(Max Pracht, San Francisco, 16 May 16, 1884)
(NPS, Volcano House Register)

In the 1800s, tourism was already developing as an important part of Hawaii’s economy. Honolulu was the principal destination and excursions to Kilauea crater were the main drawing card of the island of Hawai’i. Only hardy souls braved the “discomforts of the journey from Honolulu to the Volcano [which] were often vexatious and always considerable.” (Manning)

Two routes may be taken to the crater Kilauea, on the slope of Mauna Loa, one by Puna, the other by Ola‘a. Time being an object, the trip to and from the crater via Olaa can be accomplished in three days, which will give one day and two nights at the volcano house. (Manning)

The most traveled route between Hilo and Kīlauea was the Volcano Trail, which we now refer to as the “Old Volcano Trail” (at the time called “the Volcano Road”). (McEldowney)

The alignment of the Old Volcano Trail was mapped as early as 1874 by John M. Lydgate who referred to the Old Volcano Trail as “Road to Hilo”. The trail appears as a meandering line that straddled the ahupua‘a of ʻŌlaʻa and Keaʻau and strays in and out of the boundaries between the two. (ASM)

A critical step toward developing agriculture in ʻŌlaʻa was the creation of a new road between Hilo and Kīlauea located mauka of the Old Volcano Trail. As the new Volcano Road through ʻŌlaʻa was being built, the Crown made a large portion of potential agricultural lands (Ola‘a Reservation) available for lease and homesteading. (ASM)

The old trail effectively adjoins and runs mauka of the mauka lots in the mass of lots subdivided in Puna in the 1950s-70s (Hawaiian Acres to Fern Forest).

“Fifteen miles from Hilo Olaa is reached, the half-way stopping place. The intermediate territory is covered with ti plant and ferns, while the road consists mostly of pahoehoe lava, scantily covered with bunch grass and occasional bushes and trees.”

“‘The Half-way House’ at Olaa is merely a cluster of grass houses, a passable rest for travelers, who wish to spend the night, and obtain pasturage for horses.” (Whitney, 1875)

“There were at least two different structures over the years. The first probably existed as early as 1867, certainly by 1870. This structure was a one-room grass house with a wooden porch or lanai.”

“The interior was ‘divided in half by a curtain; in one half … a large four-poster bed, rough table and chairs, and in the other … a thick layer of grass covered with mats, on which … the whole family sleep.’”

“Those stopping during the day often used a mattress stuffed with pulu fiber from tree fern fronds laid on the floor instead of the four-poster bed.  Around 1880, Hawelu [the operator] built a hale la‘au, a substantial frame house with glass windows.”

“The new halfway house is mentioned in a promotional brochure, ‘The Great Volcano of Kilauea,’ designed by the publishers, Wilder’s Steamship Company, to attract tourists to ‘that extraordinary wonder of nature,’ Kilauea crater.”

“During the Hilo-Volcano horseback trip, the writer suggests a stop to rest at the halfway house, saying, “This house of accommodation has five bedrooms and the usual conveniences of a stopping place. …’” (Manning)

“Here several orange trees display their rich fruit in sight of the road. Although this point is 1138 feet above the sea level, and ten miles from Keaau, (the nearest point on the sea shore) the roar of the sea may be distinctly heard during a heavy surf.”

“Leaving Ola‘a, the route is over pahoehoe in all its varieties, thickly covered with wild grass, straggling ferns, creeping vines, and that vegetation which in tropical lands seeks only water to become impenetrable.” (Whitney, 1875)

“For more than 20 years, Hawelu and Lipeka operated a rest stop or halfway house on the Hilo-Kilauea crater trail. This horseback trip was said to ‘try the patience of most travelers.’”

“Tired and weary travelers could turn off the trail near ‘Kalehuapuaa . . . where there is a mauka road which goes to Hawelu’s.’ Over the years, halfway houses were variously situated along the trail.”

“Hawelu’s house was on the Hilo side of Mahiki. Visitors record that Hawelu’s was anywhere between 13 and 15 miles from Hilo, at an elevation of 1,138 or 1,150 feet. [“A comparison of the many descriptions places Hawelu’s near a point parallel with the Hilo end of present-day Mountain View, but on the Kea’au-‘Ola’a border”.]

“A visitor might rest at Hawelu’s for a few hours or overnight. Heavy rains occasionally stranded people at the halfway house for one or two days.”

“Each service was independently priced, but the price was the same regardless of the service. Horseshoeing was a dollar, food was a dollar, and lodging was a dollar. Lipeka was a full partner. The profits were divided in half, with Lipeka acting as banker.”  (Manning)

“Travelers variously reported the accommodations as beautiful and clean or dreary and dirty! Male travelers complained more  than females. Women seem to have expected rough ‘camp’ conditions. … Travelers throughout the Kingdom reported their tortures.” (Manning)

As noted by one in the Volcano House Register, “The undersigned left Hilo Friday morning June 7th at 6:30 a.m. Jo Puni as guide. Directly after leaving Hilo they received a moderate wetting down with a sun shower, wh. awakened them to the realities of Hawaiian travelling.”

“It was quite sultry until they arrived at the Half-way House, when a very distinct change in temperature was experienced. Showers of rain kept ahead of them from there to the Volcano House.”

“At the Half-way House a very good meal was heartily enjoyed, and a rest of two hours taken. They arrived at the Volcano House at 3:55 p.m. June 7.”

“The volcano was apparently quite active during the night, but the ride had fatigued your humble servants sufficiently to enable them to sleep soundly. They started for the crater at 7:45 a.m. and traveled down at a jog trot.” (Godwin McNeil, Sacramento, Cal., June 8, 1878; NPS, Volcano House Register)

With the new road, in May 1891 the Kilauea Volcano House began offering a package tour. It included steamer passage from Honolulu, a carriage ride from Hilo to the end of the half-finished road, and saddle horses supplied by Volcano Stables for the remaining ride. Accommodations were provided at the Volcano House.

In the same year, JR Wilson built Mountain View House as a rest stop on the new road. Little, if any, business would have been left to Hawelu’s independent halfway house by 1891 and he stopped his operation about that time. (Manning)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā – Laumai‘a – Keanakolu Trail/Road

This is about a trail and a subsequent road on the east side of Mauna Kea.  Today, we call the Waimea end (and up Mauna Kea) the Mānā Road and the Saddle Road side of this road we call the Keanakolu Road,.  At least part of this trail/road was called Laumai‘a Trail.

Here is some of the background about the need for mauka access in this area of the Island of Hawai‘i, as well as some history on the trails/roads there.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai`i, 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.

Trails and roads connected the coast with the uplands, probably easing travel through the upland forests. Boundary Commission records document numerous trails from the coast to the upper edge of the forest.

Most trails seem to have followed ahupua‘a boundaries (although this could be a factor of the Commission’s purpose, which was to define boundaries). (Tuggle)

Early accounts date back to the 1500s, at the time that ‘Umi-a-Līloa fell into a disagreement with the chief of Hilo over a whale

tooth (ivory) pendant. Traveling from Waipi‘o, across Mauna Kea, ‘Umi and his warriors camped in the uplands of Kaūmana.

Samuel Kamakau wrote that ‘Umi-a-Līloa “conferred with his chiefs and his father’s old war leaders. It was decided to make war on the chiefs of Hilo and to go without delay by way of Mauna Kea.”

“From back of Ka‘umana they were to descend to Hilo. It was shorter to go by way of the mountain to the trail of Poli‘ahu and Poli‘ahu’s spring at the top of Mauna Kea, and then down toward Hilo.  It was an ancient trail used by those of Hamakua, Kohala, and Waimea to go to Hilo.”

“They made ready to go with their fighting parties to Mauna Kea, descended back of Hilo, and encamped just above the stream of Waianuenue without the knowledge of Hilo’s people that war was coming from the upland. Hilo’s chiefs were unprepared.” (Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs)

In the period leading up to the mid-1800s, travel to Mauna Kea was done on foot along a system of trails that crossed the mountain lands.

Native ala hele (trails), which had been used for centuries and often provided the “path of least resistance,” to travel around and across the island, proved inadequate for the new methods of travel with horses, wagons and team animals.

By 1847, Kamehameha III had instructed island governors to undertake the survey of routes and construction of new roads, which became known as the Alanui Aupuni (Government Roads). Construction was to be paid for through taxation and “labor days” of the residents of the lands through which the roads would pass.  (ASM)

In 1862, the Commission of Boundaries (Boundary Commission) was established in the Hawaiian Kingdom to legally set the boundaries of all the ahupua‘a that had been awarded as a part of the Māhele.

Subsequently, in 1874, the Commissioners of Boundaries were authorized to certify the boundaries for lands brought before them. The primary informants for the boundary descriptions were old native residents of the lands, many of which had also been claimants for kuleana during the Māhele. (ASM)

An informant, Kalaualoha, stated that “in olden times the birdcatchers used to go up the Honohina and Pīhā roads, they could not go up Nanue as the road was so bad.”

“The canoe road of Nanue ran to mauka of Kaahiwa [Ka‘ahina stream], there it ended. But the roads on Honohina and Pīhā ran way mauka.” (Koa logs were selected, prepared in the forest and then hauled down canoe roads.) (Tuggle)

Puuhaula’s testimony for Pāpa‘ikou stated that “the old Alakahi road ran up the boundary to Palauolelo and was said to be the boundary between Makahanaloa and Papaikou.”

Coastal-inland travel in all likelihood extended beyond the limits of any particular ahupua‘a. But McEldowney suggests that paths in the upper subalpine region were not defined; rather, travelers followed “prominent landmarks rather than set or distinct trails.” (Tuggle)

It was not until the second half of the 1800s that specific routes up the mountain were established, probably related to the building and use of ranch establishments at ‘Umikoa (Kukaiau Ranch) and Humu‘ula (Humuula Sheep Station) as base camps.

A major cross-island trail crossed the upper edge of the Hakalau Forest area. In the 19th century, it was called the Laumai‘a road, but it likely originated in earlier times.  The present Keanakolu Road probably roughly follows the Laumai‘a alignment.  (Tuggle)

Cordy describes a trail on the east flank of Mauna Kea that connected Kohala, Waimea, and Hāmākua with Hilo. This could be the trail that was used by the high chief ‘Umi in his conquest of Hilo. (Kamakau, Tuggle)

“It was shorter to go by way of the mountain [Mauna Kea] to the trail of Poli‘ahu and Poli‘ahu’s spring at the top of Mauna Kea, and then down toward Hilo. It was an ancient trail used by those of Hamakua, Kohala, and Waimea to go to Hilo.”

Nineteenth century accounts document travel between Kawaihae and Hilo using a mountain route, although the specific alignment of the road may have varied somewhat from the earlier traditional trail.

Although this road probably follows the general alignment of earlier routes, there was a different path for what was alternatively referred to as the Laumai‘a road, the Laumai‘a-Hopuwai road, the Laumai‘a-Hope-a trail, or the connection to the Mānā (Waimea) road. (Tuggle)

The Kalai‘eha-Laumai‘a Trail, was paved with stones in the late 1800s to facilitate transportation of goods around the mountain. (ASM)  (Kalai‘eha is the large pu‘u (cinder cone) near Saddle Road on DHHL property, Hilo side of the Mauna Kea Access Road.)

Formal surveys of the Hilo-Kalai‘eha-Waimea government road via Waiki‘i (the early Saddle Road) were begun in 1862. The Kalai‘eha-Waiki‘i alignment remained basically the same until after the outbreak of World War II, and the paving of the “Saddle Road” in the 1940s.

In the area from Kilohana (on the north side of the present-day Girl Scout Camp) to Waiki‘i proper, the route is almost as it was finally laid out in 1869 (overlaying one of the ancient trails through the area), except for widening.

The Kalai‘eha-Hilo section of the route remained basically as constructed in 1869, but because of the dense forest vegetation and the difficulty encountered in traveling through the region, the route received little maintenance and use by travelers other than those on foot or horseback, generally on their way to one of the ranch stations or the summit of Mauna Kea. (Kumu Pono)

The Waimea-Mānā-Kula‘imano-Hilo route along the upper forest line of Hāmākua and Hilo, was developed in 1854, with subsequent modifications in 1877, and again in the 1890s, as a part of the Humu‘ula Sheep Station operation.

Further modifications to the Kalai‘eha-Keanakolu-Mānā route were made as a part of the tenure of Parker Ranch-Humu‘ula Sheep Station, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Territorial Forestry tenure of the land. (Kumu Pono)

Access along the eastern side of Mauna Kea was by the old Waimea-Laumai‘a road, which was greatly improved by the CCC; “a truck trail has been cleared along the old horse trails on this mountain so that now one may negotiate the trip completely around Mauna Kea at the general elevation of 7,000 feet in an automobile.” (Judd, Tuggle)

In the 1930s, the CCC, under the direction of L Bill Bryan, undertook improvements on the mountain roads, particularly the section between Kalai‘eha and Keanakolu.

In 1942, following the outbreak of World War II, the US Army began realignment and improvements of the route that became known as the Saddle Road. Territorial ownership of the road was assumed on June 30, 1947.  (Kumu Pono)

Construction on the Alanui Aupuni from coastal Kona to the saddle lands was actually begun in 1849, and ten miles of the road, completed by 1850. The route was cut off by the lava flow of 1859, and all but abandoned by public use; though it remained in use by ranchers and those traveling between Kona, the saddle region, and Waimea until the early 1900s. (Kumu Pono)

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Dealing with Outcasts, Desperadoes and Debt

A February 4, 1845 report by US Naval Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones (and accompanying documents) to the US House of Representatives tells us a lot about the situation in the Islands in the early stages of whaling in the Pacific.

This involves petitions from ship owners, business people and others in the community to Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and resulted in Captain Jones being sent to the Islands to help make things right.

Several merchants and others engaged in whaling wrote to President Monroe saying, “They are fully persuaded that a naval force, properly distributed there, will have a powerful tendency to prevent such fatal occurrences, by deterring from acts of violence the unprincipled, who are inseparably connected with such a multitude of men as are required to navigate their ships.”

“These, which have till within a short time been confined to a small portion of the Pacific, now traverse the greater part of that ocean, which has increased the danger of which they complain to a very considerable degree.”

“Hence, they feel the necessity of a naval force stationed there, that shall visit the remote parts of it, and occasionally touch at those islands to which their ships resort for refreshments, &c. …”

New Bedford wrote the President Adams, “in prosecuting whaling voyages into the most distant parts of the Pacific ocean, it becomes necessary for ships so employed to touch at islands in that ocean for purposes of supplies and refreshment …”

“that the Sandwich islands, as affording convenient opportunities for this purpose, have of late years being very generally resorted to; that very nearly one hundred American whaling ships may be estimated to visit Oahu (a port in the Sandwich islands) in the course of every year, and it is not unfrequent that over thirty American whalemen are lying at that portal one time …”

“Experience has shown that, since the introduction of foreign habits and foreign vices among those distant islanders, their characters have undergone an essential depreciation: the purity of intent which characterizes man in his state of natural simplicity, is now scarcely to be traced among them …”

“outcasts and desperadoes have mingled with them, carrying into their habitations the seeds of iniquity, inciting among them a spirit of evil, and diffusing a skill in the purposes of vice, at once to be deplored and dreaded.”

“Upon a population thus prepared for acts of violence and outrage, the mere influence of a pacific habit cannot be safely trusted to as a restraining motive. The distance, also, at which these people (thus attempered to evil design) are placed from the effective operation of civil power, is a circumstance truly calculated to inspire apprehension and alarm.”

A subsequent petition to President Adams noted that “there were over one hundred and fifty seamen (principally deserters from the whale ships) prowling about the country, naked and destitute … their number was constantly increasing, and serious apprehensions existed that necessity would induce those lawless deserters to commit some act of a piratical nature.” (Petitions to John Quincy Adams)

Mr. Bayly, from the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the following remarks, “It appears, from memorials presented to Presidents Monroe and Adams by a large number of merchants and others, residents of Nantucket, engaged in the whale-fishery, that in 1824 and 1825 mutinies were taking place on board of American vessels …”

“and desertions of their crews, who took refuge in the Sandwich islands; which place, it was feared, would become, unless our government interfered, ‘a nest of pirates and murderers;’ and the government was asked to send a national vessel to apprehend the offenders, and to look generally after American commerce in the South Seas.”

In addition, there were debts due to our citizens by the people and government of the Sandwich islands … over $500,000 due by the late king Tamahamaha, of the Sandwich islands, to sundry citizens of the United States; (which debt the successors of Tamahamaha had refused to recognize)”.

“Captain Jones, upon his arrival at the Sandwich islands, found great obstacles to the success of his mission. The natives were a semi-barbarous people, just emerging from heathenism …”

“there were in the islands a great many lawless foreigners, long familiarized to living without the restraint of law, who insidiously opposed every effort to introduce law and order, and everything was in a state of great disorder and confusion.”

“In addition to this, the English government had contrived to possess itself of a very large share of the confidence of those islanders. … The influence thus acquired was not all which the British agents interposed to prevent Captain Jones’s success …”

“but the English consul general, residing at Oahu, in 1826, openly claimed for his king the right of sovereignty over those islands; and, in Captain Jones’s presence, at a general council convoked for conference with him, told the regency that they had no power to make treaties, or to enter into any stipulations with a foreign power, without the consent of Great Britain …”

“and even went so far as to warn the islanders that the steps they were then taking to establish a firm and lasting friendship with the United States, would assuredly bring upon them the wrath of the great and powerful nation which he represented.”

“In contrast with the exalted opinion which the Sandwich islanders held of the English nation, was the poor opinion which they had been taught to entertain of the United States.”

“[T]hey had been taught to believe ‘that the Americans were destitute of maritime force. The English,’ they say, ‘have men-of-war, but the Americans have only whalers and trading vessels.’”

“Under these circumstances, Captain Jones thought it indispensable to his success so to demean himself as to elevate, in the eyes of those islanders, the American character; and he was compelled to resort to expensive entertainments and presents, the invariable means of facilitating negotiations with an unlettered people …”

“Notwithstanding the difficulties which he had to encounter, Captain Jones was entirely successful. He negotiated a commercial arrangement with the authorities of the Sandwich islands, eminently beneficial to us, and he prevailed upon them to adopt a plan of raising a revenue to satisfy claims of our citizens, as novel and curious as it was successful.”

“These two measures were the first essay of those islanders in negotiation and legislation; and it is believed the success of them tended to no small extent to generate in them a feeling of independence and self-reliance; which alone, it is more than probable, has prevented these islands from being numbered, by this time, among the colonial possessions of Great Britain.”

“The one has ever been regarded by all nations having intercourse with these islanders as a solemn treaty; has been respected as such; and been made the basis of all similar arrangements entered into with them.”

“The other was so efficient as to secure to our citizens some $500,000, the recovery of which, until it was adopted, had been despaired of.”

(In an agreement between Jones and Kaahumanu (as Regent), Kalanimoku (as Prime Minister), Boki, Hoapili and Namahana, the debt was paid off via a tax where,

“Every man is to deliver half a pecul of good sandal-wood to the governor of the district to which he belongs [and] Every woman of the age of thirteen years or upwards, is to pay a mat, 12 feet long and 6 wide, or tapa of equal value, (to such a mat,) or the sum of one Spanish dollar”.

“After the public debts are paid, the remainder of the amount of this tax to be divided between the king and governors—one half to the regency, for the use of the king; and the other half to be divided between the governors, in proportion to the amount collected from each island.”)

“The importance of the Sandwich islands as a place of refuge for the refreshment and repair of our marine, is understood by all commercial men, and cannot well be overrated; and …”

“the services of Captain Jones, the pioneer in making those arrangements which have kept them open to our shipping, cannot be too highly estimated.”

“He deserves the gratitude of every man who values our South Sea commerce; and ought not to be permitted to suffer from pecuniary losses sustained in rendering such important services to his country.” (US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 28th Congress, 2d Session, Report No. 92)

He “secured for himself among the people the designation of ‘the kind-eyed chief’ – a compliment falling on the ear of many of different classes”.  (Hiram Bingham)

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Linzy Clark Child

“Born Aug. 14, 1887, Ogden, Utah, son of Austin W., and Mary (Thompson) Child; married Lena Conant at Kealakekua, Hawaii, July 5, 1913; children, Helen C., Madelane C., and Elmer Austin Child; member, Hilo Lodge No. 759, B. P. 0. Elks.”

“Educated in schools of Utah, Mr. Child came to Hawaii in 1908 and entered the employ of H. Hackfeld & Co., at Kailua, remaining in the branch office and store there after it was taken over by American Factors, Ltd.”

“On October 1, 1918, he was promoted to the managership, which position he still holds. He is active in the civic affairs of the Kona district and is postmaster at Kailua.”  (Nellist)

“From 1900 to 1917, the largest business in Kailua-Kona was H. Hackfeld & Co. Ltd. The name changed to American Factors in 1917 and to AmFac in the 1960s.”

“Its two-story building sat at the entrance to Kailua Pier on the current site of King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. It served as company headquarters, general store, post office and employee housing.”

“There were also a coffee mill and a large diesel generator used to make ice. By the 1930s, American Factors had established a lumberyard on the site as well. … the warehouses of Amfac dealt with practically everything else for decades: ice, food for man and beast, building materials, hardware, fuel and kitchen sinks.”

“[B]ecause Kailua’s shallow water pier was impossible to tie up to, lumber was floated, paddled, and swum ashore and then hauled up to dry on the white sands of Kamakahonu Beach.” (Kona Historical Society)

“This arduous task, floating huge beams and rafters ashore, happened for well over a century at undeveloped Kona ports such as Kailua, Keauhou, and Ho`okena. Henry N. Greenwell’s shipment of northwest fir for his Greenwell Store arrived at Kealakekua Bay before 1870.”

“His initials – H.N.G. – painted in black on each piece of timber identified his wood so when athletic Hawaiians swam it ashore at Napoopoo, it could be piled in one place.”

“That was when Napoopoo ‘was a really happening place’ with Amfac’s wooden store dominating the front street, large metal tanks holding fuel looming amongst the palm trees, and warehouses filled with Kona coffee, Kona oranges, and bananas advertised Kona’s agricultural wealth.”

“And, live beef on the hoof was to be found penned up near Hikiau Heiau, awaiting their one-way trip to Honolulu’s slaughterhouses on board the Humu’ula.”

“Freighters arrived in Kailua Bay laden with fuel, a long hose or pipe was connected from the ship to the shore to enable gasoline to be pumped directly into Standard Oil’s large white fuel tank. Fifty gallon drums full of oil were simply floated ashore.”

“When ‘rafts’ of bundled lumber made it onto the beach, Mr. Linzy Child, Amfac’s Kailua branch manager, had men grade (select with no knots, rough clear), segregate, and carefully stack each plank to dry with laths in between each piece.”

“Local villagers would be hired to do much of the work on steamer days, a good chance for able bodied men and boys to earn some ready cash.”

“Takao Katoku earned a penny a piece to swim lumber ashore and drag it onto the sands of Napoopoo Beach in the early 20th century.

“Kona, in the 1920s, enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. Large sums were invested in equipment and machinery, acreage was expanded, and new homes were built. Farmers obtained credit for these improvements and they borrowed heavily.”

“Those outside coffee farming – those who provided goods and services – prospered. The Y.K. Aiona Store, owned by Sam Liau’s family, was one of many stores that enjoyed a brisk business. The Manago Hotel, now a Kona landmark, expanded its facilities and services.” (Kona Historical Society)

Hopes continued to soar. But, when coffee prices fell, Kona’s people, too, fell deeper and deeper into debt. The hopes and dreams of many were shattered.

Between 1929 and 1938, the number of farmers decreased by an alarming 50 percent. Relief was obtained only in the late 1930s. Farmers, storekeepers, and others united in an effort to save their community.

Usaku Morihara was one of many who participated in this effort.  “People started running away because of the depression. So we started negotiating with American Factors. I told Factors to reduce all of the debts.”

“I told them the people would remember this and be loyal to them until death. I told them the coffee business would be doomed otherwise, and there would be no farmers in Kona, so it would be their loss as well as ours. I told them let us be free of our debts.”

“I told them the farmers would start working hard when everything started fresh. And those who’d run away would come back since they liked Kona better than the sugar plantations and any other place.” (A Social History of Kona)

“[I]t was my grandfather Linzy C. Child who was the manager of American Factors Kailua during that period that negotiated and spoke to Mr. Morihara and others about helping the farmers debt problems.”

“Getting on a ship to Honolulu he was successful getting top management of American Factors to forgive 98% of the debts; this was unheard of. I believe the action taken by Grandpa and American Factors saved the Kona Coffee industry and changed the way banking was done in Hawaii in dealing with other ethnic groups!” (Linzy Hotz)

Linzy Clark is also credited in helping to start Kona’s Kai ‘Ōpua canoe club. (Kai ‘Opua)  “Grandpa was a humble man who rarely spoke of his life while living in Kona since the early 1900s.”  (Linzy Hotz)

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