Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mauna Loa Boys School

“In 1945 Governor Ingram Stainback requested that Director of Institutions, Thomas B. Vance, concentrate his efforts on developing self-supporting prison industries.”

“With that in mind, Kulani Prison Camp, opened in 1945 as the successor to Waiakea Prison Camp, operated a lumbering enterprise producing logs and milled lumber of native hardwoods as materials to be processed and sold from Oahu Prison’s industrial area.” (Department of Institutions Summary 1939-1958)

The development of Kulani Camp and its means of access, the Stainback Highway, fell under the management of Vance. (Maly)

“Kulani … provided a reservoir of manpower for the construction of public roads on Hawaii …. – roads that would have been economically prohibitive if built under contract.” (Department of Institutions Summary 1939-1958)

Today, Kulani Correctional Facility (KCF) is a 200-bed minimum security prison located on the slope of Mauna Loa, approximately 20 miles south east of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai’i.

In addition to the Kulani Prison Camp, in 1946, they planned the Mauna Loa Boys School. “There is nothing experimental about the boys’ school project. It is to be built four miles from the proposed new prison site”. (Honolulu Advertiser, October 2, 1946)

The plan was to “move delinquent boys from Waialee [on the North Shore of O‘ahu] to Mauna Loa, on Hawai‘i.” (Star-Bulletin, Jan 4, 1947)

In addition, “The purpose of the Mauna Loa camp is to segregate the older juveniles from Koolau where they are an influence on younger delinquents.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 31, 1953)

“Work got under way thus week on Mauna Loa boy’s forestry camp on the Big Island. Because all bids were higher than the territorial department of institutions could afford, prisoners from Kulani project and the boys who will occupy the camp are to finish the work.”

“The camp is five miles north of Kulani Project.” “It is built on the same plan as the new Koolau Boys’ home on Oahu. Forty boys whose ages range from 16 to 19 will be quartered there.” (Star-Bulletin, Oct 5, 1950)

“The Mauna Loa Forestry Camp will open officially tomorrow … ‘I believe that the Mauna Loa Forestry Camp program will quickly evolve into one of the most forward looking steps that the territory has taken in mapping a solution to the problem of youth offenders.’”

“The fourteen young men from Koolau are almost all in the 18 and 19 year old age group. They are a highly selected group of young men who have not only volunteered for the forestry camp assignment but who have insisted on it”.

“‘The plan for the young men to take over the forestry camp at this time,’ Mr. Vance [Director of Public Institutions] said, ‘came about as a result of the Lions trip to the summit of Mauna Loa.’”

“‘Four of the young men from Koolau spent Thursday and Friday nights, at the forestry camp March 20 and 21 and joined the Lions on the Mauna Loa summit trip March 22. They asked their superintendent, Mr. Henry, for a conference with me before the Lions left the mountain summit.’”

“‘The conference was held at the United States weather bureau laboratory atop Mauna Loa. The four young men from Koolau asked for the privilege of completing their own structure at the forestry camp, rather than having Kulani do it for them. They reason that it is their plant.’”

“‘They are not boys; they are young men who are just as capable or heavy construction work as the men at Kulani. Many of the forestry camp’s young men will soon be due for parole or discharge. Before that time, they want to make a constructive contribution to the building of the camp.’”

“‘I was somewhat surprised to find that occupancy of the forestry camp and the initiation of a CCC type of operation represents the realization of a dream to the young men in our training school system just as much as it does to me.’”

“‘When the four Koolau boys’ home visitors to the forestry camp returned to Koolau, they presented their plan to William G Among, superintendent, division of training schools. He and I then conferred and the plan was approved.’”

“‘The fourteen young men at the forestry camp will be housed in the duplex staff apartment of the main structure until they complete their own quarters.’” (Superintendent William Henry, Hawaii Tribune Herald, April 3, 1952)

By 1953 the facility was operational, but legislative appropriations did not make ends meet, “‘We find it impossible to operate Mauna Loa within our budget.’ [William Among, superintendent of the division of training schools] said. “There is an $11 per capita per day expense at Mauna Loa and the legislature has only given $2.60 to meet this.” (Star Bulletin, Sept 8, 1959)

When Territorial House members toured the camp in 1953 they called the project “one of the most expensive and impractical projects ever constructed in the Territory of Hawai‘i”. (DLNR)

“Before it went into full operation there was a change of administrations”. “One man’s dream of a better life for delinquent boys has become an efficiency expert’s nightmare.” “Defenders of the original plan say it was not given a chance.” The camp was closed on October 1, 1953.

However, it was not always rosy when it was operating. “The propensity for escape by these inmates debuted July 19, 1952, when 14 boys walked away from a picnic on Coconut Island and scattered all over Hilo. … It took 25 policemen more than 14 hours to round up the escapee”. There were other escapes.

Likewise, “Inmates at reform schools have a penchant for stealing cars, and those at Mauna Loa Forestry Camp were no exception. On Sept. 17, 1952, three youths stole a panel truck and went for a joy ride up the Stainback Highway …”

On their return, the driver “lost control of the speeding truck. It went off the road and overturned several times.” One of the occupants “was pinned under the wreckage and killed. … [the driver] was later charged with negligent homicide and sentenced to five years in Oahu Prison.” (Warshauer)

“Nobody knows what to do with the Mauna Loa Forestry Camp, rising like a fortress of concrete and steel in a rain-drenched mountain fortress 28 miles from Hilo.” (Star Bulletin, Sept 8, 1959) It was temporarily turned into a warehouse.

Since closure the facility was used intermittently by Kūlani Correctional Facility and by the military for training. (DLNR) “On June 15, 1969, the Division of Forestry and Fish and Game of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources issued a permit to the 29th Infantry for field training. The assaulted the abandoned building June 19-23, 1969, leaving it the wreck it remains today.” (Warshauer)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu – About 1850

On the continent: the Donner Party was trapped in heavy snow (1846;) California Gold Rush was underway (1848;) and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, giving the United States Texas, California, New Mexico and other territories (1848.)  Europe was in political upheaval with the European Revolutions of 1848 (aka “Spring of Nations” or “Springtime of the Peoples.”)

In Hawaiʻi, Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, was King and the Great Māhele (1848) was taking place; it was the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi that separated land title to the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents,) and eventually the people.

At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents.  Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors.)  Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right.)

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above.)  In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

Kawaiahaʻo Church (Stone Church) generally marked the eastern edge of town; it was constructed between 1836 and 1842.  The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the time to this day.

Honolulu Harbor was bustling at that time.  Over the prior twenty years, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846; 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Shortly after, however, in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the Hawaiʻi whaling industry.

At the time, Honolulu Harbor was not as it is today and many of the visiting ships would anchor two to three miles off-shore – cargo and people were ferried to the land.

What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

From 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the “Esplanade” (where Aloha Tower is now situated) and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor was underway.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) was demolished in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor – some of the coral blocks are still visible at Pier 12.

The old prison was built in 1856-57, to take the place of the old fort (that also previously served as a prison.)  The custom-house was completed in 1860.  The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes was laid down in 1861.

The city was regularly laid out with major streets typically crossing at right angles – they were dirt (Fort Street had to wait until 1881 for pavement, the first to be paved.)  Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood (as early as 1838;) by 1857, the first sidewalk made of brick was laid down on Merchant Street.

Honolulu Hale was then located on Merchant Street (now the park/vacant lot between the Kamehameha V Post Office and Pioneer Plaza.)  County governance was still 50-years away (1905) and what we now know as Honolulu Hale today was 75-years away (1928.)

To get around people walked, or rode horses or used personal carts/buggies.  It wasn’t until 1868, that horse-drawn carts became the first public transit service in the Hawaiian Islands.

At that time, folks were 50-years away from getting automobiles (the first gasoline-powered arrived in 1900;) that same year (1900,) an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and by 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation (1838:) “I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land… Because of the lack of streets some people were almost killed by horseback riders ….”  By 1850, there was much improvement.

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

At the time, “Broadway” was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest – about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (to Mānoa.)

There were five food markets in Honolulu (in thatched sheds) one of which was more particularly a vegetable market.  Irish potatoes were $2-$3 per bushel (about 50-lbs;) eggs were $0.25 to $0.75 per dozen; oranges $0.25 per dozen and turkeys and ducks were about $.05 each, chickens started at about $0.25 a piece.

Butter was mostly made on the Big Island and Kauai – about 19,000-lbs produced – and sold at an average price of $0.30 per pound; milk was 12 1/2 cents a quart.  Fresh beef sold for $0.06 per pound.

The fledgling sugar industry was starting to spread across the islands.

It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands.  Of the nearly 385,000 foreign contract workers that eventually came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Founded in 1839, Oʻahu’s first school was called the Chief’s Children’s School.  The school was created by King Kamehameha III to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom.

Missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke were selected by King Kamehameha III to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.

Here, Hawai‘i sovereigns (who reigned after Kamehameha III over the Hawaiian people after his death in 1854) were given Western education, including, Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) Queen Emma, Lot Kapuaiwa (King Kamehameha V,) King William Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Lili‘uokalani.

Lots of information here from ‘The Polynesian’ (January 1, 1847,) Greer and Gilman.  The image shows Honolulu from the Harbor in 1854.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Adherent Planters

When we think of the prior sugar industry, we often only think of the large corporate entities – the Big Five (C. Brewer & Co, 1826; Theo H. Davies & Co, 1845; Amfac, 1849; Castle & Cooke, 1851 and Alexander & Baldwin, 1870).

These were the ‘factors’ who served as agents (and many times bankers) for thirty-six of the thirty-eight sugar plantations,;the Big Five openly monopolized the sugar trade.

But these and the companies they represented were not the only sugar planters.  Hawai‘i also had adherent planters.  These farmers, many of whom worked certain periods for the plantation, sold their cane to the plantation on a contractual basis.

Because of the topography of Hawaii, it often happens that small areas of land suitable for growing sugarcane are isolated by deep ravines or small rivers from the main body of the plantation land.

When, for these or other reasons, it was not practicable to put a piece of land under the direct management of the plantation, it was the usual practice to provide for the cultivation of such land under what was known as “ the adherent-planter system.”

In 1939, there were approximately 3,500 such adherent planters in the Territory, cultivating about 13 percent of the total cane area on more than 5,000 separate parcels of land, and producing about 10 percent of the total sugar cane grown in Hawaii. (US Bureau of Labor, 1939)

Around statehood (1959) approximately 100,000 tons of sugar was produced annually, principally on the unirrigated plantations on the island of Hawaii under the so-called adherent planter system.

This adherent planter system was an outgrowth of the Hawaiian plantation system over the prior 50 years and was unique in the American sugar-producing areas.

The small sugar growers had two types of agreements with the plantations: as adherent planters or as independent growers.

The adherent system originated when adherent planter agreements were offered by already established and operating sugar plantations to employees as a convenient arrangement to grow sugarcane on a portion of lands under cultivation by the plantation.

The plantation financed the venture, made available the use of mules, plows, fertilizer, heavy equipment, and labor at the time of harvest and transported the sugarcane crop after harvest to the plantation mill.

As a payment for the contribution of the adherent planter for labor performed, the plantation producer settled with the adherent planter by purchasing the sugarcane at a price tied to the price of raw sugar at market.

Direct contributions by way of finances, the loan of equipment, men, and advance of materials and services such as transportation, were a charge against the adherent planter.

Indirect contributions such as technical assistance in agricultural practices, certain types of supervision, scientific research and development, and the general costs that go into operating a large-scale plantation were charged to the adherent planter’s account.

Thus the Hawaiian sugar plantations early entered into a cooperative project of sugarcane production with certain selected employees under the adherent planter system.

This was in contrast to the so-called independent planters of Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. In those areas, for the most part, the sugar centrals came into already independently developed farming areas where sugarcane was already in existence, and placed a mill among the growers for the purpose of processing sugarcane.

The sugar processors in the independent-planter areas never were in a joint enterprise in the growing of sugarcane with their planters, as were the plantation producers of Hawaii under the adherent planter system.

The adherent planter system on the Hawaiian sugar plantations was an outgrowth of the earlier development. There are many different types of adherent planter agreements on various sugar plantations, and, in some instances on the same plantation.

But, the basic relationship which was an outgrowth of the past was essentially the same in all. For the most part, adherent planters were employees of the plantations who have been granted small parcels of land for the cultivation of sugarcane either in their spare time or during portions of the year which they devote exclusively to these adherent planter plots.

These same employees spend the bulk of the year on the plantation pay rolls in various capacities such as harvesters, cultivators, millmen, or in similar employment. As a rule an adherent planter has two parcels of land, one for each crop year. This was because sugar cane in Hawaii was grown in a 2-year crop cycle and it was financially more convenient for adherent planters to receive a settlement once a year instead of once in 2 years.

The adherent planter was charged with the responsibility of planting, bringing to maturity, and harvesting the crop of sugarcane on the land allocated to him by the plantation producer.

The skilled operators of the plantation producer run the equipment, and the planter was given the full advantage of scientific mechanization in sugarcane cultivation.

Plantation agriculturalists under the terms of the adherent planter agreements determined the varieties of cane to be planted and the agricultural practices to be followed by the adherent planter and gave the adherent planters early advantage of newest developments at the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association experiment station.

These and other developments in the industry station have been brought about at industry expense and made available to the adherent planters without charge.

At the time of the harvest, in most instances, the sugarcane was taken off by the heavy equipment of the plantation producer or by gangs of plantation men. The sugarcane was delivered to the mill in the plantation system of transportation.

The adherent planter was generally paid for his sugarcane on the basis of the average New York price of 90° sugar, for the month in which the sugarcane was harvested.

The various adherent planter plots are quite frequently found interspersed among the administration fields and are always physically located within the confines of the farming unit of the plantation.

The entire operation was essentially a joint one between the adherent planter and the plantation producer.  The passage of the Jones-Costigan amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1934 resulted in the scrutiny of this system by the Department of Agriculture.

After a thorough investigation and public hearings in the Territory of Hawaii in December 1934, at which were present the representatives of the bulk of adherent planters in the Hawaiian sugar industry, the various plantation producers and the Secretary of Agriculture entered into the so-called production adjustment agreement.

These agreements set up the terms and conditions under which the Hawaiian sugar producers participated in the program for the production of sugar cane under the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In these agreements, the peculiar status of the adherent planters of Hawaii was given recognition by the Secretary of Agriculture.

The so-called benefit payments of $10 per ton on sugar produced from adherent planter sugarcane were divided between the plantation producers and the adherent planters on the basis as though these payments were an increase in the market price of sugar; thus recognizing the joint nature of the venture under the adherent planter system.  (Most here is from the Congressional Record)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Evolution of the Volcano House

All the known Hawaiian eruptions since 1778 have been at Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes, except for the 1800–1801 eruption of Hualālai Volcano on the west coast of Hawai‘i Island.

For the past 200 years, Mauna Loa and Kilauea have tended to erupt on average every two or three years, placing them among the most frequently active volcanoes of the world.

The individual Kilauea eruptions recorded historically are in addition to the nearly continuous eruptive activity within or near Halema‘uma‘u Crater, extending throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

Simultaneous eruption of both volcanoes has been rare except at times when Kilauea was continuously active before 1924. The only post-1924 occurrence of simultaneous eruption was in March 1984, when activity at both volcanoes overlapped for one day.

Between 1934 and 1952, only Mauna Loa was active and, between 1952 and 1974, only Kilauea was. (Tilling)  Since July 1950, Hawaiian eruptive activity has been dominated by frequent and sometimes prolonged eruptions at Kilauea, while only a couple short lived eruptions have occurred at Mauna Loa (July 1975 and March-April 1984).

Except for the nearly continuous eruptive activity at Halema‘uma‘u for a century before 1924, and at Mauna Loa summit between 1872 and 1877, the Pu‘u ‘O‘o eruption became the longest lasting single Hawaiian eruption in recorded history.

“The wonderful volcano of Kīlauea, on the island of Hawaii, is the great attractive of visitors.  It is the only crater in the world that is constantly in action, and that can be safely approached at all times to the very edge of the precipice which encloses the boiling lava.”

“To reach Kīlauea necessitates a passage of thirty hours from Honolulu in a fine steamer to Hilo or Punalu‘u, then a ride of thirty miles in coaches takes visitors to a fine hotel, which overlooks the molten lava lake. It is a sight that will repay the effort and expense incurred ten times over, and one that will never be forgotten.” (Whitney)

The earliest structure associated with Volcano House can be traced back all the way to 1846 when Benjamin Pitman constructed a four walled thatched shelter “in the native style.” It was a simple, one-room 12-by-18-foot shelter made of grass and native ohia wood poles is built and later dubbed “Volcano House.” The name stuck.  (NPS)

The NPS records include a Volcano House Register, essentially a Guest Book; this started at Pitman’s Volcano House. Orramel H Gulick donated the first blank volume of the Volcano House Register. Gulick noted in the preface,

“Travelers and passersby are requested by the donor of this book to record their names in it and to note all, or any, volcanic phenomena that may come under their notice during their stay or at the time of their visit.  By so doing, this record may become of great value, some years hence, to the scientific world.”

The first entry of Volume 1 is dated February 8, 1864; here JB Swain starts, “Having been located in this vicinity for the year last past I have noticed that the volcano has been in greater activity the last month than at any time throughout the last year. Within the last few days jets of lava could be seen from the Volcano House during the day, a circumstance not before observed.”

Later (1866), a four-room wood frame, thatched-roof Volcano House replaced the original building. One of its early guests was Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain).

Mark Twain recounts his Volcano House stay in a November 16, 1866 Sacramento Daily Union article, “Neat, roomy, well furnished and a well kept hotel … The surprise of finding a good hotel at such an outlandish spot startled me, considerably more than the volcano did.”

Royal Geographical Society traveler Isabella Bird visited in 1872. Bird remarked “The inn is a grass and bamboo house, very beautifully constructed without nails.”

“It is a longish building with a steep roof divided inside by partitions which run up to the height of the walls. There is no ceiling. The joists which run across are concealed by wreaths of evergreens, from among which peep out here and there stars on a blue ground.”

In 1877, William Lentz, a carpenter from Baltimore, built a more permanent western-style Volcano House hotel; it was located on the flat area fronting the present Volcano Art Center.  King Kalākaua, Louis Pasteur and Robert Louis Stevenson are among its guests.

By 1891, the popularity of Volcano House hotel was booming. The hotel had traded hands again, this time to Lorrin A Thurston, a Honolulu businessman and controversial historic figure. Thurston formed the “Volcano House Company” in partnership with the steamship companies that operated in Hawaiʻi at the time.

In 1891, this partnership increased capacity of the hotel with a 2-story Victorian-style addition to the Ka‘ū side of the building. Even with the addition, space in the hotel was barely enough for demand. At times, the lodge was so crowded that the billiard table in the parlor would be used as a bed.

In 1912, Thomas Jaggar built the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which he located on edge of the crater (at the site of the existing Volcano House). The concrete vault of the observatory Jaggar was called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology (named after Edward and Caroline Whitney, whose estate subscribed $25,000 for research into the science of volcanoes).

In 1921 the Volcano House grew again; in addition, the 1877 section of the building was removed from the 1891 Victorian addition and moved behind the new structure, back to where it currently is (the Volcano Art Center building).  A two-story wing was then added to the Victorian addition, bringing the number of rooms from 25 to 104.

A lack of tourism due to the Great Depression forced the company to sell the hotel at a sheriff’s auction.  George Lycurgus, sole bidder and a previous manager of the hotel, purchased the building for $300.

“Uncle George”, as he later became known, would go on to manage the hotel until his death in 1959. Lycurgus hosted celebrities such as Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart,

On February 7, 1940, tragedy struck; the Volcano House burnt to the ground. A kitchen fire raged out of control and claimed the entire building. The next day, Volcano House was open for business as the smaller 1877 building was pressed back into service to accommodate guests.

In 1941, NPS paid for the construction of a new 24-room wood-and-stone hotel; it is designed by noted architect Charles W Dickey.  The hotel was also relocated about 200 yards from its former site, across Crater Rim Drive on the caldera’s edge. (The 1941 Volcano House having been constructed over it.)

On November 8, 1941, the new hotel opened for business.  Over the years, the list of guests included Dwight D Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Dr. Charles W. Mayo, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon as well as many others.

The Park Headquarters (Administration Building) was built in June 1932; in 1949 it was turned over to the Volcano House Hotel. At that time, Lycurgus renamed the building the Ohia Wing and converted the interior into 10-guestrooms with private baths. In 1953, an eight-room wing was added to the main hotel building.

The legacy of this historic hotel continues. Today, the Volcano House Hotel has 33-guest rooms; in addition, the hotel manages 10 cabins and 16 campsites located at Nāmakanipaio Campground about 3-miles from the hotel.

As they have done for over centuries, people flock to Kīlauea to experience the wonder of nature at work. As it has always done, Volcano House Hotel provides a good meal and warm hearth to those that make the journey.

(In 1935, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not stated that the “fire in the fireplace in the Volcano House has been burning continuously for 61 years”; and, it continued to do so for many more years.  However, “the fabled fireplace was allowed to go out New Year’s Day 2010.” (Hawaii Magazine)) (Information here is from various documents of the NPS.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nāhiku Rubber Company

Nāhiku comes from “Na Ehiku” meaning “the Seven” and it relates to the seven stars of the constellation Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters – suggesting seven lands.  This area is just outside of Hāna.

Nāhiku is a fertile ahupuaʻa that was cleared and terraced with irrigated taro cultivation by the Hawaiians. To the east of Nāhiku out to Hamoa, the land slopes gently down to the ocean. No large gulches or streams run through the ahupua’a, although there is plenty of rain.

Along the shore there was a hala forest that extended from ʻUlaʻino to Hāna. The forests above Nāhiku were traditionally forested with native trees such as koa, ʻōhiʻa lehua and sandalwood. Many plants that were used for native medicine also grew there.

 In modern times, when Hāna was without a road, and the coastal steamer arrived on a weekly schedule, Hāna-bound travelers unwilling to wait for the boat drove their car to the road’s end at Kailua, rode horseback to Kaumahina ridge, then walked down the switchback into Honomanu Valley. Friends carried them on flatbed taro trucks across the Keʻanae peninsula to Wailua cove. (Wenkam, NPS)

By outrigger canoe it was a short ride beyond Wailua to Nāhiku landing where they could borrow a car for the rest of the involved trip to Hāna. Sometimes the itinerary could be completed in a day. Bad weather could make it last a week.  (Wenkam, NPS)

Today, Nāhiku is located off Hāna Highway (360) on Nāhiku Road between Wailua and Hāna.  Just past the 25-mile marker, you head makai on Nāhiku Road about three miles down to the bay. Nearby is the Pua’a Ka’a State Wayside for picnicking, as well as the Kopilula and Waikani Falls. The lower Hanawi Falls is located in Nāhiku.

Nāhiku is the site of an attempt to create a rubber plantation on Maui. The need for automobile tires made rubber a valuable product in the late-1800s.  In 1898, Mr. Hugh Howell, of Nāhiku, obtained some seeds of the Manihot glaziovii (Brazilian) and planted them in Nāhiku. These seem to be the first trees of any commercial species that have been tried.

After some initial experimentation in producing rubber, the company was not started until it was definitely ascertained that rubber trees of the best quality would grow at Nāhiku, and the yield of rubber from these trees was sufficient to make it a profitable investment. A number of trees of the Ceara variety have been growing at Nāhiku for six years, and when these were tapped it was found that the rubber obtained was equal to the best.  (Thrum)

The first Hawai’i rubber company incorporated in 1905 and on February 4, 1907, the Nāhiku Rubber Plantation was officially established. It was the first rubber plantation on American soil.

There are many thousands of acres of land on the Islands where it is rainy and not too windy, where rubber will thrive, and if this first rubber company proves a success, it is hoped that many other rubber companies will be started.

As this is the first rubber plantation ever started on American soil the officials of the Department of Agriculture at Washington arc greatly interested in its success, and are doing everything they can to help it along. (Thrum, 1905)

According to ‘Rubber World’ 7 (1913,) rubber was steadily becoming an important Hawaiian product.  On the island of Maui many trees have been planted and these are tapped in large numbers.  Steady efforts are being made to improve the methods of preparation in order to increase the marketable value: 35,000-trees were tapped during 1912, and altogether some 8,000-pounds of rubber were produced, most of which was exported.  For 1913, an output of 20,000-pounds is anticipated.  (Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Attention has been directed to an indigenous rubber tree (Euphorbia lorifolia) which grows in several localities; one place in particular on the Island of Hawaiʻi has 6,000-trees averaging 75-trees to the acre, whose product is 14-17 per cent of rubber and 60 per cent resin (chicle.)  It is reported that the latex contains 42 per cent of solid material and that one man can collect 16-30 pounds of crude product per day.  (Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Others followed the Nāhiku Rubber Company, each were in the area around Nāhiku:
Company………………Founded…Acres
Nāhiku Rubber Co……..1905…….480
Hawaii-American Co…..1903…… 245
Koʻolau Rubber Co…….1906……..275
Nāhiku Sugar Co……….1906……..250
Pacific Development…1907……..250
(Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 1913)

Cultivation grew with companies and individuals controlling nearly 5,600-acres of land on Maui, Kauai, Oahu and the Big Island.

At the height of the rubber production, Nāhiku had a Chinese grocery and post office, a plantation general store; Protestant, Mormon and Catholic churches and a schoolhouse attended by twenty children. One visitor to the area in 1910 said, “Every place has its peculiarities and characteristics; so with Nāhiku. It is rubber, first, last and all the time there.”

However, the quality and quantity of rubber produced by these plantations, despite the hard work of the laborers (who were paid 50 cents for a ten-hour day with a 30-minute lunch break) was not good enough to make a substantial profit for the investors. The companies began to phase out production as early as 1912. The oldest of the rubber companies, the Nāhiku Rubber Plantation, closed on January 20, 1915.

After the rubber plantations closed, some residents moved out of Nāhiku. Those who stayed resumed cultivating bananas and taro for food. Some tried growing bananas as a cash crop and when this didn’t work began growing roselle for jelly. Eventually these attempts also failed. The exodus out of Nāhiku to the “outside” continued.

 According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, in 1930 there were only 182 people living in Nāhiku. Of them, 101 were Hawaiian. By 1941 only fifteen families and two non-Hawaiian families lived there, clustered around a one-room school and the churches.

In December, 1942, Territorial Governor Ingram Stainback tried to help the World War II effort by sending 40 prisoners from Oʻahu Prison to the Keanae Prison Camp (now the YMCA camp) to revive the old Nāhiku rubber plantation. The plan was to produce 20,000 to 50,000 pounds of crude rubber annually. The plan did not work.  Now, rubber trees left over from that time line the roads of Nāhiku.

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