Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Koreans in Hawai‘i

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

In 1882, the United States and Korea signed a formal trade agreement.  Under provisions of the treaty, Koreans were able to travel to, reside and study in, and trade with the US.

Although they had a signed trade agreement, there was little activity between the two countries.  That changed moving into the early-1900s – the first of several waves of Korean immigration started in 1903.

Korean immigration to Hawaii can be compared to ocean waves and there have been four waves of Korean immigrants.

Between 1903 and 1905, the first wave brought nearly 8,000 Koreans to Hawaiian shores.  The January 13, 1903 edition of the ‘Evening Bulletin’ (forerunner of the Star-Bulletin) reported, “The Korean immigrants who arrived this morning are an experimental case.  If these workers prove to be good workers and possess a kind and courteous attitude, it is evident that more Koreans will be arriving here aboard the ships from the Orient in the future.”

By April 1905, 65-ships brought 7,843 Koreans to Hawai‘i – 6,701 men, 677 women and 465 juveniles (under the age of 14.)  Men out numbered women, 10 to 1.

Most of the early immigrants were young men about 20-years of age.  Since sugar plantations wanted to import farm workers, prospective immigrants listed their occupation as farmers in their immigration applications; however, only one-seventh of the Korean immigrants had actually been farmers.

Most had dreams of making a fortune and then returning to Korea to get married.  However, for many, there was no country to go back to.

In the 1894-1895, then in 1904-1905, two wars broke out around the Korean Peninsula – Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese, respectively.  Japan took over financial and diplomatic powers from the Koreans in 1905.

Eventually, Japan assumed absolute governance of the Korean Peninsula and, finally, in 1910, annexed Korea.

Back in Hawai‘i, the young immigrants soon became middle-aged and many remained bachelors.  Preferring to marry Korean brides, a decision was made to import brides from Korea.

This started the second wave of immigration, dominated by “picture brides.”   951 young picture brides journeyed to Hawai‘i; they were greeted by the nearly 5,000 Korean bachelors eagerly looking to get married.

The third wave of Korean immigration to Hawai‘i was during the post-war period of 1947-1967.  This included students, “War Brides” (also known as “Peace Brides”) and war orphans.

These early students became leaders upon returning home after Korea was liberated from Japan as the Republic of Korea in 1948.  The War Brides married GIs while American soldiers were stationed in Korea.

The final wave of Korean immigration, starting around 1967, included immigrants from a broad range of occupations, unlike the initial job-specific focus.  Many well-educated people moved to Hawai‘i and the continent who were entrepreneurs, doctors, investors and other professionals.

According to recent population data for Hawaiʻi, of the approximate 1.4-million Hawaiʻi residents, nearly 50,000 are Korean.  Many are the descendants of these early immigrants to Hawaiʻi.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kai‘ahulu

In the legend of Pele and Hi’iaka, Hi’iaka, the sister of the volcano goddess Pele, travels around the islands. In one instance, Hi‘iaka’s canoe is beached on the sands of Mokulē‘ia Hi‘iaka leaves her companions to pay her respects to her ancestor, Pohaku-o-Kauai, and to her ancestral divinity Ka‘ena.

She passes Ka‘ena Point on O‘ahu, and enters the hot and arid region of Waialua. As she climbs up into the Wai‘anae Mountains above the lands of Keālia and Kawaihāpai, she offers the following chant:

Kunihi Kaena, holo i ka malie:
Wela i ka La ke alo o ka pali;
Auamo mai i ka La o Kilauea;
Ikiiki i ka La na Ke-awa-ula,
Ola i ka makani Kai-a-ulu Kohola-leleHe
makani ia no lalo

Ka’ena’s profile fleets through the calm,
With flanks ablaze in the sunlight –
A furnace heat like Kilauea;
Ke-awa-ula shelters in heat;
Kohala-lele revives in the breeze,
That breath from the sea, Kai-a-ulu.

Recorded accounts of early foreign explorers gives an indication of what pre-contact Hawai‘i was like.  After the death of Captain James Cook on the Island of Hawai‘i, the crew of the Resolution sailed to O‘ahu.  Captain Charles Clerke, after anchoring in Waimea Bay, describes the highly populated and lush northwest coast of O‘ahu:

“I stood into a Bay just to the Wtward [Westward] of this point the Eastern Shore of which was by far the most beautifull Country we have yet seen among these Isles, here was a fine expanse of Low Land bounteously cloath’d with Verdure, on which were situate many large Villages and extensive plantations;”

“… at the Water side it terminated in a fine sloping, sand Beach . . . This Bay, its Geographical situation consider’d is by no means a bad Roadsted, being sheltered from the NEbN [Northeast by North] SEterly [Southeasterly] to SWbW [Southwest by West] with a good depth of Water and a fine firm sandy Bottom; it lays on the NW [Northwest] side of this Island of Wouahoo [O‘ahu] … surrounded by a fine pleasant fertile Country.”

In 1813 , Waialua was described by John Whitman, an early missionary visitor, as: … a large district on the N.E. extremity of the island, embracing a large quantity of taro land, many excellent fishing grounds and several large fish ponds one of which deserves particular notice for its size and the labour bestowed in building the wall which encloses it.”

Another missionary, Levi Chamberlain, described the vicinity of Kawaihāpai in 1826: “At 11 o’ck we set out and walked along a path leading over an extended plain covered with high grass. “

“After walking about 3 miles we took a path leading over a marshy tract to the mountains which we were designing to cross in order that we might avoid a bad piece of traveling along the western shore. The mountains here run in nearly a N.W. and N.E. direction being somewhat circular.”

“We ascended by a rough & difficult path, shrubs, long grass, wild plants and bushes sprung up grew luxuriantly among the rocks being plentifully moistened by little streams which trickled down the steep sides of the mountains.”

“After ascending several hundred feet, we came to a beautiful little run of water conducted by sprouts furnishing sufficient moisture for a number of taro patches below.”

“I was told that the water never failed and the district into which it passes is called Kawaihapai (Water lifted Up) on account of the water’s being conducted from such an elevation.”

“The prospect from the acclivity is very fine. The whole district of Waialua is spread out before the eye with its cluster of settlements, straggling houses, scattering trees, cultivated plats & growing in broad perspectives the wide extending ocean tossing its restless waves and throwing in its white foaming billows fringing the shores all along the whole extent of the district.” (Cultural Surveys)

As early as the 1840s, cattle were known to have grazed on the lowlands of Waialua. In 1897, B.F. Dillingham purchased the Kawailoa Ranch in Mokulē‘ia. The ranch included over 2,000 head of cattle and over a hundred horses and mules on 10,000-acres of land.

Dillingham also leased additional property in Mokulē‘ia, including the Gaspar Silva Ranch, the James Gay Estate, and other lands in the area that he could secure.

Dillingham’s plan was to later sublease or sell the land at a profit, as the lands had potential for being developed into large-scale sugar plantations. He anticipated the land would become valuable once extensive irrigation systems were in place, and when the O’ ahu Railway and Land Co. (O.R. & L.) railroad was constructed around Ka‘ena Point and along the north shore to Kahuku.

By 1898, the O.R. & L railroad was constructed through the Waialua District, with stations in both Kawaihāpai and Mokulē’ia. Soon thereafter, Dillingham began selling off or subleasing much of his lands in western Waialua.

Also in 1898, the Halstead Brothers had a small sugar cane plantation and mill at Waialua town.  Dillingham believed that the Halstead Brothers’ land could be turned into a profitable sugar plantation, especially since there was now a rail line to Honolulu.

The Waialua Agricultural Company was established in 1898 by JB Atherton, ED Tenney, BF Dillingham, WA Bowen, H Waterhouse and MR Robinson, and was incorporated by the company Castle & Cooke.

They bought the Halstead Brothers’ land and mill, and began to buy or lease the adjacent lands.  By the early 1900s, sugarcane plantations and large ranches came to dominate the lands of western Waialua.

The Makaleha Stream empties into a large bay called Kai‘ahulu (“the foamy sea”) located makai of the Mokulē‘ia Polo Field. Kapala‘au Stream (“the wooden fence”) is also known to flow into Kai‘ahulu Bay.

Tenney bought some land on the water, here, and built a house.  In a letter to Castle & Cooke VP FC Atherton, Tenney wrote, “My beach place at Mokuleia, Waialua, commonly known aa Kaiahulu was the source of much pleasure to Mrs. Tenney, she took particular delight on entertaining her friends there.”

“With her passing, I would like to deed this place to Castle & Cooke, Ltd for its employees, to be used by them primarily as a place where they can spend week-ends and periods during their vacation.  This, I feel, would insure the continued use of the property as a means of providing recreation and pleasure to others.”

Today, near the sandy point that forms the eastern boundary of Kai‘ahulu Bay is a recreational area for the business firm of Castle and Cooke. The land was bequeathed to the company by Edward Tenney, an employee for many years, and was set aside for the use of Castle and Cooke personnel. (John Clark)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Monkeypod

Monkeypod (Pukui refers to it as ‘ōhai) was introduced to Hawai‘i in 1847 by Peter A Brinsmade, then consul from the Kingdom of Hawai‘i at Mexico City, who brought in two seeds.

One became a tree which was at Bishop and Hotel Streets in downtown Honolulu until 1899, when it was cut down to permit construction of a building. The other seed was planted at Kōloa, Kauaʻi, and produced a tree that was the parent of a large stand of monkeypod there.  (CTAHR)

Originally from northern South America, primarily Venezuela, it goes by many names in the countries to which it has been introduced. In most English-speaking countries it is called rain tree.

A January 23, 1902 article in the Hawaiian Star notes, “Monkey Pod Valuable. Marston Campbell Shows Finely Polished Sample of the Wood.”

“Assistant Superintendent of Public Works Marston Campbell has had a section of native wood polished for exhibition to the government. The slab Is taken from the upper trunk of a monkey pod and shows a beautifully polished light wood not unlike mahogany, heavy and close grained.”

“‘This is what the people of Honolulu are burning in their stoves,’ said Mr. Campbell ‘The calabashes from the wood are splendid and I have some tables of It that cannot be beaten for polish and appearance.’”

“‘The wood is of great commercial value and there is plenty of It around.’ One tree furnishes enough material for a whole set of furniture. It is very hard and takes a splendid polish. He had to give up trying to surface it by hand and used the buffer at the planing mill for satisfactory results.”

“Wray Taylor has these notes in his agricultural report for 1900 ‘Albizzia Saman – Monkey pod – grows freely in lower portion of Tantalus forest though not to such size as In town.’ It would seem that line the algeroba, the monkey, pod nourishes best on sea level and not higher than 500-feet.”

Here, it’s typically planted for shade.  In some places, the pods are feed for cattle, hogs, and goats. Some people chew the pods for the sweetish flavor like licorice.

Hawaiʻi has had a couple notable Monkeypod trees.

First, in 1866, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) traveled through Hawaii writing articles for the Sacramento Union, which were the basis for several chapters in Roughing It.

Twain spent four months in the islands in 1866, when he was 31 and working on becoming famous.  Waiʻōhinu boasts of a monkeypod tree which was planted by Twain, when he visited there.

It stood in the front yard of the residence of Samuel Kauhane, former chairman of the Hawaii supervisors, and is an excellent specimen of the tree.

It is known as the “Mark Twain” tree.  (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 22, 1915)  In 1957, the original tree was blown down and a new tree grew from its sprouts that still stands today.

Moanalua Gardens is also the home of a large monkeypod tree (about 130-years old) that is known in Japan as the Hitachi Tree, one of the most recognizable corporate icons in Japan.

The Hitachi Tree first originated through a TV commercial for Japanese electronics manufacturer Hitachi, Ltd that first aired in Japan in 1973.

The tree is widely recognized, especially in Japan, and has become an important symbol of the Hitachi Group’s reliability, and earth-friendliness.  It also enhances Hitachi’s brand value as a visual representation of its corporate slogan: “Inspire the Next.”

Over the past 40 years, the Hitachi Tree has become a valuable Hitachi Group asset as a familiar and respected image in Hitachi’s expanding messages globally.

An earlier agreement between the Damon Estate and Hitachi gave Hitachi exclusive worldwide rights to use the tree’s image for promotional purposes in exchange for annual payments.   It was reported that Hitachi Ltd, has agreed to pay the owner of the Moanalua Gardens $400,000 a year for 10 years to use the garden’s famous monkeypod tree in its advertising.

The tree is registered as an exceptional tree by the City and County of Honolulu and cannot be removed or destroyed without city council approval.

We also know monkeypod for the various bowls, figures and furniture and other woodworking art/function.  I suspect, like many, I have a ‘project’ monkeypod end table that needs refinishing.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pāhoa

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline.  However, in Puna on the Island of Hawaiʻi, much of the district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors. The ocean along the Puna coast is often rough and windblown.

As a result, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended to be spread out over larger areas and often are inland, and away from the coast, where the soil is better for agriculture.  (Escott)

This was confirmed on William Ellis’ travel around the island in the early 1800s, “Hitherto we had travelled close to the sea-shore, in order to visit the most populous villages in the districts through which we had passed. But here receiving information that we should find more inhabitants a few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it best to direct our course towards the mountains.”  (Ellis, 1823)

An historic trail once ran from the modern day Lili‘uokalani Gardens area in Hilo to Hāʻena along the Puna coast. The trail is often referred to as the old Puna Trail and/or Puna Road. There is an historic trail/cart road that is also called the Puna Trail (Ala Hele Puna) and/or the Old Government Road.

This path was essentially the main thoroughfare through the Puna district before the late-1800s.  Pāhoa was oʻioʻina (a resting place) on the trail.  (Papakilo)  Then it grew to become the principal town of lower Puna.

The evolving trail (first by foot, then by horse, cart and buggy, and finally by automobile) likely incorporated segments of the traditional Hawaiian trail system often referred to as the ala loa or ala hele.  (Rechtman)

The full length of the Puna Trail, or Old Government Road, might have been constructed or improved just before 1840. The alignment was mapped by the Wilkes Expedition of 1804-41.  (Escott)

People who traditionally had lived along the Puna coast were moving toward Hilo and into the more fertile upland areas of Puna in order to find paid work and to produce cash crops for local markets and for export.

The focus began to shift to the center of the Puna District and the developing sugar and related industries near ʻŌlaʻa, Hilo and the volcano region.

Before the turn of the century, railroad operations began – with lines running into Hilo. A main railroad line and several feeder lines were constructed in the early-1900s from Keaʻau to locations in lower Puna District.

The major line ran from Hilo through Keaʻau to the Kapoho area.  A branch line ran from the ʻŌlaʻa Sugar Mill up past present day Glenwood. A second branch line ran to Pāhoa town.

Some suggest this is how Pāhoa received its name.  “Then the train was put in from Hilo to Puna. One spur went up into Pāhoa; it was like a dagger into the forest. I‘m told this is how Pāhoa got its name. (Pāhoa means dagger.)”  (Edwards; Cultural Surveys)

People began to work in the inland areas to grow sugarcane. The new road, the Pāhoa branch of the railroad, sugarcane agriculture and a logging venture all combined to create Pāhoa as a population center in the region.  (Rechtman)

Macadamia nuts and papaya were introduced in 1881 and 1919; at the turn of the century, large-scale coffee cultivation was attempted.  Over 6,000-acres of coffee trees were owned by approximately 200-independent coffee planters.

This fledgling industry couldn‘t compete with more successful ventures located in other districts, and after a few decades the coffee industry in Puna was abandoned.  (Cultural Surveys, Rechtman)

By 1901, sugar dominated the island’s industry and landscape, and Hilo was the epicenter of production and export. Railroads connected sugar mills and sugar plantations in Hilo, the Hāmākua and Puna. The railroad also connected the mills to the wharves at Hilo Bay.

Early on, one of the major export items transported by the railroad was timber.  Starting in 1907, the Hawaiian Mahogany Company began cutting trees to clear land for sugarcane. The logs were brought to Pāhoa Town to be milled, then sent to Hilo Harbor and eventually shipped to the US Mainland as railroad ties for the Santa Fe Railroad.

The lumber mill facilities and the railroad line that served them were located near the center of town where the Akebono Theater is located.

In 1909, the company was renamed Pāhoa Lumber Company. In 1913, the main mill facilities were lost in a fire; it was rebuilt that year the company was renamed the Hawaiian Hardwood Company.

The company closed down in 1916 when the Santa Fe Railroad ended its contract to buy lumber. The defunct company then leased its mill facilities, buildings and railroad tracks to the expanding ʻŌlaʻa Sugar Company.  (Rechtman)

Today, Pāhoa Town has a main street – the former highway route before the construction of the by-pass road – that still retains much of the original street-wall of plantation-era structures, as well as some significant stand-alone buildings.

Most of the uses are commercial or civic.  The County has acquired a large tract of land within Pāhoa Town, which presents a significant opportunity for community revitalization and a possible catalyst for economic activity.  (Puna CDP)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ko‘olau Railway

As Hawai‘i’s most populous island, O‘ahu has probably the most expansive railway history, other than perhaps arguably the Big Island. The island was home to plantation railroads and military railroads.

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham, the same father of the Hilo Railroad, conceived the Oahu Railway & Land Company in an effort to improve transportation on the island.

Beginning service in 1889 between Honolulu and Aiea, the railroad only continued to grow. By 1898, the mainline extended to Kahuku.

It was proposed, although never seriously considered to circumnavigate the island in a circle. Rather, numerous branch lines were constructed.

The development of sugar plantations in the Ko‘olauloa District began at Lā‘ie around 1868, when the first mill in the region was built.

In 1890, the Kahuku Plantation Company was organized, and shortly thereafter took on the processing of both the Lā‘ie and Kahuku crops.

By 1903 a railway between Lā‘ie and Kahuku Mill had been laid out, and James B Castle, partner in the corporation, was also planning his own plantation venture under the Koolau Agricultural Company and Koolau Railway Company, Limited. (Maly)

On July 5, 1905 Castle and others formed an association and filed with the Treasurer of the Territory of Hawaii a petition to incorporate under the name of Koolau Railway Company Ltd. for a term of fifty years.

The line was initially planned to run from the end of the Oahu Railway and Land Company’s track at Kahuku to Heeia, a distance of 25-miles.

By 1905, Castle’s Koolau Agricultural Company and Koolau Railway Company were initiating plans for the laying out of fields and planting sugar, and development of the railway system and support facilities in Kaluanui (‘Sacred Falls’) and other lands between Kahuku and Kahana Valley. (Livingston)

In 1906, Castle also secured a lease from Bishop Estate for more than 125 acres of kula lands in Kaluanui, for the term of 50 years, bringing to a close the tenure of the Hui Hoolimalima Aina o Kaluanui (Bishop Estate Lease No. 1219).

(The total acreage planted in Kaluanui was around 160 acres; and by 1922, cement-lined irrigation channels and flumes were developed to transport water from the Kaluanui-Kaliuwa‘a Stream to the fields – including those of neighboring ahupua‘a.)

The first 10 miles of the rail line to Kahana were completed in 1907 where construction stopped even though surveys were completed all the way to Honolulu.  By late-1908, the Koolau Railway Company, Limited, system was in service between Kahuku and Kahana.

Construction never resumed, probably due to the extremely high cost to build along the windward side of Oahu and a decided lack of traffic.

Joseph F Smith, a missionary whose first Mormon mission to Hawai‘i was in 1854, visited Lā‘ie in 1915, and remarked on the great changes made by the missionaries since his first visit …

“Besides the almost omnipresent automobile, a railroad nearly circumscribes this Island, with vast networks or rails permeating the sugar-cane fields. The old grass-thatched huts have given place to comfortable and pleasant homes and grounds beautified with evergreens and flowers.”

“Modern furniture, comforts, and conveniences of homes have supplanted the gourds, calabashes and pandanus-leaf mats, on which the natives slept, and the native kapa, which furnished their clothing and the covering of their beds. To a great extent the ancient and dim light of the kukui-nut and the oil lamp has given place to the brilliant illumination of modern electric lights.”

In 1916, the Kahuku Plantation leased some of its land for pineapple cultivation to one large grower (C Okayama) and other individual growers on small pieces of land.

The growers were obligated to sell their crop to the Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Libby, McNeill & Libby of Honolulu, and the California Packing Corporation (which later became the Del Monte Corporation).

The Kahuku Plantation remained relatively small, with less than 4,000 acres under cultivation until the early 1900s, when it expanded to the southeast as far as Hau‘ula.

The Kahuku Plantation Company expanded by buying or incorporating other sugar plantation lands. In 1924, it bought the fields of the Koolau Agricultural Company as far south as Kahana Bay.

In 1931, the Laie Plantation Corporation was dissolved and their sugar lands, totally 2,700 acres, were purchased and added to the Kahuku Plantation.

Under the caption of “Laie Purchase,” the 1931 Kahuku Plantation Manager’s report for the year comments as follows: “Your company acquired the lease of Zion Securities agricultural lands and the transfer of leases previously held by them through Laie Plantation for a period of 25 years, dating from July 1, 1931.”

“Koolau Railway Company Ltd. was also bought from the Zion Securities Corporation. This railroad will be disincorporated as soon as possible and become purely a plantation railroad.”

The end for the cane hauling railroad at the Kahuku Plantation came in 1972, when this notice in the Honolulu Advertiser appeared: “The company had been losing money on the plantation for the last few years.”

“In 1968, A&B announced the closing of the plantation and the mill. The last crop was harvested in 1968, the last cane was ground at the mill on November 25, 1971, and the final paperwork was completed on February 1972, when the mill was locked to prevent vandalism.”

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