General | Page 134 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Junction of Haiku Road and Kamehameha Highway.-(DavidJessup)-

Black arrow points out the 60 foot tower on the North cliff. The white arrow indicates the lower hoist A frame-(DavidJessup)-

Bomb proof transmitter building - view east-(DavidJessup)-

CCL house at the peak showing the upper hoist house-(DavidJessup)-

Cement headed for the top of the South cliff-(DavidJessup)-

View West. Cage for the South hoist.

Construction of four antennas, each over a mile in length, had just begun-(DavidJessup)-1943

Kaneohe_Omega_Transmitter_with_CH-53_1987

Looking down from Transmitter Building-(DavidJessup)-

Very Low Frequency Alternator transmitted 200,000 watts of radio signal at a frequency of 16.8 Khz-(DavidJessup)-

Wooden_Ladder-cliff_falls_away_on_each_side-(DavidJessup)-

July 6, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Award Winning Okolehao

“There is enough okolehao in Honolulu today to make the whole town drunk.”

“A recent arrival from Ti-root Gulch, Ke‘ei, Kealakekua, Hawaii, talked interestingly to an Advertiser man of the manufacture of the frisky spirit yesterday.”

“Keei, by the way, is the only place boasting an okolehao distillery in the Territory.”

“The distillery has been closed down, for alterations and improvements, nearly 3000 gallons of raw spirit having been turned out during the run.”

“This is now in bonded warehouse in Honolulu, in eleven charred barrels with the designation “okolehao” burned into each head. The liquor in its present state is known as proof spirits.”

“The product of the Keei plant is said to be a liquor as clear as crystal. It is said that illicitly-distilled okolehao sent from here took prizes at The Paris Exposition and the Chicago World’s Fair. It is the purest spirit known and the only liqueur to be distilled from a root.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 6, 1907)

Eben Low tells the story … “‘It happened way back in the ‘80s – to be exact, 1889,’ said Low. ‘Col. Sam Parker have been given two gallons of okolehao which had been distilled in Waimanu valley, on the island of Hawaii. This was real okolehao, not the ‘rotgut’ which is being peddled about the country today ruining those who drink it.’”

“‘In the old days, the Hawaiians of Waimanu were noted for the excellence of the liquor they made. Copper stills were used and the liquor was given three different distillations.’”

“‘In the days of the monarchy it was illegal to have okolehao in your possession and the penalty for such an offense was severe. After sampling this liquor of Col Parker’s I decided to send some to the Paris Exposition along with a lot of other native products which were being prepared at that time.’”

“‘I did not want to take any chances of violating the law, however, and consulted John E Hassinger, who was then chief clerk of the department of the interior. Lorrin A Thurston was secretary.’”

“‘Hassinger told me that would be granted immunity provided that he received a sample.’”

“‘I took a gallon of the liquor to Macfarlane & Co, then the leading wholesale liquor dealers of this territory, and had the liquor bottled. One was given to Hassinger. Judge Dole received another, one I kept for myself and the last was prepared for the Paris Exposition.’”

“‘I designed a most attractive label and then wrote a description in Hawaiian and English as to how the beverage was made. I had another description written in French by the late Pierre Jones.’”

“‘In due time this bottle of okolehao was sent to Paris with the rest of the Hawaiian exhibit. Col ZS Spalding was the Hawaiian commissioner as the exposition. When the day of the awarding prizes arrived, he and the French awarding committee visited the Hawaiian exhibit.’”

“‘Spalding afterwards told me that the most outstanding and prominent feature of the exhibit was this artistically labeled bottle of okolehao. He was so astonished at seeing it there that he ordered it opened immediately.’”

“‘It was, in fact, when the committee and Spalding got through testing the quality of the exhibit there was none of the ti left and they immediately awarded the exhibit a bronze medal for quality and purity.’”

“‘Several months later, concluded Low, ‘a most official looking document addressed to ‘the government of Hawaii’ arrived here. It contained a diploma of award and a bronze medal – both of which had ben won by this lone bottle of okolehao.’”

“‘The diploma was in French but bracketed at the of the document was Eben Low.’” (Star Bulletin, October 10, 1925)

“‘As far as I know,’ continued Rawhide Ben, ‘it was the only award Hawaii got.’”

“‘To snub up this yarn,’ he finished, ‘Hassinger’s bottle didn’t last 24 hours. Judge Dole kept his. Before he died he told me I could have it. That bottle was snitched from my hotel room. But this bottle of mine,’ he fondled it ‘… well, when the time comes, I’m going to pull the cork and try it.’”

“Eben’s bottle of 50 year old oke is legal, federal authorities said today, although illegal when made and with no tax ever having been paid.” (October 24, 1938)

“The federal authorities have decided to make war upon our local moonshiners. The lay of the land in the Territory lends itself easily to the easily to carrying on of Illicit distilling.”

“With high mountains deep valleys, ample wood for fuel, excellent places for observing anybody coming near the lair, and with the natural leniency of those around to protect, or at least to say nothing about the moonshiners, there has been a great opportunity for this class of illicit work.”

It has been carried on close to the environs of the city and even within the city limits. The local police have been forever after these people, but the revenue officers, whose whole attention has to be given to the matter are likely to be more successful when they thoroughly understand local conditions.”

“The practice of distilling the liquor, called by the euphonious name of okolehao, from the ti root, was introduced by old lags from Australia.”

“In the early and middle part of the last century quite a number of convicts found their way here, one lot arriving in a schooner from which they landed near Kawaihae, burning their vessel to hide its identity.”

“Well, the lags started making liquor from ti root, and taught the Hawaiians. Since then the Hawaiian has found out for himself that liquor can be made from other things besides ti root. Molasses is very largely used in the manufacture of okolehao.”

“The best okolehao, however, is made from the ti root, and it was for a bottle of this that Eben Low received a medal from the Paris exposition. It was the only liquor of its class.” (Hawaiian Star, April 14, 1920)

“‘I still have the diploma, the medal and last, but not least, my bottle of okolehao. Now that so much publicity has been given to the latter I think I will have it stored in my safe deposit box.’” (Low; Star Bulletin, October 25, 1925)

Eben Low pulling prized Okolehao from safe-SB-10-24-1938

Hawaiian Exhibit, Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1889

Eben ‘Rawhide Ben’ Low-PP-75-5-006-1931-400

Eben ‘Rawhide Ben’ Low-PP-75-5-006-1931

July 5, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kuapā Pond

Kuapā Pond, also known as Keahupuaomaunalua (“the shrine of the baby mullet at Maunalua”) was once the largest loko kuapā on O‘ahu, estimated at approximately 523-acres.

Kuapā Pond was apparently created near the end of the ice age, when the rising sea level caused the shoreline to retreat and partial erosion of the headlands adjacent to the bay formed sediment that accreted to form a barrier beach at the mouth of the pond, creating a lagoon.

Early Hawaiians used the natural lagoon as a fishpond and reinforced the natural sandbar with stone walls.

Kuapā literally means “wall of a fish pond” and a loko kuapā is one type of fishpond made by building a wall on a reef. The wall at this fishpond was about 5,000 feet long.

One of the main harvests was mullet because the combination of freshwater and shallow sand or mud flats that the ponds created were ideal for growing the algae that mullet fed off of.

Hawaiian Historian Kamakau writes of Kamehameha I participating in the restoration of the Maunalua fishpond., “While he (Kamehameha) lived on Oahu he encouraged the chiefs and commoners to raise food and he went fishing and would work himself at carrying rock or timber … He worked at the fishponds at Ka-wai-nui, Ka‘ele-pulu, Uko‘a (in Waialui,) Mauna-lua, and all about O’ahu. (Kamakau 1961:192)

In 1900, the island of Oahu had a total of 100 documented, working fishponds, providing thousands of pounds of fish for the community throughout the year.

Missionary Levi Chamberlain, during his Trip Around Oahu on June 21, 1826, noted: “I descended with my attendant, and near the shares of a large pond containing a surface of many hundred acres I came to a little settlement called Keawaawa and stopped e few moments to enquire the way & to allow my attendant the luxury of a whif of tobacco.”

“Thence I walked on by the side of the pond in a southerly direction about a mile having the eminences Mounalua (Maunalua) on my left- I then came to a narrow strip of land resembling a causeway partly natural and partly constructed extending in a Northwest direction across what appeared to be considerable of a bay forming a barrier between the sea and the pond.”

“At the further end of this causeway sluices are constructed & the waters of the sea unite with the pond and at every flood tide replenish it with a fresh supply of water. Near the middle of this causeway there is a settlement of 18 houses belonging to Kalola called Mounalua (Maunalua.)”

It is said that the pond was partially constructed by Menehune, a legendary race of small people and was connected through an underground tunnel to Kaʻelepulu fishpond in Kailua.

In J. Gilbert McAllister’s 1933 Archaeology of Oahu, he notes: “Keahupua-o-Maunalua Fishpond—The pond is said to connect by means of an underground tunnel with Kaelepulu pond in Kailua.”

“From time to time great schools of mullet disappear from the Maunalua pond and are to be found in the Kailua pond. At the same time the awa, which were in the Kailua pond, appear in the Maunalua pond. When the mullet reappear in the Maunalua pond the awa disappear. Kanane, the fish warden, tells me that this occurs even today, but cannot be explained by the Japanese who leases the pond.”

The ownership of the ‘ili of Maunalua passed to Bernice Pauahi Bishop and thus to the Kamehameha Schools.

To a lot of people, Kuapā is now referred to as “Koko Marina,” the result of development in the 1960s by Henry J Kaiser.

In 1961, Bishop Estate leased a 6,000-acre area, which included Kuapa Pond, to Kaiser Aetna for subdivision development. The development is now known as “Hawaii Kai.”

Kaiser Aetna dredged and filled parts of Kuapa Pond, erected retaining walls and built bridges within the development to create the Hawaii Kai Marina.

They increased the average depth of the channel from two to six feet and also created accommodations for pleasure boats and eliminated the sluice gates.

The East Honolulu region (including Hawaii Kai,) has a population of approximately 49,100 people (2010,) 5.2% of O‘ahu’s population. Hawai‘i Kai is one of O‘ahu’s larger bedroom communities. The pond now serves as a marina for small boats, and is open space in this growing community.

Lots of good stuff is going on to protect and restore the nearshore waters and bring attention to the region by Mālama Maunalua and Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center.

Hawaii Kai in a 1960 photo as Henry Kaiser was beginning development of the area

July 4, 2019 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Independence Day

Independence Day celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is the nation’s most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson’s most enduring monument.

The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers.

What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in “self-evident truths” and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.

Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence – they mutually pledged “to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers and two were cousins. Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers and four were doctors. Twenty-two were lawyers and nine were judges.

The average age of a signer was 45. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at 70. The youngest was Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina at 27.

At the time of the signing, the American Revolutionary War was already underway (1775-1783.)

The British captured five signers during the war. Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward and Arthur Middleton were captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780. George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah; Richard Stockton was incarcerated at the hands of British Loyalists.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lewis’s New York home was razed and his wife taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and he died while fleeing capture.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six – Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson and George Reed – signed the US Constitution.

Here are some other brief Revolutionary War highlights (and some other July 4 events:)

1775
March 23 – Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech
April 18 – The rides of Paul Revere and William Davis
April 19 – Minutemen and redcoats clash at Lexington and Concord “The shot heard round the world”
June 17 – Battle of Bunker Hill (Boston) – the British drive the Americans
Throughout the year, skirmishes occurred from Canada to South Carolina

Initially, fighting was through local militias; then, the Continental Congress established (on paper) a regular army on June 14, 1775, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief.

The development of the Continental Army was a work in progress, and Washington used both his regulars and state militia throughout the war.

1776
January 15 – Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’ challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy
March 17 – the British evacuate Boston

Ultimately, on September 3, 1783, the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty document was signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay (representing the United States) and David Hartley (a member of the British Parliament representing the British Monarch, King George III).

On June 21, 1788, the US Constitution was adopted (with all states ratifying it by that time.)

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; Carroll was the last signer to die – in 1832 at the age of 95.

July 4, 1894, the Republic of Hawai‘i was established at Ali‘iōlani Hale; Sanford B. Dole became its first president.

July 4, 1913 – Duke Kahanamoku established three new West Coast records in swimming, winning the 50-yard, 440-yard and 220-yard races in a San Francisco regatta.

Following statehood of Hawaiʻi, the new flag of the United States of America, containing a union of 50 stars, flew for the first time at 12:01 am, July 4, 1960, when it was raised at the Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore, Maryland.

Today, we celebrate the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence – however, the freedoms, rights and privileges we share because of this event continue to be protected by the sacrifices of many men and women across the globe; we honor and celebrate their service, as well.

American Revolutionary War

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year.

That war lasted from April 19, 1775 (with the Battles of Lexington and Concord) to September 3, 1783 (with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.) It lasted 8 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day …

… then, the sovereignty of the United States was recognized over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

In the Islands at the Time

At the time of the American Revolutionary War, the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Shortly after Kalaniʻōpuʻū’s death in 1782, Kamehameha began his conquest to unify the islands under his rule. After several battles on several of the islands, and subsequent agreement with King Kaumualiʻi of Kauaʻi, Kamehameha became sole ruler of the Islands in 1810 (a couple years later, on the continent, the US and Britain engaged in the war of 1812.)\

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more on New Musical Tradition

Declaration of Independence

July 1, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

New Musical Tradition

“Music serves to enliven many an hour of sadness, or what would be sadness otherwise. It is an expression of the emotions of the heart, a disperser of gloomy clouds.” (Juliette Montague Cooke; Punahou)

Hawaiians devised various methods of recording information for the purpose of passing it on from one generation to the next. The chant (mele or oli) was one such method. Elaborate chants were composed to record important information, e.g. births, deaths, triumphs, losses, good times and bad.

In most ancient cultures, composing of poetry was confined to the privileged classes. What makes Hawai‘i unique is that poetry was composed by people of all walks of life, from the royal court chanters down to the common man.

“As the Hawaiian songs were unwritten, and adapted to chanting rather than metrical music, a line was measured by the breath; their hopuna, answering to our line, was as many words as could be easily cantilated at one breath.” (Bingham)

The Pioneer Company of missionaries (April, 1820) introduced new musical traditions to Hawai‘i – the Western choral tradition, hymns, gospel music, and Western composition traditions. It was one of strophic hymns and psalm tunes from the late-18th century in America.

The strophic form is one where different lyrics are put to the same melody in each verse. Later on, with the arrival of new missionaries, another hymn tradition was introduced was the gospel tune with verse-chorus alternation. (Smola)

The missionaries also introduced new instrumentation with their songs. Humehume (George Prince, son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i) was given a bass viol or ‘Church Bass’ (like a large cello) and a flute that he have learned to play well. He returned to the Islands with the Pioneer Company. Later, church organs, pianos, melodeons, and other instruments were introduced to the Islands.

Bingham and others composed Hawaiian hymns from previous melodies, sometimes borrowing an entire tune, using Protestant hymn styles. In spite of the use of English throughout Hawaii, the Hawaiian language continues to be used in Bible reading and in the singing of hîmeni (hymns) in many Christian churches. Himeni still preserve the beauty of the Hawaiian language. (Smithsonian)

The first hymnal in the Hawaiian language was ‘Nā Hīmeni Hawaii; He Me Ori Ia Iehova, Ka Akua Mau,’ published in 1823. It contained 60 pages and 47 hymns. It was prepared by Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. William Ellis, a London Missionary Society missionary who was visiting.

On June 8, 1820, Rev. Hiram Bingham set up the first singing school at Kawaiaha‘o Church. He taught native Hawaiians Western music and hymnody. These ‘singing schools’ emphasized congregational singing with everyone actively participating, not just passively listening to a designated choir.

By 1826, there were 80 singing schools on Hawai‘i Island alone . By the mid-1830s, church choirs began to become part of the regular worship. This choral tradition partially grew out of the hō‘ike, or examination, when the students being examined would sing part of their lessons.

Hawai‘i Aloha

“For more than 100-years, love of the land and its natural beauty has been the poetry Hawaiian composers have used to speak of love. Hawaiian songs also speak to people’s passion for their homeland and their beliefs.” (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Next time you and others automatically stand, hold hands and sing this song together, you can thank an American Protestant missionary, Lorenzo Lyons, for writing Hawai‘i Aloha – and his expression of love for his home.

Na Lani Eha

In 1995, when the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame selected its first ten treasured composers, musicians and vocalists to be inducted, ‘Na Lani Eha’, (The Royal Four), were honored as the Patrons of Hawaiian music.

‘Na Lani Eha’ comprises four royal siblings who, in their lifetimes, demonstrated extraordinary talent as musicians and composers. They were, of course, our last king, Kalākaua, his sister, Hawai‘i’s last queen, Lili‘uokalani, their brother, the prince, Leleiōhoku, and their sister, the princess, Likelike, mother of princess Ka‘iulani.

In August 2000, ‘Ka Hīmeni Ana’, the RM Towill Corporation’s annual contest at Hawai‘i Theatre for musicians playing acoustic instruments and singing in the Hawaiian language, was dedicated to missionary Juliette Montague Cooke, the Chiefs’ Children’s teacher and mother.

John Montague Derby, Sr., who accepted this honor for the Cooke family, said. “(it is) with gratitude for the multitude of beautiful Hawaiian songs that we enjoy today which were composed by her many students.”

Planning ahead … the Hawaiian Mission Bicentennial – Reflection and Rejuvenation – 1820 – 2020 – is approaching (it starts in about a year)

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