General | Page 238 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 21, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Not Just a Piano Man

Leonard E Thayer was born in New Hampshire on November 24, 1842. He served as a First Lieutenant in the Civil War and then took a business course in college, after which he went west, settling in Michigan.

Thayer spent the next thirty-five years of his life in the piano business. In 1905, he went to Honolulu, where he organized the Thayer Piano Co. (Music Trade Review, 1917)

Wade Warren Thayer was born at Jackson, Jackson County, Michigan, September 15, 1873, the son of Leonard E and Fannie (Fletcher) Thayer.

He received his early education in the public schools of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and at Howe School, Indiana, entering Hobart College in 1891. Later he attended the University of Michigan, receiving an AB degree in 1895 and a law degree in 1896.

Before going to the Pacific Coast Thayer was engaged in newspaper work at Salt Lake City, Utah. “He came to Honolulu (from San Francisco) for the Advertiser in June, 1900, resigning in October of that year to enter upon the practice of law.” He had an office in the Stangenwald building.

He was a business organizer, “East meets West on the financial map of the world when daily business is transacted at the International Trust Co., Ltd, Honolulu. Establishment of this institution, in which capital of American and Japanese stockholders is equally invested, was made possible by Wade Warren Thayer”.

Thayer has been identified with other business enterprises. He was secretary and treasurer of the Consolidated Soda Works from 1905 to 1916, had been secretary of the Thayer Piano Co since 1910 and was a director of the Sumitomo Bank of Hawaii, Ltd. (Nellist)

In 1909, he was appointed second district magistrate for the district of Honolulu. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 8, 1909)

He was appointed and served as attorney general, starting on January 1, 1913, then, in 1914, Secretary of the Territory of Hawai‘i. The Act providing a government “for the Territory of Hawai‘i” noted, “The executive power is lodged in a Governor, a Secretary, both to be appointed by the President and hold office four years”.

The Act further noted that the secretary, “shall (among other things) record and preserve all the laws and proceedings of the legislature and all acts and proceedings of the governor, and promulgate proclamations of the governor.” When the Governor was away, the Secretary served as acting Governor.

“(Thayer’s) conduct of the office (of attorney general) is regarded as having been sound and progressive and though he is a Democrat, he has been given strong Republican support for the secretaryship.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 27, 1914) He was made secretary of the Territory, holding this position from 1914 to 1917.

“Nearly four years of work on the part of Secretary of the Territory Wade Warren Thayer came to a close today with the issuance from the press of the Paradise of the Pacific of a digest of the reports of the local supreme court for the last 70 years.”

“Secretary Thayer began work on the digest four years ago and labored off and on during the first three years, but during the last year he devoted practically all of his time to the big task.”

“The decisions and reports are contained in 22 volumes and they date as far back as June 6, 1847, when Kamehameha IV was king and when William Lee was Justice of what was then known as the superior court, later the supreme court. … The table of cases, including all citations, is the work of Mrs Thayer.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 23, 1916)

Thayer liked golf, “The White Rock cup trophy of the Honolulu Golf Club was played for yesterday both morning and afternoon on the Country Club links, and was won by Wade Warren Thayer, by a net score of 80 points.” (Hawaiian Star, June 10, 1907)

He helped form gold clubs, “The Manoa Golf Club ceased to be last night, being formally disbanded at a meeting in the Young Hotel. In his final report, the secretary, WW Thayer, recited the history of the club since its inception in May, 1904, when the number of golfers in the Territory was probably not more than fifty.”

“’Now,’ said Mr. Thayer, ‘their numbers are well up in the hundreds. We have all known that the life of the club would be necessarily brief, and now that its days are numbered we have the satisfaction of knowing that a worthy successor will take up its work – the Oahu Country Club.’”

“’It should be further a source of gratification to us that had it not been for the Interest in golf that the Manoa Golf Club has stirred up the Country Club would not be so near a reality as it is at the present time, perhaps might never have been a reality at all.’”

“Practically all the members of the Manoa club are among the charter members of the Country Club, the latter being, in fact, almost a continuation of the pioneer golf association.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 30, 1906)

Thayer was part of the organizing group, forming the O‘ahu Country Club. The September 1, 1904 Evening Bulletin noted the lease transaction between “Mary Rooke (widow) et al (CB Rooke heirs) to Wade W Thayer; pc land, Waolani, Honolulu; 20 yrs at $900 per an. B 283 p 441. Dated Oct 2, 1905”.

Then a subsequent transaction (assignment of lease) was made from Thayer to the O‘ahu Country Club, “Wade W Thayer to Oahu Country Club; AL; lands, Waolani, Honolulu; $1. B 283, p 444, Dated Sept 10, 1906”.

Thayer married Rhoda Green in Honolulu, June 30, 1908. He died June 4, 1959, in Honolulu.

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Thayer’s Piano

Wade W Thayer (L) presents John F Creedon with Steinway Concert grand piano for new Waikiki Shell

Wade_Warren_Thayer-gravestone

July 20, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Redwood Trail

By the 1830s, forested lands in the Islands were in decline. The sandalwood trade had reduced sandalwood populations to such an extent that in 1839, Hawaii’s first forestry law restricted the harvest of sandalwood.

Cattle (which had been introduced in the late-1700s) continued to cause widespread destruction of native forests. (Idol) For many years, cattle were allowed an unrestricted range in the forests so that in many sections the forest is either dead or dying. (Griffith)

The almost total destruction of the undergrowth has allowed the soil to bake and harden thus causing the rainfall to run off rapidly with the resultant effect of very low water during the dry season. (Griffith)

It reached a maximum by the late 1800s/early-twentieth century owing to burning of the forests to locate the fragrant sandalwood trees, demand for firewood, commercial logging operations, conversion to agricultural and pastureland, the effects of grazing and browsing ungulates (including cattle, goats, and pigs) and increased fire frequency. (Woodcock)

The sugar industry, still concerned about water shortages due to forest decline, sought and succeeded in establishing the forest reserve system, which instituted partnerships between public and private landowners to protect forests.

On March 5, 1902 US Forester EM Griffith presented a report “General Description of the Hawaiian Forests;” it documented 3 key issues …

1) the most important ecosystem service of Hawaiian forests is water, 2) destruction of Hawaiian forests by feral ungulates and 3) wildfire, previously unknown in forested ecosystems, rapidly converting forested ecosystems to fire-dominated ecosystems. (DLNR)

Due to the cooperation between public and private landowners, and another tax break for conservation of forests on private land in 1909, large scale reforestation, fencing and feral ungulate eradication efforts occurred across the islands.

The forests were transformed during this time, as millions of fast-growing nonnative trees were planted throughout the islands to quickly re-establish watersheds denuded by logging and ungulates.

They planted 130,000-redwood trees from 1927 to 1959 in many Forest Reserves on Kauai, Maui, Lanaʻi, Molokai, O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island.

The tree may be seen at Kokeʻe State Park on Kauai, Waihou Spring Forest Reserve on Maui, and near Volcano Village on Hawaii, as well as Hilo and Honaunau. Maui has more than 280-acres with about 7-million board feet in the Kula Forest Reserve at 5,500-feet.

In order to save the little remaining forest in Kula, “the cattle must be absolutely excluded. It is far easier and a much better policy to save the existing forests than to certainly destroy them by grazing and attempt to realize by planting a forest in some other locality.”

“Planting is extremely expensive, especially if the trees are set out very close together as must be done if a dense forest is to be secured which will act as a sponge and hold the water supply. Then too, a small amount of planting here and there does very little good and such expensive work will seldom be necessary in the islands if a common sense forest policy is pursued.” (Griffith)

The ‘Redwood Trail” at Polipoli Springs State Recreation Area takes you to and through some of the remnants of the tree planting of almost 100-years ago.

Trail starts at at 6,200-foot elevation, winds through stands of redwood and other conifers, past Tie Trail junction and down to the old ranger’s cabin at 5,300-feet.

At the trail’s end is the old Civilian Conservation Corps camp and a three-way junction, the beginning point for both the Plum Trail and the Boundary Trail. Several plum and other fruit trees can be found in this old camp area.

To get there, take Highway 37 past Pukalani to the second junction of Highway 377. Turn left on 377 for about 0.3 mile, then right on Waipoli Road.

This becomes Polipoli Access Road at the first cattle guard and climbs up the mountain through a long series of switchbacks until it enters the forest at 6,400′ elevation, where the pavement ends.

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July 18, 2016 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Idlers

“Formerly, the chief could call the people from one end of the Islands to the other to perform labor. At the present time this is prohibited, and the people can be required to work only nearby their home.”

“Formerly, if the King wished the people to work for him, they could not refuse. They must work from month to month. So also at the call of every chief and every landlord.”

“At the present time there is nothing of the kind. If any chief should attempt to pursue such a course, it would be a crime such as would free all his tenants from laboring for him at all until the time specified in the law.”

“Formerly, the people were regularly required to work every Tuesday and Friday, that is four days in a month for the King and four for the landlord, eight in whole, and as many more as the chiefs chose. At the present time the whole number is limited to six days in a month, leaving twenty laboring days for the people.”

“Formerly, if the people did not go to the work of the King when required, the punishment was that their houses were set on fire and consumed. Now if they do not go, they must pay a rial, or at most a quarter of a dollar.”

“But still, the people are wailing on account of their present burdens.”

“Formerly, they were not called burdens. Never did the people complain of burdens till of late – till these dreadful weights mentioned above were removed. This complaint of the people however would have a much better grace, if they with energy improved their time, on their own free days, but lo! this is not the case.”

“They spend many of their days in idleness, and therefore their lands are grown over with weeds, and there is little food growing.”

“The chiefs of their own unsolicited kindness removed the grievous burdens mentioned above. The people did not first call for a removal of them. The chiefs removed them of their own accord.”

“Therefore the saying of some of the people, that they are oppressed, is not correct. They are not oppressed, but are idle.” (Laws of the Hawaiian Islands, 1842)

“As for the idler, let the industrious put him to shame, and sound his name from one end of the country to the other. And even if they should withhold food on account of his idleness, there shall be no condemnation for those who thus treat idlers.”

“If a landlord, or a chief should give entertainment to such a sluggard, he would thereby bring shame on the industrious. For three months the tenants of him who thus entertains the sluggard shall be freed from labor for their landlord. Such is the punishment of him who befriends the sluggard. Let him obtain his food by labor.” (Laws of the Hawaiian Islands, 1842)

“Indolence is a crime involving the best interests of the state. Even in days of old it was considered a crime, and at the present time it is perfectly clear that it is a downright misdemeanor. Those who live without labor live in direct disobedience to the commands of God, and in disregard of the opinions of mankind.”

“Wherefore, in a council or the Nobles and Representative Body, this law was passed.”

“1. If a man be often see running about, or sitting idly without labor, or devoted to play and folly, he shall be taken before the judges, and if he cannot bring evidence that he labors sufficiently to pay for his board and clothing, he shall then be put to hard labor for three months.”

“2. If he be again seen living in the idle manner after he has been punished, then he shall he put to hard labor for one year.”

“3. If a man live in idleness because he have no land, then his destitution shall be examined into, and if he be faultless he shall not be punished. But land shall be given him as the laws requite.”

“4. By this law, men and boys are forbidden to run in crowds after new things. Whosoever does this in an indecent manner shall be punished thus; he shall be taken to the house of confinement and remain till he pay a rial, and be set at liberty. The same also with those who obey not the police officer when he proclaims a prohibition.”

“It shall therefore be the duty of the police officers to watch carefully around the markets and places of public resort, that they may discover who they are who crowd after strangers, for these are indolent and lazy persons. Let them he taken before the judges and tried, and when convicted let them he punished according to the requirements of this law.”

“If this law he proclaimed in any village or district, the day of its proclamation shall be the day of its taking effect at that place, but even if it be not proclaimed, it shall nevertheless take effect on the first day of September of the present year, at all places of these Hawaiian Islands.”

“This law having received the approbation of the Nobles and Representative Body, we have hereunto set our names on this twenty-third day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, at Lahaina, Maui.” (Laws of the Hawaiian Islands, 1842)

The image is from the State Archives; it shows people at their home with a taro lo‘i. Their land is cared for (not grown over with weeds,) and there is ample food growing; according to the preambles and laws of the Kingdom, they are not idlers.

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“The image is from the State Archives; it shows people at their home with a taro lo‘i. Their land is cared for (not grown over with weeds,) and there is ample food growing; according to the preambles and laws of the Kingdom, they are not idlers.”

July 17, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kahului Railroad Company

Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Ke alahao a i Wailuku
Wū-wū Kaʻa Ahi Kahului
Chūkū-chūkū mua o Hawai`i

Chorus:
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
Tracks all the way to Wailuku
Woo-woo! Kahului Railroad
The first train of Hawaiʻi
(Kaʻa Ahi Kahului; Palani Vaughan)

Less than a decade after the construction of the first transcontinental railway in the US, the first steam railroad line in Hawaii was established. (Akinaka)

On July 17, 1879 Captain Thomas H Hobron ran the first train line from Kahului to Wailuku; the 3-foot-wide was eventually extended to over 15 miles in length along the north coast to Kuiaha with a number of branch lines. (AASHTO)

That year, Hobron issued in 12 ½ cent copper tokens bearing the initials ‘T. H. H.’ and ‘12 ½’ on the obverse. In the same year he also issued a 2 ½ cent copper token, intended also for use on the Kahului railroad.

Within a year or two the line was extended eastward from Kahului to Pāʻia. The enterprise was incorporated, July 1, 1881, as the Kahului Railroad Company.

Since then, railroad lines have been built on the four larger Islands connecting the sugar plantations and other industrial communities with their shipping points. (Akinaka)

But passengers were not the primary part of the rail’s business. The isthmus between Haleakala and West Maui contained rich soils ideal for crop cultivation. Within a few short years, the region soon supported one of the largest sugar plantations in the world.

In 1876, following the Reciprocity Treaty, other Westerners gained interest in Maui’s agriculture potential, including Claus Spreckels (who came to Hawaiʻi from San Francisco.)

Spreckels leased land from the government and obtained the water rights needed to build a large irrigation ditch that provided water for crops. These events set the stage for the establishment of Maui’s first railroad system. Rail transported cane from the fields to the harbor.

The Kahului station was located southeast of the harbor at Hobron Point (the east side of the harbor (which includes Pier 1) and tracks extended through Spreckelsville as well as to the sugar mill at Puʻunene.

By 1889, the company reported more miles of track plus three locomotives, two passenger cars, one baggage-mail car, 14 platform cars and 60 boxcars. (JoDorner)

By the turn of the 19th century, Kahului supported a new customhouse, a saloon, a Chinese restaurant and a small but growing population.

In 1901, Kahului Railroad purchased its first tugboat, the Leslie Baldwin, to tow lighters to and from vessels. The railroad company was instrumental in Kahului Harbor development.

The final stretch of line even included a steel bridge over the Maliko Gorge which, at nearly 230-feet, was the highest railway bridge in Hawaiʻi. (AASHTO)

Besides rail equipment, “the Kahului Railroad Company owns and operates the steamer Leslie Baldwin, two wharves with the necessary appliances for handling freight, and nine lighters of 65 tons capacity each.” (Report of Governor, 1903)

Hobron, who also was postmaster of Kahului, allowed mail to be sent free over the railroad. Later, in 1884, a subsidy of $25 per month was paid for hauling mail. Mail carried on the railroad was in closed bags for delivery to postmasters along the route. Probably loose letters were also carried. (HawaiianStamps)

In 1894, the Kahului Railroad decided to obtain a set of stamps and turned to the American Bank Note Company to produce lithographed stamps for special use on the railroad to pay freight and packages sent outside the mail. (HawaiianStamps)

Hobron also owned Grove Ranch Plantation in Makawao. (Hobron Drug Company, that was based in Honolulu, was owned by TW Hobron, the son of Thomas H Hobron.)

Steam locomotive No. 12 was built in 1928 for the Kahului Railroad Company in Hawaii by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Kahului Railroad hauled sugar from the fields to a mill and then took the finished sugar to the port of Kahului. Later extensions of the line allowed it to haul other commodities, such as pineapple, to the port. No. 12’s Hawaiian background has earned it the nickname “Pineapple Princess”. (MCRR)

Trains hauled goods to stores and mills, pineapple from field to cannery, and passengers to school or work. The military took over the rails during World War II, transporting everything from food to amphibious vehicles. (Engledow)

The Kahului Railroad outlasted its fellow railways in the state, in addition to the honors of being the first railway, it was also the last public railroad in operation. Today, some of the tracks and equipment are used for a tourist train that was constructed on the west side of Maui. (AASHTO)

Engine No. 12 made its last run on May 24, 1966 and in 1967 was sent to the mainland. Eventually, Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho purchased the engine. Now Engine No. 12 is a part of Colorado history and has been returned to service as part of the Georgetown Loop Historic Mining & Railroad Park. (JoDorner)

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Kahului Railroad engines line up for a picture taking session in 1911.

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Kahului, Maui. Puunene Store, left. Kahului Railroad Station and post office, right-hawaii-edu-Circa 1930s

1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad_Token

1879 Thomas Hobron Kahului & Wailuku Railroad Token

SS Claudine docked at the Claudine Wharf-(MasterPlan2025)

July 16, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Loch Na Garr

“Away, ye gay landscapes!
Ye gardens of rose …”

Wait … while those are the beginning lines of the Loch Na Garr poem by Lord Byron, cousin of the captain of the Blonde who brought the bodies of King Liholiho and Kamāmalu back to Hawaiʻi, after they died of measles in England (1824) …

… this story is not about that Loch Na Garr, nor is it about ‘gay landscapes’ nor ‘gardens of roses.’

But it is about a king, Kamehameha V, and a boat, the Loch Na Garr, and unfortunately its cargo – deer – that dastardly do-bad to landscapes and native plants on Molokai, Lānaʻi and, now, unfortunately, Maui.

“A gentleman residing on the upper Ganges, where these deer abound, offered to supply them for transportation here, when Dr. Hillebrand was in Calcutta, and at his suggestion that His Majesty was desirous to obtain them, this consignment was made to Hong Kong.”

“Three bucks and four hinds have arrived safely. They have been well cared for on the voyage by Capt. Baskfill, and are the finest as well as largest number of deer imported here at any one time. They have been delivered to the King and will be sent to Molokai.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 17, 1867)

“These really beautiful animals, the spotted Indian deer brought by the Loch Na Garr, which lies at market wharf, have been visited by many of our residents the past week.”

“On Wednesday one of the hinds gave birth to a fine kid, as healthy and frisky as if born in his own mountain home. It is a male, and the officers of the ship have named him Kamehameha VI.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 21, 1867)

“They are the speckled Indian deer, a variety well adapted to domestication on our islands.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 17, 1867)

“(S)even in number, a present from the Hawaiian Consul at Hong Kong to the King. Eight were put on board, but one has died. The remainder are in very fine condition, having apparently improved on the voyage.”

“Some of them are quite young, and the horns of the bucks are in the process of growth showing the manner in which these ornamental appendages are formed.”

“All the animals are as tame as pet kids, and will be shipped to Molokai, as soon as the King’s yacht is ready to take them aboard.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 14, 1867)

“(T)he deer will be transferred to the King’s yacht, and taken to Molokai, where we hope they will rapidly increase and stock the whole island.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 21, 1867)

As the property on Molokai belonged to King Kamehameha V, he placed a kapu (prohibition) on the deer. The deer increased under this protection. They sought the mountain areas as their habitat because they were crowded out by the large herds of cattle that ranged on the low lands. (Cooke)

In this highland area in thirty years the deer increased to a great number. The American Sugar Co, Ltd built a forest fence to keep the cattle from entering the forest. This however did not keep out the deer.

In November 1898, the sugar company hired two professional hunters from California to shoot off the deer. These men were engaged at forty dollars per month with perquisites and were allowed to sell the skins.

It is commonly reported that these two men, in the year in which they operated, killed between 3,500 and 4,000 deer. (Cooke)

Molokai was not the only island to get these deer. Shortly after Harry A Baldwin and his brother, Frank, had purchased the island of Lānaʻi from the Lānaʻi Company in 1917, they wished to stock that island with deer.

The Molokai folks sold them for $50 apiece. In lieu of ranch wages, cowboys captured and transported the deer for half the amount that the Baldwins would pay.

Twelve deer in all were captured. They were then loaded on to a truck, caged then sent over on a large sampan, “Makaiwa.” When near the shore of that island, the cage was opened and the deer allowed to swim ashore. (Cooke)

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Deer on Molokai – Lanai