Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kyoto Gardens

Driving down the Pali, after you pass Kapena Falls, off to the right are a number of cemeteries (including Mauna ʻAla, Oʻahu Cemetery and others – including Honolulu Memorial Park.)

Part of the Honolulu Memorial Park, rising out of the foliage, is the Sanju Pagoda – it’s discernible and it’s deteriorating.

With over 20-years of neglect, the neoprene roofing material has sprung leaks, exposing the reinforced concrete rafters to weakening moisture and decay.  (Historic Hawaii Foundation)  Historic Hawaii Foundation listed it as one of Hawaiʻi’s Most Endangered Historic Sites in 2006.

The pagoda is the only concrete pagoda outside of Japan and is built in the authentic fashion of a wood-constructed pagoda.

The neoprene was supposed to be the best thing ever, but it turned out to be not so good.  The eaves are in jeopardy right now, in bad condition and very heavy. At any point, one of those eaves could fall down. If one falls, it falls on the next, and the building would most likely collapse. (Historic Hawaii Foundation)

Located in the eastern half of the Honolulu Memorial Park, Kyoto Gardens consists of two large columbarium (a structure of vaults lined with recesses for urns holding a deceased’s cremated remains) structures and a Japanese garden.

The Territory of Hawaiʻi established the Honolulu Memorial Park as a community service cemetery in 1958.

The Honolulu membership of the Buddhist Federation commended and endorsed the development of the cemetery in 1964, whereupon it was decided that a monument be erected which would honor the followers of the Buddhist faith.

Founded by the Richards family, Honolulu Memorial Park includes the Sanju Pagoda along with the Kinkaku-ji memorial, which were completed and opened in July 1966.

The name of the Kyoto Gardens was designated in 1966 with the donation of a bronze bell donated by Mayor Takayama of Kyoto, and brought to Honolulu in May of 1966.

The inscription on the bell was written in both Japanese and English.  In English, it reads: World Peace Forever, and continued with the inscription: Praying for the Everlasting Fellowship of Honolulu and Kyoto, Mayor Yoshizo Takayama, January 1, 1966.

With the arrival of the bell, the name of the Nuʻuanu Memorial Gardens Funerary Home was changed to Kyoto Gardens. In 1966, the Senior Minister of the Kinkaku-ji of Kyoto, Japan, Abbot Jikai Murakami, was present for the opening of the Kinkaku-ji memorial and gave his blessing.

The three-tiered Pagoda, the Kenkaku-ji Temple and the Mirror Gardens located within the Honolulu Memorial Park are historically important for being the best examples of Japanese traditional-style structures and gardens built outside of Japan.

The Pagoda is architecturally significant for three reasons: it was designed with the original proportions of the Nara Pagoda and uses the bracketing construction techniques found in the traditional design; it is the largest pagoda ever built; and it incorporates new construction techniques using concrete and steel.

The Sanju-Pagoda, designed by Robert Katsuyoshi, is a 1½-times larger model of a pagoda located on the grounds of the Minami Hoke-ji Temple in Nara, Japan, built in the Momoyama Period (1571-1602.)

Its height from the foundation to the top of the roof, not including the ku-rin copper spire is 80-feet, the total height, including its spire, is 116-feet.

The Kinkaku-ji columbarium models itself after the world-famous Kinkaku-ji located on the grounds of the Roku-on-ji Temple in Kyoto, built in the Muromachi Period (1335-1573) style.

The Kinkaku-ji columbarium is a three-story steel-framed and plaster finished columbarium. The height of the building measures approximately 38-feet high, not including the phoenix finial at its roof peak (the symbol of the Paradise of the heavenly Buddhas.)

The Mirror Lake Garden is also designed in the style of the Muromachi Period (1335-1573.) The design of this garden is based upon the symbols of the Buddha’s world.

Originally, carp fish were donated to Mirror Lake – traditionally the significance of the carp fish is a Japanese historical and religious one: carp fish are always found in the ponds of the temples for, through the carp, one’s sins were washed clean.

The inspiration and information for this summary is primarily from the National Park Service.  While at DLNR, I signed off on the nomination forms to list these improvements on the National Historic Register of Historic Sites; it was listed on February 11, 2004.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pineapple In Hawai‘i

Christopher Columbus brought pineapple, native of South America, back to Europe as one of the exotic prizes of the New World.  (‘Pineapple’ was given its English name because of its resemblance to a pine cone.)
 
Pineapple (“halakahiki,” or foreign hala,) long seen as Hawaiʻi’s signature fruit, was introduced to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish adviser to King Kamehameha I.
 
Credit for the commercial production of pineapples goes to the John Kidwell, an English Captain who started with planting 4-5 acres in Mānoa.
 
Although sugar dominated the Hawaiian economy, there was also great demand at the time for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco.
 
After Kidwell’s initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.
 
Here is some brief background information on four of Hawai‘i’s larger pineapple producers, Dole, Libby, Del Monte and Maui Land & Pineapple.
 
Ultimately, as part of an economic survival plan, pineapple producers ended up in cooperative marketing programs and marketed the idea of Hawaiian products, as in “Don’t ask for pineapples alone.  Insist on Hawaiian Pineapple!”
 
Dole Pineapple Plantation (Hawaiian Pineapple Company)
James Dole, an American industrialist, also famously called the Pineapple King, purchased 60 acres of land in the central plains of Oahu Island and started the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901.
 
In the year 1907, Dole started successful ad campaigns that introduced whole of America to canned pineapples from Hawaii.
 
In 1911, at the direction of Dole, Henry Ginaca invented a machine that could automatically peel and core pineapples (instead of the usual hand cutting,) making canned pineapple much easier to produce.
 
The demand for canned pineapples grew exponentially in the US and in 1922, a revolutionary period in the history of Hawaiian pineapple; Dole bought most of the island of Lāna‘i and established a vast 200,000-acre pineapple plantation to meet the growing demands.
 
Lanai throughout the entire 20th century produced more than 75% of world’s total pineapple.  More land on the island of Maui was purchased by Dole.
 
In 1991, the Dole Cannery closed.  Today, Dole Food Company, headquartered on the continent, is a well-established name in the field of growing and packaging food products such as pineapples, bananas, strawberries, grapes and many others.
 
The Dole Plantation tourist attraction, established in 1950 as a small fruit stand but greatly expanded in 1989  serves as a living museum and historical archive of Dole and pineapple in Hawai‘i.
 
Libby, McNeil & Libby (Libby’s)
Libby’s, one of the world’s leading producers of canned foods, was created in 1868 when Archibald McNeill and brothers Arthur and Charles Libby began selling beef packed in brine.
 
In the early 1900s it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name.
 
By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby gained control of land in Kāne‘ohe and built the first large-scale cannery at Kahalu‘u.  This sizable cannery, together with the surrounding old style plantation-type housing units, became known as “Libbyville.”
 
The Kāne‘ohe facility ultimately failed; some suggest it was because Libby built it on and destroyed the Kukuiokane Heiau in Luluku.
 
In 1912 Libby, McNeill and Libby bought half of the stock of Hawaiian Cannery Co.  By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaii every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.
 
Del Monte Plantation
Del Monte another major food producing and packaging company of America started its pineapple plantation with the purchase of the Hawaiian Preservation Company in 1917.  The company progressed and increased its plantation areas during 1940s.
 
In 1997, the company introduced its MD-2 variety, popularly known as Gold Extra Sweet pineapple, to the market.  The variety, though produced in Costa Rica, was the result of extensive research done by the now dissolved Pineapple Research Institute, in Hawaii. In 2008, Del Monte stopped its pineapple plantation operations in Hawaii.
 
Maui Land & Pineapple Company
The family of Dwight Baldwin, a missionary physician, created the evolving land and agricultural company.  It first started as Haiku Fruit & Packing Company in 1903 and Keahua Ranch Company in 1909, then Baldwin Packers in 1912.
 
In 1932, it was renamed Maui Pineapple Company, which later merged with Baldwin Packers in 1962.  In 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P) was created and went public.
 
In 2005, the company introduced its now famous “Maui Gold” variety, which is naturally sweet and has low acid content.  Maui Gold pineapple is presently grown across 1,350 acres on the slopes of Haleakala.
 
Maui Land & Pineapple Company is now a landholding company with approximately 22,000-acres on the island of Maui on which it operates the Kapalua Resort community.
 
In 2009, the remnants of the 100-year old pineapple operation were transferred to Maui Gold Pineapple Company (created by former Maui Pineapple Company employees who were committed to saving the 100-year tradition of pineapple on Maui.)
 
While the scale of pineapple farming has dwindled, the celebration of pineapple lives on through Lāna‘i’s Pineapple Festival.  Starting in 1992, the event, formerly known as the “Pineapple Jam,” honors the island’s pineapple history.  (June 30, 2012 will be the 20th annual Pineapple Festival)
 
The image is the iconic Dole Cannery pineapple 100,000-gallon water tank. Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark and reminder of pineapple’s role in Hawaiian agriculture until it was demolished in 1993. (images via: A Pineapple Heart and Burl Burlingame, Honolulu Star-Bulletin)
 
 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Barrier Forests

“Our native forests are being rapidly depleted through the operation of several factors. Opinions may differ as to the relative importance of these factors, but the undeniable fact remains that the forests are disappearing at an alarming rate and the denudation has already gone so far on many of our important watersheds as to jeopardize the water supply obtained therefrom.”

“Cattle and Hilo grass are the most potent factors in bringing about the final elimination of our native forest trees, shrubs, vines and ferns.”

“The first problem to be considered in any constructive forestry plan should be the protection and preservation of our native forests; in other words, we should take steps to keep what we still have.”

“To do this we must build fences to keep out animals and plant barrier forests of strong introduced trees to hold back and smother out the Hilo grass.”

“In selecting trees and shrubs for our forest planting, we should give preference to those that show ability to spread spontaneously through the free production of seed that will be carried by natural agencies such as wind and birds.” (Watt, McLennan, Knudsen & Lyon; Hawaiian Planters Record, Vol XX, 1919)

“There are water-conserving native forests still covering areas of considerable extent in these Islands …. These forests are doomed to destruction if prompt protective and constructive measures are not adopted for their preservation.”

“If we would save what is left of our native rain-forests we must eliminate the cattle now present in them, prevent their further invasion by stock with proper fences, and build barrier forests along their exposed edges.”

“These measures should be instituted at once, not in one small area only, but throughout the Islands wherever there is a native forest of any extent.”

“Some seem to think that reforestation in these Islands means the immediate replacement of the native trees with foreign stock. Such a course is altogether inadvisable.”

“We should first save what we still have in the way of forests and create our new forests on the large areas from which the native forests have nearly or quite disappeared.”

“At a recent meeting of the Committee on Forestry of the H. S. P. A., the following resolution was adopted: ‘RESOLVED, That it is the desire of this Committee that the preservation and extension of the native forest be the main consideration in all planting operations undertaken on our forest areas.’” (Hawaiian Planters Record, Vol XX, 1919)

“The primary object of all forest plantings on our watersheds must be to revive and create plant formations, including trees, shrubs, ferns and mosses, which will grow in a harmonious society and afford the greatest possible water-conserving capacity. No pure-culture forest can equal a mixed plant society in this respect.”

“Reforestation as commonly dealt with in text-books on forestry or as practiced by foresters in various parts of the world, aims at the creation of pure-culture forests.”

“Our reforestation problem is, therefore, unique; we have no precedent to go by. Ecological botanists have, however, supplied us with many careful analyses of such forest formations as we desire to create on our own watersheds.”

“Our problem is to build similar forest-formations, using such material as is already available in the Islands, and importing such additional material as is needed to round out our new plant societies.”

“The forest-formations which we must create are of two general types: barrier-forests and deep or interior rain-forests.”

“I employ the term barrier-forest to include the plant formations which must constitute the outer exposed edge of our forests and form the transition from denuded areas to rain-forest.”

“We should first concern ourselves with these barrier-forests, for such forest-formations must be built up along the exposed edges of all the existing remnants of our native rain-forests if these remnants are to be preserved, and they must also be constructed along the margins of any area on which we could create a new rain-forest.”

“It is then quite evident that the barrier-forest must be constructed first in any reforestation project we may undertake. It follows, therefore, that our first problem is to get together the proper components for a barrier-forest formation.”

“Experimental plantings looking toward the building of rainforest formations can be started as soon as plants are available for the purpose.”

“This work must progress more slowly than that in the barrier-forest formations and should be undertaken first on denuded areas where the native forest has nearly or quite disappeared.” (Lyon; Proceedings of the HSPA, 1919)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Devil Pups

The basis for the name was conceived during World War I when German soldiers gave the United States Marines opposing them in battle the name “Devil Dogs,” because of their battlefield accomplishments and valor of the Marines [and “never give up” spirit].  (Devil Pups)

The Marines who organized this youth citizenship program chose the term “Devil Pups” to describe the quality of teen who can complete this program. (Southern Utah Devil Pup)

“Devil Pups are [14] – to 17-year-old high school students from all over California [and, now, beyond] who assemble each summer here for 10-day physical fitness and citizenship training sessions.  Sometimes the Pups are referred to as junior Marines.”

“They also are taken to Marine training sessions and to firing ranges, where they observe weapon firing, tanks, artillery and aerial  firing. But otherwise they have little contact with firearms.”  (LA Times, Advertiser, Aug 24, 1970)

‘‘The Idea caught on and in the summer of 1954 we were able to send 30 boys to Camp Pendleton for a one-week trial program of training in physical fitness and respect for authority and the flag.’” (San Bernardino County Sun, Aug 20, 1982)

“Duncan Shaw, a Los Angeles Marine Corps reserve officer [and] president of the Devil Pups since it was inaugurated, said, ‘The idea started here when we read of some high school boys who had torn the American flag, kicked it around and generally behaved like idiots.’”

“‘We thought maybe we could do something about it in a small way by starting a health education and citizenship program for teen-agers. … Since then the program has grown and has been most successful.’”

“‘We have liaison officers in each town of any size who work with the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army and other groups and clubs to select boys for the program. A boy, however,  does not have to belong to a club to get on the program so long as his parents’ permission is given.’”

“‘We are not trying to run a juvenile delinquency school.  Any deserving boy is welcome. We simply put them through a regimented program of health education and citizenship, try to develop a competitive spirit and give them lectures on the American flag and what it means to be an American.’” (Evening Vanguard, Nov 18, 1964)

“One of the more enthusiastic supporters of the Devil Pups program is Richard Charest, 16, of Anaheim, Calif., who was impressed by the physical fitness aspects.  ‘I think we ought to get more of these idiots off the streets – who are fouling up on drugs – and involve them in a program like this.”

“This would clean up the United States. There is a lot of garbage out there in the streets and we ought to clear them out by involving them and teaching them about citizenship and the flag,’ he said.” (LA Times, Advertiser, Aug 24, 1970)

“‘We had considerable trouble with the Devil Pups that first year. Nearly all of them were juvenile delinquents and weren’t about

to be changed in one week. They almost tore their building apart.’”

“‘Today’s Devil Pups are the pick of the crop, from all parts of the community, to be sure, but to be accepted, they must show their interest in the program. Then they are interviewed and and tested physically before they are sent here to camp,’ [Maj. Tom Vener, USMCR] said.” (San Bernardino County Sun, Aug 20, 1982)

The program is not a ‘mini boot camp’ or recruiting organization for the Marine Corps.  The 10-day program is a combination of outdoor physical exercises, inspirational classroom lectures and demonstrations of Marine Corps operations.

The activities during both increments are overseen by our Encampment Commander and his executive staff (employees of Devil Pups, Inc.). Each day, the running, diving, and hiking exercises are balanced with inspiring classroom sessions. The “Role Model” classroom segments are conducted by an assortment of board members, veterans, and Devil Pups alumni. (Devil Pups)

“Since 1954 we have not asked our participants to pay tuition to attend our program. We spend the entire year raising the funds we need which go towards the cost of the camp including counselor fees, food, transportation, clothing, insurance, fundraising, office supplies, and more.”

“Devil Pups, Inc. raises 100% of the funds for 100 youth to attend our camp every year, which is budgeted at a rough cost of $975 per Pup. We want every Pup not to be hindered from acceptance due to financial reasons, and have been doing so since we started 70 years ago. We want them all to have an equal opportunity to participate.”  (Devil Pups)

For at least the last couple of years including on August 16, 2024, “The [MCBH Lifestyle Insights, Networking, Knowledge, and Skills (LINKS) program of the] Marine Corps Family Team Building hosted the [Little] Devil Pups workshop, which included a miniature physical fitness test, water gun shooting range, vehicle and aircraft tours, and a readiness class.”

This was for children with parents living or working at MCBH; the MCBH included a Homecoming Run, a resource fair and homecoming sign making.

“The Devil Pups Youth Program For America is all about helping young boys and girls build confidence and learn about responsibility while taking on new challenges.” (U.S. Marine Corps by Lance Cpl. Samuel Estridge)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nāuhi Cabin

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully in the islands.

Fast forward … Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

Sugar‐cane farming gained this prestige without great difficulty because sugar cane soon proved to be the only available crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation.  (HSPA 1947)

In 1876, the legislature of Kamehameha III passed a law declaring all “forest lands” to be government property in an effort to conserve the forests from further encroachment on the seaward side by the plantations’ need for fuel and on the mountain side from grazing animals.

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA), dedicated to improving the sugar industry in Hawai‘i, has become an internationally recognized research center.  (It was in 1996 when HSPA expanded its research interest besides sugarcane and acquired its current name Hawai‘i Agriculture Research Center (HARC), expanding its research on tropical crops and forests.)

Interestingly, it was the sugar growers, significant users of Hawai‘i’s water resources, who led the forest reserve protection movement.  On May 13, 1903, the Territory of Hawaiʻi, with the backing of the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters’ Association, established the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry.  (HDOA)

The Forest Reserves were established as a cooperative arrangement between the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association and the territorial government.

Plantations needed wood for fuel, but they also needed to keep the forests intact to draw mist precipitation from the trade winds, which in turn fed the irrigation systems in the cane fields below.

Their own consumption of fuel had clearly been contributing to the decline of the forest at lower elevations, where flume systems transported large quantities of wood, as well as cane.  (Mills)

The link between tree-planting and the sugar planters can be seen particularly clearly in the career of Harold Lyon, who arrived in Hawai‘i in 1907 as a plant pathologist in the employ of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association (HSPA).

Lyon was a strong voice for forests; neglect of the islands’ forests would be “suicidal,” for ‘‘everything fails with the failure of our water supply’’.

Johnny Ah San, who worked as a territorial forester, noted, “And then HSPA had a man down at Nāuhi Nursery, and they planted trees. Then before the war [WWII], Roosevelt had the WPA [Works Progress Administration], so the men planted trees in the forest.” (Johnny Ah San; Maly)

The Nāuhi (‘the yams’) facility was interchangeably referred to as a Nursery and Experimental Station (and, apparently, also called Nāuhi Camp). The Hilo Forest Reserve was the site of cooperative reforestation efforts by the HSPA and Territorial foresters and later by the Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of the Bureau of Forestry.

Over 100 varieties of temperate trees and plants were tested at the Experiment Station at Nāuhi; many of which succeeded to the point of naturally reproducing.

Nāuhi Cabin (a small building with three out-structures) was part of the Nāuhi Gulch Experiment Station, which was established in 1924. It is located in the ahupua‘a of Honohina at about 5,100 feet above sea level.  A nursery that was part of the Experiment Station is no longer standing. (Tuggle)

The purpose of Nāuhi Gulch Experiment Station, which operated until the beginning of World War II, was to “introduce, propagate and plant out in the adjacent forest lands various species and varieties of temperate zone, both northern and southern, trees and other plants”.

To this end, over 78 varieties of fruit trees and over 30 varieties of other temperate zone trees and plants were tested. Surrounding the cabin now is a wild landscape of feral garden flowers like roses, daisies, and nasturtiums, as well as apple, pear, and plum trees.

In 1941, wild pigs in the Nāuhi gulch-Pihā area were noted by Lyon: “Of special interest to us at this time are your remarks regarding the prevalence of wild hogs in the Nāuhi Gulch-Pihā region. They undoubtedly do a great deal of damage there.”

“If, for any reason, this Territory is compelled to produce its own food supply, we could organize a campaign which would remove most of these hogs from the forest and, at the same time, yield a goodly amount of excellent food for our people.” (Tuggle)

The cabin was part of a complex that included several buildings and an orchard on 47 acres of land leased from Lili‘uokalani Trust. In 1945, Territorial forester Bryan reported on the conditions at the by-then abandoned station (Bryan 1945):

“There has been no work done at this station for a considerable period of time, and it is in a run-down state at the present time. Fences are in need of repairs, wild pigs are numerous and have done some damages in the orchard, and it will require considerable labor and effort to bring it back to its former appearance.”

Nāuhi Cabin has been used by the National Biological Survey. Formed in 1993, their mission was to gather, analyze, and disseminate the biological information necessary for the sound stewardship of natural resources and to foster understanding of biological systems and the benefits they provide to society. It is now known as USGS’s Biological Resource Division (BRD).

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