Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Saddle Road

By the early 1800s, foreign visitors began making regular trips across the ‘āina mauna [mountain lands] and to the summit of Mauna Kea. Based on their accounts, travel in the region through the middle 1800s basically followed the old trails, or cut across new areas.

By the 1850s, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i entered into a program of improving ancient trails and identifying new routes, by which to improve travel between various locations and facilitate commerce. (Maly)

At its May 23, 1849 meeting, the Privy Council of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (a private committee of the King’s closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state) sought to “facilitate communication between Kailua, the seat of the local government, and Hilo, the principal port.”

They resolved “that GP Judd and Kinimaka proceed to Kailua, Hawaiʻi, to explore a route from that place to Hilo direct, and make a road, if practicable, by employing the prisoners on that island and if necessary taking the prisoners from this island (Oʻahu) to assist; the government to bear all expenses”. (Privy Council Minutes, Punawaiola)

In planning the road, the words of the Privy Council’s resolution were taken literally, and the route selected ran to the high saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on a practically straight line between the terminal points.

What became known as the “Judd Road” (or “Judd Trail”) was constructed between 1849 and 1859; construction began at the government road in Kailua (what is now known as Aliʻi Drive) and traversed through a general corridor between Hualālai and Mauna Loa.  (Remnants of perimeter walls can still be seen at Aliʻi Drive.)

“This was the road that Dr. Judd … would have built from Kona in a straight line across the island of Hawaii. It was meant, of course, as a road for horsemen and pack animals. In the generation of Dr. Judd it was a great work, and the manner of its building showed that he meant it to be a monument to him for all time.”  (Ford, Mid-Pacific, 1912)

In 1859, when the road had been built about 12-miles from Kailua into the saddle between Hualālai and Mauna Loa, the project was abandoned – a pāhoehoe lava flow from the 11,000 foot-level of Mauna Loa crossed its path.  Though incomplete (it never reached its final destination in Hilo,) people did use the Judd Road to get into Kona’s mauka countryside.

This road was not the only attempt of linking East and West Hawaiʻi.  The western section of the trail from Waimea to Kalai‘eha (Humu‘ula Sheep Station) had become a ‘cart road’ by 1873; it was only a dirt road through the pasture then and in rainy weather it turned to mud.

There were no automobiles in 1910 and very few in the 1920s, all transportation was by foot, horse, or by wagon, carriage and buggy.  In 1920, the cart road left the Waimea/Kona road at Pu’u Nohona‘ohae and went through Waiki’i village to The Saddle.

The cart road initially began a little farther north, however, the manager of Parker Ranch, AW Carter, got the entrance of the road moved so that it passed between Pu‘u Nohona’ohae lki to the north, and Pu‘u Nohona‘ohae Nui to the south. (This is the alignment of the old Saddle Road where it meets the Waimea to Kona ‘Mauka Road.’)

In the saddle area, the old cart road ran directly east from Pōhakuloa to Kalai‘eha (Humu’ula Sheep Station).  The eastern section, from Kalai‘eha down to Hilo, remained a trail until World War II, except at the Hilo end. ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Countly Club Road intersection in Kaumana by the “FTRA” about 1936.

Because there was no road up from Hilo, to get to Kalai‘eha (near Pu‘u Huluhulu and the present Mauna Kea Access Road) and surrounding uses. From Hilo, you had to drive all the way along the Hāmākua Coast (Mamalahoa Highway) around through Waimea and back east through the Saddle.  As described by Roy Blackshear, to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch (owned by his grandfather):

“The first time I went to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was about 1931. But at that time, of course there was no Saddle Road there, and to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch we left Kea‘au before sunrise in the morning, traveled north along the Hāmākua Coast, going through all the valleys and small bridges and so on and finally we reached Waimea and had lunch at Waimea.”

“And then we continued from Waimea along the Mamalahoa Highway. Out to where, I think it was just about where the present Saddle Road takes off. …  And of course any car going up at that time would have to carry chains because they did run into mud.”

[They stopped first in Waiki‘i.] “And then we headed on east from there, climbing all the time. So then we continued on and we reach Humu‘ula sheep station. And they put more water in the radiator. And then we started from, there up towards the Keanakolu road …” (Blacksher; Rosendahl)

While ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Country Club Road intersection in Kaumana by about 1936, from there it was an unpaved wagon road until World War II and above that a horse trail.  Above Kaumana, the eastern section (from Kalai‘eha) remained a trail until World War II.

The Saddle Road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the US Army Engineer District, Honolulu (USED, now called the US Army Corps of Engineers) during World War II in order to provide an access route in case of Japanese invasion.

Near the top of Kaumana, the army had a camp and barred everyone who didn’t work there from traveling up into the interior of the Island.

Henry Auwae ran the lead bulldozer to clear the road in 1943, coming up from Hilo on the 1881 and 1855 lava flows and choosing a route which kept to no more than a 6% grade. Cinders were then hauled down from Humu‘ula toward Kaumana by the CCC and later the USED, then oiled to make a narrow “gravel” road.

The west section of the road was paved right after the war. The east section of the road was not paved until later, about 1949. At that time the road was moved at several points to cut off some large loops. These old loops still exist, including one north of the road around milepost 9 and another around milepost 22.

Then, starting with an accepted EIS in 1999, what is now known as Daniel K Inouye Highway (renamed on what would have been his 89th birthday) was realigned and widened.  Starting in 2007, successive phases of the improved road have been opened up.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hofgaard Store

Christopher Blom Hofgaard was born in Skien, Norway, on October 5, 1859. His parents were Gerhard Didrik and Didrikka (Blom) Hofgaard. He received his education at high school and at the Christiana Handelsgymnasium.

Hofgaard arrived in Hawai‘i on January 22, 1882. The first job of the newly-arrived young man in the islands was on the Wailuku sugar plantation where he worked several months, leaving to accept a clerkship in CH Dickey’s store at Haiku. Later, he was promoted to manager of the Dickey store at Paia.

In April 1885, he left Dickey’s employ to enter business for himself. He moved to Kauai and started the firm of CB Hofgaard & Co, in October of 1885.

In addition, from 1885 to 1886 he was a clerk in the post office and served as postmaster at Waimea, Kauai, from 1886 to 1918.  With respect to his postmaster role, Hofgaard wrote,

“Mrs MJ Rowell was postmaster in Waimea when I started the store in 1885, but in May 1886, she wrote to Fred Wunderberg, the postmaster general, that she desired to get rid of the postoffice and proposed to him that he appoint me postmaster.”

“Mrs Rowell turned over the postoffice and handed me the letter from the postmaster general as authority for the act, and I started to act at once.”

“Everything went on all right till some time in 1887, when I was suddenly arrested for accepting money under false pretenses. The women had started a ‘Hui Kuonoono’ and when the first installment came in, the treasurer of the hui deposited the money in the postal savings bank and I receipted for the money signing CB Hofgaard, postmaster.”

“Appeared in court the following morning and had my case postponed one week and wrote to the postmaster general to send me a commission in return mail, and date it back some six months, as I was arrested for impersonating an officer of the government.”

“By return mail I received the commission but the sheriff maintained it was a forgery.” It was an embarrassing moment, but with no apparent consequence. (SB, June 12, 1930)

The CB Hofgaard Store was so successful that he was enabled to retire from active management twelve years later, but retained the presidency of the company, which was incorporated in 1901.

For more than 30 years Mr. Hofgaard was the representative of the Equitable Life Assurance Society in the islands. In addition to the presidency of the Hofgaard firm he also was treasurer of Waimea Stables.

In addition to his business and public offices, welfare and church work drew much of Mr. Hofgaard’s attention. He was a member of the district committee of the Hawaiian Board of Missions, a member of the YMCA committee, president of the board of trustees of the Waimea foreign church society, a trustee of the Mahelona hospital, and a member of the Kauai board of child welfare. (Nellist)

Hofgaard served as auditor for the county of Kauai in 1905 and road supervisor from 1886 to 1898. He was appointed district magistrate in 1904.

Waimea’s Hofgaard Park, that narrow strip of land in Waimea that has the statue of Captain James Cook and other historical plaques is named for Hofgaard.

It seems the Hofgaard Store had a role in Hawai‘i’s banking industry … “Mr and Mrs Wilson P Cannon and little son arrived from Berkley en route to Waimea Kauai, where Mr Cannon, who is a dry goods man, will be associated with the Hofgaard store.”

“Mrs Cannon was born on Kauai and has not been in the islands for 17 years. She is the niece of Mr and Mrs CB Hofgaard of Waimea.” (SB, January 1, 1921)

The son, Wilson P Cannon Jr, was born in Berkely on August 25, 1919 and grew up on Kauai and Maui and was graduated from Maui High School in 1937.  After WWII, he worked his way through the ranks at Bank of Hawai‘i and later became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

American Factors (Amfac) bought the store in 1921. (SB, August 18, 1928) During WWII, the store was used by the Army as a quartermaster warehouse.

Businessman HS Kawakami bought and renovated the Hofgaard store in 1947 and moved his retail business into it. In 1966, the Hofgaard building was demolished to make way for a newer building opened by Kawakami in 1967 that would house the Bank of Hawai‘i, HS Kawakami Stores, and Big Save market. (Soboleski)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

MacDonald Hotel

“Broad spreading trees and wide lawns gave Punahou St an air of quiet and peace and dignity. And not the least dignified of the buildings which line the street is the MacDonald hotel, which for more than 50 years has stood as a landmark in the district.” (Star Bulletin, July 21, 1934)

“The MacDonald Hotel is a stately mansion surrounded by cottages amid sub-tropical foliage. It is located at 1402 Punahou Street in the great residence district of Honolulu.”

“There are tennis courts on the grounds, and the transient as well as the permanent resident has here all the comforts of home at the reasonable rates of $3 a day or $65 a month. The guests enjoy delicious home-cooked meals, which are also served to outsiders. This hotel is near Central Union Church and Oahu College.  (Mid-Pacific Magazine, July 1927)

“Two prominent island families called this building ‘home’ before it was converted into a hotel. They were the families of Col and Mrs Charles H Judd and Judge and Mrs HA Widemann.”  (Star Bulletin, July 21, 1934)

Charles Hastings Judd, born at Kawaiaha‘o on September 8, 1835 to missionaries Gerrit and Laura Judd, was Chamberlain to King Kalākaua from 1878 until 1886, and an official in various responsible capacities during the reigns of three rulers, Kamehameha V, Lunalilo and Kalākaua.

In 1860, Judd and his brother-in-law, SG Wilder, had purchased the lands of Kualoa and Ka‘a‘awa from Judd’s father and Jacob Fox and started diversified farming with tobacco, cotton and rice were planted and the possibility of vanilla beans was discussed.

He entered into a partnership with his father and Wilder in 1863 for the growing and grinding of sugar cane at Kualoa, and in 1864, the first on the Island of O‘ahu.

In 1866 the Charles and his family settled at “Rosebank,” Nu‘uanu Valley, which had been bought from the estate of Robert C Wyllie, famous in Hawaiian history as a minister of foreign affairs. During these years Judd was engaged in ranching with John Cummins at Waimanalo. Production of sugar at Kualoa having failed for various reasons, the enterprise was abandoned in 1871. (Nellist)

Hermann Adam Widemann was born in Hanover, Germany on December 24, 1822. “After he left school where he received an excellent training he was destined for the army. His ‘pull’ was not sufficient in those days for promotion when ‘birth’ was everything and he went to sea in a merchant vessel.”

“In 1843 he arrived in Honolulu and he liked the place well and made up his mind to return to the Islands. In 1846 he landed again in Honolulu and made his home here and became a leading citizen of this little place. During the ‘gold fever’ in 1848-9 he made a trip to California but struck no ‘ore’ there.”

He later made a great success, through his ambition energy and sterling qualities, he rose to the high position in the community.  He served at one time Sheriff of Kauai, then Circuit Judge, Minister of the Interior, a Privy Councilor, a member of the Board of Health, Minister of Finance and a Noble.

“The main record of Mr Widemann will go down to posterity however as a leading and successful coffee and sugar planter. …  Although Widemann was not a trained lawyer he was a natural born jurist and at the time of his death was the oldest member of the Hawaiian Bar and for a while he occupied the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.” (The Independent, Feb 7, 1899)

Back to the MacDonald Hotel property … “It was built in 1880 for Col Judd, then court chamberlain to King Kalakaua and long active in affairs of the monarchy.  Beautlful walnut and other fine woods were used in its construction, and it stands today as substantial as it was 50 years ago. The handsome stairway is of walnut, and so are the five pairs of thick folding doors.”

“The Judd family moved in late in 1880, but Col Judd left his home on January 20, 1881, to accompany King Kalakaua on his famous trip around the world. Unable to go direct from here to Japan, the party went first to San Francisco, then directly across the Pacific and on around the world. Col Judd was away from his home most of the year.”

“In 1886, following his withdrawal from the service of the king, Col Judd moved to his Leilehua ranch home, although keeping his Punahou St home for occasions when he was in the city. …” Later the house was sold.

“The new owners of the house were Judge HA Widemann, also a prominent figure in governmental affairs, and Mrs Widemann. Here the Widemann family, with its household of children lived, and even after the marriage of the younger generatlon the house remained a center of their activities.

Following the death of Widemann … “the house became the property of his daughter, Mrs Henry Macfarlane. She sold it after a few years and it became a hotel, managed by Mrs M MacDonald for many years.”

“It came under the present ownership in 1928 when Mrs Polly Ward was appointed manager. At this time its name was temporarily changed to Kalaniloohia (The Beautiful Attainment), an early name for the district; but the name MacDonald hotel was so firmly ingrained on people’s consciousness that it stuck, and later the Hawaiian name was dropped.”

“Although improvements have been made in the interior of the building it still retains the atmosphere of the hospitable old home. The Manoa breeze sweeps through its high ceilinged rooms just as it did a half century ago.”

“The exterior remains without change, and so do most of the four and a half acres of spacious grounds.  Five cottages are now in the yard, two of them dating back to the Widemann’s occupancy.”

“Another of these cottages known as ‘Little Arcadia’ has an interesting history of its own.  It was built about 1893 or 1894 by Mr and Mrs. John G Rothwell and stood, not where it is now, but on the adjoining lot mauka, just a trifle makai and Waikiki of Arcadia, the present home of Judge and Mrs. Walter F Frear.”  (It was moved to make room for the driveway to Arcadia.) (Star Bulletin, July 21, 1934)

Things changed again … “MacDonald Hotel Sold to Church for School Use .., The MacDonald hotel and property [about 3.6 acres] at 1402-1406 Punahou Street will be converted to use as an addition to the Maryknoll School.” (Star Bulletin, Dec 16, 1947)

Maryknoll was founded by a young priest and six Maryknoll Sisters. When it was blessed in 1927, there were only 93 boys and 77 girls who made up the student body. The school was a one-story, wooden-frame building containing four classrooms on Dole Street.

Within four years, the Sisters knew that expansion was necessary. In 1931, the first freshman class was enrolled and, in 1935, the first 13 graduates of the only Catholic co-educational high school in Hawaii received diplomas.

The high school division continued to operate at Dole Street until 1948, when it was moved to the former MacDonald Hotel on Punahou Street. In August 1953, the present high school facility was dedicated.  Today, Maryknoll is Hawai‘i’s largest co-ed Catholic school serving grades K-12. Fifty percent of the students are non-Catholics. (Maryknoll)

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$25,000 Annuity

“In an interview, ex-Queen Liliuokalani said of the proposed treaty between the United States and Hawaii: ‘Fifteen hundred people are giving away my country.’”

“‘The people of my country do not want to be annexed to the United States. Nor do the people of the United States wants annexation. It is the work of 1,500 people, mostly Americans, who have settled in Hawaii. Of this number those who are not native born Americans are of American parentage.’”

“‘None of my people want the island annexed. The population of the islands is 109,000. Of this number 40,000 are native Hawaiians. The rest are Americans, Germans, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, English and a small proportion from other countries. The 1,500 Americans who are responsible for what was done to-day are running the affairs of the islands.’”

“‘There is no provision made in this treaty for me. In the Harrison treaty I was allowed $20,000 a year, but that treaty never went into effect. I have never received one dollar from the United States.’”

“‘No one looked after my interests in the preparation of this treaty. Yet my people, who form so large a part of the population of the islands, would want justice done me.’” (Los Angeles Herald, June 18, 1897)

Then, a couple American newspapermen (Charles L MacArthur, a former New York state senator and then editor of the local newspaper in Troy NY and William Shaw Bowen, a journalist with the New York World newspaper) independently supported an effort to arrange a $25,000 annuity to Liliʻuokalani.

In responding to questions noted in the Morgan Report, MacArthur stated, “I went to Mr. Dole. I had trouble in my own mind as to whether the Queen had not some personal rights in the crown lands, for the reason that the treasury department had never asked her to make a return on the income …”

“… which was about $75,000 a year, from these lands and which she had received, and as the treasury had never asked her for a return I thought she had an individual right in the lands.”

“I said to the people, ‘She has individual rights, and you have not asked her to make a return to the treasury of what she has received and what she did not receive.’ The President explained it all to me, the grounds of it. “

“When Mr. Neuman indicated that they were willing – I had made the suggestion and others had – that they ought to buy her out, pay her a definite sum, $25,000 or some other sum per year for her rights.”

“Her rights had been shattered, but I thought they ought to pay for them, and so I went, in accordance with Mr. Neuman’s suggestion, or by his consent, to see President Dole.”

“Mr. Neuman said he wanted to talk with President Dole about this matter, but he had not been there officially, and he could not go there publicly to his official place. I talked with Mr. Dole, and Mr Dole said he could not officially do anything without consulting his executive committee …”

“… but he said he would be very happy to meet Mr. Neuman and see what they wanted – see if they could come to any terms about this thing by which the Queen would abdicate and surrender her rights.”

“Mr. Neuman and his daughter called, nominally for the daughter to see Mrs. Dole, so that it could not get out, if they made a call, they could say it was merely a social call, not an official call.”

“Of course, I do not know what their conversation was; but Mr. Neuman, acting on that, called on the Queen. Mr. Dole and Mr. Neuman both impressed on me the importance of not having this thing get out, or the whole thing would go up in smoke. Mr. Neuman said he could bring this thing about if he could keep it from the Queen’s retainers – her people.”

“He said, ‘That is the difficulty about this thing.’ This matter went on for three or four days. Mr. Neuman saw the Queen and she agreed not to say anything about it, so Mr. Neuman tells me, and I got it from other sources there which I think are reliable. They came to some sort of understanding; I do not know what it was.”

“They went so far as to say this woman would not live over three or four years; that she had some heart trouble; and if they gave her $25,000 a year it would not be for a long time. … Mr. Neuman said she assented to it, if she could satisfy one or two of her people.”

Bowen noted in testimony in the Morgan Report, “One day while dining with Paul Neuman I said: ‘I think it would be a good thing if the Queen could be pensioned by the Provisional Government; it would make matters harmonious, relieve business, and make matters much simpler.’”

“I also said that I was aware that certain gentlemen in Washington were opposed to pensioning the Queen; that certain Senators raised that objection to the treaty that was brought from the islands because it recognized the principle of the right of a queen to a pension.”

“There was one Senator, especially, from the South, who said, without discussing the treaty, that that was objectionable to him; that his people would object to it. I said, “If there is no annexation it is a serious question; if there is, the Queen should be taken care of.”

“Neuman agreed with me. He was a strong friend of the Queen, disinterested and devoted. But he said it could not be done. I told him that I had become acquainted with the members of the Provisional Government who were high in authority, and I thought I would try to have it done.”

“Mr. Dole said he would not make any propositions himself and asked me what I thought the pension ought to be. On the spur of the moment, not having considered the matter, I said I thought the Queen ought to get a very handsome pension out of the crown lands.”

“I asked if there was any question about raising the money, and he said none whatever. He finally asked me to name the figures. He had the idea that the figures had been suggested. I said, ‘You ought to give $20,000 a year to furnish her followers with poi. That is the native dish.’ Mr. Dole said he would consider that question.”

“The result was that Mr. Dole told Mr. Neuman that if the Queen would make such a proposition to him it would receive respectful attention and intimated that he thought it would be accepted. Mr. Seaman saw the Queen and told me that he thought it would be done; that the more he thought of it the more convinced he was that it would be better all around.”

“In the meantime he (Blount) had been to the Queen, to Mr. Dole, and had done what he could to prevent the carrying out of the plan. Mr. Neuman had an interview with the Queen.”

“She told him that she would do nothing more in the matter, and asked him to give back her power of attorney, and he tore it up in her presence. This was the 22d, that he tore up his power of attorney.”

“On the 21st instant Mr. Claus Spreckels called to see me. He said that he suspected there was an effort at negotiation between the Queen and the Provisional Government, and that he had urged the Queen to withdraw her power of attorney from Paul Neumann.”

“How much or how little Mr. Spreckels knows about this matter I am unable to say, as I do not know how to estimate him, never having met him before. He promised to see me again before the mail leaves for the United States on next Wednesday, and give me such information as he could acquire in the meantime.”

“I have no doubt whatever that if Mr. Blount had not prevented, and secondarily Mr. Claus Speckels, the agent for the sugar trust, that plan would have been carried out. I have no doubt of it in my own mind.” (Bowen; Morgan Report)

“Thus Blount intervened to scuttle negotiations between the Queen and President Dole that were strongly on track toward a mutually agreeable settlement whereby the Queen would give up all claims to the throne in return for an annuity.” (MorganReport)

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Liliuokalani_in_1917
Liliuokalani_in_1917

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Levee

Starting about 500 years ago, early Hawaiians used the Kawainui wetland as a fishpond and to grow taro. Dryland crops around the wetland at the time of the Great Mahele included sweet potatoes, gourds, wauke (paper mulberry for making kapa), ‘awa (kava), pia (arrowroot for starch), bananas and sugar cane. (Drigot)

Rice was cultivated from the 1850s to the 1920s and then ranching and grazing became the predominant uses. (Ramsar Wetlands Information Sheet)

In the Māhele, Queen Kalama, Kamehameha III’s wife, received land within the area in and around Kawai Nui.  The land ownership changes which occurred to Queen Kalama’s ownership of the ‘ili of Kawai Nui mirrored the land use changes in general both in the region and in the islands as a whole.

Then, this area encompassing much of the Kailua ahupua‘a, was inherited by her stepfather and uncle. He promptly sold it in 1871 to a haole, Charles Coffin Harris, an American lawyer, who had by that time consolidated claim to the ahupua‘a of Kāne‘ohe as well as that of Kailua.

One of his children, Nannie Roberta Harris, became sole heir to the Harris estate, including the Kailua ahupua‘a at that time. She owned the Kailua ahupua‘a until 1917 when she and her husband sold nearly all of their interest in both Kailua and Kāne‘ohe to

Harold KL Castle. (Drigot)

When I was a kid, we referred to this area as the “swamp” – many of the old maps referred to it as such.  Auto parts shops lined the road at its edge; the dump was nearby.

Kawainui is the largest remaining wetland in Hawai‘i, encompassing approximately 830 acres of land in Kailua, Oahu. It provides important habitat for waterbirds and migratory bird species.  (Kawai Nui Marsh Master Plan, 1994; Army Corps)

When it rained hard, there were flood issues … “Damage to private dwellings, farms and property in Kailua was caused today by flood waters backing up from the swamp land in the Coconut Grove area. Residents said water was more than three feet deep in some places and was rising.” (Star Bulletin, Mary 13, 1940)

Flooding was not the only local concern … “We want to eliminate the mosquito problem and we want to reclaim the area, if possible.” (Castle; Drigot)

As late as 1956, the Kaneohe Ranch had installed a vertical pump and began pumping with such energy that, four months later, the water table of the Marsh had dropped “almost four feet and made the once forbidding marsh a lush grazing land”. (Drigot)

A stream runs through Oneawa ‘ili to the sea, providing a natural drainage for the Kawainui marsh. The Oneawa Canal (Kawainui Canal, former approximate location of Kawainui Stream) was constructed in the 1950s to provide flood control and stability for real estate development.  (Dye)

The Oneawa Canal connects Kawainui Marsh to Kailua Bay, is 9,470 feet long, and is located at the northeast corner of Kawainui Marsh. The upper streams and surface water stored in the marsh are freshwater, while the salinity of water within Oneawa Canal is brackish and tidally influenced. (Army Corps)

“Even though the Oneawa Channel (Kawainui Canal) was constructed in 1950 to prevent the major flooding of the Kailua residential area situated on the edge of the marsh, five subsequent severe floods occured in 1951, 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1963.” (Drigot)

“In 1964, after a two year intense battle for development rights to the central portion of Kawainui Marsh, Centex-Trousdale Construction Co. surrendered its claim and the City of Honolulu emerged victorious in its seven-year battle to acquire 749 acres of the Marsh for flood control and park purposes when, with federal assistance, they purchased the Centex-Trousdale properties”. (Drigot)

Then, they built a levee … “Construction of the original Kawai Nui Marsh Flood Control Project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950 and was completed in August 1966 by the Corps. Project features included … a 6,850-foot-long earthen levee with a maximum crest elevation of 9.5 feet; a 50-foot-long stub groin and 50-foot-long revetment at the outlet of Oneawa Channel”.  (Army Corps)

Over the years, vegetation within the marsh created a dense mat that affected the hydraulics of the marsh causing the project to be overtopped during the January 1988 storm.

“From December 31, 1987 through January 1, 1988, severe flooding of the Coconut Grove community occurred when the water level in the marsh exceeded the crest of the existing levee. Following this storm event, an emergency ditch was excavated alongside the levee to increase outflow from the marsh.” (Army Corps)

The floodwall has a maximum height of four feet and is 6,300 feet long extending from Kailua Road on the south to the Oneawa outlet channel on the north. The levee fills 1.8 acres of wetland fringe and provides a higher level of flood damage reduction to a larger part of Coconut Grove, which has more than 2,000 structures. (Army Corps)

By then, the Kawainui wetland reference had changed from “swamp” to “marsh.”  More recently, Kawainui Marsh was recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2005 for its historical, biological, and cultural significance. (DLNR)

Ramsar is the name of the city in Iran where the Ramsar Convention, or the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, was signed in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

Ramsar is not an acronym, and the convention is also known as “Ramsar”. The convention’s goals are to stop the loss of wetlands worldwide and to conserve the remaining wetlands through management and use.  (Ramsar Convention of Wetlands)

Sacred to Hawaiians, Kawainui Marsh, the largest remaining emergent wetland in Hawaii and Hawai‘i’s largest ancient freshwater fishpond, is located in what was once the center of a caldera of the Ko‘olau shield volcano.

The marsh provides primary habitat for four of Hawai‘i’s endemic and endangered waterbirds (Hawaiian Duck, koloa; Hawaiian Coot (‘alae ke‘oke‘o); Hawaiian Moorhen (‘alae ‘ula) and Hawaiian Stilt (kukuluae‘o (abbreviated as ae‘o)) and contains archaeological and cultural resources, including ancient walled taro lo‘i where fish were also cultivated. (Ramsar)

In addition, the levee has become a pathway that people within the surrounding community use for walking, running and biking.  Other recreation includes bird and wildlife watching.

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