Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

How Much Land Do We Need To Be Food Self-Sufficient?

Given the on-going conversations on food “self-sufficiency” and “sustainability,” in trying to answer the above question, I first looked to existing State plans to see the estimates and computations noted there.
 
To my surprise, there is no detail in the Hawaii 2050 Plan (the State’s long-range planning document) that quantifies how much land is needed for food self-sufficiency.
 
While it does use “happy words” (as I describe its text) generalizing that we need to do this or that; however, no roadmap to get there or measures of success are included.
 
I then did an internet investigation into the matter to see if ‘rules of thumb’ or other standards could apply.  The evidence is variable.
 
As noted by the graphic used here, some suggest, at a self-subsistence level, a family of four can live off of approximately 2-acres of land.
 
Extend that to the Hawai‘i’s existing defacto population of about 1.5-million people, we need about 750,000-acres of land to feed everyone.  (Of course, there are economies of scale when moving from individual family subsistence production to commercial scale production, so this number is inflated.)
 
(By the way, de facto population is defined as the number of persons physically present in an area, regardless of military status or usual place of residence.  It includes visitors present but excludes residents temporarily absent, both calculated as an average daily census.)
 
The 750K acres for 1.5M people conflicts with a prior report on feeding the people in the city of Detroit.  In that report, Detroit’s 5.4-million people would require only 164,250-acres to feed everyone there, per year.
 
Extrapolating that to Hawai‘i’s 1.5-million de facto population that means, under the Detroit analysis, Hawai‘i only needs about 45,625-acres of farmland to feed the State.  Hmmm.
 
Another study on Costa Rica “Quantifying Sustainable Development: The Future of Tropical Economies” suggests that it takes about 495,000-acres of land to feed 1.2- to 1.6-million people.
 
Of course, all of these estimates do not include the significant dietary supplement we are able to use in Hawai‘i by harvesting seafood from the surrounding ocean.
 
Nor does it include opportunities that concentrated farming offer, like aquaponics, hydroponics, intensive grazing, etc.
 
So, while we talk about food “self-sufficiency” and “sustainability” what are we doing about it?
 
Lately, I think the only ‘action’ has been talk – folks go to a meeting, talk, then they prepare a plan.  They meet again, and talk some more.  Then everyone goes away satisfied that they are ‘doing’ something (until the next happy words meeting.)
 
Presently, the State designates about 1.9-million acres as “Agriculture.” The USDA reports Hawai‘i’s total farm acreage is 1.1-million acres of land.
 
And, of course, you can farm lands that are not designated ‘agriculture;’ meaning, a lot more land is available for food production from lands under other land use classifications (including everyone’s own backyard.)
 
Given that, should we all feel comfortable there will be food for us in the future?
 
Not quite.
 
I think it is about time we have a frank discussion about what our needs are and start to take the necessary steps to ultimately realize our goal of food self-sufficiency and sustainability.
 
The world is changing in lots of ways – we cannot blindly go along with business as usual (with just happy words) in addressing this important and critical need.
 
 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Jack London and Waipio

In 1906, Jack London announced he was planning a trip on a boat – the Snark – he was to build and do blue-water sailing on a round-the-world cruise.  (The Snark was named after one of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poems.)

“‘Honolulu first,’ said London yesterday. ‘After that we are not very definite. Everybody’s in good health, the bourgeoise tradesmen have finally freed us, the boat is staunch, the weather fine. What more a man wants I don’t know.’”

“‘Meet me in Paris,’ called Mrs. Jack London back through the megaphone as the boat disappeared. ‘Isn’t it glorious? Good-by, everybody!” [April 23, 1907] Jack and his wife Charmian came to the Islands twice, 1907-09 & 1915-16.

Later, Charmian wrote of Jack London’s impression of the Islands, “Jack, with his unquestionable love of natural beauty,

was ever impressed with man’s lordly harnessing of the outlaw, Nature, leading her by the mouth to perform his work upon earth.”

“‘’Do you get the splendid romance of it?’ he would say. ‘Look what these engineers have done – reaching out their hands and gathering and diverting the storm wastage of streams over the edge of this valley thousands of feet here in the clouds. …”

“[O]ne day, riding in a drizzle, Jack and I happened upon the broad, steep trail of the 2500-foot eastern scarp, into Waipio, and mushed through its mud down into a sunnier level, meeting strings of ascending mules laden with garden produce.”

“An old chronicler referred to the condition of the ‘roads’ hereabout as ‘embarrassing.’ Our horses tried very fractiously to refuse the descent.”

“This was one of the prettiest little adventures we two ever had together, dropping into the sequestered vale that opened wondrously as we progressed to the lovely banks of a wooded river that wound to the sea, widening to meet the surf that thundered upon a two-mile shingle.”

“On the banks of the stream we could see wahines at their washing, and hear the ringing sweet voices of children at play-survivors of a once thick population, as evidenced by remains that are to be found of fish-ponds, taro-patches, and the like. Here the last Hawaiian tapa cloth was made.”

“That same chronicler says: ‘There was something about that valley so lovely, so undisturbed … it seemed to belong to another world, or to be a portion of this into which sorrow and death had never entered.’”

“At the head of this great break in the coast nestles the half-deserted, half-ruined village of Waipio, and behind it there wedges into the floor of the valley a tremendous rock bastion veiled in waterfalls to its mid-hidden summit.”

“A second river curved from beyond its feet, and joined the one that flowed into the sea. We rode on across reedy shallows to a pathway once sacred to the sorcerers, kahunas, the which no layman then dared to profane with his step.”

“Only approaching twilight held us back from the beach trail that leads to a clump of tall coconuts, marking the site of a onetime important temple of refuge in this section of Hawaii, Puuhonua, built as long ago as the thirteenth century by a Kauai king.”

“There is reason to believe that there were several lesser temples in the neighborhood. They do say that Kamehameha the Great was born here in Waipio.”

“One would like to think that first seeing the light of day in so superlatively grand and beautiful a vale might make for greatness!”

“That day, moving along the bases of the cloud-shadowed precipices, we planned happily how we should some day come here, restore one of the abandoned cottages and its garden, and live for a while without thought of time.”

“What a place for quietude and work!”

“For once Jack seemed to welcome the idea of such seclusion and repose. Little as he ever inclined toward folding his pinions for long, Hawaii stayed them more than any other land.”

“‘You can’t beat the Ranch in California – it’s a sweet land,’ he would stanchly defend, ‘but I’d like to spend a great deal of my time down here.’”

“We bemoaned the weather that prevented us from climbing the zig-zag stark above our heads into Waimanu.” (London, Our Hawaii)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahuku Pali

Kahuku is the largest of the 1300 ahupuaʻa (traditional land divisions) in Hawaiʻi. Located in the vast Kaʻū district, the ahupuaʻa of Kahuku originally extended from the summit caldera of Mauna Loa to the sea. (NPS)

The oldest dated feature within Kahuku is from about 1400 AD, though older evidence has been found nearby near Ka Lae (South Point).

Widespread settlement in this dry, volcanic area came later than in most parts of Hawai’i. By the mid-1400s, Ka‘ū (and perhaps Kahuku) had intensively managed agricultural fields in mid-elevation land with adequate rain and soil. Food crops included sugar cane, ʻuala, and maiʻa (bananas). (NPS)

Kahuku pali has two Hawaiian names: Pali o Mamalu, for its mauka (inland) section, and Pali‘okūlani, for its makai (seaward) section.  It was formed by a geologic fault. Its average height is 400 ft, but its maximum height, which is equal to the amount of offset (movement) on the fault, is approximately 560 ft.

The origin of the Kahuku pali is still debated. One hypothesis is that the pali is a scissors fault, with zero offset above Highway 11 and increasing amounts of offset toward the south—similar to the way the two cutting surfaces of scissors get farther apart as you move from hinge to tip. On the Kahuku pali, the west side of the fault dropped down relative to the east side.

An alternate hypothesis is that the submarine portion of the pali is the headwall of a catastrophic landslide, with the west side falling away and leaving the mile-high scarp. Both hypotheses have pros and cons, and today, there is no definitive answer as to the origin of the pali. (USGS)

“In the lee of the great cliff (which was caused by a geologic fault) named Pali-o-Mamalu (Cliff-of-Protection) is Wai-o-‘Ahu-kini. The trade winds pass a thousand or more feet above it, which gives it a scorching desert climate in the daytime; but when the sun goes down it cools rapidly and the nights are cool.”

“Southerly cyclonic storms sweep in over the low shore, inundating the whole area. That is why there is, and has been, no permanent habitation here.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“(T)he population settled in the two western ahupua‘a of Ka‘ū. Wai-o-‘Ahu-kini (Water of Ahukini) close by, with its spring, pond, and canoe haven, and the best fishing ground in all Hawaii …”

“… was awarded in the ancient land allotment to Pakini, then one of the most verdant of the plains areas of cultivation. Doubtless it was Pakini’s numerous population, which gave its ali‘i power, that was responsible for this award.”

“From the cliff above Wai-o-‘Ahu-kini and from the trail going down can be seen a stagnant pool close to the shore; this was evidently the ‘water’ of ‘Ahu-kini.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Cooks’ journal entry for January 5, 1779; reported his ship had rounded the south point of the island … “On this point stands apritty large village, the inhabitants of which thronged off to the Ship with hogs and women … As we had now got a quantity of salt I purchased no hogs but what were fit, for salting, refuseing all that were under size …”

“… in general they being no other at first, but when they found we took none but the large ones, several went a shore and returned with some, however we could seldom get one about 50 or 60 Ib weight.”

“As to fruit and roots we did not want and it was well we did not for it was very little of either they brought with them, indeed the Country did not seem capable of producing many of either having been destroyed by a Volcano.” (Cook’s Journal)

“Some of the canoes that greeted Cook’s ship may have come not only from the South Point village, but also from those at Wai‘ahukini and Ka‘iliki‘i to the west and Keana and Kaalualu to the east.”  (Kelly)

“One of the earliest foreigners to visit Ka‘ū was Archibald Menzies, the surgeon and naturalist on Vancouver’s voyage. Menzies had been in the Hawaiian Islands previously as surgeon on the furtrader Prince of Wales under Captain Colnett in the years 1787 and 1788, but he had not kept a journal of that visit.”

“Vancouver’s ships were in the Islands three times – 1792, 1793, and 1794. “On the 1794 trip Menzies was able to get to the top of Hualālai and of Mauna Loa. His successful ascent of Mauna Loa was on a trail that leads up from Kapāpala.”

“The approach to this trail from Kona, where Vancouver’s ships were anchored, was by canoe to Ka‘iliki‘i, or Wai‘ahukini in Pi‘ikini, Kalli, and then overland on foot to Kapāpala.” (Kelly)

Menzies, on his way to be the first white man to reach the summit of Mauna Loa, climbed the pali … “we left our canoes at Pakini and set out early on the morning of the 10th [of February 1794] to prosecute the remainder of our journey by land.”

“We had not travelled far when we found we had to ascend an elevated steep rugged bank that took its rise at the south point of the island and running along the southern side of Pakini Bay continued its direction inland behind the village.”

“On gaining its summit, which was not an easy task, an extensive tract of the most luxuriant pasture we had yet seen amongst these islands rushed at once upon our sight, extending itself from the south point to a considerable distance inland.”

“It was cropped with fine soft grass reaching up to our knees, and naturally of a thick bottom that would afford excellent feeding for cattle, where herds of them might live at their ease, if it was not for scarcity of fresh water, which we experienced in all the low grounds we had yet visited….”

“Close by us was a fine plantation belonging to Kamehameha, called Kahuku, where our purveyor was particularly ordered to demand supplies for our journey …” (Menzies)

“In the afternoon we resumed our journey and soon after reached the upper plantations, when instead of ascending directly up the mountain as we expected, they led us across these plantations to the north-eastward at a distance of five or six miles from the shore by a narrow winding path which in some places was very rugged and seldom admitted more than one person at a time …”

“… so that we followed one another in a string, and occupied a considerable space in length from the number of our party and the crowds that followed us from village to village through curiosity and flocked to see us, from far and near.”

“This path we found to be the public road leading to the east end of the island, and at small eminences here and there, we met cleared spots for resting on, where the wearied travellers generally sit down to chew sugar cane and admire the surrounding prospect.” (Menzies)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Palapala Kila Nui

“Under the ancient feudal system the allodium of all lands belonged to the King, not however, as an individual, but ‘as the head of the nation, or in his corporate right,’ to quote the language of the land commission.”

“The constitution of 1840 declared that the land of the Kingdom was not the private property of Kamehameha I. ‘It belonged to the chiefs and people in common, of whom Kamehameha I was the head, and had the management of the landed property.’” (Alexander)

“[I]n 1848 a committee was appointed to effect the division between the King as feudal suzerain and the chiefs, his feudatories, which completed its work in forty days. Partition deeds were signed and sealed by the King on one side and the several chiefs on the other side, who were then entitled to receive awards from the land commission for the lands thus partitioned off to them.”

“[T]he lands held by the King at the close of the Mahele were not regarded as his private property, strictly speaking. Even before his division with the landlords a second division between himself and the Government was clearly contemplated …”

“Accordingly, on the very day after the Mahele, or division with his chiefs, was closed, viz, the 8th day of March, 1848, he proceeded ‘to set apart for the use of the Government the larger part of his royal domain, reserving to himself what he deemed a reasonable amount of land as his own estate.’”

“This latter class of lands ‘he reserved for himself and his heirs forever’ as his own private estate, and they are now known as Crown Lands.”

“On the 7th day of the following June, 1848, the legislative council passed the ‘act relating to the lands of His Majesty the King and of the Government,’ which confirms and ratifies the division which had already been made by the King, thus making it an act of the nation through its representatives.”

“In this act the said lands are designated by name, and declared ‘to be the private lands of His Majesty Kamehameha III, to have and to hold to himself, his heirs, and successors forever; and said lands shall be regulated and disposed of according to his royal will and pleasure, subject only to the rights of tenants.’” (Alexander)

“Government lands were administered by the Minister of the Interior who was empowered by law to sell and lease. As the Land Commission could only consider claims to farms and building lots arising prior to December 10, 1845, many of the people were deprived of the opportunity to secure lands for themselves.”

“So to provide for this class the Minister of Interior was authorized in the early days of the new regime to sell building lots and tracts of land from a fraction of an acre to several hundred acres, at prices ranging from twenty-five cents to one dollar an acre.”

“The Minister of Interior was also authorized to dispose of government lands by sales for many other purposes.” (King)  On July 11, 1851, an Act was passed confirming certain resolutions of the Privy Council of the previous year, which ordered …”

“‘.. that a certain portion of the Government lands on each island should be placed in the hands of special agents to be disposed of in lots of from one to fifty acres in fee simple, to residents only, at a minimum price of fifty cents per acre.’”  (Interior Department, Surveyor’s Report, 1882)

Between the years 1850 and 1860, nearly all the desirable Government land was sold, generally to Hawaiians. The portions sold were surveyed at the expense of the purchaser.  (Interior Department, Surveyor’s Report, 1882)

“Following the division of the lands into Crown, Government, and Konohiki Lands, from time to time portions of the Government Lands were sold as a means of obtaining revenue to meet the increasing costs of the Government.”

“Purchasers of these lands were issued documents called ‘Grants’ or ‘Royal Patent Grants.’ These differed from the Royal Patents issued upon Land Commission Awards.” (Chinen)

These Land Grants were given for lands that were purchased by individuals from the Hawaiian Kingdom when they were made available for purchase in mid-1800s. (UH Mānoa Library) The term used for these was Palapala Kila Nui (also Palapala Sila Nui, aka Government Grant; Royal Patent).

Royal Patent Grants (until 1893) and Land Patents conferred fee simple title to a Government land. This was an outright purchase of Government land, and not a commutation of the Government’s interest in land. The last Royal Patent was number 7992. (UH Manoa Library)

“This class of conveyance is designated a Royal Patent (Grant) and since the overthrow of the monarchy, as Land Patent (Grant). It is more commonly known as a Grant and so designated on most of the title maps.”

“These grants are recorded in a series of books now deposited in the office of the Commissioner of Public Lands. Many conveyances by the Minister of Interior were by the ordinary deed method which deeds were recorded by the grantees in the Bureau of Conveyances.”  (King)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Public Baths

In the late-19th Century, Waikīkī’s shoreline was mostly a day-use beach; overnight accommodations were scarce.  Visitors, usually residents of Honolulu, would arrive via horse-drawn carriage, on horseback or in a canoe.  (White)

“The most popular resort of the people of Oʻahu is the famous Waikīkī … Waikīkī is the seaside and pleasure-resort of the island. … There are a number of private residences, picturesque-looking bungalows and cottages, but all airy, comfortable, and close to the murmuring sea. A beautiful grove of towering coconut-trees adds to the tropical charm of the place.”  (Musick, 1898)

“The sea bathing is simply perfection. The water is never chilly; and yet it is most healthful and invigorating. The bottom is of nice smooth sand, always warm and pleasant to the feet. There is no fear of undertow or of any finny monsters. Not only is it pleasant to bathe here during the day, but moonlight bathing is indulged in. … It is a novelty, worth seeing, if not worth trying.  (Whitney, 1895)

Just as “sea bathing” were gaining popularity on the American and European continents, private bathhouses, like the Long Branch Baths, Ilaniwai Baths and Wright’s Villa, began to appear in Waikīkī.  (White)

Bathhouses began to appear along Waikiki Beach during the last quarter of the 19th Century. As early as the 1870s, for example, the Hawaiian Hotel “provided a cottage on the sea-shore at Waikiki, some three miles distant, where guests can . . . enjoy a morning or evening bath in the ocean.”

During the early ’90s, beachgoers patronized the Long Branch Baths with its “comfortable dressing rooms, fresh water douches, etc.” and the Waikiki Villa’s “commodious bath house” with “fresh water shower baths.” *Schmidt

“Bath-houses that equal those in Long Branch (New Jersey) are found here, and sea-bathing in January is as pleasant as in July. There is no clearer water, no finer beach, no smoother bottom in any of the many famous watering-places than are found at Waikīkī.”  (Musick, 1898)

Bathhouses served customers with bathing suits and towel rentals, dressing rooms and each access to the beach.  Initially, bathhouses served only day-use recreation of visitors, but eventually some of them began to offer overnight rooms.

The creation of the Public Baths alongside the aquarium in 1907 made it so there was a public beach for the first time in the park’s history.  (Reynolds)

An August 1907 news report stated, “The public bath house at the beach will be finished inside of the next two weeks. There are other conveniences aside from the large number of dressing rooms.  There is a large lounging room for ladles and their families, and a large dancing pavilion will soon be completed.”

In the men’s department there are thirty-five large dressing-rooms and six showers, In the ladles department there are accommodations for twenty bathers, with shower.” (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1907) The City-owned public bathhouse was near Queen’s Surf Beach, in Kapiolani Park.

“When the moon become full Honolulu will see the opening of its first public dance pavilion. The building at the Kapiolani park bath-house has been put in shape for such dances … The Hawaiian band will be present to blow and beat the music for dancing.” (Star Bulletin, Dec 5, 1913)

“Twenty-five cents is the charge for use of a suit.  No charge is made to those who bring their own suits and use the lockers. The money taken is dropped in a box at the bath house window”. (Honolulu Advertiser, Sep 20, 1924)

Then City officials were urging the construction of “a better bathing house . . . more attractive and sanitary.” Subsequently denounced as “unsanitary” and “an eye-sore to the community for many years.” (Schmidt)

In 1930, “Plans for the new public building to be constructed soon … on the site of the present frame structure next to the memorial natatorium, will be completed within the next two weeks … The new bath house will be a long, narrow, one-story structure paralleling Kalakaua Ave.”

“The main room will be a large lounge, 96 feet long facing the sea and opening onto a stretch of turf through several tall archways. … On either side of the main lounge, which will be furnished with comfortable chairs and tables, will be situated the ample locker rooms …”

“… the men’s dressing quarters will be fitted with 280 lockers and nine showers. The women’s dressing room will contain 128 lockers, 52 dressing booths and seven showers.” (Star Bulletin, Jan 7, 1930)

In 1957 the Park Board changed the name of the Kapiolani Public Baths (aka Waikiki Public Baths) to the Kapiolani Beach Center. (Advertiser, Nov 5, 1957)

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