Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Spencer House

Francis (Frank) McFarland Spencer (November 25, 1819 – May 19, 1897) was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was early apprenticed to the carpenter’s trade.  In 1849, with many others in the colonies, he set sail and sought fortune from the California gold rush.

On the way, their vessel was wrecked on the reef outside Honolulu; all her passengers were saved. Spencer decided to remain in the Islands and went to work at his trade.  (Evening Bulletin, May 20, 1897)

In 1850, he opened a store on Hotel Street known as the Spencer House. His dry goods business flourished; marketing “the most useful and cheapest goods … (promising) Quick Sales and Small Profits.”

But that is not the Spencer House of this story.

To get to this one, however, we need to step back a bit; we go back to 1819.

That was the time when whale products were in high demand; whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.  Rich whaling waters were discovered near Japan and soon hundreds of ships headed for the area.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Japan brought many whaling ships to the Islands.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile fields.  The whaling industry was the mainstay of the island economy for about 40 years.

William French arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1819 and settled in Honolulu.  He became a leading trader, providing hides and tallow, and provisioning the whaling ships that called in Honolulu.  Financial success during the next decade made French known as “the merchant prince.”

French also had property on the Island of Hawaiʻi, with a main headquarters there at Kawaihae, shipping cattle, hides and tallow to Honolulu; he hired John Palmer Parker (later founder of Parker Ranch) as his bookkeeper, cattle hunter and in other capacities.  (Wellmon)

When French made claims before the Land Commission regarding one of the properties (identified as “slaughter-house premises” that he bought from Governor Kuakini in 1838,) testimony supporting his claim noted it was “a place for a beautiful house which Mr French would not sell for money. … It was enclosed by a stone wall.  There were two natives occupying houses on his land.”  (Land Commission Testimony)

The 2.8-acre property is in an area of Waimea known as Puʻuloa; French built a couple houses on it, the property was bounded by Waikoloa Stream and became Parker’s home while he worked for French.  (In addition, in 1840, this is where French built his original home in Waimea.  (Bergin))

At Puʻuloa, Parker ran one of French’s stores, which was nothing more than a thatched hut.  Although this store was less grandiose than the other one at Kawaihae, it became the center of the cattle business on the Waimea plain.

Here, French employed a saddle-maker and operated a tannery. Parker kept busy supervising this operation and collecting beef, tallow and leather to supply the needs of French’s growing business.  (Wellmon)

There was no surplus of currency in Waimea at this time, and most of the business at the Puʻuloa store consisted of bartering for goods and services. Long-term credit and buying on time was the rule rather than the exception in these transactions.  (Wellmon)

Back in Honolulu, in 1840, French entered into a partnership with John Greenway; it was dissolved “in a manner involving the most disastrous consequences to Mr French.”

In a report of enquiry, a committee that reviewed the matter found “the investigation has ended in a conviction, that Mr. French stands before you fully vindicated, and cleared of all the imputations that were cast upon his honest intentions, that this is proved by the indisputable evidence of every written document found, from the 7th April, 1842”.  (Polynesian, August 10, 1844)

French died at Kawaihae on November 25, 1851.  “Many who have made their fortunes in these Islands have owed their rise in the world to the patronage of Mr French.”  (Polynesian, December 6, 1851)

OK, back to Spencer – in addition to his Honolulu ‘Spencer House’ selling “fancy and staple goods,” Spencer acquired land and started to get into business on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

When French died, Spencer and a partner took over French’s livestock (his partner was James Louzada (one of the first español (paniolo,) Mexican cowboys to Hawaiʻi.))  (Bergin) Spencer also acquired some of French’s property when French died.  (Mills) (Presumably, included was French’s home at Puʻuloa we now call Spencer House in Waimea, Hawaiʻi Island.)

Spencer was granted a lease on government lands in 1859 that gave him “…a monopoly on all sheep and wild cattle on Mauna Kea and the mountain lands, including uses of the Pōhakuloa plateau lands, Kalaiʻeha, Keanakolu, Hanaipoe, and smaller stations in between these areas”.  (Cultural Surveys)

Later, on August 1, 1861, the Hawaiian Government leased Humuʻula and Kaʻohe lands (including the summit of Mauna Kea) to the newly-formed Waimea Grazing and Agricultural Company (WGAC.) (Mills & Maly)

WGAC was formed in May 1861 through a merger of Louzada, Spencer and Co and Robert C Janion.  By 1873, it had a house and wool barn. (In 1883, the operation was incorporated as the Humu‘ula Sheep Station Company and was later acquired by Parker Ranch.)

In 1864 or 1865, Spencer sold his Honolulu dry goods business and moved permanently to the Island of Hawaiʻi, making his home at Waimea, where he engaged in the business of raising sheep, and afterwards cattle. For a number of years he held the office of District Magistrate of Waimea. (Evening Bulletin, May 20, 1897)

In 1865, Spencer obtained a lease of the entire ahupua‘a of Pu‘u Anahulu “excepting the land rights of the native tenants thereon…” (a total leased area of about 83,000-acres.)  The addition of Pu‘u Anahulu to Spencer’s holdings gave him almost continuous grazing coverage from Hilo, Hāmākua, South Kohala and Kona.   (Cultural Surveys)

On June 1, 1898, Robert Hind Jr and Eben Low acquired Spencer’s interest in Pu‘u Anahulu, and the leasehold Government Lands were added to their inventory of the Pu‘u Waʻawaʻa Ranch holdings. (DLNR)

WGAC sold hides, tallow, salted beef, wool and mutton, and maintained several company stores.  The market for sheep and cattle products was in flux in the 1860s and 1870s, with the value of sheep eventually rising above that of cattle.  (Mills)

Spencer continued with his cattle and sheep operations on the Island of Hawaiʻi.   However, owing to ill health, Spencer came from his home at Waimea, Hawaiʻi, to reside with his daughter.  He died May 19, 1897.   (Evening Bulletin, May 20, 1897)

Spencer’s daughter, Frances “Fanny” Tasmania Spencer had married Richard Fredrick Bickerton (he later became an Associate Justice for the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court – 1886-1895.)  Reportedly, Spencer’s Waimea “Spencer House” was briefly known and used as Bickerton Hotel.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

American Revolution and Kamehameha’s Conquest

“… at 5 o’clock we arrived there and saw a number of People, I believe between 2 and 300 … we still continued advancing, keeping prepared against an attack tho’ without intending to attack them …”

“… they fired one or two shots, upon which our Men without any orders rushed in upon them, fired and put ’em to flight; several of them were killed”.  (Diary of Lt. John Barker, Library of Congress)

Thousands of militiamen arrived in time to fight; 89 men from 23 towns in Massachusetts were killed or wounded on that first day of war, April 19, 1775. By the next morning, Massachusetts had 12 regiments in the field. Connecticut soon mobilized a force of 6,000, one-quarter of its military-age men.  (Smithsonian, Ferling)

On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.  The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies of British North America.

The first shot (“the shot heard round the world”) was fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The American militia were outnumbered and fell back; and the British regulars proceeded on to Concord.

Within a week, 16,000 men from the four New England colonies formed a siege army outside British-occupied Boston. In June, the Continental Congress took over the New England army, creating a national force, the Continental Army. Thereafter, men throughout America took up arms. It seemed to the British regulars that every able-bodied American male had become a soldier.  (Smithsonian, Ferling)

Following this, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and it was signed by 56-members of the Congress (1776.)

The next eight years (1775-1783) war was waging on the eastern side of the continent.  The main result was an American victory and European recognition of the independence of the United States.

Some 100,000 men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Probably twice that number soldiered as militiamen, for the most part defending the home front, functioning as a police force and occasionally engaging in enemy surveillance.  (Smithsonian, Ferling)

Fighting on the patriot side were allied Indian tribes as well as French military forces, who supported the rebel cause both in the United States and in Europe by engaging the British in a colonial fight for independence that ultimately became worldwide in scope. (Veterans Museum)

The formal end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris and the Treaties of Versailles were signed on September 3, 1783 and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783, and the US Congress of the Confederation ratified the Paris treaty on January 14, 1784.

According to the American Battlefield Trust, around 230,000 proto-Americans fought in the Continental Army, though never more than 48,000 at a time. (Military-com, Stilwell)  Between 25,000 and 70,000 American Patriots died during active military service.  Of these, approximately 6,800 were killed in battle, while at least 17,000 died from disease. The majority of the latter died while prisoners of war of the British, mostly in the prison ships in New York Harbor. (Veterans Museum)

It was the turning point in the future of the continent and an everlasting change in the United States.

At this same time, there was a turning point in the future of the Hawaiian Islands.

‘Contact’

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai‘i.

Kamehameha’s Conquest

In the Islands, over the centuries, the islands weren’t unified under single rule.  Leadership sometimes covered portions of an island, sometimes covered a whole island or groups of islands.

Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through familial succession and warfare. In those wars, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

At the period of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”

“The occupation of the Hana district of Maui by the kings of Hawaii had been the cause of many stubborn conflicts between the chivalry of the two islands, and when Captain Cook first landed on Hawaii he found the king of that island absent on another warlike expedition to Maui, intent upon avenging his defeat of two years before, when his famous brigade of eight hundred nobles was hewn in pieces.”  (Kalākaua)

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauai and Niihau, and her husband was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaii. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood.”

“So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.”  (Kalākaua)

Fornander states that “It had been the custom since the days of Keawenui-a-Umi on the death of a Moi (King) and the accession of a new one, to redivide and distribute the land of the island between the chiefs and favorites of the new monarch.”  This custom was repeatedly the occasion of a civil war.  (Thrum)

“Before the conquest of Kamehameha, the several islands were ruled by independent kings, who were frequently at war with each other, but more often with their own subjects. As one chief acquired sufficient strength, he disputed the title of the reigning prince.”

“If successful, his chance of permanent power was quite as precarious as that of his predecessor. In some instances the title established by force of arms remained in the same family for several generations, disturbed, however, by frequent rebellions … war being a chief occupation …”  (Jarves)

Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given guardianship of the Hawaiian god of war, Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of Kamehameha. At the Battle of Mokuʻōhai (just south of Kealakekua) Kīwalaʻō was killed and Kamehameha attained control of half the Island of Hawaiʻi.

In the late-1780s into 1790, Kamehameha conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought to conquer the rest of the archipelago.

At that time, Maui’s King Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, were carrying on war and conquered O‘ahu.

In 1790, Kamehameha travelled to Maui.  Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remaining on O‘ahu to maintain order of his newly conquered kingdom.)

Kamehameha’s superiority in the number and use of the newly acquired weapons and canon (called Lopaka) from the ‘Fair American’ (used for the first time in battle, with the assistance from John Young and Isaac Davis) finally won the decisive battle at ‘Īao Valley.

Arguably, the cannon and people who knew how to effectively use it were the pivotal factors in the battle.  Had the fighting been in the usual style of hand-to-hand combat, the forces would have likely been equally matched.

The Maui troops were completely annihilated, and it is said that the corpses of the slain were so many as to choke up the waters of the stream of ‘l̄ao – one of the names of the battle was “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters.)

Maui Island was conquered and its fighting force was destroyed – Kalanikūpule and some other chiefs escaped over the mountain at the back of the valley and made their way to O‘ahu.

Then, in 1795, Kamehameha moved on in his conquest of O‘ahu.

The battle was the last stand of Kalanikūpule and 9,000-warriors of O‘ahu against Kamehameha and his invading army of 12,000-warriors from Hawai‘i.  (Dukas)

Outnumbered and outgunned, the O‘ahu defenders were already weakened by the Battle of ‘Aiea (Kukiʻiahu) and a failed attempt to seize two well-armed foreign merchant vessels.  (Dukas)

Both armies used traditional Hawaiian weapons, augmented with Western firearms. Kamehameha, however, used European-style flanking tactics and sited cannons on the Papakōlea ridgeline, routing similar positions held by Kalanikūpule’s cannoneers.  (James)

Kamehameha’s cannon’s rained fire down on Kalanikūpule’s forces, which disorganized under the assault from above. From that point on, it was a running fight, a desperate rear-guard action as Oʻahu’s defenders were herded up Nuʻuanu Valley.

A number of them did escape. Some went up Pacific Heights, but primarily they went up Alewa and over into Kalihi and escaped to Aiea and through there.  Others went up over the pali or went up to Kalihi and then went over into Kāne’ohe. A lot of them went down the old trails on the pali.  (Pacific Worlds)

But the actions of some gave the battle another name …

The name of the Battle of Nuʻuanu is also referred to as Kaleleakeʻanae, which means “the leaping of the mullet fish.”  With their backs to the sheer cliff of the Nuʻuanu Pali, many chose to fall to their deaths than submit to Kamehameha.

In 1897, while improving the Pali road, workers found an estimated 800-skulls along with other bones, at the foot of the precipice. They believed these to be the remains of Oʻahu warriors defeated by Kamehameha a hundred years earlier.  (Island Call, October 1953; Mitchell)

Kamehameha, through the assistance of the Kona ‘Uncles’ (Keʻeaumoku, Keaweaheulu, Kameʻeiamoku & Kamanawa (the latter two ended up on the Islands’ coat of arms;)) succeeded, after a struggle of more than ten years, in securing to himself the supreme authority.

Then, Kamehameha looked to conquer Kauai.

The island of Kauai was never conquered; in the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha. The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.

“It is supposed that some six thousand of the followers of this chieftain (Kamehameha,) and twice that number of his opposers, fell in battle during his career, and by famine and distress occasioned by his wars and devastations from 1780 to 1796.”  (Bingham)

“However the greatest loss of life according to early writers was not from the battles, but from the starvation of the vanquished and consequential sickness due to destruction of food sources and supplies – a recognized part of Hawaiian warfare.”  (Bingham)

Click the following link to a general summary about the American Revolution and Kamehameha’s Conquest:

Click to access American-Revolution-and-Kamehamehas-Conquest.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu Described in the First Decade of the Unified Hawaiian Islands

1810 marked the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under single rule when negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i of Kauai and Kamehameha I at Pākākā took place.  Kaumuali‘i ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader.  There was peace in the Islands.

On the American and European continents, war was waging.  Twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new US and Britain flared up, again – it lasted until 1815.

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem. They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry, Baltimore (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 – 1800.)

In Europe, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France.  In 1815, as part of ongoing series of conflicts and wars in Europe, African and the Middle East, Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo (in what is now present-day Belgium.)

Back on the American continent, later in the decade (1818,) the US and Canada came to an agreement on their common boundary and used the 49th parallel to mark their border.  The next year, Spain ceded Florida to the US.

In the Islands, Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki, moved his Royal Residence to Pākākā at Honolulu Harbor in 1809.

That year, Archibald Campbell described the Honolulu surroundings:  “Upon landing I was much struck with the beauty and fertility of the country … The village of Hanaroora (Honolulu,) which consisted of several hundred houses, is well shaded with large cocoa-nut trees.”

“The king’s residence, built close upon the shore, and surrounded by a palisade upon the land side, was distinguished by the British colours and a battery of sixteen carriage guns …”

“This palace consisted merely of a range of huts, viz. the king’s eating-house, a store, powder magazine, and guard-house, with a few huts for the attendants, all constructed after the fashion of the country.”

Kamehameha’s immediate court consisted of high-ranking chiefs and their retainers.  Those who contributed to the welfare and enjoyment of court members also lived here, from fishermen and warriors to foreigners and chiefs of lesser rank.

Today, the site is generally at the open space now called Walker Park at the corner of Queen and Fort streets (there is a canon from the old fort there) – (ʻEwa side of the former Amfac Center, now the Topa Financial Plaza, near the fountain.)

ʻEwa side of Pākākā (where Nuʻuanu Stream empties into the harbor) was the area known as Kapuʻukolo.  This is “where white men and such dwelt.”  Of the approximate sixty white residents on O‘ahu at the time, nearly all lived in the village, and many were in the service of the king.

Among those who lived here were Don Francisco de Paula Marin, the Spaniard who greatly expanded horticulture in Hawaiʻi, and Isaac Davis (Welch,) friend and co-advisor with John Young (British) to Kamehameha.

Campbell noted, “(Isaac Davis’) house was distinguished from those of the natives only by the addition of a shed in front to keep off the sun; within, it was spread with mats, but had no furniture, except two benches to sit upon. He lived very much like the natives, and had acquired such a taste for poe (poi,) that he preferred it to any other food.”

In those days, this area was not called Honolulu.  The old name for what is now the heart of downtown Honolulu was said to be Kou, a district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu to Alakea Streets and from Hotel to Queen Streets.

Honolulu Harbor, also known as Kuloloia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.  He named the harbor “Fair Haven.”  The name Honolulu (meaning “sheltered bay” – with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

A large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu – what is now bounded by King, Nuʻuanu, Beretania and Alakea Streets) was planted to provide visiting ships with an easily-stored food supply for their voyages (supplying ships with food and water was a growing part of the Islands’ economy.)

A couple years later, John Whitman noted in his journal (1813-1815,) “… Honoruru is the most fertile district on the Island. It extends about two miles from the Harbour where it is divided into two valleys by a ridge of high land. The district is highly cultivated and abounds in all the productions of these Islands.”

“The village consists of a number of huts of different sizes scattered along the front of the Harbour without regularity and the natives have lost much of the generous hospitality and simplicity that characterize those situated more remotely from this busy scene.”

Whitman goes on to note, “… everything necessary for the subsistence and comfort of man is found in the (Nuʻuanu) valley, watered by a rivulet it produces the best taro in great abundance, the ridge dividing the taro patches are covered with sugar cane.”

“The high ground yields sweet potatoes and yams and all the other productions of the Island are found in the various situations and soils adapted to their nature.”

In 1816-1817, Otto Von Kotzebue in command of a Russian exploratory expedition spent three weeks in the “Sandwich Islands.”  He gave a description of the loʻi kalo in the Nuʻuanu area:

“The valley of Nuanu (Nuʻuanu,) behind Hanarura (Honolulu,) is the most extensive and pleasant of all. … The cultivation of the valleys behind Hanarura is remarkable.  Artificial ponds support, even on the mountains, the taro plantations, which are at the same time fish-ponds; and all kinds of useful plants are cultivated on the intervening dams.”

In 1818, Peter Corney, who resided on O‘ahu as a representative of the Northwest Company and engaged in the sandalwood and other trade, noted:

“The Island of Woahoo (Oʻahu) is by far the most important of the group of the Sandwich Island, chiefly on account of its excellent harbours and good water. It is in a high state of cultivation; and abounds with cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, horses, etc., as well as vegetables and fruit of every description.”

“The ships in those seas generally touch at Ohwhyhee, and get permission from Tameameah (Kamehameha,) before they can go into the harbor of Woahoo.”

“He sends a confidential man on board to look after the vessel, and keep the natives from stealing; and, previous to entering the harbor of Honorora (Honolulu), they must pay eighty dollars harbor duty, and twelve dollars to John Harbottle, the pilot…”

“The village consists of about 300 houses regularly built, those of the chiefs being larger and fenced in. Each family must have three houses, one to sleep in, one for the men to eat in, and one for the women, – the sexes not being allowed to eat together.”

“Cocoanut, bread-fruit, and castor-oil-nut (kukui) trees, form delicious shades, between the village and a range of mountains which runs along the island in a NW and SE direction.” (Corney)

Jacques Arago, who visited Hawai‘i in 1819 with Captain Louis Claude de Saulses de Freycinet on the French ships L’Uranie and L’Physicienne, described some of the daily activities:


“At sunrise, men, women, and children quit their dwellings; some betake themselves to fishing (chiefly the women) on the rocks, or near the shore; others to the making of mats …”

“… the rest offer their little productions to, or solicit employment from, strangers, in exchange for European articles; while the masters of families repair to the public square, to witness or participate in amusements, of which they are astonishingly fond…”

The first decade of the Islands under single rule ended with the death of Kamehameha.  Prior to his death (May 8, 1819,) Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku.

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King of Laysan

Kauō (Laysan Island) is the second largest land mass in the NWHI (1,015 acres) just behind Sand Island at Midway Atoll. It is about 1 mile wide and 1-1/2 miles long and roughly rectangular in shape (shaped like a poi board).

Laysan Island is a member of the Hawaiian archipelago situated 790 sea miles to the northwest of Honolulu, latitude 25” 2’ 14” N, longitude 170” 44’ 06” W.

The island has a maximum elevation of about 30 feet. A fringing reef surrounds the island protecting its shores from violent wave action.  (Baldwin)

Kauō (egg) describes both the shape of this island and, perhaps, the abundant seabirds that nest here. The island also previously harbored five Hawaiian endemic land birds, of which two, the endangered Laysan finch and the endangered Laysan duck, still survive. (PMNM Management Plan)

In the Main Hawaiian Islands, sugar‐cane farming proved to be a crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation.  (HSPA 1947)  A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.

“After the experiment station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association was started in 1895, analysis of soils and fertilizers became one of its major functions. On the basis of the chemical analyses. fertilizers were prescribed, and when necessary specially compounded to suit the requirements of each plantation.”

From 1890 two local fertilizer companies started: The North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company (when first organized in 1890 by George N Wilcox and later called the Pacific Guano and Fertilizer Company); and The Hawaiian Fertilizer Company (started by Amos F Cooke).  (Kuykendall)

This leads us to Maximilian “Max” Joseph August Schlemmer (April 13, 1856 – June 13, 1935).  Max was born in the French province of Alsace Lorraine to German parents. In 1871, as the Prussian army crossed the French border, Max set sail for New York.

After traveling on whaling ships for several years, in 1885, he settled in Hawaii.  He lived and worked on Kauai at a sugar mill and applied his mechanical skills to a small railroad system for transporting material at the mill.

Max later got a job with the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company which extracted nitrate from the guano obtained from islands where birds nested in large numbers, particularly Laysan Island.

In his early years in Hawaii, he gained “squatter’s rights” to Laysan Island. Later he established his home on this tiny, distant, and isolated island. (Unger)

Max lived and worked on the island intermittently from 1893-1915. He became known as the “King of Laysan Island.” As the company he worked for began to turn elsewhere for fertilizer, he took full charge of the mining of guano on Laysan.

Japanese pirates began visiting this island and neighboring Lisianski Island to kill the birds for their skins, which brought a hefty profit. Max also tried to use the birds for profit, but all his attempts failed. (Smithsonian)

The island’s easy access and large number of seabirds made it a base for traders of guano (bird droppings used as fertilizer) and feather harvesters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In addition, approximately two million seabirds nest here, including boobies, frigatebirds, terns, shearwaters, noddies, and the world’s second-largest black-footed and Laysan albatross colonies. (PMNM Management Plan)

Laysan has a large saltwater lagoon occupying about one-fifth of the island’s central depression. It is well vegetated (except for its sand dunes) and contains a hyper-saline lake, which is one of only five natural lakes in the State of Hawai‘i. (PMNM)

In February of 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Laysan and the other islands in the Hawaiian archipelago to be the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation, thus hoping to stop the destruction of the feathered inhabitants. However, bird pirating continued.

“The Hawaiian Islands Reservation was established by Executive order in 1909 to serve as a refuge and breeding place for the millions of sea birds and waders that from time immemorial have resorted there yearly to raise their young or to rest while migrating.”

In 1909 a party of feather hunters landed on Laysan, one of the twelve islands comprising the reservation, and killed more than 200,000 birds, notably albatrosses, for millinery (women’s hats – feathers for hats were popular at the time) purposes.”

“Through the prompt cooperation of the Secretary of the Treasury, the revenue cutter Thetis, under the command of Capt. W. V. E. Jacobs, was dispatched to the island and returned to Honolulu in January, 1910, with 23 poachers and their booty, consisting of the plumage of more than a quarter of a million birds.” (Expedition to Laysan, 1911)

Max introduced rabbits to the isolated island as a potential source of food, and as amusement for his children while he was overseeing guano extraction activities. (PMNM) (Max married a daughter of German immigrants, who bore three children. After she died, he married her 16-year-old sister, who bore fourteen more children (17 children total.))

By 1918 the rabbits had eaten nearly everything on the island and only a few hundred rabbits remained. Over the course of 20 years the rabbits wiped out 26 species of plants and the once abundant Laysan Millerbird, which became extinct around this time. By 1923 Laysan had become a wasteland. (PMNM)

Schlemmer was indicted for poaching of bird feathers, and other dealings with Japanese feather hunters; he did not return to the island.  (Lots of information here is from Alchetron, Unger and Papahānaumokuākea MNM.)

A lot of good work by many people eliminated pests, rats, rabbits, and weeds, and restored native vegetation. As a result, finch and duck populations are increasing.  Folks at the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument say Laysan is the poster child for restorative island efforts, is considered one of the “crown jewels” of the NWHI.

Access is limited in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, including Laysan – rather than having people come to the place, here is a link that helps to bring the place to the people:

https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7731755,-171.7407481,3a,75y,336.77h,81.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s48tjtFdMGKDiUKc_IOKPYg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?entry=ttu

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Buffalo Soldiers Trail

In early 1911, geologist named Thomas A Jaggar convinced Frank A Perret, a world-famous American volcanologist he had met on Vesuvius Volcano in Italy, to travel to Hawai‘i to begin the observations of Kīlauea’s volcanic activity.

From July to October 1911, Perret conducted experiments and documented the lava lake activity within Kïlauea’s Halema‘uma‘u Crater, paving the way for Jaggar to pursue his life’s goal of using multiple scientific approaches and all available tools for the observation and measurement of volcanoes and earthquakes.

In 1911, the first scientific laboratory at Kilauea consisted of a crude wooden shack constructed on the edge of Halema‘uma‘u that was called the Technology Station. The next year saw the construction by Jaggar of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. 

When Jaggar came to the Islands, he joined the efforts of George Lycurgus (operator of the Volcano House) and newspaperman Lorrin Andrews Thurston who were working to have the Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes area made into a National Park. 

Jaggar had tried to lead several expeditions to the top of Mauna Loa in 1914 but was unsuccessful due to the elevation (13,678 feet) and the harsh conditions: rough lava, violent winds, noxious fumes, shifting weather, extreme temperatures and a lack of shelter, water and food.  (Takara)

In September 1915, Jaggar, Thurston and a US Army representative conducted a survey to determine a route for a trail up Mauna Loa.

The following month, a local paper noted, “Soldiers Building Mountain Trail.  Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Infantry to the number of 150 are at work constructing a trail from near the Volcano House to the summit of Mauna Loa.”

“It is estimated that three or four weeks will be devoted to this work. The soldiers are doing the work as a part of their vacation exercises.”  (Maui News, October 29, 1915)

Immediately after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, many African Americans found themselves newly freed from bondage. In 1866, congress created four military regiments made up of Black troops, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry – they were known colloquially as the Buffalo Soldiers. (NPS)

“Although Native Americans bestowed the name upon the troopers, there are differing accounts as to the reason. One account suggests the name was acquired during the 1871 campaign against the Comanches, when Indians referred to the cavalrymen as “Buffalo Soldiers” because of their rugged and tireless marching.”

“Other accounts state that Native Americans bestowed the nickname on the black troopers because they believed the hair of the black cavalrymen resembled the hair of the buffalo.”

“Another suggests that the name was given because of the buffalo-hide coats worn by the soldiers in cold weather. The troopers took the nickname as a sign of respect from Native Americans, who held great reverence for the buffalo, and eventually the Tenth Cavalry adopted the buffalo as part of its regimental crest.” (Plante)

“The generous cooperation of the United States Army has made the trail to the top of Mauna Loa and the rest houses at the top and midway thereto a certainty.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)

“The overpowering feature of the landscape, however, is the immediate foreground to the north and east. The trail up to Red Crater is through ordinary and rather monotonous lava flows; but from the top of the hill there literally bursts into view a scene of most violent volcanic activity that I have seen anywhere.”

“It is similar to the interior of Haleakala crater; and the top of Hualalai, but while those are old and faded, this is fiery red and inky black.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 11, 1915)

“During the past summer [in 1915] the promotion committee and Research Association formulated and presented its plan to the authorities of the County of Hawaii and the newly created Hawaii Publicity Committee …”

“… proposing that these two organizations with the assistance of private subscriptions should furnish the money necessary for the material involved, the work to be done by the county prisoners.”

“The county authorities and the publicity committee each agreed to contribute $500 toward the enterprise.  Then the Governor came in with a contribution of $500 from the contingent fund and private subscriptions have been received in excess of $1000.”

“No decision had been arrived at concerning the availability of the county prisoners, however.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)  (The practice in Hawai‘i and elsewhere was to use prison labor for public works projects, including road building.)

(Later Territorial law stated, “All prisoners sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor shall be constantly employed for the public benefit, on public roads or other public works or other wise, as the high sheriff, with the approval and subject to the control of the board of prison directors, may deem best.”)

Then the military offered aid in the form of a “tentative proposition that, if transportation was furnished from Honolulu to Hilo and return, Company E of the Twenty-fifth Infantry, consisting of between 140 and 150 men would volunteer to go to Volcano, and do the work of building the trail and erecting the rest houses without further expense to the promoters or enterprise.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Sep 24, 1915)

Building the Buffalo Soldiers Trail (now called Mauna Loa Trail) from the 4,000-ft. summit of Kīlauea to the 13,677-ft. summit of Mauna Loa was no easy task. (NPS)

“The soldiers are constructing a trial three feet wide across the a-a, crushing it down with twelve pound hammers, filling in hollow, cutting down ridges and putting on a finish of fine a-a and earth, quarried along the line or parked in gunny sacks, carried on the men’s backs – in some places being carried as far as a quarter of a mile.”

“The Mauna Loa trail and rest house project is making steady and substantial progress. It must be remembered that it is through a section of territory never before inspected, much less traveled over, except the lower portion thereof, and that only by a few surveyors, cattle men and catchers of wild goats.”

“No one wants to run away with the idea that the job which the men of Company E of the Twenty-fifth Infantry have volunteered to do is all picnic. They are having a picnic all right; but incidentally they are doing a lot of good hard work in a pure pro bono publico spirit.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, Nov 11, 1915)

The Buffalo Soldiers built the 18-mile trail to the summit of Mauna Loa. They also built the ten-man Red Hill Cabin and a twelve-horse stable, so scientists could spend extended periods of time studying the volcano.

“[D]uring the period of 1915 to 1921, the trail was managed and maintained by a loose consortium consisting of Hawaii Volcano Research Association, Lorrin Thurston, Hilo businessmen, and Thomas Jaggar, then it was managed by the National Park Service.” (Tuggle)

Between 1930 and 1932, the National Park carried out major improvements and realignments of the Mauna Loa Trail to fall completely within the park boundary. Over the past century, the evolving needs of the National Park and changes in available

technology have resulted in ongoing modifications to the physical footprint of the trail.

The uppermost portion of the original trail footprint has been nearly obliterated since the 1970s by a series of large lava flows in 1975, 1984, and 1985. (Tuggle)  (The inspiration and sources to information here came primarily from a study by Myra Tomonari-Tuggle.)

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