Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

First Japanese Mormon

Missionary work has been a central concern of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whose members are commonly known as Latter-day Saints or Mormons – the latter name derives from the Book of Mormon, the Church’s key scriptural text).

The first “foreign” mission attempted was into Ontario, Canada. From 1832 on, individuals or groups of missionaries opened the British Mission, the next foreign mission attempted by the church.

From its small beginnings, the British Mission became the most successful foreign mission of the church in the nineteenth century. As early as 1844, Mormon missionaries were working among the Polynesians in Tahiti and surrounding islands

In the summer of 1850, in California, elder Charles C Rich called together more elders to establish a mission in the Sandwich Islands (Hawai‘i).  They arrived December 12, 1850.  Later, more came.

In 1901, Japan was opened as the twentieth foreign mission, while the older missions continued to grow. (BYU Library) But Japanese joined the Mormon faith well before the formal mission to Japan.

Frequent contacts between the Japanese and the Mormons prior to the opening of the mission in Japan in 1901 are well documented. Following the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, Ogden, Utah, became an important railroad junction, where just about every Japanese traveler stopped on his way to much of the US and Europe. (Takagi)

Some of the Japanese people so contacted affiliated themselves with the Mormons well before 1901; however, Japanese immigrants to Hawai‘i seem to be the first Japanese Mormons.

Several have suggested that Tomizo Katsunuma (1863–1950) and Tokujiro Sato (ca. 1851–1919) were the first Japanese Mormons.

In 1860, King Kamehameha IV met with the first delegation of Japanese people to visit the Hawaiian Islands. During this visit the king proposed a friendship treaty with Japan. This action, along with the rise of the sugar industry and the surrender of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan, led to the first Japanese contract laborers being recruited to come to the Hawaiian Islands.

This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (“first year men”,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas.  (JANM) This predated the government-sponsored Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants arranged following the visit of King Kalakaua to Japan in 1881.

The exact number of people who immigrated in 1868 has varied (about 150 to Hawai‘i); an American businessman, Eugene M Van Reed sent them to work on sugar plantations (and another 40 to Guam).

A reported 51 men remained on O‘ahu, 71 were sent to Maui, 7 to Lanai, and 22 to Kauai (five women and an infant were also aboard). The sugar plantations and different individuals contracted them. (Hughes, Ke Ola) Tokujiro Sato was one of them.  

Tokujiro, also known in Hawaii as Tokujiro Sato, Toko, Toku, or Sasaki, has a claim to being the first Japanese Mormon convert.  E Wesley Smith, President of the Hawaiian Mission noted (in the November 1919 issue of the Improvement Era):

“During my recent visit, through the different conferences on the Islands of Maui and Hawaii, I had the privilege of meeting the first Japanese convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who is now living at Kukuihaele, Hawaii. We held an interesting meeting in his home and spent the night there.”

“Becoming interested in Brother Toko, I learned that he was born in Tokio, Japan, in the year 1849. At the age of seventeen he worked his way to Hawaii, arriving here in 1866. In 1879 he married a Hawaiian by the name of Kalala, and they have happily passed their ruby anniversary. He joined the Church in 1892, and has been and is still a faithful member.”

“He related to me many interesting incidents that took place here many years ago, among which was the Walter Murray Gibson trouble, and how he witnessed Gibson’s unlawful rise to power, and his dishonorable failure. An interesting sketch of the life and adventures of Walter M. Gibson, by Andrew Jenson, Assistant Historian of the Church, is found in Volume 4 of the Improvement Era.”

“Brother Toko is now seventy years of age, hale and hearty, and able to work six days a week raising Kalo (a Hawaiian vegetable used in making poi) for the market. In this way he earns an honest living. He has a large family of bright children.” (Smith, October 22, 1919)

Several have noted that there are some inconsistencies in Smith’s report, including some dating, but it does confirm that in Kukuihaele on the island of Hawaii there was a Japanese man who claimed to have arrived in Hawaii long before the government-supervised program of emigration began in 1885.

It likewise notes that there were Japanese whom a Church leader regarded as belonging to the Church, the man having been baptized before the opening of Mormon missionary work in Japan in 1901.  (Takagi)

Some descendants suggest Tokujiro was a samurai; that is not confirmed.  However, reportedly, he did have a samurai sword that was later presented to his employer, Samuel Parker. The sword apparently hung in the Mana Museum for some years before it was closed. (Hughes, Ke Ola)

Others note, that by the time he left home at the age of sixteen or seventeen, Tokujiro may well have already been an accomplished tatami maker in his own right. Family oral history has it that he was skilled in carpentry and helped build houses in the Waipio Valley on the northeastern coast of the island of Hawaii.

With the enactment in Japan of the Household Register Law in 1871, it may have been around this time that Tokujiro took the surname Sato.

Initially, when he arrived in Hawaii, he chose to be called Toku or Toko. Shortening of Japanese names to adapt to the Hawaiian manner of speech was an extremely common practice in those days. When the time came to pick a surname, he could have easily adopted the name chosen by his family in Tokyo.  (Takagi)

Sometime after arriving on the island of Hawai‘i, Tokujiro married Kalala Keliihananui Kamekona, a Hawaiian with mixed Irish and Chinese lineage. According to family sources, Kalala Keliihananui Kamekona was the daughter of Kamekona (from the Waipio Valley) and Kaiahua (from the neighboring Waimanu Valley).

Tokujiro had become fluent in the Hawaiian language so that sometimes he was asked by a court of law to act as an interpreter.  Such an assignment was not unusual for the gannenmono who stayed in the Hawaiian islands, because, with very few or even no other Japanese around, they had to assimilate into the Hawaiian community.

A story is told of Sentaro Kawashima, a young Japanese immigrant, who was taught by Tokujiro to speak Hawaiian and English, farm taro, and make poi and okolehao (homemade alcoholic spirit).  (Takagi)

The Tokujiro Sato family was far from being the typical Mormon family of contemporary America. Their religious understanding and practice were constrained both by the cultural settings of the day and by the different expectations that the Church had of its members.

The descendants remember Kalala as fond of drinking okolehao and as being “cranky” most of the time, possibly because of her drinking habit.

In his later years, perhaps with the increasing population of Japanese, Tokujiro came to emphasize his Japanese identity. Although he exclusively spoke Hawaiian to his children, he spoke Japanese to some of the grandchildren as they developed proficiency in that language. (Takagi)

Tokujiro died in his home shortly after his meeting with E Wesley Smith in 1919, and after a funeral held presumably at a Latter-day Saint chapel, he was buried in a cemetery located on the Pacific shore. His grave no longer exists because it was washed away in a tidal wave.

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Silversword Inn

Haleakala National Park was originally a section of Hawai‘i National Park. Hawai’i National Park was established by Congress in 1916 to include the Haleakala volcano on the island of Maui and the Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes on the island of Hawai‘i.

(The bill to designate Haleakala Section as a separate National Park was introduced in Congress and approved in 1960. The formal dedication for Haleakala National Park was held on July 1, 1961, at the summit in the Haleakala Visitor Center parking lot. (NPS))

Between 1934 and 1941 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) operated work camps at Haleakalā. The CCC was a federally funded work relief program designed to generate income for young unemployed men during the Great Depression.

At Haleakalā National Park the CCC was engaged in a variety of projects. CCC enrollees removed invasive plants and feral animals such as pigs and goats and constructed a number of trails and structures in the park.  They had a base camp at Pu‘u Nianiau.

In 1940, “the Army sought sites on both Haleakala and Mauna Loa for ‘unspecified defense installations.’ A ‘thorough’ study was referred to, but only the very tops of both peaks were surveyed. It was determined that the ‘two sites selected in the National Park offer the only sites which are suitable for these proposed defense purposes.’”

“The National Park sites were ‘not only the most suitable but also the only acceptable sites.’ The Mauna Loa site was approved by the National Park Service for Army use in November 1940, but no work was ever done there by the Army.” (Jackson)

“By April 1941, the War and Interior Departments had worked out an agreement for the use of the area. A Special Use Permit was signed on April 29, 1941, covering a six acre installation site at Red Hill, and the Army agreed to use for its base camp the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp at the 7,000 foot elevation which would be vacated by the CCC in May 1941.” (Jackson)

The Pu‘u Nianiau area of Haleakala National Park was used by the US Army as a base camp from 1941 to 1946 for facilities being operated at the summit of Haleakala.

After the Army’s departure, base camp buildings were used in 1947 for the ‘Haleakala Mountain Lodge’ by Robert “Boy” von Tempsky who held a concession with the park.

Mr. von Tempsky offered saddle and pack trips through the crater as well as bus transportation from docks, landing fields and hotels in Maui.

The name of the facility was changed to the ‘Silversword Inn’ under new operators in 1958. “Just above the park entrance, Silversword Inn, a National Park concession, offers meals, rooms, souvenirs, horseback riding and guided horseback trips into the crater.” (The silversword (ʻāhinahina) is a rare plant (one of the rarest species in the Hawaiian Islands) found on Haleakala.)

“Haleakala Crater is a favorite with those who like the back-country; its inspiring scenery and restful solitude are great reward for time and effort. The National Park Service maintains three cabins on the crater floor and 30 miles of well-marked trails for hikers and horseback parties.” (Hawaii Nature Notes, NPS Haleakala Guide, 1959)

The Silversword Inn in the park closed in 1961 (the concession agreement expired and, after a national advertisement, no one bid for the construction and operation of a new 30-room lodge. (Star Bulletin, Sept 4, 1961).

Shortly after, the news reported, “Hale Moi‘ Lodge at Kula will now be called Silversword Inn”; the property had been run by Glenn and Cathy Simons and was subsequently operated by Florence Ellis.  The Elisses “formerly operated the Haleakala National Park lodging and restaurant concession as Silversword Inn.” (Honolulu Advertiser, March 16, 1962)

Just the year before, Hale Moi Lodge had “Opened on a small scale by Glenn and Kathy Simons … The first of six chalet-type studio cottages under construction has just been completed and the others will follow.” (Star Bulletin, March 27, 1961)

Then, in the early-1970s and beyond, the property was plagued with litigation – there were transfers of ownership, defaults and bankruptcy.  At one point, the Court started a filing asking “Who owns the Silversword Inn?”

“This seemingly innocuous question has been litigated vigorously for nearly two decades in various bankruptcy proceedings and in the state courts of Hawaii.” (US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit)

Later, as part of the County’s Community Plan that included the Kula area, Maui County designated the “Silversword Inn Project District 2” allowing 12-hotel units and Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, Tourism Research Visitor Plant Inventory report notes such.

But the name (and ownership) of the place changed again and searches for the old name and address (15427 Haleakalā Hwy) lead you to Kula Sandalwoods Café & Inn.  It notes “Our Tradition – Hospitality 60 years of Aloha” with its restaurant and “6 comfortable hillside view cottages”.

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Menehune

“[T]he plausible historical explanation is that the Menehune were the first-wave Polynesians from the Marquesas and they became part of a cultural memory retained and retold in oral stories after they fled in the face of the Tahitian arrival.” (Martins; WorldHistory)

“Menehune tales made a sudden appearance in the Hawaiian newspapers and journals in 1861. Prior to this, the earliest Hawaiian scholars and missionaries made no reference to forest people who were mysterious construction workers.”

“An extensive early history was written by the Reverend Hiram Bingham (1789-1869), an American missionary who arrived in 1820 and spent more than two decades in the islands. Bingham collected oral histories and tales about Hawaiian deities, but there was no mention of the Menehune.”

“The British missionary William Ellis (1794-1872) was aware of the ‘manahune’ of Tahiti – a term that referred to the lowest of the three Tahitian social classes, including unskilled labourers and servants.”

“After a tour of the Hawaiian islands and missionary interventions in political and cultural institutions, Ellis produced his famed four-volume work, Polynesian Researches, in 1831. Given his encyclopaedic knowledge of the South Pacific region, it is curious that Ellis made no mention of the Menehune of Hawaii and any possible link to the manahune of Tahiti.”

“Similarly, Hawaiian historian David Malo (c. 1793-1853), in his work Hawaiian Antiquities, first published in 1838, refers to the Mu (mischievous sprites) but not the Menehune.”

“What has come to be known as the Menehune Ditch was first mentioned in March 1861 in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Hae Hawaii. The construction of Kīkīaola, a historic 24-foot high irrigation channel or auwai in Waimea, Kauai (now called the Menehune Ditch), was attributed to the Menehune, who built it in one night, and it predates the c. 1000 CE Tahitian migrations to Hawaii.”

“It was discovered by Europeans in the 1700s and was described by George Vancouver in 1792. It is considered an engineering marvel due to the 120 cleanly cut dressed basalt blocks, which would have required precision tools and techniques for cutting, that line about 200 feet of the ditch, carrying water to irrigate ponds for growing taro.”

“It also differs from typical Hawaiian rock wall constructions, even though the Hawaiians were fully skilled in stonemasonry.”

“However, there are numerous examples of the use of innovative stone-cutting by early Hawaiians. Fornander points to Umi’s heiau (temple). Umi-a-Liloa (r. 1470-1525) was the high chief of the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago (Hawaii Island), and his heiau is an elaborate example of cut-and-dressed stone masonry.”

“The Alekoko Fishpond, also known as the Menehune Fishpond, is a 102-acre pond located along a bend of the Hule‘ia River on the island of Kauai. … The inland pond was constructed with a 2,700-foot long stone and earthen wall around 600 years ago, although 1,000 years has also been put forward.”

“As with Kīkīaola, the wall is a unique mud and rock structure that differs from most known Hawaiian pond walls, which are usually made from large basalt boulders. For parts of the wall, workers would have needed to work underwater.”

“The Hawaiian language newspaper, Ka Hae Hawaii, in October 1861, attributed the overnight build of the fishpond to the magical Menehune rather than acknowledging that the Hawaiians themselves were capable of impressive engineering feats.”

“[A]rchaeologists have not found a single piece of evidence pointing towards a diminutive race of people in Hawaii pre-dating the Polynesians.”

“Given the lack of evidence, the plausible historical explanation is that the Menehune were the first-wave Polynesians from the Marquesas and they became part of a cultural memory retained and retold in oral stories after they fled in the face of the Tahitian arrival.” (Martins)

“The name of Menehune probably reached the Hawaiian Islands from central Polynesia, where it is known, with dialectical variations, in the Society, Cook, and Tuamotuan Archipelagoes.”

“Hawaiians reserve the term Menehune for bands of supernatural, night-working artisans of very small height who specialize in stonework and live a simple life in the mountainous interiors of the islands, especially of Kauai.”

“William Hyde Rice describes the Menehune as ‘A race of mythical dwarfs from two to three feet in height, who were possessed of great strength; a race of pygmies who were squat, tremendously strong, powerfully built, and very ugly of face. They were credited with the building of many temples, roads, and other structures.’”

“‘Trades among them were well-systematized, every Menehune being restricted to his own particular craft in which he was a master. It was believed that they would work only one night on a construction and if unable to complete the work, it was left undone.’”

“Menehune were real people who, with the passage of time, have been folklorized by later arrivals in the land, or that they are supernatural beings to whom the deeds of real people were ascribed after the history of the deeds had been forgotten. “

“[I]n many parts of Polynesia and in the adjoining island areas of Micronesia and Melanesia are myths, traditions, and beliefs about little people who are reminiscent of the Menehune although called by other names.”

“[T]he words used to express the numbers of Kauai Menehune were lau (400), mano (4,000), kini (40,000) and lehu (400,000), their total number being melehuka (millions).”

“Once when all the Menehune of Kauai assembled they numbered more than 500,600, not counting the children under 17. The occasion of this great gathering was to prepare for their exodus from the Hawaiian Islands at the order of the king of the Menehune who was worried because so many of his men were marrying Hawaiian women and he wanted to keep the race pure.”

“In their heyday, then, before the exodus, the Menehune were extremely prolific in contrast to the present population, and Kauai was densely populated.”

“The Menehune are playful, love jokes, and have many different kinds of games. On Kauai, before the exodus, they used to carry stones from the mountains to their bathing places, throw them into the sea, and dive after them. They also liked to dive into the sea from cliffs.”

“One of the divisions organized for the exodus from Kauai was made up of musicians, fun-makers, storytellers, and minstrels to entertain the king. Musicians used bamboo nose flutes, ti-leaf trumpets, mouth harps, and hollow log drums.”

“During the exodus, when two chiefesses, Hanakapiai and Hanakeao, died, the former in childbirth and the latter in an accident, the king ordered 60 days of mourning. These were concluded with feasting and games.”

“Among the many sports were top spinning; dart throwing, using a spear-throwing device; hiding a pebble; boxing; wrestling, both standing up and lying down; tug of war; foot racing; sled racing by both men and women down grassy slopes; and ‘a game resembling discus throwing.’”

“Apparently, however, not all the Menehune left at the time of the exodus. [Some] hid in the forests in order to remain with their Hawaiian families.”

“[I]n the reign of Kaumualii, the last independent ruler of Kauai, a census was taken of the population of Wainiha Valley in which 65 of the 2,000 people counted by the king’s agent were Menehune. All 65 lived in a community named Laau (Forest) in the depths of the valley forests.”

“In general, the Menehune are kind and helpful to other people, especially to their descendants. They work for others when asked, or even when not asked.”

“If the Menehune are offended by anyone, they turn the offender to stone.  According to Rice, they regard thievery with contempt and mete out death to the culprits by transforming them into stone.”

“Menehune fear daylight and avoid being seen, and they work only at night. Every job must be finished by dawn, or it is left. There is a saying, ‘In one night, and by dawn it is finished.’”

“Only four incomplete jobs are known: a Kauai heiau [left unfinished because an owl and a dog were regarded as evil omens], a Kauai fishpond, the transporting of Kakae’s canoe to the ocean, and a watercourse on Hawaii [the latter were left unfinished because daylight came before the work was done].”

“Much of their work appears to be done for nothing, from the goodness of their hearts.”

“It is as stoneworkers that the Menehune excel. They have built heiaus, watercourses, fishponds, causeways, rock piles, and stone canoes; rearranged boulders; dug caves; and made many forest roads and trails.”

“The Kauai dam and watercourse, the so-called “Menehune Ditch”, job of fitted and dressed stone work and engineering which involved turning the course of Waimea River and directing the water around a corner of a mountain”.

“There is a saying … ‘Happy is the man whose work is his hobby. The Menehune must be happy, as they love their work. They carry rocks from the seashore to the mountain sides to build heiaus or watercourses as part of their daily, or rather nightly, work …”

“… and they spend their leisure hours carrying rocks from the mountains to the seashore, so that they can either dive off the

rocks or throw them into the water and dive after them.”

“Although the Menehune prefer to live in deep forests in remote valleys and on mountainsides, evidences of their work are scattered widely, especially on Kauai and Oahu with which they are very closely connected.” (Luomana) (All here is from Luomana and Martins)

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Owyhee, Idaho

It might seem strange that Hawaiians played a significant part in the history on Idaho and the Northwest because much of that history has been forgotten, except for a historic land marker on the western crest of Owyhee County.

“The name applied to these mountains and the whole surrounding region is an outdated spelling of the word ‘Hawaii,’” the sign reads. Owyhee is pronounced like “Hawaii” but without the “H.” (Idaho Statesman)

It started with explorer James Cook — In 1768, when Captain Cook set sail on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, he carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek ‘a Continent or Land of great extent’ and to take possession of that country ‘in the Name of the King of Great Britain’.

While each of his three journeys had its own aim and yielded its own discoveries, it was this confidential agenda that would transform the way Europeans viewed the Pacific Ocean and its lands.

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.  Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery.  (State Library, New South Wales)

After leaving Christmas Island, they headed north, then, “having fine weather, and a gentle breeze at east, and east-south-east, till we got into the latitude of 7° 45′ N. and the longitude of 205″ E., where we had one calm day.”

“This was succeeded by a north-east by east, and east-north-east wind. At first it blew faint, but freshened as we advanced to the north.”

“We continued to see birds every day, of the sorts last mentioned; sometimes in greater numbers than others; and between the latitude of 10° and 11° we saw several turtle. All these are looked upon as signs of the vicinity of land.”

“However, we discovered none till day-break, in the morning of the 18th [January 1778], when an island made its appearance, bearing northeast by east; and, soon after, we saw more land bearing north, and entirely detached from the former.”  His two ships were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kauai’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai’i’s contact with Westerners.  The first Hawaiians to greet Cook were from the Kōloa south shore.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

The Islands “were named by Captain Cook the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich, under whose administration he had enriched geography with so many splendid and important discoveries.” (Captain King’s Journal; Kerr)

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

At the time of 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, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Throughout their stay, the ships were supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.  After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific.

In March 1778, Cook’s Journal noted, “At four in the afternoon we saw the land, which, at six, extended from north-east half east, to south-east by south, about eight leagues distant. In this situation we tacked and sounded ; but a line of a hundred and sixty fathoms did not reach the ground. I stood off till midnight, then stood in again ; and at half past six, we were within three leagues of the land …”

Moving along what we now call the Oregon coast, “Each extreme of the land that was now before us, seemed to shoot out into a point. The northern one was the same which we had first seen on the 7th ; and on that account I called it Cape Perpetua, It lies in the latitude of 44° 6′ N., and in the longitude of 235° 52′ E.”

“The southern extreme before us, I named Cape Gregory,  Its latitude is 43° 80′, and its longitude 235° 57’ E. It is a remarkable point ; the land of it rising almost directly from the sea to a tolerable height, while that on each side of it is low.”

“I continued standing off till one in the afternoon. Then I tacked, and stood in, hoping to have the wind off from the land in the night. But in this I was mistaken ; for at five o’clock it began to veer to the west and south west; which obliged me, once more, to stand out to sea. …”

“I continued to stand to the north with a fine breeze at west, and west north-west, till near seven o’clock in the evening, when I tacked to wait for day-light.”

“At this time we were in forty-eight fathoms’ water, and about four leagues from the land, which extended from north to south east half east, and a small round hill, which had the appearance of being an island, bore north three quarters east, distant six or seven leagues, as I guessed ; it appears to be of a tolerable height, and was but just to be seen from the deck.”

“Between this island or rock, and the northern extreme of the land, there appeared to be a small opening, which flattered us with the hopes of finding an harbour. These hopes lessened as we drew nearer ; and, at last, we had some reason to think, that the opening was closed by low land. On this account I called the point of land to the north of it Cape Flattery.”

“It lies in the latitude of 48° 15′ north, and in the longitude of 235° 3′ east. There is a round hill of a moderate height over it ; and all the land upon this part of the coast is of a moderate and pretty equal height, well covered with wood, and hau a very pleasant and fertile appearance.”

“It is in this very latitude where we now were, that geographers have placed the pretended strait of Juan de Fuca. We saw nothing like it ; nor is there the least probability that ever any such thing existed. …” (Cook’s Journal, March 1778)

Cook had created a pathway, and expeditions that followed his maps stopped on the islands, often picking up Hawaiians as crew, before heading north.

It was the British-and Canadian-run fur-trapping industry that brought many Hawaiians to Idaho in the first half of the 19th century. They became mainstays for the expeditions that Hudson’s Bay and North West companies trappers Donald Mackenzie, Peter Skene Ogden and David Thompson led through present-day Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana and British Columbia.  (Idaho Statesman)

Three of the Hawaiians (“Owyhees”) joined Donald MacKenzie’s Snake expedition, which went out annually into the Snake country for the North West Company – a Montreal organization of Canadian fur traders.

Unluckily, those three Owyhees left the main party during the winter of 1819-1820; they set out to explore the then unknown terrain of what since has been called the Owyhee River and mountains, and have not been heard from since. Because of their disappearance, the British fur trappers started to call the region “Owyhee,” and the name stuck. (Idaho State Historical Society)

Just at the time the Owyhees disappeared into the Owyhee country, American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands and worked out an alphabet for the native language in order to print the Bible and other missionary literature.  In the alphabet they adopted, the word “Owyhee” turned out to be “Hawaii.”

But in Idaho, the older form survived.

Many of the fur traders’ Idaho place names were lost in later years, but some – including “Owyhee” for a mountain range and river – were retained. That may result in part from the fact that Owyhees remained active in the Idaho fur trade right down to the last years of its decline.

As late as 1850, Fort Boise (located on the Snake River just below the mouth of the Owyhee) was staffed by James Craggie and fourteen Owyhees. When the Owyhee mines were discovered in 1863, the name still was in use, and the mines brought permanent settlement which preserved the name ever since that time. (Idaho State Historical Society)

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Beach Volleyball

“A very interesting game is indulged in during an intermission, which is taken for rest and amusement combined. It is basket ball. A small wire basket is fastened to the wall on either end, about twelve feet from the floor.”

“Sides are chosen and each attempt to land a small rubber ball in the goal of the other team. The tactics involved in football are used with the exception that there is no kicking of the ball or tackling of players.”  (Hawaiian Star, December 3, 1896)

“In the winter of 1891, Luther Gulick, the head of the physical education department at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, persuaded a young instructor named James Naismith to create an indoor game that could be played during the off-season.” (Basketball Hall of Fame)

Gulick’s first intention was to bring outdoor games indoors, namely, soccer and lacrosse. These games proved too physical and cumbersome.  Gulick was born on December 4, 1865 at Honolulu, Hawai‘i, the fifth of seven children of Congregationalist missionaries, Luther Halsey Gulick and Louisa Lewis Gulick.

Four years later, in 1895, William G. Morgan, an instructor at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in Holyoke, MA, decided to blend elements of basketball, baseball, tennis and handball to create a game for his classes of businessmen which demanded less physical contact than basketball. He created the game of Mintonette. The name later changed to Volleyball.

Per Morgan, the game was fit for the gymnasium or exercise hall. The play consisted of any number of players keeping a ball in motion from one side to the other over a net raised 6 feet 6 inches above the floor. (NCVA)

In 1900 Canada became the first country outside of the US to take up volleyball, followed by Cuba in 1906, Japan in 1908, China in 1911, France in 1915 (during World War I on the beaches of Normandy and Brittany).

Then, the game of volleyball went outside, on the beach at Waikiki.  The true birth of beach volleyball most likely began in 1915 when the Outrigger Canoe Club (OCC) set up a court on Waikiki Beach.  (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball)


Started by George David “Dad” Center as an activity to keep OCC members busy during times when there was a lack of surf, the sport has flourished. (OCC)

‘Dad’ went out and bought a couple of volleyballs and a volleyball net; then, he and OCCC other members temporarily put the net up, in the sandy beach area parallel to the tide line, between the surfboard lockers and the canoe shed. This is where the first recorded game of ‘Beach Volleyball’ took place.

After playing on this Waikiki Beach volleyball court, ‘Dad’ and his group decided that the area was not spacious enough so they relocated the court in front of the Clubs little commissary and the big lanai.

Past Club President Ronald Quay Smith said that when he first came to Hawaii in 1919 and played volleyball: “I met the ‘Outrigger boys’ who were the best volleyball players that I knew of at the time and it was something to go up against those fellows.”

“‘Dad’ Center was their captain and coach. Tom Singlehurst, Duke and Dave Kahanamoku along with some of the other boys could jump five or six feet, and we respected them very much.” (OCC)

The Club’s most famous member was Duke Kahanamoku. Duke is credited with introducing surfing to the world. Duke was also one of the best beach volleyball players at the Club.

Duke Kahanamoku is also credited, by some of California’s ‘Old-Timers’ at Santa Monica’s ‘Beach Club,’ for helping to refine the game of beach volleyball. In the 1930s, Duke came to the mainland to fill the position as Athletic Director at Santa Monica’s ‘Beach Club.’  (OCC)

It is said that Kahanamoku, because of his exceptional athleticism, was the first to make beach volleyball a rugged sports activity rather than a leisurely way to pass the time away on the beach. Duke would jump to unmatched levels and spike the ball down at extraordinary angles.

The Outrigger Canoe Club was founded in 1908 by a small group of Honolulu’s business and professional community. The Club’s original mission was to help perpetuate traditional Hawaiian sports.

The Club’s story mirrors that of Waikiki and Hawaii. The 1908 clubhouse was two grass houses purchased from a defunct zoo. The grass houses were moved to leased land, on the beach, next to a lagoon.

One (fronting the beach) was fitted out as a shed for canoes and surfboards. The other shed became the Club’s first bathhouse and dressing room. Both had spacious lanai. A sand floor pavilion was built a short time later and it became a popular gathering place for members.

A new clubhouse was eventually built in 1941 on the same grounds. Then in 1964, when the Waikiki lease was lost, the club moved to its present Diamond Head location. (OCC)

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