Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu – About 1850

On the continent: the Donner Party was trapped in heavy snow (1846;) California Gold Rush was underway (1848;) and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, giving the United States Texas, California, New Mexico and other territories (1848.)  Europe was in political upheaval with the European Revolutions of 1848 (aka “Spring of Nations” or “Springtime of the Peoples.”)

In Hawaiʻi, Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, was King and the Great Māhele (1848) was taking place; it was the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi that separated land title to the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents,) and eventually the people.

At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents.  Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors.)  Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right.)

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above.)  In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

Kawaiahaʻo Church (Stone Church) generally marked the eastern edge of town; it was constructed between 1836 and 1842.  The “Kauikeaouli clock,” donated by King Kamehameha III in 1850, still tolls the time to this day.

Honolulu Harbor was bustling at that time.  Over the prior twenty years, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846; 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Shortly after, however, in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the Hawaiʻi whaling industry.

At the time, Honolulu Harbor was not as it is today and many of the visiting ships would anchor two to three miles off-shore – cargo and people were ferried to the land.

What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

From 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the reef to create an area known as the “Esplanade” (where Aloha Tower is now situated) and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor was underway.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) was demolished in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor – some of the coral blocks are still visible at Pier 12.

The old prison was built in 1856-57, to take the place of the old fort (that also previously served as a prison.)  The custom-house was completed in 1860.  The water-works were much enlarged, and a system of pipes was laid down in 1861.

The city was regularly laid out with major streets typically crossing at right angles – they were dirt (Fort Street had to wait until 1881 for pavement, the first to be paved.)  Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood (as early as 1838;) by 1857, the first sidewalk made of brick was laid down on Merchant Street.

Honolulu Hale was then located on Merchant Street (now the park/vacant lot between the Kamehameha V Post Office and Pioneer Plaza.)  County governance was still 50-years away (1905) and what we now know as Honolulu Hale today was 75-years away (1928.)

To get around people walked, or rode horses or used personal carts/buggies.  It wasn’t until 1868, that horse-drawn carts became the first public transit service in the Hawaiian Islands.

At that time, folks were 50-years away from getting automobiles (the first gasoline-powered arrived in 1900;) that same year (1900,) an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and by 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

Honolulu was to be a planned town. Kinaʻu (Kuhina Nui Kaʻahumanu II) published the following proclamation (1838:) “I shall widen the streets in our city and break up some new places to make five streets on the length of the land, and six streets on the breadth of the land… Because of the lack of streets some people were almost killed by horseback riders ….”  By 1850, there was much improvement.

By the 1840s, the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing, and many of the old traditional trails – the ala loa and mauka-makai trails within ahupua‘a – were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that caused the animals to slip.

At the time, “Broadway” was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest – about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (to Mānoa.)

There were five food markets in Honolulu (in thatched sheds) one of which was more particularly a vegetable market.  Irish potatoes were $2-$3 per bushel (about 50-lbs;) eggs were $0.25 to $0.75 per dozen; oranges $0.25 per dozen and turkeys and ducks were about $.05 each, chickens started at about $0.25 a piece.

Butter was mostly made on the Big Island and Kauai – about 19,000-lbs produced – and sold at an average price of $0.30 per pound; milk was 12 1/2 cents a quart.  Fresh beef sold for $0.06 per pound.

The fledgling sugar industry was starting to spread across the islands.

It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands.  Of the nearly 385,000 foreign contract workers that eventually came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Founded in 1839, Oʻahu’s first school was called the Chief’s Children’s School.  The school was created by King Kamehameha III to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom.

Missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke were selected by King Kamehameha III to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.

Here, Hawai‘i sovereigns (who reigned after Kamehameha III over the Hawaiian people after his death in 1854) were given Western education, including, Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) Queen Emma, Lot Kapuaiwa (King Kamehameha V,) King William Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Lili‘uokalani.

Lots of information here from ‘The Polynesian’ (January 1, 1847,) Greer and Gilman.  The image shows Honolulu from the Harbor in 1854.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Adherent Planters

When we think of the prior sugar industry, we often only think of the large corporate entities – the Big Five (C. Brewer & Co, 1826; Theo H. Davies & Co, 1845; Amfac, 1849; Castle & Cooke, 1851 and Alexander & Baldwin, 1870).

These were the ‘factors’ who served as agents (and many times bankers) for thirty-six of the thirty-eight sugar plantations,;the Big Five openly monopolized the sugar trade.

But these and the companies they represented were not the only sugar planters.  Hawai‘i also had adherent planters.  These farmers, many of whom worked certain periods for the plantation, sold their cane to the plantation on a contractual basis.

Because of the topography of Hawaii, it often happens that small areas of land suitable for growing sugarcane are isolated by deep ravines or small rivers from the main body of the plantation land.

When, for these or other reasons, it was not practicable to put a piece of land under the direct management of the plantation, it was the usual practice to provide for the cultivation of such land under what was known as “ the adherent-planter system.”

In 1939, there were approximately 3,500 such adherent planters in the Territory, cultivating about 13 percent of the total cane area on more than 5,000 separate parcels of land, and producing about 10 percent of the total sugar cane grown in Hawaii. (US Bureau of Labor, 1939)

Around statehood (1959) approximately 100,000 tons of sugar was produced annually, principally on the unirrigated plantations on the island of Hawaii under the so-called adherent planter system.

This adherent planter system was an outgrowth of the Hawaiian plantation system over the prior 50 years and was unique in the American sugar-producing areas.

The small sugar growers had two types of agreements with the plantations: as adherent planters or as independent growers.

The adherent system originated when adherent planter agreements were offered by already established and operating sugar plantations to employees as a convenient arrangement to grow sugarcane on a portion of lands under cultivation by the plantation.

The plantation financed the venture, made available the use of mules, plows, fertilizer, heavy equipment, and labor at the time of harvest and transported the sugarcane crop after harvest to the plantation mill.

As a payment for the contribution of the adherent planter for labor performed, the plantation producer settled with the adherent planter by purchasing the sugarcane at a price tied to the price of raw sugar at market.

Direct contributions by way of finances, the loan of equipment, men, and advance of materials and services such as transportation, were a charge against the adherent planter.

Indirect contributions such as technical assistance in agricultural practices, certain types of supervision, scientific research and development, and the general costs that go into operating a large-scale plantation were charged to the adherent planter’s account.

Thus the Hawaiian sugar plantations early entered into a cooperative project of sugarcane production with certain selected employees under the adherent planter system.

This was in contrast to the so-called independent planters of Louisiana, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. In those areas, for the most part, the sugar centrals came into already independently developed farming areas where sugarcane was already in existence, and placed a mill among the growers for the purpose of processing sugarcane.

The sugar processors in the independent-planter areas never were in a joint enterprise in the growing of sugarcane with their planters, as were the plantation producers of Hawaii under the adherent planter system.

The adherent planter system on the Hawaiian sugar plantations was an outgrowth of the earlier development. There are many different types of adherent planter agreements on various sugar plantations, and, in some instances on the same plantation.

But, the basic relationship which was an outgrowth of the past was essentially the same in all. For the most part, adherent planters were employees of the plantations who have been granted small parcels of land for the cultivation of sugarcane either in their spare time or during portions of the year which they devote exclusively to these adherent planter plots.

These same employees spend the bulk of the year on the plantation pay rolls in various capacities such as harvesters, cultivators, millmen, or in similar employment. As a rule an adherent planter has two parcels of land, one for each crop year. This was because sugar cane in Hawaii was grown in a 2-year crop cycle and it was financially more convenient for adherent planters to receive a settlement once a year instead of once in 2 years.

The adherent planter was charged with the responsibility of planting, bringing to maturity, and harvesting the crop of sugarcane on the land allocated to him by the plantation producer.

The skilled operators of the plantation producer run the equipment, and the planter was given the full advantage of scientific mechanization in sugarcane cultivation.

Plantation agriculturalists under the terms of the adherent planter agreements determined the varieties of cane to be planted and the agricultural practices to be followed by the adherent planter and gave the adherent planters early advantage of newest developments at the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association experiment station.

These and other developments in the industry station have been brought about at industry expense and made available to the adherent planters without charge.

At the time of the harvest, in most instances, the sugarcane was taken off by the heavy equipment of the plantation producer or by gangs of plantation men. The sugarcane was delivered to the mill in the plantation system of transportation.

The adherent planter was generally paid for his sugarcane on the basis of the average New York price of 90° sugar, for the month in which the sugarcane was harvested.

The various adherent planter plots are quite frequently found interspersed among the administration fields and are always physically located within the confines of the farming unit of the plantation.

The entire operation was essentially a joint one between the adherent planter and the plantation producer.  The passage of the Jones-Costigan amendment to the Agricultural Adjustment Act in 1934 resulted in the scrutiny of this system by the Department of Agriculture.

After a thorough investigation and public hearings in the Territory of Hawaii in December 1934, at which were present the representatives of the bulk of adherent planters in the Hawaiian sugar industry, the various plantation producers and the Secretary of Agriculture entered into the so-called production adjustment agreement.

These agreements set up the terms and conditions under which the Hawaiian sugar producers participated in the program for the production of sugar cane under the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In these agreements, the peculiar status of the adherent planters of Hawaii was given recognition by the Secretary of Agriculture.

The so-called benefit payments of $10 per ton on sugar produced from adherent planter sugarcane were divided between the plantation producers and the adherent planters on the basis as though these payments were an increase in the market price of sugar; thus recognizing the joint nature of the venture under the adherent planter system.  (Most here is from the Congressional Record)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tsunami in Hawai‘i

A tsunami is a series of ocean waves generated by sudden displacements in the sea floor, landslides or volcanic activity.  In the deep ocean, the tsunami wave may only be a few inches high.  The tsunami wave may come gently ashore or may increase in height to become a fast moving wall of turbulent water several meters high.
 
In Hawaii, tsunamis have accounted for more lost lives than the total of all other local disasters.  In the 20th century, an estimated 221 people have been killed by tsunamis.  Most of these deaths occurred on the Big Island during the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960, two of the largest tsunamis to strike in the Pacific.
 
Here is a brief summary of some recent tsunami and their impacts in Hawai‘i:
 
1946
The tsunami of 1946 was generated by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.  This tsunami struck the Big Island of Hawaii on April 1st.  The tsunami flooded the downtown area of Hilo killing 159 people and causing more than $26-million in damages.
 
1952
On November 4, 1952 a tsunami was generated by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the USSR.  In Hawaii, property damage from these waves was estimated at $800,000-$1,000,000 (1952 dollars); no lives were lost.  The waves beached boats, caused houses to collide, destroyed piers, scoured beaches and moved road pavement.
 
1957
On March 9, 1957 a tsunami was generated by a magnitude 8.3 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.  It generated a 24-foot tsunami that did great damage on Adak Island, especially to the fuel and oil docks.  The Hawaiian Islands incurred about $5,000,000 of damage in 1957 dollars.  The highest wave in Hawaii was 12-feet.
 
1960
The tsunami of May 23, 1960 was generated by a magnitude 8.3 earthquake in Chile.  The 35-foot tsunami struck Hilo, Hawaii causing severe damage.  61-deaths were recorded and $23-million in damage occurred.  In the area of maximum destruction, only buildings of reinforced concrete or structural steel and a few others sheltered by these buildings, remained standing – and even these were generally gutted.  Frame buildings were either crushed or floated nearly to the limits of the flooding.
 
1975
On November 29, 1975, an earthquake occurred off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.  When the quake-generated tsunami struck, 32 campers were at Halape Beach Park.  The sound of falling rocks from a nearby cliff, along with earth movement caused the campers to flee toward the ocean.  They were then forced back to the cliff by rising ocean waters.  The first wave was 5-feet high, but the second wave was 26-feet high and carried the unfortunate campers into a ditch near the base of the cliff, where they remained until the ordeal ended.  Two campers died and 19 suffered injuries.
 
2011
An earthquake measured at 9.0 magnitude, the sixth biggest since 1900, struck Japan on March 11, 2011.  The first tsunami waves reached Kaua‘i shortly after 3 a.m. and took about 30 minutes to sweep through the island chain.  Waves above 6-feet were recorded at Kahului on Maui and 3-feet at Haleiwa on the north shore of Oahu.  Lost homes, sunken boats, Kona Village Resort damage, and damaged piers and roads caused tsunami damage into the tens of millions of dollars; no one was killed or injured during the tsunami.
 
The earliest historical account of a Hawaii tsunami was from a 16th century Hawaiian chant that described a huge wave that struck the coast of Molokai.
 
The earliest confirmed tsunami was on Dec 21, 1812, when a wave from Southern California was observed at Ho‘okena on the west coast of the Big Island (Hawai‘i island). Maximum runups in excess of 15 m were measured for the 1946 and 1957 distant tsunamis and the 1975 local tsunami.
 
The record shows that damaging tsunamis from distant earthquakes reached Hawaii these years: 1837, 1841, 1868, 1869, 1877, 1883, 1906, 1918, 1923, 1933, 1946, 1957, and 1960. Other smaller tsunamis that caused no significant damage in Hawaii were generated by distant earthquakes in 1896, 1901, 1906, 1919, 1922, 1923, two in 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1938, 1944, 1952, and 1964.
 
In a period of 157 years, a damaging or destructive tsunami struck the Hawaiian Islands on the average of once in every twelve years.
 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Evolution of the Volcano House

All the known Hawaiian eruptions since 1778 have been at Mauna Loa and Kilauea Volcanoes, except for the 1800–1801 eruption of Hualālai Volcano on the west coast of Hawai‘i Island.

For the past 200 years, Mauna Loa and Kilauea have tended to erupt on average every two or three years, placing them among the most frequently active volcanoes of the world.

The individual Kilauea eruptions recorded historically are in addition to the nearly continuous eruptive activity within or near Halema‘uma‘u Crater, extending throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century.

Simultaneous eruption of both volcanoes has been rare except at times when Kilauea was continuously active before 1924. The only post-1924 occurrence of simultaneous eruption was in March 1984, when activity at both volcanoes overlapped for one day.

Between 1934 and 1952, only Mauna Loa was active and, between 1952 and 1974, only Kilauea was. (Tilling)  Since July 1950, Hawaiian eruptive activity has been dominated by frequent and sometimes prolonged eruptions at Kilauea, while only a couple short lived eruptions have occurred at Mauna Loa (July 1975 and March-April 1984).

Except for the nearly continuous eruptive activity at Halema‘uma‘u for a century before 1924, and at Mauna Loa summit between 1872 and 1877, the Pu‘u ‘O‘o eruption became the longest lasting single Hawaiian eruption in recorded history.

“The wonderful volcano of Kīlauea, on the island of Hawaii, is the great attractive of visitors.  It is the only crater in the world that is constantly in action, and that can be safely approached at all times to the very edge of the precipice which encloses the boiling lava.”

“To reach Kīlauea necessitates a passage of thirty hours from Honolulu in a fine steamer to Hilo or Punalu‘u, then a ride of thirty miles in coaches takes visitors to a fine hotel, which overlooks the molten lava lake. It is a sight that will repay the effort and expense incurred ten times over, and one that will never be forgotten.” (Whitney)

The earliest structure associated with Volcano House can be traced back all the way to 1846 when Benjamin Pitman constructed a four walled thatched shelter “in the native style.” It was a simple, one-room 12-by-18-foot shelter made of grass and native ohia wood poles is built and later dubbed “Volcano House.” The name stuck.  (NPS)

The NPS records include a Volcano House Register, essentially a Guest Book; this started at Pitman’s Volcano House. Orramel H Gulick donated the first blank volume of the Volcano House Register. Gulick noted in the preface,

“Travelers and passersby are requested by the donor of this book to record their names in it and to note all, or any, volcanic phenomena that may come under their notice during their stay or at the time of their visit.  By so doing, this record may become of great value, some years hence, to the scientific world.”

The first entry of Volume 1 is dated February 8, 1864; here JB Swain starts, “Having been located in this vicinity for the year last past I have noticed that the volcano has been in greater activity the last month than at any time throughout the last year. Within the last few days jets of lava could be seen from the Volcano House during the day, a circumstance not before observed.”

Later (1866), a four-room wood frame, thatched-roof Volcano House replaced the original building. One of its early guests was Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain).

Mark Twain recounts his Volcano House stay in a November 16, 1866 Sacramento Daily Union article, “Neat, roomy, well furnished and a well kept hotel … The surprise of finding a good hotel at such an outlandish spot startled me, considerably more than the volcano did.”

Royal Geographical Society traveler Isabella Bird visited in 1872. Bird remarked “The inn is a grass and bamboo house, very beautifully constructed without nails.”

“It is a longish building with a steep roof divided inside by partitions which run up to the height of the walls. There is no ceiling. The joists which run across are concealed by wreaths of evergreens, from among which peep out here and there stars on a blue ground.”

In 1877, William Lentz, a carpenter from Baltimore, built a more permanent western-style Volcano House hotel; it was located on the flat area fronting the present Volcano Art Center.  King Kalākaua, Louis Pasteur and Robert Louis Stevenson are among its guests.

By 1891, the popularity of Volcano House hotel was booming. The hotel had traded hands again, this time to Lorrin A Thurston, a Honolulu businessman and controversial historic figure. Thurston formed the “Volcano House Company” in partnership with the steamship companies that operated in Hawaiʻi at the time.

In 1891, this partnership increased capacity of the hotel with a 2-story Victorian-style addition to the Ka‘ū side of the building. Even with the addition, space in the hotel was barely enough for demand. At times, the lodge was so crowded that the billiard table in the parlor would be used as a bed.

In 1912, Thomas Jaggar built the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which he located on edge of the crater (at the site of the existing Volcano House). The concrete vault of the observatory Jaggar was called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology (named after Edward and Caroline Whitney, whose estate subscribed $25,000 for research into the science of volcanoes).

In 1921 the Volcano House grew again; in addition, the 1877 section of the building was removed from the 1891 Victorian addition and moved behind the new structure, back to where it currently is (the Volcano Art Center building).  A two-story wing was then added to the Victorian addition, bringing the number of rooms from 25 to 104.

A lack of tourism due to the Great Depression forced the company to sell the hotel at a sheriff’s auction.  George Lycurgus, sole bidder and a previous manager of the hotel, purchased the building for $300.

“Uncle George”, as he later became known, would go on to manage the hotel until his death in 1959. Lycurgus hosted celebrities such as Princess Victoria Ka‘iulani, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart,

On February 7, 1940, tragedy struck; the Volcano House burnt to the ground. A kitchen fire raged out of control and claimed the entire building. The next day, Volcano House was open for business as the smaller 1877 building was pressed back into service to accommodate guests.

In 1941, NPS paid for the construction of a new 24-room wood-and-stone hotel; it is designed by noted architect Charles W Dickey.  The hotel was also relocated about 200 yards from its former site, across Crater Rim Drive on the caldera’s edge. (The 1941 Volcano House having been constructed over it.)

On November 8, 1941, the new hotel opened for business.  Over the years, the list of guests included Dwight D Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Dr. Charles W. Mayo, John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon as well as many others.

The Park Headquarters (Administration Building) was built in June 1932; in 1949 it was turned over to the Volcano House Hotel. At that time, Lycurgus renamed the building the Ohia Wing and converted the interior into 10-guestrooms with private baths. In 1953, an eight-room wing was added to the main hotel building.

The legacy of this historic hotel continues. Today, the Volcano House Hotel has 33-guest rooms; in addition, the hotel manages 10 cabins and 16 campsites located at Nāmakanipaio Campground about 3-miles from the hotel.

As they have done for over centuries, people flock to Kīlauea to experience the wonder of nature at work. As it has always done, Volcano House Hotel provides a good meal and warm hearth to those that make the journey.

(In 1935, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not stated that the “fire in the fireplace in the Volcano House has been burning continuously for 61 years”; and, it continued to do so for many more years.  However, “the fabled fireplace was allowed to go out New Year’s Day 2010.” (Hawaii Magazine)) (Information here is from various documents of the NPS.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Gay Queen Of The Waves

A 2020 Proclamation issued by Governor Ray Cooper of North Carolina states, “Whereas, North Carolina was a pioneer of East Coast surfing;”

“the April 2, 1910 edition of Colliers Weekly includes a letter from Wrightsville Beach resident Burke Haywood Bridgers describing surfing activity in our state as early as 1909;”

“an announcement in the Wilmington Morning Star on June 30, 1910 includes mention of one of the earliest surfboard riding competitions in the mainland United States and direct communications with Alexander Hume Ford”.

However, that claim appears to be suspect, given other publications that predate the 1900s claim.  In the summer of 1888, several newspapers report a girl surfing at Ashbury Park, New Jersey – they refer to her as the “Gay Queen of the Waves.”

“A group of summer loungers on the beach at Ashbury park were watching the extraordinary antics of a dark-eyed bronzed-faced girl in the sea this morning. The object of all this interest and solicitude was beyond the line of breakers and standing on a plank that rose and fell with the swelling waves.”

“Her bathing dress was of some dark material, fitting close to the figure, the skirts reaching scarce to the knee. Her stockings wore of amber hue, adorned with what from the shore seemed to be vines and roses in colored embroidery. She wore no hat or cap.”

“Her hair, bound across the forehead and above the ears by a silver fillet, tumbled down upon her shoulders or streamed out upon the wind in black and shining profusion.  Her tunic was quite sleeveless , and one could scarcely fail to observe the perfect development and grace of her arms.”

“As a wave larger than those which had gone before slowly lifted the plank upon its swelling surface, she poised herself daintily upon the support, her round arms stretched out and her body swaying to and fro in harmony with the motion of the waters.”

“As the wave readied its fullest volume she suddenly, quick as a thought, and with a laugh that rang full into shore, drew herself together, sprang into the air, and, her hands clasped together and clearing her way, plunged into the rolling sea.”

“There was a little cry from timid feminine watchers on the sand, but the smiling face was above water again while they cried, and the daring Triton was upon the plank again in another moment and waiting for a second high roller.”

“So she has been amusing herself and interesting the mob for three mornings. She is as completely at ease in the sea as you or I on land, and the broad plank obeys her slightest touch.”

“When she has had enough of it she will bring the plank into shore, she riding upon the further end and guiding it like a goddess over the erects and through the foam of the biggest breakers.”

“She comes from the Sandwich Islands and is making a tour of the country. Her father is an enormously rich planter. She arrived in the park a week ago with the family of a wealthy New York importer. She is at a fashionable hotel and is one of the most charming dancers at the hotel hops, as well as the most daring swimmer on the Jersey coast.”

“She is well educated and accomplished, and, of course, speaks English perfectly, and with a swell British accent that is the despair of all the dudes.”

“She learned to be mistress of the waves in her childhood at her native home by the sea, where, she modestly says, all the girls learn swimming as a matter of course, quite as much as girls in this country learn tennis and croquet.” (Morning News from Philadelphia Press, August 17, 1888)

Although she is not identified, historian Vincent Dicks has apparently suggested that the young first-ever East Coast surfer was Emma Claudine Spreckels, the only daughter of Hawai‘i sugar baron Claus Spreckels.

Claus Spreckels (1828-1908), a German-born immigrant, made his fortune by starting a brewery and later founding the California Sugar Refinery. When he went to Hawaii in 1876 he managed to secure sole supply of sugar cane and with it much of the West Coast refined sugar market. In 1899 he founded the Spreckels Sugar Company, Inc.

The businessman gave over $25 million to his five grown children but his favorite child was the only daughter, Emma Claudine Spreckels.

He gifted an entire city block in Honolulu to her and an endowment worth almost $2 million. However, in 1893, when Emma eloped with Thomas Watson, many years her senior, she failed to tell her father. (House and Heritage)

Then, Emma “returned to her father all property, bonds, etc., which he had placed in her name. These gifts amounted to nearly $2,000,000, and were, it is said, relinquished by a single stroke of the pen by Mrs. Watson after her marriage.”

“It is reported that Mr. Spreckels was opposed to his daughter’s union with Watson, and that upon his chiding her for her seeming ingratitude in marrying against his wishes, she decided to give up her fortune, and did so, it is understood, upon the advice of her husband.” (Mount Holly News, Jan 12, 1897)

Emma ultimately married three times: after Watson died in 1904 she later married John Ferris (with her father’s blessing) and then Arthur Hutton in 1922.  Emma died on May 2, 1924 at Nuffield England.

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