Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pearl Harbor Historic Trail

Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is a partially-existing (some refer to that as the 5 mile Pearl Harbor Bike Path) heritage and recreational corridor that has the goal of establishing an 18+ mile multi-use recreational trail that will highlight historic sites from the USS Arizona Memorial to the west coast Oʻahu community of Nānākuli.

The full Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is still only an idea, but there is already a multi-use trail from the Arizona Memorial parking lot to Waipi’o Point Access Road. The path is intended to be improved as part of the historic trail project.

The long-range Master Plan (prepared in 2001) stemmed from the Aiea-Pearl City Community Vision Group’s Year 2000 project.

The Pearl Harbor Historic Trail is a vital element in the Aiea-Pearl City Livable Communities Plan as its proposed projects for the area are integrated into the Plan.

The former Oahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) right-of-way is the foundation upon which the proposed Pearl Harbor Historic Trail will be built.

A key project of the Master Plan is the re-establishment of the historic railway operation for the entire 18+ miles of the Trail.

The Hawaiian Railway Society (HRS) currently operates a six-mile long narrated railway train tour between its Ewa station museum and Kahe Tracks Beach Park in Nanakuli.

The Community Vision Group saw the 40-foot wide OR&L right-of-way as a valuable asset within their community that had the potential to meet a number of community needs such as safe bicycle and pedestrian paths, a natural and historic preservation project, a recreation resource, a means of opening up shoreline access, and an opportunity for economic revitalization.

The Master Plan incorporates a combination shared-use path and railway that includes major components, attractions and activity centers that will establish the Trail as a world-class heritage and recreation corridor.

The Trail will feature a continuous path for bicyclists and pedestrians alongside an historic train, diverging from the OR&L right-of-way where advantageous to take in shoreline views.

Miles of greenway and bikeway connections and gateways to the path are proposed, enhancing access to nearby communities and attractions.

A long while back, Nelia and I biked from Aiea Bay State Recreation Area, first to the Arizona Memorial side, then to Waipiʻo Peninsula along the existing portion of the trail.

At that time, it was in generally good condition; it is used daily by bikers, joggers and walkers. There are great views of Pearl Harbor, as well as other odds and ends along the way.

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Pohaku O Lanai

“It is different in character from the rocks that line the coast, and unlike anything for miles around.”

Hawaiians know it as ‘pohaku lanai,’ and is said by them to have floated ashore ‘from Kahiki,’ (Tahiti.) It is a balancing rock on a somewhat broader base, of limestone formation, with projecting top so as to afford material shelter in its shelving structure. (Thrum)

This is said to have been used as a lookout by fishermen in the region. When fish were sighted, the stone was beaten with a wooden mallet, and the resulting hollow sound was sufficient to gather together the fishermen of the village.” (McAllister; Ulukau)

On a trip around Oʻahu, Tyerman and Bennet (1832) noted, “Continuing our circuminsular tour we crossed a spacious plain, on the coast, of which the base was coral, and the soil a thin layer of vegetable mould.”

“On this level stands a mound, which might be taken for an artificial monument, consisting of two prodigious masses of coral-rock, the lower about six feet above the surface of the ground, but evidently imbedded in the stratum below;”

“… the upper, laid flat upon this, and overspreading it on every side, measured ninety-three feet in compass, and eight, at least, in the thickest part, the shape being conical.”

“The whole pile reached nearly five yards in height, and, when we consider that the substance must have been wrought under water, it is almost a necessary conclusion that the sea has considerably retired from this coast – from twenty-five to thirty feet in depth …”

“… or been repelled by some of the volcanic convulsions, which probably heaved the island itself from the bottom of the abyss, at a far distant period in the agency of that Providence of which the records are only preserved in the Eternal Mind.”

“There is no other rock of the same kind within several miles of this irregular formation. It was recently a marae (heiau,) to which the kings and chiefs repaired to consult Tani (Kane,) who was worshipped at it, on questions of peace and war, and to pray that in battle their bodies might be rendered invulnerable to the spears of their enemies.” (Tyerman and Bennet, 1832)

Pohaku Lanai is a large balancing stone on Kalaeoiupaoa Point. A large oval-shaped stone 18 feet across is balanced on a smaller base, standing about 10 feet high in all. (Ulukau) It’s also referred to as Lana-ike-Kane (Fisherman’s Stone.)

“One of the lions of the village affording some study is a stone of peculiar formation, in which the natives of the district maintain not a little traditional interest.”

“It is located near the seashore, not far distant from the railroad station, but of late entirely hidden from sight among the tangle-growth of lantana and kolu bushes.”

“(W)hether this shape is the natural result of the erosion of ages, or of surf wearing, of which this may be evidence of a difference in shore line and elevation at some remote period, or the result of man’s rude chizeling for a resting place, are questions of interest for the geologist, for it stands alone”. (Thrum)

An 1890 map notes “Two Rocks called Pohakulanai” located in the Land of Ulupehupehu (in what would be the present Turtle Bay Resort.) (McAllister did not document the two rocks in Kahuku in his 1930s inventory.)

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Kaʻohe

Looking at land divisions on the Island of Hawaiʻi, “the common ahupuaʻa is found to be a strip say 1,000-feet average width, and running from the seashore, not by any means to the top of the mountains, but to the zone of timber land that is generally exists between 1,700 and 5,000-feet line of elevation. The ordinary ahupuaʻa extends from half a mile to a mile into this belt.”

“Then there are the large ahupuaʻa which are wider in the open country than the others, and on entering the woods expand laterally so as to cut off the smaller ones, and extend toward the mountain till they emerge into the open interior country not however to converge to a point at the tops of the respective mountains.”

“Only a rare few reach those elevations, sweeping past the upper ends of all the others, and by virtue of some privilege in bird-catching, or some analogous right, taking the whole mountain to themselves.”

“Thus Mauna Loa is shared by three great lands, Kapapala and Kahuku from Kaʻū, and Humuʻula from Hilo. Possibly Keauhou from Kona may yet be proved to have had a fourth share.”

“The whole main body of Mauna Kea belongs to one land from Hāmākua, viz., Kaʻohe, to whose owners belonged the sole privilege of capturing the ʻuaʻu, a mountain-inhabiting but sea-fishing bird.” (Kaʻohe translates to ‘bamboo;’ the name may relate to a bamboo water carrier.)

“High up on its eastern flank, however, stretched the already mentioned land of Humuʻula, whose upper limits coincide with those of the māmane, a valuable mountain acacia, and which, starting from the shore near Laupāhoehoe, extends across the upper ends of all other Hilo lands to the crater of Mokuʻāweoweo.”

“These same lands generally had the more extended sea privileges. While the smaller ahupuaʻa had to content themselves with the immediate shore fishery extending out not further than a man could touch bottom with his toes …”

“… the larger ones swept around outside of these, taking to themselves the main fisheries much in the same way as that in which the forests were appropriated.”

“Concerning the latter, it should here be remarked that it was by virtue of some valuable product of said forests that the extension of territory took place.”

“For instance, out of a dozen lands, only one possessed the right to kalai waʻa, hew out canoes from the koa forest. Another land embraced the wauke and olona grounds, the former for kapa, the latter for fish line.” (Lyons, The Islands, July 9, 1875)

“From the mass of evidence taken we find that in ancient time the main value of the land of Kaʻohe was the uwaʻo, a sea-bird, whose habitat was the dry, rocky and elevated portion of the mountain.” (Appeal from Boundary Commissioner, May 31, 1892)

Kaʻohe is an irregular ahupua‘a because it only occupies a narrow (and relatively resource-poor) band along the coast where most of the residents would have lived.

But as Kaʻohe ascends the eastern slope of Mauna Kea and emerges above the forest near 6,000-feet in elevation, it expands to occupy the entire summit region. The uplands of Kaʻohe would have contained few food resources beyond ground-nesting birds.

The primary evidence of pre-contact human utilization of Kaʻohe’s vast mountain region is the adze quarry, which would have provided Kaʻohe with a valuable resource to exchange with other ahupua‘a. (Mills)

The adze quarry area was “the largest workshops in the world for making of stone tools.” (Kenneth Emory) It covers an area of roughly 7 ½-square miles on the south slope of Mauna Kea. The main activity was concentrated in a zone that is 1-to-1½ miles wide between the 11,000 and 12,400 ft. elevation.

The landscape is dotted with numerous cinder cones, the principal one of which in the quarry area is Puʻu Koʻokoʻolau. The upper slopes of Mauna Kea have been described as a stony alpine desert. There is little vegetation and the ground surface has the appearance of a desert pavement.

Kaʻohe effectively crosses and includes all regions going from the sea to the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Some of the general regions include (from top to bottom:)

Kuahiwi – the mountain top, which is too high in elevation for heavy vegetation to grow. It has strong winds and extreme climates (sometimes very hot and sometimes very cold.)

Kualono – the region near the mountain top. Likewise, very few plants and animals live here. Māmane and naio (hardwoods) are the only hardy trees to grow at this height.

Waomaʻukele – the region named for the wet, soggy ground. The main trees that live in this area are the koa and ʻōhiʻa. This area was located in the rain belt of the island, especially on the koʻolau side of each island.

Waoakua – the forested region, the realm of the god and where the rain forest begins. This sacred area was kapu to most kānaka.

Waokānaka – where kānaka live and farm the land. Wood was harvested for tools, weapons and canoes; many other useful things for everyday living were gathered here.

Kula – the upland plain or open country. Pili was harvested and used mostly for thatching hale (houses).

Kahakai – the edge of the ocean. Here ʻākulikuli, with succulent green leaves, resists wind and salt water. Its leaves contain a special chemical that acts like a natural steroid.

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Na Lāʻau Arboretum

“In Honor of George Campbell Munro. Pioneer in Hawaiian botany and ornithology. Whose vision and initiative led to the establishment of Na Lāʻau Hawaii Arboretum -1962” (plaque at Diamond Head.)

We generally associate Munro (born in New Zealand on May 10, 1866) as a ranch manager on Lānaʻi – actually he was an ornithologist (birds.)

On December 13, 1890, George Campbell Munro arrived in Honolulu after a voyage aboard the steamship Mariposa which left Auckland, New Zealand on the 1st of December.

He was to assist ornithologist, Henry C Palmer (in the Islands 1890-1893) in collecting birds in Hawai‘i under the sponsorship of Lord Walter Rothschild for the museum collection in Tring, England.

The first intensive scientific collecting expedition in the Northwestern leeward Hawaiian Islands was conducted in the summer of 1891. (Smithsonian) Munro pioneered in the banding of seafowl.

Munro worked seven years on Kaua‘i, then worked seven more on Moloka‘i, where he was the ranch manager from 1899 to 1906.

After a brief return to New Zealand in 1911, he was offered the position as the range manager of the Lānaʻi cattle ranch. (Towill; Wood)

In 1911, Munro found the importance of the fog drip coming from the Lānaʻi Hale was valuable water. He realized that pine trees collected a lot of water from the fog and clouds. Munro then created program of planting cook pines across the island of Lānaʻi and also Lānaʻi Hale to collect fog drip.

In 1930, Lānaʻi switched from ranching to pineapple. Munro retired to Honolulu; his home was on the west slope of Diamond Head.

From 1935 to 1937, Munro started the first comprehensive survey of the birds of Hawai‘i and in 1939 he helped found the “Honolulu Audubon Society” which eventually became the Hawaii Audubon Society.

It was not until 1944 that Munro published his Birds of Hawaiʻi (of which a slightly revised edition appeared in 1960.) It contains authentic short accounts of most of the extinct Hawaiian species by one of the very few naturalists ever to view them alive.

In 1950, Munro started his efforts in the creation of a botanical garden of Hawaiian arid plant species. He received permission from the National Guard to plant on a 9-acre tract on the west exterior slopes of Diamond Head.

In the early years of Na Lāʻau, Munro, with help from family and friends, personally developed the garden; when rainfall was insufficient, he “carried buckets of water up the steep slopes to supplement the natural supply.”

His work resulted in the Na Lāʻau Arboretum and its companion Ke Kuaʻāina garden of endemic plants, which eventually grew to over 100-acres; it became part of the Board of Agriculture park system on March 7, 1958.

In 1958, the governor of Hawaiʻi designated the garden as a sanctuary. A water system consisting or a pump, tank and an irrigation line were constructed in the arboretum. (DLNR)

In 1961, the Garden Club of Honolulu funded the construction of a lookout area with benches. A little remembered monument sits on the west side of Diamond Head (noting the language listed at the beginning of this post.)

The extent of the garden runs over an area 328-feet long and 66- to 99-feet wide. The remnants of this garden are located along a trail that runs north from Makalei Place. (DLNR)

Conservation Council of Hawaiʻi’s first conservation award was given to George C Munro, a CCH member and conservationist (1960s.)

In 1960, at age 94, he became an honorary member of the Hawaiian Botanical Gardens Society. A year later, he won the Garden Club of America’s Medal of Honor and was elected honorary associate of the Bishop Museum.

The William S. Richardson School of Law gives the George C Munro Award for Environmental Law (established by the Hawai‘i Audubon Society.)

A well-known trail on Lānaʻi is named after him, as are dozens of plant species, including the rare munroidendron.

DLNR’s Master Plan for Diamond Head (2003) notes, the existing Na Lāʻau Arboretum, located outside the crater below Diamond Head peak, is inaccessible and has suffered neglect over many years (it has not been maintained since the 1970s.) (Lots of information here from ʻElepaio and DLNR.)

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Ka Wai O Pele

“Probably the most striking scenic point about Kapoho is Green Lake, a beautiful body of deep green water occupying the crater called Waiapele, ‘Pele’s Lake.’” (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1920)

Missionary William Ellis, at Kapoho, noted, a “cluster, apparently of hills, three or four miles round, and as many hundred feet high, with deep indented sides … (within it) a charming valley.”

“In the centre was an oval hollow, about half a mile across, and probably two hundred feet deep, at the bottom of which was a beautiful lake of brackish water, whose margin was in a high state of cultivation, planted with taro, bananas, and sugar-cane.”

“The steep, perpendicular rocks, forming the sides of the hollow, were adorned with tufts of grass, or blooming, pendulous plants; while, along the narrow and verdant border of the lake at the bottom, the bread-fruit, the kukui, and the ohia trees, appeared, with now and then a lowly native hut standing beneath their shade.”

“The placid surface of the lake, disturbed only by the boys and girls, diving and sporting in its waters; the serpentine walks among the luxuriant gardens along its margin; the tranquil occupations of the inhabitants, some weaving mats, others walking cheerfully up and down the winding paths among the steep rocks”

“But had tradition been silent, the volcanic nature of the rocks, the structure of the large basin, in which we were standing, and the deep hollow in the centre, which we were viewing, would have carried conviction to every beholder, that it had once been the seat of volcanic fires.”

“We asked several natives of the place, if they had any account of the king, in whose reign it had burned, or if they knew any songs, or traditions, in which it was stated how many kings had reigned in Hawaii, or how many chiefs had governed Puna, either since it first broke out, or since it became extinct; but they could give us no information on these subjects.”

“They told us the name of the place was Kapoho, (the sunken in,) and of the lake Ka wai a Pele, (the water of Pele;) and that it was one of the places, from which the volcanic goddess threw rocks and lava after Kahavari.”

“The saltness of the water in the extinguished volcano, proves the connection of the lake with the sea, from which it was about a mile distant; but we could not learn that it was at all affected by the rising or falling of the tides.” (Ellis, 1823)

In 1849, James Dana, an early explorer, mentioned in his geologic report a hot spring, “in a small crater between Kilauea and Kapoho Point.” In the same general area, Dr. Gordon Macdonald in 1950 noted a “small spring-fed pool at the foot of scarp. No Outflow” half a mile northwest of Puʻu Kukae. (Woodruff)

Green Lake “is a little pond, covering perhaps fifteen acres, of water which has precisely the same shade of muddy green you used to get in your box of water colors when you were a lad.”

“You remember, the shade you used to color the trees in the pictures in your school geography! It is remarkable that the pool should be there, in a waterless country, and the tree-clad slopes about the lake make a pretty picture, therefore the Green Lake is worth while.” (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1912)

More recently, it was more commonly called ‘Green Lake,’ a crater lake that occupies part of the floor of Kapoho Crater. This cone in lower Puna was formed by magma erupting through groundwater 300-350 years ago. (USGS)

Then came the 2018 eruption … “Since eruptions began in early May on the Big Island, lava has covered nearly 8 square miles in lower Puna, taking out more than 150 homes and cutting access to neighborhoods.”

“And over the weekend, Hawaii Island lost an entire lake.”

“Green Lake, also known as Ka Wai a Pele, effectively vanished on Saturday [June 2, 2018] after lava flows caused all of the 400-year-old lake’s water to evaporate. Around 10 a.m., officials said that lava began entering the water basin, causing a massive tower of steam to rise from the area.”

“Later that afternoon, when authorities were able to evaluate the area, pure lava sat where Hawaii’s largest freshwater natural resource once stood.” (Hawaii News Now)

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