Place Names | Page 112 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 19, 2018 by Peter T Young 7 Comments

Ebenezer Parker Low

“He described sitting on the veranda there at that ranch. It’s on the slopes going down to Mahukona from Kohala and you could look and late in the afternoon when the sun used to hit the Hualalai Mountains …”

“(H)e would see this funny little sponge cake-looking hill sticking out in the side of Hualalai. And he used to just dream about getting over to that place that had a perfect fascination for him.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“My father was known as Rawhide Ben because ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess, he loved the ranch life. And he was brought up as a member of the family in Mana and Kamuela with the rest of them.”

“So as a little boy he always had a chance to do something with animals. And this was his whole life. All he ever thought about was his cowboy experiences.”

“And as soon as he became an adult, his first job – big job – was given him by Theo. H. Davies and Company as manager of Puakea Ranch which is in Kohala – South Kohala there.”

“Eben Parker Low was born in Honolulu, a great grandson of John Palmer Parker I and his Hawaiian wife, Kipikane. He spent his early years on Parker Ranch, Handling cows and calves by the time he was six years old.”

“He had very little education; in his own words, ‘… just plain common sense plus some English grammar and arithmetic and writing.’”

“At the age of 26 he became manager of Pu‘uhue ranch in Kohala, and began a career that made him one of the big island’s most famous and colorful paniolo.” (Hawaii Cattlemen’s Hall of Fame) Unfortunately, he lost a portion of his left arm while roping.

Back to the sponge cake hill … “finally he found a Hawaiian who knew how to go across the lava flows there. I don’t know if he went on a mule or on a horse. But this man took him with him and they one day got across all that long lava flow by a trail and got to Puuwaawaa Ranch – Puuwaawaa Hill.” (Lucas; Watumull)

Then, he and Robert Robson Hind finally got a chance to take control of it … they picked up the Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a lease (General Lease No. 186; March 1, 1894) covering 40,000 acres for 25 years, and established a ranch. (Marion Kelly)

“(I)t was just a wilderness and lava and really rough country and they had to begin from scratch. But my father loved it. He just loved every minute of it. … What food was available in the rocks there up in that mountainside was very rich, evidently, very nutritious, because the cattle that came up to that ranch were always very fat.”

“Then they finally decided to split up after nine years because they couldn’t work together and my father didn’t have enough money to buy out Mr. Hind (his brother-in-law, Robbie married Low’s sister, Hannah.) But they finally split up and my father came to Honolulu from Pu‘uwa‘awa‘a. “ (Lucas; Watumull)

Eben was instrumental in bringing the talent of the Hawaiian paniolo to the national scene when he sent Archie Ka’au’a, Jack Low and Ikua Purdy to the Frontier Days World Championship Roping Competition in Cheyenne Wyoming in 1908.

Mid-westerners watched the Hawaiians compete. Purdy won the World’s Steer Roping Championship – roping, throwing, and tying the steer in 56 seconds flat. Ka‘aua and Low took third and sixth place.

“His confidence and pride in them were expressed by his own words, “’one cannot imagine the noise of the applause our boys received from those 30,000 watchers . . . The kanakas had won!’” (Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association)

“(B)efore my father died he asked his nephew, Archie Ka‘aua, to take care of his ashes when he died . Archie’s family lived in Kamuela and his family still own property right in the village there at Kamuela, forty acres out in the homestead section there.”

“Archie at that time was a young man and seemingly very well. Archie promised to take his ashes and scatter them up at Mauna Kea. But Archie had a funny feeling that he wasn’t going to outlive my father and he went to Willie Kaniho, who was the head cowboy of Parker Ranch.”

“So Willie Kaniho was given the assignment by Archie. … So sure enough, Archie Ka‘aua did die before my father died. But when my father passed away, Willie Kaniho was ready to do this.”

“There was no way of getting up there unless you got up on horseback. So Anna Lindsey [Perry- Fiske] who is, of course, one of my father’s pets too, came forth … Well, the family went up. … and Reverend Akaka–Abraham Akaka–went with us.”

“We got to the very top of that mountain – the very top – Reverend Akaka said a prayer and read a little bit from Scriptures and then Kaniho and Reverend Akaka scattered the ashes right at the top of the mountainside. It was really very impressive.” (Lucas; Watumull)

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Eben ‘Rawhide Ben’ Low-PP-75-5-006-1931

March 17, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kākua

“Karakakooa (Kealakekua) Bay is situated on the west side of the island of Owhyhee, in a district called Akona. It is about a mile in depth, and bounded by two low points of land, at the distance of half a league, and bearing south south-east and north north-west from each other.”

“On the north point, which is flat and barren, stands the village of Kowrowa; and in the bottom of the bay, near a grove of tall cocoa-nut trees, there is another village of a more considerable size, called Kakooa …”

“… between them, runs a high rocky cliff, inaccessible from the sea shore. On the south side, the coast, for about a mile inland, has a rugged appearance; beyond which the country rises with a gradual ascent, and is overspread with cultivated inclosures and groves of cocoa-nut trees, where the habitations of the natives are scattered in great numbers.”

“The shore, all around the buy, is covered with a black coral rock, which makes the landing very dangerous in rough weather; except at the village of Kakooa, where there is a fine sandy beach, with a Morai, or burying-place, at one extremity, and a small well of fresh water at the other.”

“This bay appearing to Captain Cook a proper place to refit the ships, and lay in an additional supply of water and provisions, we moored on the north side, about a quarter of’ a mile from the shore, Kowrowa bearing north-west.” (Captain King’s Journal)

“There is no locality in the Hawaiian Islands which has so many associations with its early history as Kealakekua Bay and its surroundings.”

“The two villages on its shore, Kaawaloa, and Kakua, now called Napo‘opo‘o, are mentioned in nearly all the books and journals written by explorers and traders, from the death of Captain Cook in 1779 onward, but as far as I know there has been no collection of historic data relating to this district.”

“On the north side of the Bay was the village of Ka‘awaloa, where the chief of the district lived. At this period the “r” was largely used where we now use the “I,” so that Cook and those who followed him spelled the name of the Bay, Karakakua.”

“When the missionaries reduced the language to writing they spelled it Kealakekua. This is undoubtedly an abbreviation for Ke-ala-ke-akua, which means the pathway of the gods.”

“Early navigators called the village on the south side of the Bay, Kākua, which is now Napo‘opo‘o.”

“I consulted Joseph S. Emerson and Thomas G. Thrum about this name and they agree that Cook and the rest in spelling Kakooa (Kakua) used the long sound of “a” in the first syllable, so that they pronounced the word Ke-kua, as we do. This word means a place of worship.”

“No doubt the word Ke-ala-ke-kua originated from the fact that on the pathway from the Bay to Kailua, there were many heiaus. Ellis, who went over this road counted nineteen heiaus, and Thomas G. Thrum has listed forty on the same route.”

“The Rev. John Paris writing in 1852 wrote, ‘The road mauka from the Bay is dotted for miles with heathen temples.’”

“So the district was well named, though it really belonged at first to a large division of land, which, though of no great width, ran from the Bay far up the mountain.”

“Now the name is commonly applied to the section of country whose inhabitants receive their mail at the post office with the name Kealakekua.” (Restarick)

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Kealakekua Bay-Henry Roberts with Cook expedition-1779-portion

View_of_Houses_at_Kealakekua,_William_Ellis-1779

A sketch of Kealakekua Bay in 1864, by Missionary Rufus Anderson

Kealakekua Bay from the village of Kaʻawaloa in the 1820s, from Hiram Bingham I’s book

Kealakekua-John Webber art-1779

Cook-Kealakekua_Bay-Webber-1778

Kealakekua Bay-PP-29-11-010-1926

Kealakekua Bay-PP-29-11-018-1935

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Napoopoo-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

March 15, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Ka‘uiki

O Ka‘uiki, mauna ki‘eki‘e,
Huki a‘e la a pa i ka lani
He po‘ohiwi no kai halulu. …

Ka‘uiki, mountain famous in story,
Stretching upward to touch the heavens,
A shoulder for the buffeting sea. … (Beckwith)

“Ka‘uiki is beloved, Afloat on the sea like a bird!” Hana is called ‘a land beloved of chiefs because of the fortress of Ka‘uiki and the ease of living in that place.’ (Beckwith)

The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest, finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Ka‘uiki. (Westervelt)

“Mythical names are attached to the dwellers on Ka‘uiki in ancient days. On the summit may be seen the rock placed by Aiai as an outlook for schools of fish entering the bay.”

“Here Maui stood to push the sky higher because it lay so near the earth at Ka‘uiki. Here lived Hina-hana-ia-ka-malama, she who worked at tapa making in the moon, and her husband, father of Puna and Hema on the Ulu line of chiefs.” (Beckwith)

“Ka‘uiki is not a grand hill to look at. In its outline or profile it resembles a moi’s (fish) head diving in the ocean. On its north-east is the dark cliff of Mapuwena, and at its base is the slippery sand of Kapueokahi by the ship’s harbour, and the surf of Keanini.”

“To the east of Paliuli is a sort of deep round cave wherein the famous chiefess, Kaahumanu, was hidden during the battle engagements of Kalaiopuu and Kahekili in East Maui in 1775 and 1778.”

“There did Ka‘ahumanu lead Mr. Wm. Richards in 1830, and showed him her place of concealment, and the spot at Mapuwena where she was born. Down at its front, and within the cave at the base of Ka‘uiki, lies the famous eel of Laumeki, which causes the top to tremble.”

“A certain blow-hole is at its front that is sounded by the reef-wind of Mokuhano. Its principal outlet of sound was closed up entirely with kauila spears, the strange work of a certain chief named Kalaikini. (Those spears have so remained to this day.) Over two hundred years have passed since then.”

“At the south flourishes a coco-nut grove (whence the saying: “The coco-nuts of Kane are not reached by you”) and the dark cliff of Kaihalulu.”

“On the western and northern sides spreads the flat land devoted to Hana’s cane cultivation. Close to the base of the hill is the ancient land division of chiefs, called Kuakaha, with the temples of Honuaula and Kuawalu. There was the bake-oven for slain warriors taken captive by Kahekili at the hill of Ka‘uika in 1782.”

“Just above the water of Punahoa is the foundation of Kawalakii. Near the crown of the hill there is the ladder of the hill of Lanakila (victory) of the ohia of Kealakomo, which was closed in the contest of that period.”

“At the summit of the hill looking eastward is ever-green Hawaii; on the south side of Makokiloia is Makopalena, and on the north-east of Mapuwena, in the centre, is the foundation of Wananaiku. Viewing Kauiki from Hawaii, Kaihuakala lies to the front; inland is Puuokahaula, while seaward is Alau like a sheltering island.”

“In such is its dignity and claim to admiration, like a bird soaring upward; a cape for the noio sea-bird of Mokuhano, as if scarified for the bosun birds of Kaihalulu and Kapueokahi. There a certain chief thrust his spear in the heavens for Hana’s fame, as ‘Hāna of low heavenly rain.” (Thrum)

“Ka‘ahumanu was born about the year 1773, at the foot of the hill Ka‘uiki, on the eastern shore of Maui. Her father was Ke‘eaumoku, subsequently a distinguished warrior and counsellor of the late conqueror.”

“Her mother was Nāmāhāna, the relict and sister of Kamehamehanui, and who, as his wife, and as the daughter of King Kekaulike, had been Queen of Maui.”

“Kamehamehanui was the son and successor of Kekaulike, and the brother of Kahekili who governed Maui, as late as 1793, and of Ka‘eo, the father of Kaumuali‘i, who, both father and son, were successive kings of Kauai and Ni‘ihau.” (Bingham)

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Hana, Maui from the bluffs-(HSA)-PPWD-10-13-008-1891

Kauiki_na-Lighthouse Friends

Kauiki Head, Hana Bay and Hana Town, east Maui, HI

Kauiki-Marinas-com

kauikihead-Lighthouse Friends

hanabaysunrise-luanaspa

March 9, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Top Gun

Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare became the first US Navy flying ace in World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the South Pacific, February 20, 1942. (National WWII Museum)

James Henry “Jimmy” Flatley Jr was awarded the Navy Cross for “fearlessly engag(ing) enemy fighters, destroying one and assisting in the destruction of another with no loss to his escort group. That evening, he led a division on combat air patrol in a fierce attack and resultant dispersal of a formation of enemy scouting planes, assisting in the destruction of two of them.” (Navy Cross Commendation)

John Smith “Jimmy” Thach, while commanding Fighting Squadron Three, developed the fighter combat technique that came to be known as the ‘Thach Weave’, a tactic that enabled the generally mediocre performing US fighters of the day to hold their own against the Japanese ‘Zero’.

In 1943, Naval Air Station Pu‘unēnē was established as a “Top Gun” school for fighter-aircraft tactics, based on the Navy’s use of highly-decorated veteran fighter pilots, including O’Hare, Flatley and Thach.

They and other instructors relayed the latest intelligence from the front lines to new pilots rotating into combat. (Cultural Surveys)

“Maui Group Local Naval Defense Forces”, based at NAS Pu’unēnē, controlled the training airspace over the Kaho‘olawe aerial bombing ranges, and administered the training schedule.

Aircraft carriers were modified for combat in the Pacific Ocean at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, while their air groups were flown to one of nine Navy airfields in Hawaii for advanced training – NAS Pu‘unēnē being the premiere airfield. (Cultural Surveys)

Before the war (and before Kahului Airport), Governor’s Executive Order No. 804 set aside about 300-acres of land at Pulehunui for the new Maui Airport to be under the control and management of the Superintendent of Public Works.

The Department of Public Works started construction on the new airport shortly after July 1, 1938. ‘Maui Airport’ was opened on June 30, 1939 (the new Maui Airport replaced a smaller airfield at Māʻalaea.)

Inter-Island Airways, Ltd (to be later known as Hawaiian Air) constructed a depot; a taxiway and turn-around were completed and graveled to serve the depot and in 1940 Inter-Island Airways funded airport station improvements.

During the time between June 30, 1939 and December 7, 1941, the civil air field was gradually enlarged and improved with some areas being paved. A small Naval Air Facility was established at the airport by the US Navy. Maui Airport became one of the three most important airports to the Territorial Airport System.

Immediately after December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, the military took control of all air fields in the Territory and began the expansion of Maui Airport at Puʻunēnē.

“On December 11, 1941 Commander John L. Murphy, USN, Commander Utility Wing Base Force came to Maui under verbal orders of the Commander Task Force Nine to prepare for the basing on Maui of personnel and equipment of one Naval Aircraft Carrier Group and one Army Air Corps Heavy Bombardment Group.” (Pu‘unēnē Unit History)

Army forces eventually concentrated on Oʻahu, leaving the Navy as the primary user of the field. An expansion lengthened and widened the runways. Under Navy control, the facility was renamed Naval Air Station Puʻunēnē, the airport served as a principal carrier plane training base.

By the end of the war, Puʻunēnē had a total complement of over 3,300-personnel and 271-aircraft. The total number of structures built numbered over 300. A total of 106-squadrons and carrier air groups passed through during WW II.

The demands of the war were such that the Navy found Puʻunēnē inadequate for the aircraft carrier training requirement and it was necessary to establish another large air station on Maui.

Accordingly, a site was chosen near the town of Kahului and, after the purchase of 1,341-acres of cane land, construction was started in 1942 on what was to become Naval Air Station, Kahului (NASKA.)

NASKA became operational in late 1943. Air crews were trained at both Puʻunēnē and NASKA. The NASKA facility later became known as Kahului Airport, under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Aeronautics Commission.

By 1949, the land of NAS Pu‘unēnē was transferred back to the Territory of Hawaii and the structures that once stood to serve the 565 officers and 2798 enlisted men were demolished. The Kahului airport now serves as the major hub for commercial aircraft. (Cultural Surveys)

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Puunene Airport, Maui, 1948

NAS Pu`unēnē looking westward, Maalaea Bay-(Maui Historical Society-NOAA)

March 8, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Āinapō Trail

The canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai‘i; land travel was only foot traffic, over little more than trails and pathways.

Extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.

Ancient trails, those developed before western contact in 1778, facilitated trading between upland and coastal villages and communications between ahupua‘a and extended families.

These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the land. Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they were paved with water-worn stones.

One such overland trail, leading to Mokuʻāweoweo, the summit crater at the summit of Mauna Loa, is ‘Āinapō Trail (darkened land (often heavy with fog)).

It is a narrow, single-file, twisting, and occasionally slightly abraded trail above the 11,600 elevation. It leads up the broad southeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano to and along the east side of Mokuʻāweoweo, the major summit crater (HHF)

Hawaiians laid out the ‘Āinapō foot trail to assure availability of shelter, drinking water, and firewood between their nearest permanent settlement, Kapāpala village, and Mokuʻāweoweo. Kapāpala village could be reached over easy-grade trails from the coastal Hawaiian settlements.

Most Mauna Loa ascents by Hawaiians were made during summit eruptions, when the volcano goddess Pele was present, to honor her with chanted prayers and offerings; and perhaps at other times to honor a site she frequented. (NPS)

“The Hawaiian style of ascent to Mokuʻāweoweo lay in moving upslope in easy stages to lessen fatigue and permit acclimatization to the increasingly rarefied atmosphere.

The major stages were a series of overnight camps, each complete with small, warm, thatched houses and well supplied with food, drinking liquid, and firewood. In each camp, the elite were supported in the style of Hawaiian high chiefs. The lesser stages consisted of frequent rest stops, perhaps in natural rock shelters, warmed by fires as necessary. (NPS)

In 1840, Lt Charles Wilkes, as part of the US Exploring Expedition, came to Hawai‘i to conduct experiments and make observations, including swinging pendulums on Mauna Loa’s summit to calculate the force of gravity. They hiked from Hilo to the summit.

Wilkes substituted his own route for the Hawaiian ‘Āinapō trail. Wilkes’ line of march was through wooded country, but without streams or waterholes. Shoes of the Caucasians scuffed and soles abraded on the lava they crossed.

Most of the Hawaiians were barefoot. To mark the path for the straggling porters, Wilkes’ associates built fires and blazed trees. Bushes were broken with their tops laid down to indicate the direction of travel. (NPS)

Much unnecessary thirst, hunger, cold, altitude sickness, fatigue, and snowblindness were suffered by both Caucasians and Hawaiians of the expedition when Wilkes substituted his own route for the Hawaiian ‘Āinapō trail.

‘Mountain’ sickness, probably caused from the combination of fatigue, dehydration, chill, hunger, and the altitude, was prevalent.

To the rescue came the Hawaiian guides ‘Ragsdale’ and Keaweehu, a famous bird catcher. Both had apparently been waiting at Kapāpala for the expedition to arrive and planned to guide the expedition up the ‘Āinapō trail.

Ragsdale was hired to supply water for the camp. His men delivered it the next day – fifteen gallons carried in open-top vessels over the trackless ten miles of rugged lavas which separated Wilkes’ camp from the ‘Āinapō trail.

At about the same elevation on the Āinapō was a large lava tube with pools of water inside. This tube was used by Hawaiians on the ‘Āinapō trail and was easily supplied with grass (for insulation from the cold ground) and firewood from a point on the trail not far below. (NPS)

Up until around 1916, the customary route to the summit of Mauna Loa was the 34-mile long ‘Āinapō Trail. Most Mauna Loa ascents by Hawaiians were made during summit eruptions, when the volcano goddess Pele was present, to honor her with chanted prayers and offerings. (HHF)

In 1916, With the assistance of the US Army, Thomas A Jaggar, a geologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) had a trail constructed from Kīlauea to the Mauna Loa summit along the northeast flank of the mountain.

That year, the summit of Mauna Loa, the Army-built trail, and the summit of Kilauea volcano were incorporated within Hawaii National Park, established by Congress.

With the trail completed, horses and mules could go as far as Pu‘u ‘Ula‘ula (Red Hill), where a 10-man cabin and 12-horse stable had been built. The remaining 10-mile trail to the summit was pedestrian only.

After 1916, for the next half century, there were two trails to the summit, but the Āinapō received diminishing usage and was not maintained. Below the barren lavas, the savannah-forest areas through which the ‘Āinapō passed became ranching country private land through which public passage was discouraged. (NPS)

From the trailhead, ʻĀinapō Trail ascends 7,600-feet in 10.2 miles to the National Park Service cabin on the rim of Mokuʻāweoweo crater.

Vegetation varies from mixed mesic koa /ʻōhiʻa forest to alpine stone desert. Intermittent, and in places infrequent, stacks of loose lava boulders (ahu) line the sides of the trail.

Abraded spots occur only on the rare surface types subject to pockmarking by metal blows; this was done by iron-shod hooves since 1870s, when horses and mules began to be used. (NPS)

Day use of ʻĀinapō trail does not require a permit; however, hikers are required to contact Kapāpala Ranch at 808-928-8403 to obtain the combination for the locked gate.

Users are required to call the night before between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm.to schedule entry. Lock combinations are changed daily and given out daily at the same phone number from 4:30 am to 7:00 am on entry day. Everyone using this public access will sign in and out on the log sheet located in the mailbox on the gate.

Reservations and permits for camping at the trail shelter may be obtained from Hawaiʻi District Division of Forestry and Wildlife, at 808-974-4221 or at the link below. Hikers continuing to the summit need to register with the National Park Rangers (808 985-6000). (DLNR)

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