Place Names | Page 119 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 11, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ford Tough

“When this earth was created, Nature, it seems, was more concerned with things other than road making, as witness the (attached) illustration.”

“The pictures shown herewith were taken during one of Professor T. A. Jaggar’s daily trips along one of the stretches which Nature forgot to pave with crushed stone and asphalt.”

“Professor Jaggar, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a noted volcano specialist, and most of his work is done around the craters of the smouldering mountains he studies.”

“As director of the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, he has devoted nearly all of his attention to the famous Mauna Loa and Kilauea craters, living right at the scene of his activities and experiments for the past twelve years.”

“Although hazardous, Professor Jaggar makes it his business to get as close as possible to the scenes of eruption and volcanic action in order to obtain first-hand photographs, lava samples, temperature readings, and other valuable scientific data.”

“In this field of work one needs a ‘business car’ just as much as in any other calling, and so the scientist got himself a car that would be not only easy of operation but would stand the terrible strain of volcano climbing as well.”

“The professor bought a Ford and made a few alterations to suit his particular needs, with the result that the machine became more efficient than beautiful.”

“If you will refer to the picture, you will note that the fenders and doors are stripped, and that dual wheels are installed on the rear axle, which enable the car to travel over boulders 10 and 12 inches high with little difficulty, and also to go through deep sand and “aa,” which is the Hawaiian for clinker lava.”

“After having seen about half a dozen years of the most strenuous service imaginable, the car is still ‘going strong.’”

“Mauna Loa is the largest, although not the highest, volcano in the world, being 13,760 feet above sea level ; Kilauea crater is an immense cavity three miles long by two miles wide on the east slope of Mauna Loa.”

“These immense caldrons are reached by means of a very steep, rough trail, which more than proves the marvelous durability of the only car that has ascended it.”

“At the present time nothing but a pack trail leads to the summit of Mauna Loa, and so the Ford cannot be driven to the top, but it has plenty to do in the vicinity of Kilauea and also on the vast flanks of Mauna Loa, where various eruptions have taken place.”

“About a mile distant from Kilauea is a smaller, extinct crater known as ‘Little Kilauea.’ While it is no longer a sea of molten lava, like its near-by active brothers, nevertheless its surface is hot enough in places to be detrimental to the rubber tires on Professor Jaggar’s Ford, and uncomfortable for the feet of his dog.”

“The machine is often ‘cruised’ over freshly flowed lava that is not yet cool in order to make scientific investigations.”

“Professor Jaggar has set up a drilling rig here for the purpose of getting down into the hot lava bed directly beneath the surface to determine the subterranean temperatures and to take samples of gases.”

“The Ford car has been of indispensable assistance in transporting the equipment to and across the terribly rough crater floor; also in carrying the large quantity of water needed when drilling into the hot lava.”

“Heavy photographic equipment is easily taken care of by the car, and specimens are often gathered which have to be taken back to the observatory for study.”

“Because of these and numerous other services rendered by the car, no limit can be placed upon its value to the expedition.”

“At times, the lava in the crater rises rapidly and overflows, spreading destruction on its path. Occurrences like this have been the occasion for several intensive and hazardous expeditions by Professor Jaggar and his party.”

“Professor Jaggar has discovered many facts of scientific importance, and is working on plans for utilizing the heat of the volcano for commercial purposes. He believes that ways can be found to generate a large amount of electricity.”

“First, he hopes that a near-by hotel can be supplied with all the current needed; and eventually, if practical ways are found for harnessing the energy, the entire island will get its power from the volcano.” (This entire post is from Ford News, July 22, 1923.)

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Jaggar-Ford Tough-FordNews-July 22, 1923

June 30, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Canoeing Nāpali in 1845

“The full moon was flooding with its light the grand mountains, the valley and the bay. Not a sound broke the stillness save the gentle splashing of the waves as they broke on the beach. A short walk brought me to the house where the crew of my canoe were sleeping.”

“At was with some difficulty that I roused them up, and got them to move along. … After a delay of an hour and a half, we shoved off through the surf and directed our course toward Waimea.”

“A light breeze sprang up, and the houses and beach of Hanalei were soon lost in the distance. The coast which we were passing was too dim for us to distinguish objects on shore, but as I had ridden past it shortly before, I did not particularly regret this.”

“The sun was just rising when we reached the point where the great Palis or precipices begin. These precipices are one of the grandest wonders of the Islands, but the danger of examining them on the passage deters many persons from visiting them.”

“There are those who will travel by land sixty miles around rather than sail these fifteen by canoe, and I was warned not to try. But with me curiosity was stronger than caution.”

“I must confess that when we passed the last landing, and were fairly entering on the dangerous part, I felt a little timid, for if any accident should happen, there was no help for us. The rocks rose perpendicularly from the water without any landing place, and if upset, the only hope would be the chance of being picked up by some passing canoe.”

“In fact a canoe making the passage was capsized a few days before and her cargo lost. The natives, however, are so expert that they have little or no fear at such times; the canoe was soon righted, and the man’s escape with his life was considered hardly worth talking about.”

“We had not sailed far along the pali, when we came near sharing a similar fate. By some careless maneuver of the natives, the out-rigger, which serves to balance the canoe, rose clear out of the water. In a moment more, if all hands had not thrown their weight on that side, we should have been in the sea. …”

“As the canoe passed on, the cliffs grew more and more lofty. The sea was smooth and there being no wind, our passage was pleasant, giving us an opportunity to examine the varying appearances of the pali. The sea was dashing up against the base of the precipice, and roaring through the caves, which have been worn by the constant action of the waves.”

“The summit of the mountain took the most wild and fantastic shapes. Sometimes sharp spires shot up hundreds of feet, and again a rounded battlement would present its front like a turreted citadel of feudal days, and then a deep valley but a few rods wide might be seen, shut in by steep walls.”

“It is no wonder that the natives give credence to the wild legends which are connected with various points of this range.”

“A few of these I will relate as they were repeated to me, while we sailed along, and served to beguile the tediousness of the voyage. As the canoe was passing a rock that seemed blackened by volcanic fires, the captain gave orders to stop, and to paddle close in to the rocks.”

“As we drew near, he pointed out an arch large enough to admit a small canoe. The water within, being confined, was agitated so that I did not care to venture in, but went near enough to see that it was a kind of volcanic chimney.”

“Its inner walls showed the effects of the mighty fires, and from an aperture on the top of the bluff, the light came straggling down, giving the place a weird look.”

“The tradition is that Pele came to these Islands from some foreign land, that Kauai was the first island that she visited, and that she landed at the very spot that I have just described. She tried the foundations of the Island, to ascertain if there was a sufficient quantity of food to be obtained, and this pit or chimney is the place where she descended.”

“She commenced her operations, but soon found that the water was in too close proximity for her convenience. For she and old Neptune were deadly enemies, and in their contests exhibited the fiercest rage, to the destruction of all who might be involved in it. Not liking this situation, she moved on from island to island, till she finally settled on Hawaii.”

“In another place two small, upright rocks are called “the children,” who, it is said, wandered up to the heights, and there perished from thirst, were deified, and became objects of worship.”

“When we had passed about two-thirds of the pali we came to a little bay making in between two arms or points of land, on the shore of which we noticed several canoes, and a few miserable huts.”

“As the morning was well advanced, I consented that the men should land to refresh themselves with rest and food, and while they were doing this I strolled around to see the place. It would answer well for a place of detention, for there is no visible way of ingress or egress except by water, and yet there is a way for those who have sufficient nerve to brave the danger.”

“As we came along, I had noticed a sort of ladder placed against the face of the cliff, for the purpose of reaching the heights above. A native presented himself as a guide, and I let him lead the way. Starting off, I had no doubt that I was going to ascend the ladder at once, but I had taken but a few steps before I found myself halting and reconnoitering.”

“The way which had appeared so easy, now showed itself full of danger. The path has been excavated by the natives with their rude tools, from the face of an overhanging cliff. It is not a level, but is formed like a gouge turned edgewise, so that one’s hold is very precarious.”

“It is also too low to dmit of any other than a stooping posture, and I was obliged to shuffle along with the utmost caution. My guide seemed quite at home, as he stood upright outside of me, with his body projecting beyond the surface of the cliff, and encouraged me on.”

“I had taken off my shoes, and by degrees had worked myself two-thirds past, when I rested for a survey. There I was, my chief support a little projecting stone, not sufficient to afford a hold for my whole foot, and my hands clinging with a death grasp to the rock, and in this situation overhanging a gulf, that was foaming and boiling, as the surf broke over the rocks some sixty or seventy feet below me, and which would have proved my death place, if I had made the least mistake or slip.”

“I had strong curiosity to go forward, but discretion prevailed, and I returned. I was then told that few white men had gone as far as I had, and that none had ever passed up the ladder. Taking a less dangerous standpoint, I took occasion to examine the ladder. It is made of trunks of two cocoanut trees, one of which stands against the cliff, and the other out from it, like planting the side of a ladder against a house.”

“The outer stick is well secured with ropes, and is the only means of communication between above and below. The natives pass up by it, even with a load, as unconcerned as if passing by the best bridge. It is surprising to see even the children pass it free and unconcerned, as if on level ground. I can only wonder that there is not an accident every day.”

“A few rods back from the beach rise the cliffs, in some places perpendicular for 500 feet, forming an amphitheater. Along the base on one side are ranged the houses, which form a striking contrast with the black mass of rock rising behind them.”

“All their food comes from above, where it is said there is a fine valley (Nualolo,) which the feet of white men have never profaned. Here, shut out from all intruders, they live in peace and happiness, such as it is—pleasure today—borrow no thought for tomorrow.”

“When His Majesty passes around the island, he stops here for a part or the whole of the night, to see an exhibition of fire works, got up for his entertainment. It consists in throwing light poles, which have been set on fire, from a lofty peak (Kamaile) overlooking the sea. If skillfully thrown, they will go along distance, making a pretty show. The natives sometimes take a large bird, and set it off with some burning substance attached to it.”

“This little bay is the gathering place for canoes passing between Waimea and Hanalei, as well as for those that go over to the island of Niihau, which can be seen here at a distance of about 25 miles.”

“Having spent about an hour at this place, we again took our seats in the canoe, and continued our voyage towards Waimea. Our company was now increased to four canoes, ours being the largest, and there was something of a contest as to which should lead, but I believe that when so inclined, we could distance the others. The three other canoes were bound for Niihau. “

“One of them was quite small, containing only three persons, a man and two women, who handled their paddles like professional rowers.”

“The top of the canoe was covered with mats firmly secured, with openings left just large enough to admit their bodies, but at best it was a slight affair to stand the rough seas in the channel.”

“As we were passing by a very high bank, I noticed the figure of a native sketched upon it. This was very distinct, its limbs, its brown skin and a white cloth wrapped around its loins, and reminded me of rocks found at home, which had been marked by the Indians. I was quite surprised when a shrill whistle and a beckoning movement of one arm dispelled the illusion. It was a young native who was standing against the face of the rock, watching us.”

“After paddling five or six hours, including stops, we passed the further extremity of the Palis in safety, and the whole appearance of the land immediately changed—from lofty and fantastic peaks and precipices to a barren, uninteresting sand beach, on which we tried to land for water, but found the surf too heavy. … “

“Meanwhile there was not a breath of wind, the sun was pouring down his scorching rays, and the sea like a mirror reflected them with blinding intensity. The men, however, seemed perfectly indifferent as to the length of the voyage.”

“For an hour we had a most disagreeable sail along a monotonous sand flat. At last we came in sight of the cocoanut trees near Waimea, and I urged the men, but in vain. Suddenly a strong wind arose.”

“The sea was soon running very high and covered with white-caps, and every few minutes it broke over us, half filling the canoe. … It having become dangerous to proceed, I ordered that the canoe should be beached, which was done with difficulty and danger, but we were safe. Waimea was nine miles away, and the distance had to be walked.

“About 4 o’clock p. m. I arrived, tired and hungry, at the hospitable residence of Rev. S. Whitney, the missionary of this station, where a most cordial welcome, a good bath and a warm supper did much to refresh me.”

“I had been twelve hours in the canoe, where I could neither lie down nor sit up with any degree of comfort, and as I had expected to be at Waimea to breakfast, I had not brought any food with me except a few dry crackers.”

“Besides, after the wind rose and particularly in getting ashore, I was wet through. But after a good night’s rest I rose quite refreshed. After breakfast Mr. Whitney showed me his vineyard, which is the best on this island.”

“The first plants were introduced by the Russians.” (The information here is completely from an account made by Gorham D Gilman, canoeing across the Nāpali Coast of Kauai, August 19, 1845.)

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June 28, 2017 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Kiholo Fishpond

Kīholo (lit. the Fishhook) is a place name that may have been selected as a word descriptive of the coastline along that part of the island where the east-west coast meets the north-south coast and forms a bend similar to the angle between the point and the shank of a large fishhook.

There is no confirmation for this theory, except for our knowledge that Hawaiian place names have a strong tendency to be descriptive. (Kelly)

The Hawaiian walled fishpond stands as a technological achievement unmatched elsewhere in island Oceania. Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures in near shore waters, to raise fish for their communities and families. It is believed these were first built around the fifteenth century.

Samuel M. Kamakau points out that “one can see that they were built as government projects by chiefs, for it was a very big task to build one, (and) commoners could not have done it (singly, or without co-ordination.)”

Chiefs had the power to command a labor force large enough to transport the tons of rock required and to construct such great walls.

It is not known when Hawaiian fishponds began to be constructed, but some fishpond walls have been carbon-dated to the 1400s; in Kona, possibly during the time of ‘Umi.

Kiholo, besides being a place name, was also the name of Kamehameha’s fishpond. Kiholo, besides being the name of Kamehameha’s large fishpond, was also “[a] large hook, formerly made of wood, used to catch the shark and other large fish”. (Kelly)

Kamehameha is said to have ordered the rebuilding of Kiholo pond while he was at Kawaihae, preparing his fleet to attack O‘ahu. Kiholo and other ponds would have supplied food for Kamehameha’s warriors when they sailed off in the great canoe fleet to conquer the chiefs on the Islands of Maui, Molokai and O‘ahu in 1794 and 1795. (Kelly)

Another source identifies 1810 as the year the pond was rebuilt with John Young as the overseer. One note mentions that John Young, Jr. (Keoni Ana) was born at Kiholo while his father was seeing to the rebuilding of Kiholo Pond. In this case, reconstruction
was taking place in preparation for Kamehameha’s return to Hawai‘i Island from O‘ahu. (Ka Hae Hawai‘i, November 1859; Kelly)

The fishpond that once served Kiholo was significant in size. “This village (Kiholo) exhibits another monument of the genius of Tamehameha.”

“A small bay, perhaps half a mile across, runs inland for a considerable distance. From one side to the other of this bay, Tamehameha built a strong stone wall, six feet high in some places, and twenty feet wide, by which he had an excellent fish-pond that is not less than two miles in circumference.”

“There were several arches in the wall, which were guarded by strong stakes driven into the ground so far apart as to admit the water of the sea; yet sufficiently close to prevent the fish from escaping. It was well stocked with fish, and water-fowl were seen swimming on its surface.” (Ellis)

“Aug. 8, 1843. Took the road from Kapalaoa to Kailua on foot. Passed the great fish pond at Kiholo, one of the artificial wonders of Hawaii; an immense work! A prodigious wall run through a portion of the ocean, a channel for the water etc. Half of Hawaii worked on it in the days of Kamehameha.” (Lyons; Maly)

“The fishpond of Kiholo in North Kona, Hawaii, was constantly being threatened by lava flows while Kamehameha was ruler of the kingdom of Hawaii. A flow came down close w the pond of Kiholo; Kamehameha brought a pig and cast it in; the “fires” stopped.”

“The flow had gone down as far as Ka‘upulehu and Mahai‘ula and had almost plunged into the sea. Kamehameha’s bringing of a pig and offering it made the flow stop. There were eyes in the lava to see Kamehameha, and ears to hear his appeals and his words of prayer, and the great blazing lava flow died down.” (Kamakau)

But lava later took the Kiholo fishpond. The 1850s saw several outbreaks of lava from Mauna Loa: in August 1851; in February 1852, when it came within a few hundred yards of Hilo; in August 1855, when it flowed for 16 months; and in January 1859, when it started up again.

Although it began at an elevation of 10,500 feet, the 1859 flow took only eight days to reach the sea, traveling “more than thirty-three miles in a direct line from its source”. The lava continued to flow for about six months at an estimated speed of four to ten miles per hour, destroying the village of Wainānāli‘i and with it, Kiholo Fishpond.

“The flow began to go seaward in the month of February of this year, from the northwest side of Mauna Loa … it turned south to Wailoa, and continued on to the deep sea, smooth lava (pahoehoe) extending into it to about forty chains or more in length. This new point [of land] has been named Lae-Hou.”

“The flow turned on the south side of Wailoa and went to Kiholo where it covered the pond. Then it turned to the west, where a new point is burning now. Lae-Hou is a long point, but this one is shorter. … Kiholo is closed by the lava. It is now only a heap of rocks.” (Eye witness account of flow; Kelly)

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June 23, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New Guinea

In 1602 the English colonist Bartholomew Gosnold arrived in the ship Concord, landed at Cuttyhunk Island, off Cape Cod, and laid claim to the entire region.

In 1652 English settlers from the Plymouth Colony acquired from Chief Massasoit control of 115,000 acres along the south coast of Massachusetts.

The colonial town government, organized in 1664, encompassed the present towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, New Bedford, and Westport. The economy was agrarian – a few scattered villages that supported themselves by farming and fishing.

The merchant families who came to New Bedford from Nantucket in the 1760s brought not only their whaling expertise, but also the Quaker traditions that had sustained them on the island. These traditions profoundly influenced business dealings and social relations during the whaling era and afterwards.

In the mid-18th century Nantucket emerged as the world’s most vigorous whaling port in the colonies, with a substantial fleet dedicated exclusively to pelagic sperm and right whaling on distant grounds, and a highly developed network of merchants and mariners to prosecute the hunt.

By the 1840s, with its harbor no longer deep enough to handle newer, larger whaling ships, most of the vessels relocated to New Bedford, while most of the financiers and much of the money and good life stayed in Nantucket.

The whaling industry had a major effect upon Hawaiian commerce and trade. As the Northwest fur trade decreased and sandalwood supplies and values dropped, the whaling industry began to fill the economic void. The first New England Whalers came in 1819.

There were more than three hundred Nantucket whaling voyages to Hawaii and the Native Hawaiian crewmen aboard. Thousands of Hawaiians shipped out as seamen aboard the whaling ships, so many that the crews were often half Hawaiian.

Whaling had been “an economic force of awesome proportions in these Islands for more than forty years,” enabling King Kamehameha III to finally pay off the national debts accumulated in earlier years. (NPS)

Many of the Native Hawaiian seamen who joined the whalers were named George, Jack, Joe, or Tom Canacker, Kanaka, Mowee, or Woahoo. Their given names remain lost because of the common practice among whaling captains of giving them English nicknames and surnames.

As early as 1825, The Nantucket Inquirer estimated that there were more than fifty Pacific Islands on Nantucket, all employed on whale ships.

An 1834 editorial in the New Bedford Mercury defined “Canackers” for New England readers. “The term Canacker bears the same meaning as our English word man and is used by the natives to signify man, in general …”

“… and a man as distinguished from a woman or female. The present established mode of writing it is Kanaka, pronounced Kah nah kah, with the accent on the second syllable.” (Lebo)

By the 1830s, Nantucket whalers employed about fourteen hundred seamen, including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Four or five hundred men arrived or departed annually.

As far as residents of Nantucket were concerned, Kanaka meant ‘male Pacific Islander,’ for whaling ships brought only young men, ‘single mariners,’ halfway around the world.

As ‘black men,’ Pacific Islanders ashore on Nantucket lived in ‘New Guinea.’

New Guinea was the segregated section of Nantucket where blacks lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 18th century, a number of free blacks bought lots on the West Monomy shores, near the Old Mill.

Once known as Newtown, the area became known by 1820 as New Guinea, indicating the African roots of the property owners. (The label “New Guinea” was used in numerous cities and towns to designate the section in which people of color resided.) (MuseumOfAfroAmericanHistory)

The settlement, known as Guinea, or New Guinea, after the territory of the same name in West Africa, was a cluster of residences, gardens, and pastures physically separated from the white community by Newtown Gate, a sheep barrier at the end of Pleasant Street. There were stores, shops, churches, a school, and later on an abolition society. (Nantucket HA)

Among the residents of New Guinea in the 19th century, were at least three who had been born in Africa. One of them was James Ross. He had found his wife Mary Pompey on-island. Their children were, in order of birth: James Jr, Maria, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Eunice.

“In 1837 Maria Ross married William Whippey (identified as a ‘coloured’ man,) who was had been born in New Zealand in 1801, apparently the son of a Maori mother and one of the Nantucket whaling Whippeys.”

At least six sailor boarding houses operated during the 1820 to 1860 period when Native Hawaiian seamen frequented Nantucket. Together William and Maria ran a boarding house for Pacific Islanders on-shore from Nantucket whaling vessels.

That house, near Pleasant Street in Nantucket’s New Guinea section, primarily or exclusively boarded Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, and a sign identified William Whippy’s establishment as the “William Whippy Canacka Boarding-House.”

After William’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Maria kept the boarding house going for a while and then remarried. Widowed again, she went to work as a stewardess on the Island Home, a steamboat running between Nantucket and Hyannis. (lots of information here is from Lebo, Karttunen, Carr and Okihiro.)

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June 20, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kidwell’s Mānoa Pineapples

John Kidwell was born January 17, 1849 in the small north Devonshire village of Marwood. At the age of fifteen (in 1864,) he left home to become an apprentice to a second cousin, who was a nurseryman in London. He emigrated to the US in 1872 and became a nurseryman in San Francisco.

In 1882, with letters of introduction, Kidwell sailed to Honolulu. At the time, there was great demand for fresh Hawaiian pineapples in San Francisco. He acquired shoots of wild pineapple from Hawaii Island and set out to plant them in Mānoa (1885.) (Hawkins)

“‘Diversified industries’ have been one of the gospels rung in the ears or rather paraded before the eyes of the people of this country by the press for many years.”

“That everything in the direction indicated has not been preaching is proved by instances of very gratifying practice. One of these cases is that of Mr J Kidwell’s farm at Wailele Manoa Valley, The Advertiser reporter mounted that gentleman’s wagon on Friday and was driven by him out through Punahou to his estate.”

“Mr Kidwell has thirty six acres at Wailele all cultivable but only a portion of it cleared. The principal crop now growing is of pine apples there being different varieties covering the greater part of four acres. Without irrigation and notwithstanding the prolonged scarcity of rain the plants are flourishing in appearance even to luxuriance.”

“They are also fruiting finely and the owner is not harassed with doubt as to thorough success of the crop. Ground is cleared for more planting of the same fruit besides which there is room where grapevines have been taken out for rows between some of the present ones.”

“Mr Kidwell besides having been a practical farmer all his life is also an energetic one. During the few months he has been in possession of this farm he has with very little hired help eliminated a quantity of lava boulders and stones from the soil which would have appalled a man of less grit.”

“There is the making of a very fine place in this property and Mr Kidwell is bound to have it such. There are natural springs of excellent water centrally situated which occupy a patent windmill in pumping into a tank and system of pipes.”

“Almost anything capable of cultivation in the country can be raised on the farm but at present the owner is making a specialty of pineapples. A grove of young lime trees looks luxuriant in spite of drought and indicates a profitable fruit that may be raised in odd pockets or borders.”

“An excellent style of fowl yard enclosed with an airy but substantial article of wire netting is tenanted by many feathered bipeds of high breeds. This is another diversification of profitable home industry that the proprietor can incidentally carry on with comparatively little trouble.”

“The place is very pleasantly situated amid the finest scenery Diamond Head Round Top other on the highest mountain peaks on this island and the Pacific Ocean being all in the surrounding prospect.” (Hawaiian Gazette, April 2, 1889)

In 1885, Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants, but their fruit was of poor quality (Hawkins, 1997). That prompted him to search for better cultivars; he later imported 12 ‘Smooth Cayenne’ plants.

An additional 1000 plants were obtained from Jamaica in 1886, and an additional 31 cultivars, including ‘Smooth Cayenne’, were imported from various locations around the world. ‘Smooth Cayenne’ was reported to be the best of the introductions.

Kidwell is credited with starting Hawai‘i’s pineapple industry; after his initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.

The pineapple cultivar that would form the foundation of the future Hawai‘i industry had become well established in the islands, presumably because it was vigorous, productive, tolerant of most pests and diseases, and had fruit of good quality that canned well. (Bartholomeow)

The “development of the (Hawaiian) pineapple industry is founded on his selection of the Smooth Cayenne variety and on his conviction that the future lay in the canned product, rather than in shipping the fruit in the green state.” (Canning Trade; Hawkins)

The commercial Hawaiian pineapple canning industry began in 1889 when Kidwell’s business associate, John Emmeluth, a Honolulu hardware merchant and plumber, produced commercial quantities of canned pineapple.

Emmeluth refined his pineapple canning process between 1889 and 1891, and around 1891 packed and shipped 50 dozen cans of pineapple to Boston, 80 dozen to New York, and 250 dozen to San Francisco.

One of the last laws passed by the Legislative Assembly before the overthrow had been an act to encourage the cultivation, canning, and preserving of pineapples in an attempt to diversify the economy away from sugar.

For a period of ten years after 1892, all tools, machinery, appliances, buildings, and all other personal property used in the cultivation, canning, or preserving of pineapples and held for export had been exempted from all taxes.

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