Place Names | Page 59 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 13, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sandwich Islander Tax

Within ten years after Captain Cook’s 1778 contact with Hawai‘i, the islands became a favorite port of call in the trade with China. The fur traders and merchant ships crossing the Pacific needed to replenish food supplies and water.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska. The furs were mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods, which were then sold in Europe and the United States.

Needing supplies in their journey, the traders soon realized they could economically barter for provisions in Hawai‘i; a triangular trade network emerged linking the Pacific Northwest coast, China and the Hawaiian Islands to Britain and the United States (especially New England).

After acquiring the “Louisiana Purchase” in 1803, under the directive of President Thomas Jefferson, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the “Corps of Discovery Expedition” (1804–1806), was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific coast undertaken by the United States.

As early as 1811, Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest. That year John Jacob Astor built Fort Astoria, it was later sold to the North West Company.

Comfortable with the service from the Hawaiians, in 1817, North West sent a ship “to bring as many of the Sandwich Islanders to the Columbia river as we could conveniently accommodate.” (Corney)

The number of Hawaiians working as contract laborers for the Hudson’s Bay Company steadily grew. The large number of Hawaiian workers in the village at Fort Vancouver led to the name “Kanaka Town” in the early 1850s – “Kanaka” is the word for “person” in the Native Hawaiian language.

Historians suggest “that young Hawaiian males left Hawaiʻi as workers on whaling ships and traveled to China, Europe, Mexico, and the US mainland. In addition, many ventured into the Pacific Northwest territory, worked in the fur trade, and ended up settling in those areas.” (pbs-org)

Sandwich Islanders (Hawaiians) came to Oregon Country as seamen. Many remained in Oregon to work under contract as laborers, servants and craftsmen.

The growing population of Hawaiian into the Oregon Country resulted in growing concerns.

Then, in 1845, the Oregon legislature addressed a bill designed to reduce the flow – it was called the Sandwich Islander Tax.

It was an attempt to raise revenue by taxing employers of these Islanders, and it reflects the notion that they will not become permanent residents of Oregon.

A transcript of original drafting of the bill notes, “An Act concerning the introduction of Sandwich Islanders or natives from any of the adjoining islands.”

“Sec 1 Be it enacted by the house of Representatives of Oregon Territory as follows – That all persons who shall hereafter introduce into Oregon Territory any Sandwich Islanders or natives from any of the neighboring Islands for a term of Service shall pay a tax of five dollars for each person so introduced;”

“Sec 2 Each and every person in this Territory shall pay a tax of three dollar per annum for each and every Sandwich Islander or any native from a neighbouring Island that they keep in their service for a term of years’”

“Sec 3 The revenue arising from said tax shall be assessed and collected as other Taxes are assessed and collected, and paid into the Territorial Treasury the same time the other Territorial Revenue is paid in.”

While introduced, the bill never passed.

“The bill to tax Sandwich Islanders, was read a third time, and indefinitely postponed.” (December 18, 1845; Oregon Archives)

The intent was later disclosed, “For the taxation of the Sandwich Islanders, employed almost exclusively as servants and laborers, by the HB Company, and intended merely to annoy and embarass the gentlemen in charge of the said company.” (Oregon Historical Quarterly, 1909)

However, on October 15, 1862, Oregon Governor Addison C Gibbs approved the law that had passed the House of Representations (October 8, 1862) and Senate (October 13, 1862) that stated:

“That each and every negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto (“mixed” or “biracial,”) residing within the limits of this state, shall pay an annual poll tax of five dollars, for the use of the county in which such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto may reside.”

“That every such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto, shall, between the first day of January and the first day of March, of each year, pay to the county treasurer of the county in which he may reside, the sum of five dollars, and thereupon said treasurer shall make out and deliver to such person a receipt”.

“When such negro, Chinaman, kanaka and mulatto shall fail and neglect to pay the tax required by section second of this act, then it shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county wherein such tax payer may reside or be found, to immediately collect such tax, with the additional sum of one dollar, and mileage, which additional sum and mileage shall go to the sheriff, as his fees; the balance shall be paid into the county treasury, and the sheriff is required to make return to the county treasurer of the taxes collected under the provisions of this act, on the first Monday of June, and every three months thereafter.”

“Should such negro, Chinaman, kanaka or mulatto, fail to pay the tax required by section second of this act, and should the sheriff be unable to collect the same, or make the same out of property belonging to such tax payers, then it is made the duty of the sheriff to arrest such negro, Chinaman, kanaka or mulatto, and put him at work on the public highways, under the direction of the road supervisor …”

“… such taxpayers shall be required to work one day on such highways, for every half-dollar of such tax due and unpaid, and in addition thereto, shall be allowed his board, which shall be paid by the county in which such labor is performed, and the sheriff shall be allowed by the county court a reasonable sum for his service.”

October 11, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Island (1823)

“Messrs (William) Ellis, (Asa) Thurston, (Artemas) Bishop and (Joseph) Goodrich made a tour round the island of Hawai‘i, examining its various districts, conversing with the natives, and preaching the gospel 130 different times.” (History of ABCFM)

They left Kailua-Kona heading south and circled the Island; the following are their descriptions of respective parts of the Island.

“Kairua, though healthy and populous, is destitute of fresh water, except what is found in pools, or small streams, in the mountains, four or five miles from the shore … “The houses, which are neat, are generally built on the sea-shore, shaded with cocoa-nut and kou trees, which greatly enliven the scene.”

“The environs were cultivated to a considerable extent; small gardens were seen among the barren rocks on which the houses are built, wherever soil could be found sufficient to nourish the sweet potato, the watermelon, or even a few plants of tobacco, and in many places these seemed to be growing literally in the fragments of lava, collected in small heaps around their roots.”

“The next morning, (they) walked towards the mountains … The path now lay through a beautiful part of the country, quite a garden compared with that through which they had passed on first leaving the town. It was generally divided into small fields, about fifteen rods square, fenced with low stone walls, (and) planted with bananas, sweet potatoes, mountain taro, paper mulberry plants, melons, and sugar-cane, which flourished luxuriantly in every direction.”

“After breakfast, Mssrs. Thurston and Goodrich examined the inland part of the (Honaunau) district, and found, after proceeding about two miles from the sea, that the ground was generally cultivated.”

“They passed through considerable groves of breadfruit trees, saw many cocoa-nuts, and numbers of the prickly pear (cactus) growing very large, and loaded with fruit. They also found many people residing at the distance of from two to four miles from the beach, in the midst of their plantations, who seemed to enjoy an abundance of provisions, seldom possessed by those on the sea shore,”

“The coast for twenty miles to the northward, includes not less perhaps than forty villages, either on the shore or a short distance inland, and contains probably a population of 20,000 souls, among whom a missionary might labour with facility”.

“(A)bout five in the afternoon landed at Kapua, a small and desolate-looking village, on the southwest point of Hawai‘i … At this place we hired a man to go about seven miles into the mountains for fresh water; but he returned with only one calabash full …”

“… a very inadequate supply as our whole company had suffered much from thirst, and the effects of the brackish water we had frequently drank since leaving Honaunau. … Nothing can exceed the barren and solitary appearance of this part of the island”.

“On entering (Ka‘ū,) the same gloomy and cheerless desert of rugged lava spread itself in every direction from the shore to the mountains. Here and there at distant intervals they passed a lonely house, or a few wandering fishermen’s huts, with a solitary shrub, or species of thistle, struggling for existence among the crevices in the blocks of scoriae and lava. All besides was ‘one vast desert, dreary, bleak, and wild’”

“A beautiful country now appeared before us at (Kahuku Bluff,) and we seemed all at once transported to some happier island …. The rough and desolate tract of lava, with all its distorted forms, was exchanged for the verdant plain, diversified with gently rising hills, and sloping dales, ornamented with shrubs, and gay with blooming flowers.”

Approaching Waiohinu, “The population in this part did not appear concentrated in towns and villages, as it had been along the sea-shore, but scattered over the whole face of the country, which appeared divided into farms of varied extent, and upon these houses generally stood singly, or in small clusters, seldom exceeding four or five in number.”

Toward Honuapo, “The country appeared more thickly inhabited than that over which we had travelled in the morning. The villages, along the sea shore, were near together, and some of them extensive. … we found tall rows of sugar-cane lining the path on either side”.

From Punalu‘u to Kapapala, “We now left the road by the sea-side, and directed our course towards the mountains. Our path lay over a rich yellow-looking soil of decomposed lava, or over a fine black vegetable mould, in which we occasionally saw a few masses of lava partially decomposed …”

“There was but little cultivation, though the ground appeared well adapted to the growth of all the most valuable produce of the islands. … The surface of the country was covered with a light yellow soil, and clothed with tall grass, but the sides and bed of every watercourse we passed were composed of volcanic rock….”

Toward Kilauea Volcano, “The path for several miles lay through a most fertile tract of country, covered with bushes, or tall grass and fern, frequently from three to five feet high, and … heavily laden with dew.”

“Leaving the wood, we entered a waste of dry sand, about four miles across … As we approached the sea, the soil became more generally spread over the surface, and vegetation more luxuriant.”

“The natives ran to a spot in the neighbourhood, which had formerly been a plantation, and brought a number of pieces of sugar-cane, with which we quenched our thirst, and then walked on through several plantations of sweet potato, belonging to the inhabitants of the coast.”

Continuing around, “The population of this part of Puna though somewhat numerous, did not appear to possess the means of subsistence in any great variety or abundance; and we have often been surprised to find the desolate coasts more thickly inhabited than some of the fertile tracts in the interior …”

“… a circumstance we can only account for, by supposing that the facilities which the former afford for fishing, induce the natives to prefer them as places of abode; for they find that where the coast is low, the adjacent water is generally shallow.”

Passing Kalapana, “the country began to wear a more agreeable aspect. Groves of cocoa-nuts ornamented the projecting points of land, clumps of kou-trees appeared in various directions, and the habitations of the natives were also thickly scattered over the coast”.

“Kaimu is pleasantly situated near the sea shore, on the SE side of the island, standing on a bed of lava considerably decomposed, and covered over with a light and fertile soil. It is adorned with plantations, groves of cocoanuts, and clumps of kou-trees. It has a fine sandy beach, where canoes may land with safety; and, according to the houses numbered today, contains about 725 inhabitants.”

Toward Kapoho, “A most beautiful and romantic landscape presented itself on our left, as we travelled out of Pualaa. The lava was covered with a tolerably thick layer of soil, and the verdant plain, extending several miles towards the foot of the mountains, was agreeably diversified by groups of picturesque hills, originally craters, but now clothed with grass, and ornamented with clumps of trees.”

On to Kea‘au. “The country was populous, but the houses stood singly, or in small clusters, generally on the plantations, which were scattered over the whole country. Grass and herbage were abundant, vegetation in many places luxuriant, and the soil, though shallow, was light and fertile”.

“At half-past ten we resumed our walk, and passing about two miles through a wood of pretty large timber, came to the open country in the vicinity of Waiakea (Hilo.) … The whole is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the greater part of it formed into plantations, where plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, taro, potatoes, and melons, grow to the greatest perfection”.

“Groves of cocoa-nut and breadfruit are seen in every direction loaded with fruit, or clothed with umbrageous foliage. The houses are mostly larger and better built than those of many districts through which we had passed. We thought the people generally industrious; for in several of the less fertile parts of the district we saw small pieces of lava thrown up in heaps, and potato vines growing very well in the midst of them, though we could scarcely perceive a particle of soil”.

Then, by canoe from Hilo along the Hāmākua coast, “The country, by which we sailed, was fertile, beautiful, and apparently populous. The numerous plantations on the eminences and sides of the deep ravines or valleys, by which it was intersected, with the streams meandering through them into the sea, presented altogether a most agreeable prospect”.

“The high land over which we passed was generally woody, though the trees were not large. The places that were free from wood, were covered with long grass and luxuriant ferns. The houses mostly stood singly, and were scattered over the face of the country.”

“A rich field of potatoes or taro, five or six acres sometimes in extent, or large plantations of sugar-cane and bananas, occasionally bordered our path. But though the soil was excellent, it was only partially cultivated. The population also appeared less than what we had seen inhabiting some of the most desolate parts of the island”.

“… the inhabitants, excepting at Waiakea, did not appear better supplied with the necessaries of life than those of Kona, or the more barren parts of Hawaii. They had better houses, plenty of vegetables, some dogs, and few hogs, but hardly any fish, a principal article of food with the natives in general”.

From Kapulena to Waimea, … taking an inland direction passed over a pleasant country, gently undulated with hill and dale. The soil was fertile, the vegetation flourishing, and there was considerable cultivation, though but few inhabitants.”

“About noon they reached the valley of Waimea, lying at the foot of Mouna-Kea, on the northwest side. Here a number of villages appeared on each side of the path, surrounded with plantations in which plantains, sugar-cane, and taro were seen growing unusually large”.

“Viewed from the great elevation at which we stood, the charming (Waipio) valley, spread out beneath us like a map, with its numerous inhabitants, cottages, plantations, fishponds, and meandering streams. … The bottom of this valley was one continued garden, cultivated with taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and other productions of the islands, all growing luxuriantly.”

“Pololu is a pleasant village, situated in a small cultivated valley, having a fine stream of water flowing down its centre …. The houses stand principally on the beach. … The country was fertile, and seemed populous, though the houses were scattered, and more than three or four seldom appeared together.”

“A wide tract of country in the neighbourhood was divided into fields of considerable size, containing several acres each, which he used to keep in good order, and well stocked with potatoes and other vegetables. … The soil was fertile and vegetation abundant.”

Towarrd Mahukona, “Though we had numbered, in our journey today, 600 houses, we had not seen any thing like four hundred people, almost the whole population being employed in the mountains cutting sandal wood”.

From Mahukona to Kawaihae, “The coast was barren; the rocks volcanic; the men were all employed in fishing; and Mr. Thurston was informed that the inhabitants of the plantations, about (2-3) miles in the interior, were far more numerous than on the shore”.

Southwest of Waimea toward Kiholo, “The soil over which he had travelled was fertile, well watered, and capable of sustaining many thousand inhabitants. In his walks he had numbered 220 houses, and the present population is probably between eleven and twelve hundred.”

Then via canoe, they “landed at Kihoro, a straggling village, inhabited principally by fishermen.” Then they traveled by canoe back to Kailua. (The bulk of this is from information assembled by Newman.)

Ellis,_Waipio_Valley-1822-24

A large ruined wall near the town of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.1822-23

View of Kealakekua Bay from the village of Kaʻawaloa-Bingham-1820s

Hale_O_Keawe_by_William_Ellis-1822-24

View of Hilo, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa-Bingham-1820s

A_Missionary_Preaching_to_Hawaiians_on_the_lava_at_Kokukano,_Hawaii,_sketch_by_William_Ellis-1822-24

Palace_of_Kalanimoku-1822-24

Hawaii Island 1823-Ellis-Newman

October 9, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalaeloa

Kalaeloa is literally translated as, “the distant point or the long cape.” It is situated on the ʻEwa Plain in the ahupuaʻa of Honouliuli.

Kalaeloa region was a very good place for fishing and shoreline collecting; the koʻa (fishing ground) outside of Kalaeloa is called Hani-o. (Beckwith)

A nearby heiau on Puʻu o Kapolei (hill of beloved Kapo (sister of Pele)) marked the movements of the sun and served as an astronomical marker to designate the seasons.

“(T)he people of Oʻahu reckoned from the setting of the sun at Puu-o-Kapolei, until it set in the hollow of Mahinaona, it was called Kau. And from Puu-o-Kapolei, the sun moved south (noting winter).” (Polynesian Voyaging Society)

The area between Puʻu o Kapolei and Kalaeloa is known as Kaupeʻa (what we generally refer to as the ʻEwa Plain.) Kaupeʻa is said to be the realm of the ao kuewa or ao ‘auwana (the homeless or wandering souls). Kaupeʻa was the wandering place of those who died having no rightful place to go. (Maly)

In 1793, Captain George Vancouver described this area as desolate and barren: “From the commencement of the high land to the westward of Opooroah (Puʻuloa – Pearl Harbor) was … one barren rocky waste, nearly destitute of verdure, cultivation or inhabitants, with little variation all to the west point of the island. …”

In 1839, Missionary EO Hall described the area between Pearl Harbor and Kalaeloa as follows: “Passing all the villages (after leaving the Pearl River) at one or two of which we stopped, we crossed the barren desolate plain”. (Robicheaux) In the 1880s, these lands were being turned over to cattle grazing and continued through the early-1900s.

Kalaeloa was first renamed on June 5, 1786 by British Captain Nathanial Portlock – he named the cape Point Banks, honoring his patron Sir Joseph Banks. (Banks was the naturalist on Captain Cook’s first voyage into the Pacific.)

However, the cape was shortly thereafter given a new name, as a result of an unfortunate grounding of the ‘Arthur’ at that point on October 31, 1796; the ship was captained by Henry Barber.

“Unscrupulous, tyrannical, opportunistic, over-reaching and a trifle-fond of the bottle” is a brief description by one of Captain Barber. (Scott)

On a voyage to China, Barber called at Honolulu for supplies. He left Honolulu, heading for Kauaʻi to get a supply of yams, at about 6 pm, October 31. At 8:10 pm Barber’s ship struck a coral shoal.

After scraping bottom, Barber and his crew of twenty-two, manned the life-boats and reached shore through the pounding surf (six drowned in the process.) The Arthur was driven on the reef and broke up.

The next morning when Barber returned to the wrecked Arthur he found there John Young, who happened to be on Oʻahu at the time and, learning of the disaster, hurried to the scene to take charge of the efforts to salvage the cargo. (Howay)

Barber was a successful and influential trader across the Pacific. “If America was the main supplier of the Australian market in the years immediately succeeding the settlement of Port Jackson (Sydney), India was a close contender. Captain Henry Barber, Master of the 85-ton snow Arthur, operated from both centres …” (Journal of the Polynesian Society) He included China in his trade loop.

“(T)here were but 500 otter skins on board when she was cast away, which he carried with him to Canton, 500 otter skins in those days were worth some $20 to $40,000” (Polynesian, February 8, 1851) The greater part of the skins and ships stores were saved.

Several years later, on his way to China, Barber passed through Hawaiʻi again (December 17, 1802.) He learned that King Kamehameha had retrieved ten guns off the wreck of the Arthur and installed them for the defense of a newly built fort in Lāhainā, Maui.

Barber claimed the guns were his, but Kamehameha refused, claiming possession was nine-tenths of the law. To top it off, since Barber was in Hawaiʻi to reprovision, Kamehameha made Barber pay for his supplies with gunpowder.

Since the grounding of the Arthur, the point has been associated with the captain of the ill-fated ship. In 1968, the US Board of Geographic Names dropped the apostrophe, changing the name from Barber’s Point to Barbers Point.

This wasn’t the only wreck, here. In looking for a lighthouse here in 1880, Hawaiian government surveyor William Alexander noted, “I examined the coast for some miles in the neighborhood of Barber’s Point, selected a site for a light house and marked the spot by a pile of stones and a staff with a red and white flag. I also fixed the position … where there are several pieces of … the French whaleship Marquis de Turenne, which was wrecked about a mile off the point in 1855.” (Lighthouse Friends)

“A shoal with only 6 to 10 feet of water on it is said to extend 2 to 3 miles south by west from the point, and it should be sounded. In fact it is a question whether the light house might not be placed on a shallow spot or “okohola” whale’s back, as the natives call it, a mile or more offshore.” (Alexander, Lighthouse Friends)

The first Barbers Point lighthouse tower was “constructed of coral (another source noted lava) in the days of King Kalākaua in 1888”. It stood 42 feet.

The current 72-foot tower was built in 1933. The older tower was intentionally toppled on 29 December 1933, the same day the new tower was lit. The light was automated in 1964.

Aviation facilities were also constructed nearby. Starting in 1925, a mooring mast for lighter-than-air dirigibles was erected. The original field was called Navy Mooring Mast Field because the Navy had originally planned to have the ‘Akron’ based there when in Hawaiʻi. But the ‘Akron’ crashed, ending the project. The mooring mast was taken down in 1932 and planning moved forward for other aviation facilities.

Around 1940, two air stations were built at Kaupeʻa (the ʻEwa Plain the Naval Air Station Barber’s Point, the larger and the Marine Corps Air Station, ʻEwa, the smaller.) Following the outbreak of World War II, facilities were expanded to sustain four carrier groups.

Ewa was officially closed on June 18, 1952 and its property assumed by Naval Air Station Barbers Point. (The thirty-two revetments on the property, originally designed to shield aircraft from bomb blasts, have served as stables since the 1950s and provide a home for approximately 50 horses.)

Barbers Point was decommissioned by the Navy in 1998 and turned over to the State of Hawaiʻi for use as Kalaeloa Airport and is used by the US Coast Guard, Hawaii Community College Flight Program, Hawaiʻi National Guard and general aviation, as well as an alternate landing site for Honolulu International Airport.

September 27, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kalauhaʻihaʻi Fishpond

In ancient Hawai‘i, fishponds were an integral part of the ahupua‘a. Hawaiians built enclosures in near shore waters to raise fish for their communities and families. It is believed these were first built around the fifteenth century.

A fish was kapu to the Hawaiians during its spawning season, to allow a variety of fish to reproduce. Although the chief or commoners were unable to catch fish in the sea at specific time spans, they were available in the fishponds because fishponds were considered a part of the land.

In 1848, when King Kamehameha III pronounced the Great Māhele, or land distribution, Hawaiian fishponds were considered private property. This was confirmed in subsequent Court cases that noted “titles to fishponds are recognized to the same extent and in the same manner as rights recognized in fast land.”

Maunalua Bay, located at the southeast end of Oʻahu, was once home to many large Hawaiian fishponds; one of these was Kalauhaʻihaʻi fishpond (sometimes referenced as Kalauhaʻehaʻe (and Lucas Pond/Spring.))

Its original owners were King Kamehameha I and Queen Kaʻahumanu who maintained a summer residence on Paikō Beach. Kalauhaʻihaʻi was once one of Oʻahu’s most thriving and productive fishponds, raising awa, aholehole, mullet and other favorites.

The name Kalauhaʻihaʻi refers to Queen Kaʻahumanu’s breaking of the old kapu (the ancient system of laws and regulations) when she became Christian, which is said to have taken place on the property.

King Kamehameha later gave the land, including the spring and pond, to Captain Alexander Adams (1780–1871.) “Many were the self-sacrificing services rendered Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu by Captain Adams, and they both loved him for his loyal devotion.”

“In appreciation they gave him the whole of the land of Niu, Oʻahu, and included also in this gift their favorite resort subsequently called Kalauhaihai, the place where Kaahumanu first proclaimed her renunciation of ancient rites and customs, to adopt modern civilization and customs.”

“That was why the place was so named, meaning a scattering or dropping off of leaves; plucking withered leaves, a renunciation of the ancient customs to adopt the new.” (Thrum)

Ownership of the 2,446-acres were claimed by Alexander Adams under Claim No. 802 filed February 14, 1848, with the Land Commission at the time of the Great Māhele.

The claim states: “From the testimony of Governor Kekūanāoʻa … it appears that the claimant was created lord of konohiki of this land, in the time of Kamehameha I, and that he has exercised the konohikiship of the same without dispute ever since the year of Our Lord 1822.”

The Niu Valley estate was passed down to Adams’ granddaughter, Mary Lucas; Kalauhaʻihaʻi fishpond was later used for a family dairy by Mary Lucas. She started subdividing the property in the 1950s; Adam’s descendants remain in the area.

In the 1960s, Mr. Tad Hara had a two-story wooden house built over the still productive pond. The home was designed with a glass floor to allow Mr. Hara to view the fish in the pond.

The 3-foot-deep pond was filled with aholehole (Hawaiian flagtail,) ʻopae lolo (aloha prawn,)ʻamaʻama (mullet,) awa (milkfish,) hapawai (brackish water snail) and koi. In 1989, Mr. Hara registered his fishpond with the State Water Commission.

Widening Kalanianaʻole Highway (the fourth busiest highway in the State) in the early-1990s changed things.

During construction, they ruptured the lava tube connecting Kalauhaʻihaʻi Fishpond to the underground artesian source directly mauka of the pond that altered spring flow to the ocean, diverted the water to utility line trenches and the sewer.

A legal battle ensued to restore the spring’s flow; Mr. Hara eventually sold the property to the DOT.

A community effort to preserve the pond resulted in a NOAA-sponsored plan and legislation to keep the property in state hands and away from public auction (as well as providing statewide preference for the reconstruction, restoration, repair, or use of Hawaiian fishponds.)

Since 2007, Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center has been working to save Kalauhaʻihaʻi; they happily reported that on July 11, 2013, they were given the keys to the property and permission to restore the fishpond and care for the grounds.

In 2021, Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center worked with the State Legislature to secure $1 million to go to DLNR Engineering Branch for the reconnection and long awaited repair of the water flow at Kalauhaʻihaʻi.

September 26, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Swillauea”

In 1898, the US Army built a seawall and filled a submerged coral reef on the ‘Ewa (western) side of Kaʻākaukukui for a gun emplacement at Fort Armstrong to protect the mouth of adjoining Honolulu Harbor.

At the turn of the century, Ala Moana Boulevard was built at what was then the shoreline, and the broad areas on both sides of the future Kapiʻolani Boulevard consisted of rice fields.

The dredging of harbors, offshore areas and the Ala Wai Canal provided fill for the reclamation of the ‘swamps.’ The construction of the Ala Wai stopped the annual flooding of Waikīkī.

At the beginning of the twentieth-century, the stretch of coast makai of Ala Moana Boulevard between Fort Armstrong (Piers 1 & 2 at Honolulu Harbor) and Waikīkī was the site of the Honolulu garbage dump, which burned almost continually.

The residue from burned rubbish was also used to reclaim wetlands. This residue provided a fill that was quite inert and solid. Thus, a rubbish dump was considered a cost-free method for a landowner to reclaim swampy land.

Since at least the 1850s, the Hawaiian Monarchy was providing urban public services in Honolulu, including refuse collection and disposal. Horse-drawn wagons were first used for the collection of refuse; the horses were stabled in Kakaʻako.

Following Annexation and Territorial status (1900,) garbage removal was one of six items listed in the Oʻahu County’s 1905 monthly operating expenses, along with the police and fire departments, the electric light plant, city parks and the Royal Hawaiian Band. The only direct income for Oʻahu County was its refuse collection fees.

Oʻahu, like many other coastal communities, was ringed with tidelands. The area was traditionally noted for its fishponds and salt pans, and for the marsh lands where pili grass and other plants could be collected. About one-third of the coastal plain at Kakaʻako was a wetland. The entire shoreline was coral rubble bordered by fringing reefs and mudflats.

As time went on, when the fishponds were no longer used, they were more often than not filled with material dredged from the ocean or hauled from nearby areas, garbage and general material from other sources. These reclaimed areas provided valuable new land near the heart of growing urban Honolulu.

The ʻili of Kaʻākaukukui was awarded by land court to Victoria Kamāmalu; Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop inherited the land, which later became part of the Kamehameha Schools (formerly the Bishop Estate). The Territory of Hawai‘i acquired the land in 1919.

Just as the Army had done at Fort Armstrong, the government built a new seawall, extending east to reclaim more Kaʻākaukukui reef and submerged land.

During the 1920s, the channel and basin on the Waikīkī (eastern) side of the growing Kakaʻako peninsula was dredged as a small boat harbor, called Kewalo Basin, to relieve overcrowding at Honolulu Harbor by the sampan (tuna fishing) fleet.

Hawaiian Dredging Company completed Kewalo Basin’s wharf and channel in 1925, and by 1930 the sampan fishing fleet was relocated to their new base.

In 1930, a garbage incinerator was constructed on Mohala Street (now ʻĀhui Street) near the east end of the Kakaʻako seawall (near Kewalo Basin.) This moved the open dump fires into a more controlled and contained facility.

In 1931, the City and County of Honolulu dedicated the land on the Waikīkī-side of Kewalo Basin as Moana Park (the name was later changed to Ala Moana (“the path to the sea.”))

After the 1930 incinerator was constructed on ʻĀhui Street, the Star-Bulletin named it “Swillauea” (a play with words associated with the long burning fires of Kīlauea volcano on Hawai‘i Island) and lamented, “… Oh Swillauea-by-the-Sea … a monument to despair, foolishness and ugliness … all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t find another place to burn the City’s rubbish except in the City’s front yard ….” (Mason Architects)

In the 1940s, another, larger incinerator was added, as well as a significant new seawall, 500-feet seaward of the old shoreline, enclosing more acreage of tidelands to be filled with the post-combusted ash. (The large boulders laid in the wall lining Kewalo Channel and around the point came from Punchbowl Crater during the initial development of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific by James W. Glover, Ltd.)

Incinerator Number One was later removed from service after the new incinerator on ʻOhe Street was constructed in 1946-48. With the completion of the seawall in 1949, filling operations began and by the mid-1950s the shallow reef of Ka’ākaukukui was completely covered over.

And, again, in 1950 another seawall was extended and ash filled areas making more usable acreage. Following statehood in 1959, government officials met to discuss the near-completion of the fill behind the seawall. As the height increased, the State expressed concern over the mountain of ash which was growing so rapidly.

The State finally told the City in 1971 to stop placing any more ash to the pile. Parts of the ash pile were then 25 feet above the top of the seawall.

The incinerator was finally shut down in 1977 because it could not meet the increasingly stringent air pollution standards. Then, in 1992, the State constructed Kakaʻako Waterfront Park on the ash pile (the young and young-at-heart now slide on cardboard down the steep grass-covered incinerator ash hill.)

The second incinerator, on ʻOhe Street, was renovated and is now used as the Children’s Discovery Center. (The initial incinerator on ʻĀhui Street was used in 1952 by United Fishing Agency as part of their fish auction facility – the fish auction has since relocated to the Commercial Fishing Village at Pier 38.)

(Lots of information here is from the Historic American Buildings Survey for the Kewalo Incinerator and Cultural Surveys.)