Place Names | Page 96 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nihoa

Nihoa was reportedly inhabited sometime between 1000 and 1500 AD. Archaeological surveys on Nihoa have documented numerous archaeological sites and cultural material.

The sites included; habitation sites such as massive platforms; rockshelters, terraces and enclosures; heiau that are small terraces with single linear arrangement of upright stones and numerous pieces of branch coral laying on surface; extensive agricultural terraces and burial sites.

The heiau (place of worship) and platform foundations with upright stones found on Nihoa resemble other Hawaiian wahi pana on the islands of Maui at Haleakalā, Hawai‘i Island on top of Mauna Kea and the island of Kaua‘i Kea Ali‘i heiau in Waimea.

It is believed that the first Native Hawaiians to inhabit the archipelago and their descendants frequented Nihoa for at least a 500- to 700-year period.

Archaeologists believe that the terraces were planted with sweet potatoes. They estimate that the 12-16 acres under cultivation might have supported about 100 people.

The only tree on the island is the loulu palm; a total of 515 palms were counted in 1923. Its fan-like leaves were used for plaiting (braiding,) and its trunk could have been used for building shelters or for firewood (however, if cut for firewood, the supply would eventually be depleted.

Without forest products, islanders could not have provided themselves with canoes, wood containers, nets, fishing line, clothing and blankets, mats, and medicines. So, some of these were probably supplied from Kauai or Ni‘ihau.

Fish, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, and seals, as well as seabirds and their eggs are abundant sources of food. Food and water supply was sufficient for subsistence, but that the lack of firewood would have created a hardship.

Also referenced as Bird Island and Moku Manu, Nihoa is the closest island northwest of the main Hawaiian chain, about 155-miles northwest of Ni‘ihau and 250 miles from Honolulu.

It’s the largest and tallest of ten islands and atolls in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI;) total land area is about 171-acres (about a mile long, a quarter mile wide.) It is the summit of a huge volcanic rock with two main peaks, Miller’s Peak (895-feet) and Tanager Peak (852-feet.)

Landing on the island is difficult. High, sheer cliffs prevent landing on the east, north, and west sides; the island slopes down to the south, but the shoreline is rocky and unprotected from the surge of southerly swells.

By the time of Western European contact with the Hawaiian Islands, little was collectively known about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) by the majority of the population, as relatively few individuals traveled to these remote islands and had seen them with their own eyes. However, families from Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau voyaged to these islands to fish.

The first Westerner to see Nihoa was Captain James Colnett of the ‘Prince of Wales,’ on March 21, 1788.

Within the next century, a number of expeditions were initiated by Hawaiian ali‘i to visit these islands and bring them under
Hawaiian political control and ownership.

Having heard chants and stories about the island of Nihoa, in 1822, Queen Ka‘ahumanu organized and participated in a royal expedition to the island, under the charge of Captain William Sumner. Reportedly, the waterfront area around Ka‘ahumanu Street in Honolulu was named Nihoa in honor of the visit.

The following is a part of the story related to the direction from which the winter rains come:

‘Ea mai ana ke ao ua o Kona,
‘Ea mai ana ma Nihoa
Ma ka mole mai o Lehua
Ua iho a pulu ke kahakai

The rain clouds of Kona come,
Approaching from Nihoa,
From the base of Lehua,
Pouring down, drenching the coast.

In 1856, Nihoa was reaffirmed as part of the existing land mass of Hawai‘i by authority of Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV (March 16, 1856 Circular of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i).

In 1885, the most famous visit by Hawaiian royalty was made by then princess Lydia Lili‘uokalani and her 200-person party who visited Nihoa on the ship ‘Iwalani.’ They brought back artifacts – a stone bowl, a stone dish, a coral rubbing stone and a coral file.

While I have visited the NWHI, now the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, I have never been to Nihoa. However, in 2003, I had the good fortune to fly over the island and capture a few images of Nihoa.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hokulea_Nihoa-(PapahanaumokuakeaManagementPlan)

Nihoa

July 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Haiku Valley Communications … and Stairway

With World War II underway, the Navy recognized the need to be able to communicate across the Pacific.

A plan was proposed in the early spring of 1942; a group of radio experts determined a superpower radio station with pan-Pacific range might be built provided that the antenna could be raised high enough above the ground.

The greater the power to be radiated, the higher and larger must be the antenna system and the network of ground wires under it.

An Alexanderson Alternator was the sending source; it is a rotating machine invented in 1904 for use as a radio transmitter (as a technology, it was later replaced by vacuum tube transmitters.)

The Navy discovered that, rather than the conventional steel radio tower, the best way to accomplish that was by stringing copper cable between the peaks of two mountains with vertical drops.

The solution was to find a topographic feature that would act like the “unbuildable” tall tower. Using technology developed pre-World War I, they strategically positioned four Alexanderson Alternators; one was located in Haiku Valley.

Haiku Valley with its horseshoe shape and sheer side-walls filled the prescription perfectly, except for the logistical nightmare of constructing in an all but inaccessible area.

Then stepped forward (and up) two pioneers, Bill Adams and Louis Otto, who in 21-days, climbed the vertical cliffs in Haiku Valley, pounding in iron spikes into the face of the cliff (to be used as supports for a ladder and wooden staircase up the mountain.)

The Navy then installed a lift to haul up materials and strung cables across the valley. The Alexanderson Alternator radio system, transmitting Morse code across the Pacific, was operational in 3-months.

The equipment at Haiku provided reliable transoceanic radiotelegraph communication and was able to send signals to submarines during World War 2 – while they remained underwater – as far away as Tokyo Bay.

The Navy maintained the Haiku system from 1943 to 1970, when they reconfigured the facility as an OMEGA radio navigation system: it then became part of a network of worldwide OMEGA stations (two US stations (Haiku and North Dakota,) joined by Argentina, Norway, Liberia, France, Japan and Australia.)

When the eight station chain became operational, day to day operations at Haiku were managed by the United States Coast Guard and was used by several airlines flying long range routes over water, as well as by military forces. The new station could radiate transmissions at a power of 10,000-watts and over an 8,000-mile radius.

The OMEGA antenna system reaches 7,200-feet across Haiku Valley and is 1,250-feet above the ground. The anchors weigh over 180,000-pounds. Unlike the original construction for the Alexanderson Alternator (climbing the cliff,) a helicopter, helium balloons and hot air balloons were used in erecting the anchors and placing the wires.

OMEGA was the first truly-global radio navigation system and had the ability to achieve a four-mile accuracy when fixing a position for aircraft.

Using receiver units, it enabled ships and aircraft to determine their position by receiving very low frequency radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed terrestrial radio beacons. The Haiku OMEGA facility became operational around 1971 and was shut down in 1997.

Initially, the system was to be used for navigating nuclear bombers across the North Pole to Russia. Later, it was found useful for submarines and aircraft.

With the Global Positioning System (GPS) being declared fully operational, the use of OMEGA had dwindled to a point where continued operation was not economically justified; it ended on September 30, 1997.

Obviously, all of this ultimately leads us to a discussion on the Haiku Ladder, Haiku Stairs – the Stairway to Heaven.

The Stairway is a 3,922-step ladder/stairway ascending the summit of the Koʻolau mountain range. First built by the Navy in 1942 to access transmission facilities at the top of the ridge, the wooden stairs were replaced in 1955 with ones built of galvanized metal.

In 1997, after the OMEGA facility was abandoned and plans were underway to remove the Stairs, Mayor Harris requested that the Coast Guard transfer the Stairs to the City. The City then spent $875,000 to repair the Haiku Stairs.

The City had planned to reopen the Haiku Stairs in October 2002. But from 2002 to 2003, the popular hiking attraction became a point of contention with area residents.

They complained that as many as 200-hikers a day were trespassing through their property, parking on their streets, blocking mail delivery and trash pickup and arriving early in the morning, causing dogs to bark and waking residents.

Then, in 2005, Mayor Hannemann tried to transfer the Stairs to DLNR. I was DLNR Director then. While I believe the stairs are an excellent climbing (and vertigo) experience, I do not believe its ownership and operation is a state concern. (It is certainly not a natural trail, that’s the kind of stuff DLNR deals with.)

We recommended that a private entity step forward and manage the stairs – for the City or lease it from them. We believed that an operator could charge a fee for hikers to climb the stairs and use the revenue for operations and insurance.

The Stairs remain closed.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Junction of Haiku Road and Kamehameha Highway.-(DavidJessup)-

Black arrow points out the 60 foot tower on the North cliff. The white arrow indicates the lower hoist A frame-(DavidJessup)-

Bomb proof transmitter building - view east-(DavidJessup)-

CCL house at the peak showing the upper hoist house-(DavidJessup)-

Cement headed for the top of the South cliff-(DavidJessup)-

View West. Cage for the South hoist.

Construction of four antennas, each over a mile in length, had just begun-(DavidJessup)-1943

Kaneohe_Omega_Transmitter_with_CH-53_1987

Looking down from Transmitter Building-(DavidJessup)-

Very Low Frequency Alternator transmitted 200,000 watts of radio signal at a frequency of 16.8 Khz-(DavidJessup)-

Wooden_Ladder-cliff_falls_away_on_each_side-(DavidJessup)-

July 5, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kuapā Pond

Kuapā Pond, also known as Keahupuaomaunalua (“the shrine of the baby mullet at Maunalua”) was once the largest loko kuapā on O‘ahu, estimated at approximately 523-acres.

Kuapā Pond was apparently created near the end of the ice age, when the rising sea level caused the shoreline to retreat and partial erosion of the headlands adjacent to the bay formed sediment that accreted to form a barrier beach at the mouth of the pond, creating a lagoon.

Early Hawaiians used the natural lagoon as a fishpond and reinforced the natural sandbar with stone walls.

Kuapā literally means “wall of a fish pond” and a loko kuapā is one type of fishpond made by building a wall on a reef. The wall at this fishpond was about 5,000 feet long.

One of the main harvests was mullet because the combination of freshwater and shallow sand or mud flats that the ponds created were ideal for growing the algae that mullet fed off of.

Hawaiian Historian Kamakau writes of Kamehameha I participating in the restoration of the Maunalua fishpond., “While he (Kamehameha) lived on Oahu he encouraged the chiefs and commoners to raise food and he went fishing and would work himself at carrying rock or timber … He worked at the fishponds at Ka-wai-nui, Ka‘ele-pulu, Uko‘a (in Waialui,) Mauna-lua, and all about O’ahu. (Kamakau 1961:192)

In 1900, the island of Oahu had a total of 100 documented, working fishponds, providing thousands of pounds of fish for the community throughout the year.

Missionary Levi Chamberlain, during his Trip Around Oahu on June 21, 1826, noted: “I descended with my attendant, and near the shares of a large pond containing a surface of many hundred acres I came to a little settlement called Keawaawa and stopped e few moments to enquire the way & to allow my attendant the luxury of a whif of tobacco.”

“Thence I walked on by the side of the pond in a southerly direction about a mile having the eminences Mounalua (Maunalua) on my left- I then came to a narrow strip of land resembling a causeway partly natural and partly constructed extending in a Northwest direction across what appeared to be considerable of a bay forming a barrier between the sea and the pond.”

“At the further end of this causeway sluices are constructed & the waters of the sea unite with the pond and at every flood tide replenish it with a fresh supply of water. Near the middle of this causeway there is a settlement of 18 houses belonging to Kalola called Mounalua (Maunalua.)”

It is said that the pond was partially constructed by Menehune, a legendary race of small people and was connected through an underground tunnel to Kaʻelepulu fishpond in Kailua.

In J. Gilbert McAllister’s 1933 Archaeology of Oahu, he notes: “Keahupua-o-Maunalua Fishpond—The pond is said to connect by means of an underground tunnel with Kaelepulu pond in Kailua.”

“From time to time great schools of mullet disappear from the Maunalua pond and are to be found in the Kailua pond. At the same time the awa, which were in the Kailua pond, appear in the Maunalua pond. When the mullet reappear in the Maunalua pond the awa disappear. Kanane, the fish warden, tells me that this occurs even today, but cannot be explained by the Japanese who leases the pond.”

The ownership of the ‘ili of Maunalua passed to Bernice Pauahi Bishop and thus to the Kamehameha Schools.

To a lot of people, Kuapā is now referred to as “Koko Marina,” the result of development in the 1960s by Henry J Kaiser.

In 1961, Bishop Estate leased a 6,000-acre area, which included Kuapa Pond, to Kaiser Aetna for subdivision development. The development is now known as “Hawaii Kai.”

Kaiser Aetna dredged and filled parts of Kuapa Pond, erected retaining walls and built bridges within the development to create the Hawaii Kai Marina.

They increased the average depth of the channel from two to six feet and also created accommodations for pleasure boats and eliminated the sluice gates.

The East Honolulu region (including Hawaii Kai,) has a population of approximately 49,100 people (2010,) 5.2% of O‘ahu’s population. Hawai‘i Kai is one of O‘ahu’s larger bedroom communities. The pond now serves as a marina for small boats, and is open space in this growing community.

Lots of good stuff is going on to protect and restore the nearshore waters and bring attention to the region by Mālama Maunalua and Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Hawaii Kai in a 1960 photo as Henry Kaiser was beginning development of the area

July 3, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pohukaina

ʻIolani Palace State Monument consists of ʻIolani Palace, Barracks, Coronation Pavilion, Kanaina Building (Old Archives Building), Kekauluohi Building (State Archives Building) and Grounds consisting of 11 acres of land, including the perimeter wall and wrought iron fence bordered by King Street, Likelike Street, Hotel Street Mall and Richards Street.

ʻIolani Monument is one of the most important historical and cultural resources in Hawaiʻi. Before the arrival of the missionaries in the 1820s, a Hawaiian temple or heiau, known as “Kaahimauili,” was in this area.

Also on the grounds of ʻIolani Palace is a Burial Mound, a former Royal Mausoleum.

The Sacred Mound (previously a stone mausoleum) – Pohukaina – was constructed in 1825 to house the remains of Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and his consort, Queen Kamāmalu. Both had died of measles while on a journey to England the year before.

It is believed they probably contracted the disease on their visit to the Royal Military Asylum (now the Duke of York’s Royal Military School;) virtually the entire royal party developed measles within weeks of arrival.

Kamāmalu (aged 22) died on July 8, 1824. The grief-stricken Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later on July 14, 1824. Prior to his death he asked to return and buried in Hawai‘i.

Then upon their arrival in Hawai‘i, in consultation between the Kuhina Nui, Ka‘ahumanu, and other high chiefs, and telling them about Westminster Abbey and the underground burial crypts they had seen there, it was decided to build a mausoleum building on the grounds of ʻIolani Palace.

The mausoleum was a small eighteen-by-twenty-four foot Western style structure made of white-washed coral blocks with a thatched roof; it had no windows.

Kamehameha II (Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu were buried on August 23, 1825. The name ‘Pohukaina’ begins to be used to reference the site at the time of their burial. (Pohukaina – is translated as “Pohu-ka-ʻāina” (the land is quiet and calm.))

For the next forty years, this royal tomb and the land immediately surrounding it became the final resting place for the kings of Hawai‘i, their consorts and important chiefs of the kingdom

Reportedly, in 1858, Kamehameha IV brings over the ancestral remains of other Aliʻi – coffins and even earlier grave material – out of their original burial caves, and they are buried in Pohukaina.

In 1865, the remains of 21 Ali‘i were removed from this site and transferred in a torchlight procession at night to Mauna ‘Ala, a new Royal Mausoleum in Nu‘uanu Valley.

In a speech delivered on the occasion of the laying of the Cornerstone of The Royal Palace (ʻIolani Palace,) Honolulu, in 1879, JH Kapena, Minister of Foreign Relations, said:

“Doubtless the memory is yet green of that never-to-be-forgotten night when the remains of the departed chiefs were removed to the Royal Mausoleum in the valley.”

“Perhaps the world had never witnessed a procession more weird and solemn than that which conveyed the bodies of the chiefs through our streets, accompanied on each side by thousands of people until the mausoleum was reached …”

“… the entire scene and procession being lighted by large kukui torches, while the midnight darkness brought in striking relief the coffins on their biers.”

“Earth has not seen a more solemn procession what when, in the darkness of the night, the bodies of these chieftains were carried through the streets”. (Hawaiian Gazette, January 14, 1880)

The March 10, 1899 issue of the Hawaiian Gazette noted that Liloa (1500s,) Lonoikamakahiki (late-1500s) and Alapaʻi (1700s) are among the buried at Mauna ʻAla.

After being overgrown for many years, the Hawaiian Historical Society passed a resolution in 1930 requesting Governor Lawrence Judd to memorialize the site with the construction of a metal fence enclosure and a plaque. (Tradition holds that the tomb was on the site of a former cave.)

In order that the spot may not be forgotten where that tomb once stood, the king has caused a mound to be raised.

The State designated the area a Monument in recognition of its historic importance, and to utilize these unique resources to educate and promote awareness of the historic and cultural character of the era of the Hawaiian monarchy.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Pohukaina-in_front_of_Hale_Alii-original_Iolani_Palace

Pohukaina-in_front_of_Hale_Alii-original_Iolani_Palace-1850s

July 2, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ulupō Heiau

About 6,000 years ago and before the arrival of the Hawaiians, Kawainui (the large [flow of] fresh water) and Ka‘elepulu (the moist blackness) were bays connected to the ocean and extended a mile inland of the present coastline. This saltwater environment is indicated by inland deposits of sand and coral.

A sand bar began forming across Kawainui Bay around 2,500 years ago creating Kawainui Lagoon filled with coral, fish and shellfish. The Hawaiians probably first settled along the fringes of this lagoon.

Gradually, erosion of the hillsides surrounding Kawainui began to fill in the lagoon with sediments.

About 500 years ago, early Hawaiians maintained the freshwater fishpond in Kawainui; the fishpond was surrounded on all sides by a system of canals (‘auwai) bringing water from Maunawili Stream and springs to walled taro lo‘i.

In 1750, Kailua was the political seat of power for the district of Ko‘olaupoko and a favored place of the O‘ahu chiefs for its abundance of fish and good canoe landings.

The houses of the Aliʻi (chiefs), their families, and their attendants surrounded Kailua Bay. Behind the sand beach was the large, fertile expanse of Kawainui which has been converted to a fishpond surrounded by an agricultural field system.

Kawainui was a large, 400 acre fishpond with an abundance of mullet, awa, and o’opu. Ka’elepulu and Nuʻupia fishponds are nearby. The makaʻāinana (commoners) provided support for this chiefly residence.

Farmers grow kalo (taro) in the irrigated lo’i (fields) along the streams from Maunawili and along the edges of the fishponds. Crops of dryland kalo, banana, sweet potato, and sugarcane mark the fringes of the marsh. The fishermen harvest fish from the fishponds and the sea.

The kahuna (priests) oversee the religious ceremonies and rites at several heiau around Kawainui. There is Ulupō Heiau on the east with Pahukini Heiau and Holomakani Heiau on the west side.

Ulupō Heiau measures 140 by 180 feet with walls up to 30 feet in height. The construction of this massive terraced platform required a large work force under the direction of a powerful ali’i.

Several O’ahu chiefs lived at Kailua and probably participated in ceremonies at Ulupō Heiau, including Kākuhihewa and Kualiʻi.

Kualiʻi fought many battles and he may have rededicated Ulupō Heiau as a heiau luakini.

Maui chief Kahekili came to O’ahu in the 1780s and lived in Kailua after defeating O’ahu high chief Kahahana for control of the island.

Kamehameha I worked at Kawainui fishpond and is said to have eaten the edible mud (lepo ai ia) of Kawainui when there was a shortage of kalo. But by 1795, when Kamehameha I conquered O’ahu, it is believed that Ulupō Heiau was already abandoned.

Farmers grew kalo (taro) in the irrigated lo‘i (fields) along the streams from Maunawili and along the edges of the fishponds. Crops of dryland kalo, banana, sweet potato and sugarcane mark the fringes of the marsh. Fishermen harvest fish from the fishponds and the sea.

In the 1880s, Chinese farmers converted the taro fields of Kawainui to rice, but abandoned their farms by 1920. Cattle grazed throughout much of Kawainui.

Ulupō Heiau was transferred from the Territorial Board of Agriculture and Forestry to Territorial Parks in 1954.

In the early 1960s, through a joint effort of State Parks and Kaneohe Ranch, the stone walkway was placed atop the heiau and the stone paving was laid around the springs. The bronze plaque was installed in 1962 by the Commission on Historical Sites.

Ulupo Heiau is listed on the National and Hawaii Registers of Historic Places. At Ulupo Heiau, State Parks seeks to promote preservation of the heiau and heighten public awareness about the cultural history of Kawai Nui.

The Kailua Hawaiian Civic Club and ‘Ahahui Malama I ka Lōkahi are the co-curators at this State Park heiau complex.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger