On the morning of November 26, 1778, Captain James Cook awoke to the sight of the northern coast of Maui. “Next morning there lay the land, the island of Maui, with its ‘elevated saddle hill’ – the extinct 10,000 foot volcano Haleakala …”
“… rising to its summit above the clouds, and descending gently towards the deep ravines and falling waters of that steep rocky coast, where the trade wind hurled other waters into perpetual surf.” This was the first documented sighting of the island. (Fredericksen)
“[T]he chief pride of Maui is her dead volcano of Haleakala”. (Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1866) “The object which usually attracts strangers to Maui is the great dead volcano of Haleakala, ‘The house of the sun’. (Isabella Bird, 1873)
“This mountain … is the largest extinct volcano in the world, its terminal crater being nineteen miles in circumference at a height of more than ten thousand feet. It, and its spurs, slopes, and clusters of small craters form East Maui.” (Isabella Bird, 1873)
Haleakalā was thought to have been known to the ancient Hawaiians by any one of five names: “Haleakalā,” “Haleokalā,” “Heleakalā,” “Aheleakalā” and “Halekalā.” (Hawaiʻi National Park Superintendent Monthly Report, December 1939)
“According of Abraham Fornander, the name Haleakala is a “misnomer”. He explains the ancient name of is Ahelekala. “The ancient name of Maui’s famous crater which means ‘rays of the sun’ …”
“… and it was these which the demigod Maui snared and broke off to retard the sun in its daily course so that his mother might be able to dry her kapas.” … He goes on to say that the word `alehe is a variant form of `ahele—both of which literally mean “to snare”. (Fredericksen)
The first visit to Haleakalā by non-Hawaiians occurred in August 1828 when missionaries Lorrin Andrews and Jonathan Green, along with Dr. Gerrit P. Judd, physician, visited the crater.
They were followed by a US Navy expedition led by Commander Charles Wilkes in 1841, and later, others. Significant public interest was generated by written accounts of these visits that determined that Haleakalā would eventually become a destination for tourism. (NPS, CCC Oral Histories)
Until 1935, the primary means of getting to Haleakalā was walking or on horseback, and this continued to be the case for the first three decades of the twentieth century. As late as 1932, the Inter-Island Steamship Company and the Maui Chamber arranged trips on horseback to Haleakalā Crater. (NPS, CCC Oral Histories)
Thomas Vint (NPS Chief Landscape Architect) described the trip by horseback that he made in 1930: “The trip is now made from the town of Wailuk[u] which contains the principle [sic] hotel on the island of Maui that caters to tourist travel …The combined auto and horse back trip to the 10,000-foot summit may be made from noon to noon from Wailuku, spending the night at the top.”
“Trips into the crater are made from the rim rest house as a base.” Vint concluded that “another rest house at the far end of the crater is needed. To see the crater properly, one should camp overnight, making a two-day trip from the present rest house.” (NPS, CCC Oral Histories)
“Without a paved road to the summit, however, Haleakalā remained distant and inaccessible for the vast majority of the Maui public, except for adjacent property owners, tourists of means, and hunters who lived in the upcountry or Kula region of the island.”
“The need for a road to Haleakalā had been the subject of interest by the local press as well as Maui politicians since 1912, when the Hawaiian Promotion Committee had to use ‘fourteen pack and saddle animals’ to reach the summit from Olinda.” (NPS, CCC Oral Histories)
AH Ford of Mid-Pacific Magazine was quoted in the local press as stating: “In a little while [the] Haleakalā trips are going to adjust themselves to the purses of the tourist and there will be sufficient traffic to encourage regular excursions to Haleakalā [and] through the crater…a wonder trip, unsurpassed by any three or four [hour] outing to be had in any other portion of the globe.” (Maui News, August 9, 1913)
“After a failed attempt by motorcar in 1917, the first vehicle, a tractor driven by Joaquin Souza, finally reached the summit of Haleakalā on July 4, 1931. The stunt, which took two hours and thirty minutes to complete, was part of the local U.S. Independence Day festivities”.
It “was reported by the newspaper beneath the headline, “First Vehicle [to] Ever Reach Top” (Maui News, July 8, 1931). (NPS, CCC Oral Histories)
Haleakalā Road (now known as Haleakalā Highway) was finally completed in 1935; it opened with great fanfare. “All Maui was up in the air today, 10,032 feet up! … Whole Mainland Hears Road Opening by Radio … The story came over radio station KGU … The ceremony was caught up in Honolulu and taken to San Francisco, then distributed over the vast NBC hook-up.” (Maui News Feb 24, 1935)”
“On November 30, 1929, work began. On February 21, 1935, the last surfacing was laid.” “An official checker clocked 304 automobiles into the world’s highest parking spaces and those autos are estimated to have carried 1500 excursionists and local residents to the two-hour program.” (Maui News Feb 24, 1935)
The number of visitors to Haleakalā increased substantially, reaching 16,300 within a year. In 1938, the numbers decreased slightly to 14,156 because of a maritime and shipping strike, but continued to rise in the following years until reaching 29,935 in 1940. (NPS) (National Park Records show approximately 853,700 recreation visits in 2025,)
The increase in visitors was “greatly in excess of expectations…compared with the few hundreds who visited the crater before construction of the Haleakalā [R]oad. (Hawaii National Park Superintendent Annual Report 1935, NPS)
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began in 1937, succeeding the Emergency Conservation Work agency (which started in 1933). In 1939, the CCC became part of the Federal Security Agency. It was eliminated in 1943. (UH Mānoa)
From April 1934 until May 13, 1941, the CCC operated a “side camp” in the Haleakalā Section of the Hawaiʻi National Park; CCC participants were housed in tents and moved to where the work areas were. (NPS)
Major park improvements through the CCC program on Haleakalā included the construction of the approximately 11-mile Haleakalā Road, Haleakalā Observation Station, two Comfort Stations (public toilets) and the Checking Station and Office at the park entrance. Several trail projects were completed within the Park. (NPS)
