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April 16, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hilo Railroad Company – Hawaiian Consolidated Railway

The Treaty of Reciprocity (1875) between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i eliminated the major trade barrier to Hawai‘i’s closest and major market.  Through the treaty and its amendments, the US obtained Pearl Harbor and Hawai‘i’s sugar planters received duty-free entry into US markets for their sugar.

At the industry’s peak in the 1930s, Hawaiʻi’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.

Sugar cultivation exploded on the Big Island.  As a means to transport sugar and other goods, railroading was introduced to the Islands in 1879.

On March 28, 1899, Dillingham received a charter to build the original eight miles of the Hilo Railroad that connected the Olaʻa sugar mill to Waiākea, that was soon to become the location of Hilo’s deep water port.

Rail line extensions continued.  Extensions were soon built to Pāhoa, where the Pahoa Lumber Company was manufacturing ʻōhia and koa railroad ties for export to the Santa Fe Railroad.

Although not the first railway on the Big Island, the Hilo Railroad was arguably the most ambitious.  The Olaʻa line was completed in 1900, immediately followed by a seventeen mile extension to Kapoho, home of the Puna Sugar Company plantation.

Immediately after that two branch lines were constructed (also to sugar plantations,) and then the railroad was extended north into Hilo itself.

All the sugar grown in East Hawaiʻi, in Puna and on the Hāmākua Coast, was transported by rail to Hilo Harbor, where it was loaded onto ships bound for the continent.

An early account stated that the rail line crossed over 12,000 feet in bridges, 211 water openings under the tracks, and individual steel spans up to 1,006 feet long and 230 feet in height.

Some of the most notable were those over Maulua and Honoliʻi gulches, the Wailuku River and Laupāhoehoe.  Over 3,100 feet of tunnels were constructed, one of which, the Maulua Tunnel, was over half a mile in length.

While the main business of the railroad remained the transport of raw sugar and other products to and from the mills,  it also provided passenger service.

A chiefly tourist line, branching from Olaʻa, was built inland 12.5 miles up the mountain to Glenwood where visitors to the Volcano House near Kilauea Volcano would then transfer to buses. Due to stiff competition from motor vehicles, the Glenwood extension was scaled back to Mountain View in 1932.

Between 1909 and 1913, the Hāmākua Division of the railroad was constructed to service the sugar mills north of Hilo. Unfortunately, the cost of building the Hāmākua extension essentially destroyed the Hilo Railroad, which was sold in 1916 and reorganized as the Hawaiʻi Consolidated Railway.

Targeting tourists to augment local passenger and raw sugar transport, the Hawaiʻi Consolidated Railway ran sightseeing specials under the name “Scenic Express.”

Not for the faint of heart, these trips included a stop on the trestles, where passengers disembarked to admire the outstanding scenery.

The Great Depression saw a decrease in business, but business picked up in the 1940s, when thousands of battle-weary troops packed the passenger cars en route to Camp Tarawa, in Waimea, to rest, recuperate and prepare for another campaign.

But the end was near for the Hawaiʻi Consolidated Railway. Early in the morning of April 1, 1946, a massive tsunami struck Hawaiʻi. The railroad line between Hilo and Paʻauilo suffered massive damage; bridges collapsed, trestles tumbled and one engine was literally swept off the tracks.

The expensive option of rebuilding the railway was rejected. Hawaiʻi Consolidated offered the rights-of-way, tracks and remaining bridges, trestles and tunnels to the Territory of Hawaiʻi, but the offer was refused, and finally the company sold the entire works to the Gilmore Steel and Supply Company.

Shortly thereafter, realizing its error, the Territory bought it all back.  Much of the current highway along the coast follows the route of the old railroad; five original railroad trestles have been converted into highway bridges.  (This route averaged better than one bridge per mile over its 40-mile length.)

At the time of the tsunami, plantations were already phasing out rail in favor of trucking cane from the field to the mill. It was inevitable that trucking would also replace rail as the primary means of transporting sugar to the harbor. The tsunami accelerated that transition.

Most sugar from Hāmākua was trucked to Hilo Harbor, although the Hāmākua Sugar Company continued to use its offshore cable landing at Honokaʻa until 1948.

A few remnants of the railway are still visible. Hawaiʻi Consolidated’s yards were in the Waiākea district of Hilo, where the roundhouse still stands today, next to the county swimming pool on Kalanikoa Street.

In Laupāhoehoe, a concrete platform remains where Hula dancers once performed for tourists. And the Laupāhoehoe Train Museum is housed in the former home of Mr. Stanley, the superintendent of maintenance.

Today, the Laupāhoehoe Train Museum and Visitors Center keeps the memory of Hawaiʻi Consolidated Railway alive.  Although the Laupāhoehoe Train Museum is among the state’s smallest museums, it attracts an estimated 5,000 visitors a year. The admission fee is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, and $2 for students. Special rates for tours are also offered.

The museum is open weekdays from 9 am to 4:30 pm and on weekends from 10 am to 2 pm. The address is 36-2377 Māmalahoa Highway, Laupāhoehoe, Hawaiʻi 96764.  (Lots of information here for Laupāhoehoe Train Museum and Ian Birnie.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

Filed Under: General, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Dillingham, Big Island, Hawaiian Consolidated Railway, Hilo Railroad, Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Hilo, Treaty of Reciprocity, Hamakua, Laupahoehoe, Laupahoehoe Train Museum

October 31, 2021 by Peter T Young 12 Comments

Kona Inn

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape was transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in 625-acres of wetland being drained and filled. With the San Souci, Moana and Royal Hawaiian in place, more hotel construction followed.

Except for Waikīkī, Hawaiʻi was largely undeveloped for tourism, other than small places like the Big Island’s Volcano House, which started to welcome guests in 1866.

In order for the Islands to attract even greater numbers of visitors, it was obvious that the neighbor islands would have to provide accommodations comparable to those on Oʻahu. (Allen)

With several smaller business-oriented hotels downtown Honolulu and spotted across the neighbor islands, on November 1, 1928, the Kona Inn in Kailua-Kona, the first neighbor island visitor-oriented resort hotel, opened with great fanfare. (Hibbard, Schmitt)

The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co originally intended to build the Kona Inn on the site of Huliheʻe Palace. The idea was met with considerable opposition and the Territory bought the Palace and the company erected its new hotel on a 4-acre parcel adjoining the former Royal Residence. (Hibbard)

A reported Star-Bulletin editorial noted on February 7, 1928, “The land of the first Kamehameha; the land which cradled the old Federation of the Hawaiian Islands; the storied land where an English ship’s captain was worshipped before natives found him human and slew him there, is to be opened at last to the comfort-loving tourists of the world. Soon after the completion of the hotel, the territory will have cause to be grateful to the foresight and enterprise of Inter-Island.”

When it opened, a description noted that “every room is equipped with connecting bath and toilet or connecting shower and toilet with hot and cold water.” (Shared facilities disappeared from most hotels soon after World War II.) (Schmitt)

Like many of the other early visitor-oriented accommodations, it was owned by a transportation company, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, under the guidance of Stanley Kennedy. In part, hotels served to increase their passenger load revenues.

He informed the newspapers, “We have the Volcano House in the Kilauea locality, and our new hotel in the Kona district on the end of the island makes an ideal (automobile) stopping place, to say nothing of the historical interest.”

This institutionalized tourism in Kona. It was an example of a ‘pioneer hotel;’ it was built at high standards and became an attraction in its own right and became “the spot in all Hawaiʻi where you can utterly, completely relax in surroundings of modern comfort.” (Thrum, Butler)

But the decision to build a visitor resort there was not without its cynics; numerous skeptics suggested it as “Kennedy’s Folly.”

They were wrong; it was a success.

Kona, and the Kona Inn, offered the opportunity for visitors to experience the “Kona Way of Life” – ambiance at almost a spiritual level. It became known as “a place to get a quiet rest amid soothing tropic surroundings but if you feel a bit lively one can find plenty to do.” (DeVisNorton, Butler)

Within two years, designer CW Dickey prepared plans to double its size. With that, the Advertiser reportedly noted, “It is expected that Kona Inn will have a capacity to accommodate even the heaviest weeks of travel. Since its opening, Kona Inn has proved to be a valuable asset to Inter-Island and the addition is a result of continuous patronage of tourists and local people.” (Hibbard)

The early success of the Kona Inn was short lived; like other businesses across the Islands and the continent, the Great Depression and then World War II decimated the operations at the Kona Inn. It was two-decades before any major hotels were built; however, after the war, recovery accelerated at an unimaginable and spectacular pace. (Hibbard)

In the late-1940s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co became the target of a federal anti-trust suit. The government won its case and broke the company into four companies: Inter-Island Steam, Overseas Terminals, Hawaiian Airlines and Inter-Island Resorts. (GardenIsland)

In the early-1950s, Walter D Child Sr became a director of Inter-Island Resorts, Ltd and later acquired the controlling interest in the company.

Child first came to the Islands in the early-1920s and worked with the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association. Following a decade at HSPA, he left sugar and entered the visitor industry, first acquiring and operating the Blaisdell Hotel in downtown Honolulu in 1938; then, he formed a Hui and purchased the Naniloa in Hilo.

The fortunes of the company rose along with the growth in the visitor industry, and Inter-Island Resorts began to grow into a chain, starting with the Naniloa, the Kona Inn and the Kaua‘i Inn (at Kalapaki Beach.) In those early days of Hawai‘i tourism, Inter-Island Resorts became a pioneer in selling accommodations on the neighbor islands. (hawaii-edu)

When Walter Sr. suffered a debilitating stroke in 1955, Dudley Child succeeded his father as president, at age 26. Dudley was no stranger to the visitor industry; at age seven, he was running switch boards and elevators and later studied hotel management at Cornell University.

Dudley’s first big move came on July 1, 1960 with the opening of the Kauai Surf on beachfront property on Kalapakī Beach. Child at the time called the Surf a “whole new philosophy in Neighbor Island hotels.” This led to the Islands-wide “Surf Resorts” joining the Kona Inn under the Inter-Island banner. (The company later opened the Kona Surf (Keauhou) in 1960 and the Maui Surf (Kāʻanapali Beach in 1971.) In 1971, the company formed the “Islander Inns,” in a 3-way partnership of Inter-Island Resorts, Continental Airlines and Finance Factors.)

In the mid-1970s, growing competition from the big hotel chains affected their business; direct flights to Hilo from the continent stopped, killed the occupancy rates at the Naniloa; later, a United Airlines strike sent Islands-wide occupancy levels plummeting; an economic downturn added to the woes. The high-leveraged Inter-Island Resorts had to sell.

In 1976, the Kona Inn, forerunner to the Inter-Island chain, was sold and overnight guest accommodations were stopped; it was converted into a shopping center in 1980. Chris Hemmeter bought the Maui and Kauai Surf resorts; ultimately, piece by piece, all properties were sold. (All photos in this album are from Hawaiʻi State Archives and are all from the 1930s.)

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Buildings, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Kona, Inter-Island Steam Navigation, Hulihee Palace, Hawaiian Airlines, Inter-Island Resorts, Dudley Child, Big Island, Surf Resorts, Naniloa, Hawaii, Kona Inn, Hawaii Island

April 4, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Surf versus Palms

A couple pioneers in neighbor island hospitality stand out in Hawaiʻi’s early fledgling visitor industry. At the time, emphasis and facilities were focused in Waikīkī. However, two locally-grown chains saw the opportunities and put their attention on the neighbor Islands.

Attention to the neighbor islands was not their only similarity. Each started as locally-owned and family-run. They grew to provide more than just a place to sleep and eat – their operations included tours and travel. Sadly, they are both gone.

The first, Inter-Island Resorts under the Child family, grew into a number of “Surf Resorts” on the neighbor islands; the other, Island Holidays, under the Guslanders, had several neighbor island “Palms Resorts.”

Here’s some background on each, as well as the connection that existed between them.

Walter Dudley Child, Sr. came to Hawaiʻi in the early-1920s; he first worked in the agriculture industry with the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters Association (HSPA.) After a decade, he left HSPA and entered the hotel industry, purchasing the Blaisdell Hotel in downtown Honolulu; he later bought the Naniloa Hotel in Hilo.

In the early-1950s, Child became a director of Inter-Island Resorts, Ltd and later acquired the controlling interest in the company.

The fortunes of the company rose along with the growth in the visitor industry, and Inter-Island Resorts began to grow into a chain, starting with the Naniloa, the Kona Inn and the Kauaʻi Inn (at Kalapakī Beach.) In those early days of Hawaiʻi tourism, Inter-Island Resorts became a pioneer in selling accommodations on the neighbor islands. (hawaii-edu)

When Walter Sr. suffered a debilitating stroke in 1955, Dudley Child succeeded his father as president. Dudley’s first big move came on July 1, 1960 with the opening of the Kauaʻi Surf on beachfront property on Kalapakī Beach. Child at the time called the Surf a “whole new philosophy in Neighbor Island hotels.”

This led to the Islands-wide “Surf Resorts” joining the Kona Inn under the Inter-Island banner. (The company later opened the Kona Surf (Keauhou) in 1960 and the Maui Surf (Kāʻanapali Beach in 1971.) In 1971, the company formed the “Islander Inns,” in a 3-way partnership of Inter-Island Resorts, Continental Airlines and Finance Factors.)

Dudley Child and Inter-Island Resorts understood and responded to the changing nature of the growing visitor industry. The company acquired/formed Trade-Wind Tours, Gray Line Tours and Island U-Drive, and developed close alliances with other major travel companies, providing a full range of travel services for Hawai‘i visitors. (hawaii-edu)

One of the significant contributions of Dudley Child and Inter-Island Resorts was the development of full service beach properties on the Neighbor Islands in the 1960s and 70s, which stimulated statewide tourism.

Inter-Island Resorts eventually sold its properties to other operators, but the vision of its founding family was instrumental in the development of Hawai‘i tourism. (hawaii-edu)

Lyle Lowell “Gus” Guslander, started in the hotel business as a bellhop and cook. After studying hotel operations at Cornell University, Guslander was in management at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, eventually working his way up to become assistant manager.

In 1947, Guslander came to Hawaiʻi and worked at the Niumalu Hotel for Walter Child, Sr. Both were characterized with short fuses and it didn’t take long for a disagreement to come between the two and Child “canned” him. Guslander moved to the Moana Hotel as assistant manager.

Then Guslander set out on his own; he initially leased, then purchased the 24-room Coco Palms Lodge on Kauaʻi – and later expanded it to nearly 400-rooms, naming it, simply, Coco Palms. He hired Grace Buscher to run it; he later married her.

Grace Guslander and Coco Palms are synonymous. She was an innovator – Hawaiians traditionally used torches as a light source when walking or fishing at night. But it wasn’t until the 1950s and Guslander that it became common to stick torches in the ground and pioneered the torch-lighting ceremony, which hotels throughout the islands eventually copied. (AP, Seattle Times, September 12, 2012)

Grace Guslander was later recognized for her accomplishments (she won a worldwide title of Hotel Manager of the Year in 1965 and in 1979 was the first woman to win the Man of the Year award at the International Hotel, Motel and Restaurant show in New York.)

Movies and television shows were filmed at the Coco Palms – Elvis Presley filmed the finale of his film “Blue Hawaiʻi” there in 1961, immortalizing its lush coconut groves and picturesque lagoons.

They also had closer ties with that industry – “Film stars John Wayne, Fed McMurray and Red Skelton have bought into a hotel company which operates three hotels in the outer Hawaiian Islands …”

“… the three own 18 percent of the Lyle Guslander Island Holiday Hotels Co. Hotels owned by the company are the Kona Palms, Maui Palms and Coco Palms.” (Independent Press-Telegram, July 24, 1955)

As the Coco Palms became successful, Gus expanded his operations eventually acquiring hotels on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui and the Big Island of Hawaiʻi under the Island Holidays chain, with several of the hotels under the “Palms” brand.

Guslander also recognized, with his growing hotel operations, the need to expand in service and formed Island Holidays Tours. He had help from Myrtle Chun Lee.

In 1969, Guslander sold his operations to Amfac Inc and stayed on as an Amfac vice president until his retirement in 1978. In 1992, Hurricane Iniki severely damaged Coco Palms Hotel, several attempts have been made to repair and revive it. Gus died in 1984 at the age of 69, and Grace died in 2000 at 76.

In the 1950s and 60s, these two chains pioneered neighbor island hotel development – and for a while, competed head-to-head. Later, the mega-multi-national chains – Sheraton, Hilton, etc – entered the Hawaiʻi market.

A few other island hotel chains were/are also part of the Hawaiʻi hotel experience, i.e. Outrigger, Aston and others – (many were more Waikīkī focused) but I’ll save those for other stories.

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Coco Palms
Coco Palms-Outrigger Bed with its Fishnet Bedspread, and Paddle Lights in the Wailua Kai Wing
Coco_Palms-(kamaaina56)
Coco_Palms
Coco_Palms-films
Coco_Palms-Hotel
Coco_Palms-Lagoon
Coco_Palms-Lagoon-postcard
Coco_Palms-map-1981
Coco_Palms-postcard
Coco_Palms-shell sink-1970s
Coco-Palms -(kamaaina56)-c1958
Coco-Palms Lodge-became_Coco_Palms_Lobby-(kamaaina56)-c1952
Coco-Palms Queen's Bath Pool-(kamaaina56)-c1955
Coco-Palms-(kamaaina56)
Coco-Palms
Coco-Palms_Lodge-became_Coco_Palms_Lagoon-(kamaaina56)-c1952
Coco-Palms_Lodge-Blue Hawaii Room-(kamaaina56)-c1960s
Coco-Palms_Lodge-Lagoon_Lanai_Room-(kamaaina56)-c1960s
Coco-Palms-postcard-1980s
Inter-Island Resorts-ash tray
Inter-Island Resorts-brochure
Inter-Island Resorts-matchbook cover
Inter-Island Resorts-silverware
Inter-Island Resorts-stock_certificate
Kauai Surf Hotel
Kauai Surf Hotel
Kauai Surf
Kauai Surf
Kauai Surf Hotel Kalapaki Beach, HI
Kauai Surf Hotel Kalapaki Beach, HI
Surf Lanai Guest Room, Kauai Surf Hotel Kalapaki Beach
Surf Lanai Guest Room, Kauai Surf Hotel Kalapaki Beach
Kona Palms-(kamaaina56)
Kona Palms-matches-(kamaaina56)-1962
Kona_Palms-(kamaaina56)
Kona Surf Hotel
Kona Surf Hotel
Kona Surf
Kona Surf
Aerial View Of The Kona Surf Hotel
Aerial View Of The Kona Surf Hotel
Kona Surf Hotel On The Big Island Of Hawaii Honolulu
Kona Surf Hotel On The Big Island Of Hawaii Honolulu
Lobby of Kona Surf Hotel
Lobby of Kona Surf Hotel
Maui_Palms-(kamaaina56)
Maui_Palms-brochure-(kamaaina56)-c1956
Maui_Palms-entry-(kamaaina56)
Maui_Palms-poolside-(kamaaina56)
The Maui Surf Hotel
The Maui Surf Hotel
Maui_Surf-(vintagehawaii)
Maui Surf Hotel
Maui Surf Hotel
Maui Surf Kaanapali Beach
Maui Surf Kaanapali Beach
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
The Naniloa Hotel Hilo
The Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Naniloa Resort Complex Hilo
Naniloa Resort Complex Hilo
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Naniloa Hotel Hilo
Entrance Naniloa Hotel - Hilo, Hawaii
Entrance Naniloa Hotel – Hilo, Hawaii

Filed Under: Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: Dudley Child, Big Island, Surf Resorts, Palms, Grace Guslander, Gus Guslander, Hawaii, Island Holidays, Hawaii Island, Maui, Kauai, Inter-Island Resorts

March 31, 2020 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

CCC

After a decade of national prosperity in the Roaring Twenties, Americans faced a national crisis after the Crash of 1929. The Great Depression saw an unemployment rate of more than twenty-five percent in the early 1930s. (pbs)

As a means to make work, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) succeeded 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)

The purpose of the CCC and its predecessors was to provide employment in forestry and conservation work. It “brought together two wasted resources, the young men and the land, in an effort to save both.” (NPS)

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a program developed by Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933) at the end of the Great Depression. During FDR’s inaugural address to Congress in 1933, he told the lawmakers in his first message on Unemployment Relief …

“I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps, to be used in simple work, not interfering with normal employment, and confining itself to forestry, the prevention of soil erosion, flood control and similar projects.”

From FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933, to the induction of the first CCC enrollee, only 37 days had elapsed. The goals of the CCC according to the law were: “1) To provide employment (plus vocational training) and 2) To conserve and develop ‘the natural resources of the United States.’”

By the end of the third year, there were 2,158-CCC camps in the nation and 1,600,000-men had participated in the program. (NPS)

Although the Civilian Conservation Corps began on the US mainland in 1933, “it was not until one year later, [on] April 1, 1934, that the first units of this Corps began work here in Hawaii under the direction of the Territorial Division of Forestry”. The Civilian Conservation Corps was defined by nine Corps regions. The Territories of Alaska and Hawaiʻi were part of the Ninth Corps Area. (NPS)

The goal of the CCC was to provide young men with jobs during a time when many were unemployed, times were hard, and starvation was a concern. (NPS)

It was estimated that 8 to 10 percent of Hawaiʻi’s young men were enrolled by the Civilian Conservation Corps during its tenure from 1934 to 1942. There were CCC camps on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauai, the island of Hawaiʻi and Molokai. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, NPS)

Each CCC enrollee was paid $30 a month and was provided with food, clothing, shelter and free medical care (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 18, 1942). Of that amount, $25 dollars a month was automatically deducted and sent home to their families. (NPS)

There were five primary CCC camps built in Hawaiʻi (the CCC Compound at Kokeʻe State Park, the most intact today; what is now a YMCA camp at Keʻanae on Maui; a research facility on the Big Island; Hawaiian Homes Property with only two buildings remaining on the Big Island; and part of Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa on Oʻahu.) Other temporary campgrounds were spotted in work areas around the Islands.

Their projects were numerous and included road and building construction, erosion control, masonry, firefighting, trail maintenance, vegetation and insect control among many others. One of the main goals of the CCC was to renew the nation’s decimated forests, so lots of tree planting went on. (NPS)

Within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park (then known as Hawaiʻi National Park,) as well as many other parks and forests, much of the work that the CCC did is still evident and still in use. From the research offices to the hiking trails, the CCC laid the foundations for much of the infrastructure and roads that we see and use today in the Park. (NPS)

The old Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in Kokeʻe State Park on Kauai is a complex of eleven wood frame buildings surrounding an open grassed quadrangle. These buildings were constructed in 1935 and are sheltered on three sides by koa/ʻōhia forest. (Hui O Laka/Kōkeʻe Museum use and operate within these structures, today.) The CCC at Kokeʻe provided forest management, building trails, roads and fences, as well as planting over a million trees on Kauaʻi.

In 1934, the CCC took over the Keʻanae prison camp (initially built to house prisoners who worked at building the Hāna Highway.) CCC assembled men from other parts of Maui and other islands to plant thousands of eucalyptus and other introduced trees throughout the Hāna coast. (McGregor) Eventually, in 1949, the camp was acquired by the YMCA. Part of the land area continues to be used as a roadway base yard.

The CCC took over the Territorial foresters’ camp at Keanakolu (on the side of Mauna Kea, near Humuʻula on the Big Island) and expanded it into a field camp. The camp consisted of a bunkhouse that housed as many as 40 teenage boys, a mess hall, foreman’s quarters, and other service buildings. Another foreman’s quarters was added next to the koa cabin. (Mills)

Major duties included maintenance of trails, developing the Mana/Keanakolu wagon road into an auto road (placing cobble stones to form a single-lane road,) construction of fences to keep cattle and sheep out of the forest, and the planting of a variety of forest and fruit trees.

In all, over 20-varieties of pear, 25-varieties of plum and 60-varieties of apple were planted. (Mills) By the 1940s, the CCC camp at Keanakolu was converted into a field station for territorial rangers and is now used by DLNR.

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)

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CCC camp in Haleakala Crater-(NPS)-1933-1941
CCC at Hawaii Volcanoes Park
Civilian Conservation Corps Enrollers Marching In The Kamehameha Day Parade In Hilo-195455pv-1934
Construction Work, Rock-Lined Ditch, Desert Hill. Hawaii Volcanoes-195457pv-1934
Camp_Keanae-(Starr)
CCC enrollees working in the field. NPS Photo-Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park archives
Halemauu_Trail-Haleakala
Franklin Delano Roosevelt At The Rim Of Halemaumau Crafter-1934
CCC workers in Haleakala Crater-(NPS)-1933-1941
CCC builds stone walls along Crater Rim Drive-(NPS)-March 1934
CCC enrollees standing at attention. NPS Photo-Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park archives
Kamehameha Day Parade in Hilo, 1934. NPS Photo-Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park archives
Camp_Keanae
Camp_Keanae-sign
Camp_Keanae-YMCA
CCC_pillow
Kauai-Kokee-CCC-camp-(NPS)-1930s
DSC09284
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Keanae-YMCA-Camp-former_CCC-location-map
Keanae-YMCA-Camp-former_CCC
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-DLNR's-Facilities-Mauna_Kea_Keanakolu-Hawaii
One of the many legacies built by the CCC boys, Kīlauea Visitor Center today-NPS
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-DLNR's-Facilities-Mauna_Kea-Hawaii-(typical_day)
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-DLNR's-Facilities-Mauna_Kea-Hawaii
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-DLNR's-Facilities-Mauna_Kea-Keanakolu-Hawaii
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-Kokee_State_Park-Kauai-(red_roofs)
Prior_CCC_Camp-now-YMCA_Camp_Keanae-Maui-(lower_left)
Hawaii_Volcanoes_National_Park-Roads-summary
Kauai-Kokee-CCC-camp-from_original_drawings-(NPS)-1930s
Kauai-Kokee-CCC-camp-location-map(NPS)
kokee-ccc-camp-map
Kokee-State-Park-Trail-Map
Overview of Crater Rim Drive - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Overview of Hilina Pali Road - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Overview of Mauna Loa Road - Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Haleakala_Park-map

Filed Under: General, Economy Tagged With: Kokee, Hawaii, Oahu, Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Big Island, Keanae, Civilian Conservation Corps, Keanakolu

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Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

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