David Howard Hitchcock | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 5, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Crossing the Bog

Hawaiian bogs occur primarily in montane zones as isolated small patches on flat or gently sloping topography in high rainfall areas in cloud forests and other wet forests on all of the high islands between 3,500-5,500 feet elevation.

These bogs also occur in the subalpine zone at 7,446 feet elevation on Maui, and as a low-elevation bog at 2,120 fee) on Kauai. Soils remain saturated on a shallow to deep layer of peat, underlain by an impervious basal clay layer that impedes drainage.

Two bogs are believed to have formed in former small lakes, one along the Wailuku River, Hawai‘i (Treeless bog), the other the subalpine bog on East Maui (Flat Top bog). The low-elevation bog on Kauai occurs on shallow, poorly drained acidic peat. (NatureServe Explorer)

The Treeless Bog was a large, open bog that lacked woody vegetation. Annual precipitation in this part of the island ranges from approximately 100-200 inches per year, but we had no rainfall data for the individual sites. (Wakeley, 1994)

All of the following is a description crossing the bog by Wm E. Oleson (with D Howard Hitchcock), October 20, 1884, as noted in the Guest Book from Pua Akala, typed by June Humme …

I left Hilo for the purpose of exploring the bed of the Wailuku, and for a tramp for health reasons.

Rode on ‘Grit’ from Hilo to Fuka Maui falls, sending the horse back to Hilo, and starting from that point on foot with four strong school boys, Kapewa from Waipio, Aina from Kohala, Haalilio from Waimanu, and Sidney Smith from Kaawaloa.

We packed our food and clothing on our backs. At noon we struck a trail into the woods above the point where the ‘56 lava stream came into the river, and after walking an hour or more, came to what I suppose was the Honolii stream.

We worked up-stream with great difficulty, water very deep, banks very high, and the land on both sides quite swampy.

At last we left the stream and followed my pocket compass in a southerly direction right through the swamp. Night came on with us when in the boggiest place and we camped under the lee of a fallen tree.

It had rained all the afternoon and we hadn’t a dry thing in the company. After vainly trying to light a fire, using up all but three matches, we crouched down in the rain and cold with a vivid realization that we were out on a tramp.

Next morning early we kept on through the swamp and in half an hour came to the Wailuku. If I were an Englishman I would say that the swamp is the ‘nastiest’ place on Hawaii.

It is like a jungle, and one feels that it takes about a minute a step to get through the tangle of ie ie and to pull one’s feet out of the bog.

If one wants to find out what a victory of mind over matter is, he can find no better proof at the adage is true and in what sense it is true, than by an hour’s pull through this miserable swamp.

We stripped and partially dried our clothes on the rocks of the Wailuku, and at about eight oclock started up river with new courage and an emphatic purpose not to leave the stream to follow the most inviting trail.

At night we made a fern hut and then took our three matches and stood around to see what the result would be of their lighting. No, 1 lighted but burned out before igniting the dry fern leaves. No. 2 wouldn’t light at all. No. 3 made a sickly sputter, and then went out.

We turned in, with wet clothes again, but with the mountain wind blowing right at us, so that this second night was not exactly like unto the first! To cap the climax it poured torrents all night long, and we huddled up like frogs, each in his own pool, and waited for the day.

In the morning we wrung about a bucket of water out of each blanket, and something less from each garment, and shivering and rheumatic we started again for the source of the river. We did some famous climbing, hanging by finger-nails over undesirable places, and ’chinning’ it in one especially difficult place.

Garments failed to stand the strain of so much soaking, and stretching, and gradually separated, so that on finally reaching the edge of the woods, and the source of the river, we felt quite unpresentable.

Three of us went to work on a hut for the night’s camping, getting wood for our fire and grass for our bedding, while the other two went on to Puakala for matches and a supply of edibles, ours having suffered from being too much diluted.

It was not long before Mr. Edw. Hitchcock with extra mules came over and took our entire party to Puakala, for the first time in three days showing us a bright fire and giving us the luxury of dry clothes.

There are occasions when a man doesn’t care whether his clothes and slippers were made for another man, and this was such an occasion.

I am profoundly thankful that inasmuch as there is a Wailuku river and an adjoining swamp, there is also such a hospitable home as Puakala, and such good Samaritans as the Hitchcocks. The original Samaritan just happened across the needy man in the parable, but this Hitchcock Samaritan came out with horses to search for the needy ones.

One thing I want to caution all hapless travelers through the swamp against, and that is, don’t let the host roast you out with his rousing fires, when once you reach Puakala.

The contrast is too overcoming, and after such an experience one needs to get used to fires, as the starving man does to food before he can get back to his normal condition of enduring ordinary supplies of each.

My impressions are that there is such a thing as the Wailuku River, and that it has one source about a mile to the southwest of Puakala, that it has some three or four other sources to the south extending as far as Hale Aloha …

… but that I shall probably never trace any of the other sources unless I get a government appointment and can afford to do the job by proxy. (Wm E. Oleson with D Howard Hitchcock, October 20, 1884, as noted in the Guest Book from Pua Akala, typed by June Humme)

July 13, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pua Akala

The Polynesian settlers of Hawai‘i brought with them their primary plants used for food and other uses, and four animals, the moa (chicken), ‘īlio (dog), pua‘a (pig), and, inadvertently, the ‘iole (rat). The first three animals were the primary meat of the Hawaiians.

It wasn’t until the arrival of Captain Vancouver in 1793 that cattle were introduced to Hawai‘i. Vancouver dropped one bull and one cow at Kawaihae, and took the remaining five cows to Kealakekua as a gift for King Kamehameha I. The bull died, so it was lucky that a year later Captain Vancouver returned with more cattle, four bulls and eight cows.

A 10 year kapu (taboo) was placed on introduced cattle to feed on the rich green grasslands of Hawai‘i Island. These first cattle, or bullocks, were longhorn cattle and soon grew very wild. The first “ranchers” were bullock hunters, who rode to the uplands of Mauna Kea to shoot cattle or trap them in pits. (DLNR) The meat was used for food and the hides for export.

By the 1820s, there were as many as 30,000 head of cattle on the islands. Historically, agriculture has played a large role in the economy of the island, and the Islands as a whole. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the main industries were sugar cultivation and cattle ranching. (FWS)

As early as 1831, portions of the land on the slopes of Mauna Kea and neighboring forest lands were being worked by Daniel Castle; and, later, by the Castle and Hitchcock brothers for lumber milling and bullock hunting operations. (Kumu Pono)

The Hitchcock brothers, David Howard Hitchcock and Edward Griffin Hitchcock, were the sons of Harvey Rexford and Rebecca (Howard) Hitchcock, American Protestant missionaries who arrived with the 5^th Company of ABCFM missionaries.

In 1875, the Hitchcock brothers purchased the ‘O‘ōkala sugar plantation. In addition, DH Hitchcock was a land surveyor whose work focused not only on parcels of land being sold, but also on land divisions.

In 1883, the Hitchcock brothers built a house at Puakala at the upper boundary of the ahupua‘a, described as being “heavily timbered with ohia, koa, and other Hawaiian woods. Wild cattle and hogs abound in the upper woods”. (Tuggle)

“The house is built almost entirely of Koa sawed in the neighborhood … it was put up by Messrs. Devereaux and Tenny, and was finished in July”. (Pua ‘Ākala Guest Book, Oct 16, 1883)

“But Puakala – what of that? It is situated in the hollow of an amphi-theatre of hills. The hills to the west are mostly barren of trees, but well covered … Puaakala grows the finest of koa wood found on the islands. It is far handsomer than mahogany, some of it beautifully dark, some knotted and some curly.”

“The cattle are fast destroying the koa trees with other trees of the original forests … Of this wood, then, the house is built. The boards were sawed by hand and excellently well done, straight and true.”

“There has been no attempt at planing the lumber except for the doors, and this little handwork sends the polish out and shows the hard smooth grain of the wood. The wide boards are battened to keep out the cold, but cracks enough are left to keep the air always fresh and sweet.”

“At one end of the living-room is a capacious stone fire-place 3 x 4 feet. The opposite end of the building is divided into two sleeping rooms.”

“But the sleeping capacity of the house is not limited to these two bed-rooms, for there is an attic and the living room has lounges and a cot-bed to be used in emergencies. In the fire-place a fire is kept burning day and night.” (Paradise of the Pacific, January 1890)

The private koa-plank cabin known as Pua ‘Ākala (also referred to as Puakala) was used as an aristocratic hunting retreat. (Mills) The cabin was in the area known as Puakala or Kapuakala, a place at the upper edge of Papa‘ikou and is also the name of a watercourse in the area. The Hitchcock family mountain home eventually became known as Pua ‘Ākala Ranch. (Tuggle)

When staying at their mountain home at Pua ‘Ākala, the Hitchcocks hunted wild cattle and pigs, and “the occasional bills of fare written in the [guest] book by appreciative guests always included roast beef, usually pork as well”. (Tuggle)

As described by Kingdom land surveyor, ED Baldwin, “we … headed for Puu Oo, where we found the trail leading around the mountain towards Waimea, which we followed, reaching Puakala – Hitchcock’s mountain house – at five o’clock P.M.”

“This house is sixteen and a half miles in a direct line from Hilo, but about thirty-five by the trail. The Hitchcocks had kindly invited us to make this point our headquarters.”

“What a surprise it was to find, at this distance, such a large comfortable house, built of solid koa, all of which had been sawed out by hand! It was surely mountain luxury to lay off in comfortable rocking chairs before the large, open, old-fashioned fireplace. The elevation at this point is 6,325 feet. …”

“We lived high and well at Puakala; neither did our six cooks spoil the broth; but a specialty from each one helped to swell the bill of fare each meal. One made such fine biscuit, another such soup, another veal pies, another oyster fritters, and another still hit the climax by making akala (wild raspberry) pies.” (Baldwin, Kumupono)

An 1887 entry in the guest book of their mountain house recounts: “A series of hunts ⎯ all successful ⎯ gave the usual spice to the stay here of a short nine days.”

“No thrilling encounters with wild bulls this time but several racy runs after cattle resulted in a total of four bulls, three cows, three yearlings, killed ⎯ two heifers and two small bulls captured ⎯ (one since escaped) with a boar or lean sow shot here and there.” (D Howard Hitchcock, Tuggle)

By the end of the century, there were at least two major ranches in the upper Hakalau Forest area. Kukaiau Ranch was started by Charles Notley in 1887 and was shortly thereafter sold to John M. Horner. By 1929, it covered 35,000 acres between 2,300 to 7,600 feet.

The other ranch was Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch, which covered 23,000 acres between 5,000 to 6,500 feet. John Baker started the ranch in 1896. (Tuggle)

In 1902, William ‘Willie’ Herbert Shipman secured leases on the lands of Pāpa‘ikou, Makahanaloa and other Hilo District lands, which were incorporated into the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō ranching operation. (Kumu Pono)

WH Shipman was born on December 17, 1854, at Lahaina, Maui to William Cornelius Shipman and Jane Stobie Shipman. Willie’s parents had signed up as missionaries destined for Micronesia. They stopped over at Lāhaina, Maui because his mother was due to deliver within 2 months. His parents then took a mission station in Kaʻū, Hawaiʻi, based in Waiʻōhinu.

In 1920, WH Shipman, leasing Pi‘ihonua and operating out of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō, extended his lease on Makahanaloa, and added the uplands of Pauka‘a and Pāpa‘ikou (the Pua‘ākala house and ranch of the Hitchcocks), to his Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch operation. (Kumu Pono)

Pua ‘Ākala Ranch served as a satellite operation to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch. (Roy Shipman Blackshear, Tuggle) WH Shipman, Ltd sold its interest in the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō parcel in the 1970s. (Kumu Pono)

Pua ‘Ākala cabin and the surrounding property are now part of the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge notes “The cabin is well-suited as a location for interpreting the refuge’s forest resources and Hawaii’s unique history.”

“The cabin’s ties with the land survey and divisions, missionary families, politicians, hunting, Koa forests, birds of the forest, and current management strategies provides a wealth of interpretive materials. It is frequently visited by special use permit holders as they lead guided tours on the refuge.” (Messer)

David Howard (D Howard) Hitchcock, son of David Howard (David) Hitchcock and grandson of American missionaries, has ties to Pua ‘Ākala. He is perhaps one of the most important and loved artists from Hawaiʻi. Although born and raised in Hawaiʻi, he left the islands to study art in San Francisco and Paris.

Before his formal training abroad, Hitchcock was inspired by other Volcano School painters and was encouraged by Jules Tavernier to endeavor life as an artist. Hitchcock admits to following Tavernier and Joseph Strong around, ‘like a parasite.’ (NPS HAVO)

“Hitchcock was early hailed as ‘our island painter’ and his early canvases met an enthusiastic reception in Hilo and Honolulu. The Honolulu press commented on them at length. His early work, up to his European trip in 1890, shows great indebtedness to (Jules) Tavernier…” (Forbes)

He spoke fluent Hawaiian and traveled extensively throughout the islands, documenting the natural and cultural features in a sketch book and photographs, which he converted into paintings. During his long career he completed more than 1200 paintings, published 700 photographs. (Messer)

D Howard Hitchcock’s lasting mark at Pua ‘Ākala Ranch was a “charming study of akala berries” on a door which survives, well-preserved, in the possession of one of the Shipman descendants. (Roy Shipman Blackshear, Tuggle)

As described 1922 by Charmian London, wife of Jack London, “Puaakala, roofed in red corrugated iron, was otherwise even more picturesque, more hand-made in appearance than the PuuOO eyrie, even the washing-bowl and the bath-tub being dubbed out of koa. …”

“That night, when I shut the koa panel that was my bedroom door, I became aware that Gauguin had not been the only young painter who left his mark upon wood.”

“I found on the inner side an oil, manifestly not new, of a spray of akala berries and leaves. It had been done … by Howard Hitchcock, who has since attracted much attention by his fine canvases of Hawaii.” (Our Hawaii, London) (D Howard Hitchcock painted it on July 13, 1885.)

Click the following link for additional information on Pua ‘Ākala:

Click to access Pua_Akala-Hakalau_Forest_National_Wildlife_Refuge.pdf

July 10, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Harvey Rexford Hitchcock

Harvey Rexford Hitchcock, the oldest son of eleven children of David (a shoemaker and author of several books) and Sarah (Swan) Hitchcock, was born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, March 13, 1800.

Hitchcock joined the Congregational church in Great Barrington, January 5, 1817. He entered Williams College as a Junior in 1826; he graduated on September 3, 1828.

After graduation, Hitchcock studied theology at Auburn Seminary, where he was graduated in 1831. On August 26, 1831, he married Miss Rebecca Howard of Auburn, New York.

Within a couple of months, he sailed as a missionary with the Fifth Company of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. They sailed aboard the Averick, leaving New Bedford, November 26, 1831 and arriving in Honolulu, May 17, 1832.

Others in the Fifth Company included Rev. William P Alexander, Richard Armstrong, John S Emerson, Cochran Forbes, David B Lyman (Hitchcock’s college classmate,) Lorenzo Lyons, Ephraim Spaulding (their wives and others.)

He was assigned to Molokai and established the first permanent Mission Station on the Island at Kaluaʻaha in 1832. Rebecca Hitchcock noted shortly after their arrival that there was not a foreigner on the island and no horses except for a lame one belonging to a chief. (Curtis)

In 1834, the Hitchcocks received additional help with the arrival of Rev and Mrs Lowell Smith (Smith was a college mate of Hitchcock – who arrived on the Sixth Company in 1833.)

The expanding mission was growing close to 500 members and two outstations, one in the east and one in the west, had been established.

Smith gave this description of the Island and its people: “The people reside mostly on the eastern part of the island, on the north and south sides; but the greater number are on the latter.” (The estimated Island population was about 6,000.)

“Their houses, many of them, are no more than five or six feet long by four wide and five feet from the ridge-pole to the ground; and these are not unfrequently the habitations of two, three, and sometimes more individuals of both sexes.” Each is “But one apartment, no floor, no window, no chimney, except the humble door at which you enter.”

“The name of the elation is Kaluaʻaha; it is owned by the best and one of the most pious high chiefs on the islands, who desired us to take it as our station, assuring us at the same time, that she would act the part of a parent to us. We have fenced off about two acres of land as a door yard and garden, and might have extended our limits much farther had we chosen. “

“There is a delightful cluster of shade trees before our door, which was formerly a favorite resort of the chiefs; and under it, for several successive weeks, we met for the worship … On our arrival, there was no house of any importance, and few of any kind in the vicinity.”

“During the year, however, many comfortable houses have been built, with sleeping apartments, and other accommodations which give to them an air of neatness and comfort hitherto unknown on the island.” (Smith; Missionary Herald)

Hitchcock preached his first sermon in Hawaiian the last week of September 1832 in the open air. In the Molokai Station Report, Hitchcock wrote, “in about two months a meeting house was finished 30 feet by 120.” It was probably built of thatch. (HABS)

“A spacious school-house is nearly completed, so that the station begins to assume the appearance of a small village.” (Smith; Missionary Herald)

Nearby was Pukoʻo; it had a natural break in the reef with a perfect beach for landing canoes. Hitchcock’s early church records often mentioned this location as the most convenient for travel to Lāhainā. (Curtis)

In a January 1840 letter from Hitchcock, we get a glimpse of his daily life, “I hope to continue without interruption my present system of labors; that is, to hold a Bible class Sabbath morning of twenty-five girls, preach at ten o’clock, have an adult Sabbath-school at noon, and preach again at four.”

“My week-day labors are as follows, – a Bible class daily with the above-mentioned company of females, who are committing Matthew to memory at the rate of six verses a day. I spend some time with them in teaching singing.”

“On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I preach at sunrise, and preach regularly on Wednesday afternoon. Saturday evening I have a lecture for the church. Once in two weeks on Friday I address the men’s benevolent society, or catechise them on the New Testament; and on Tuesday have a Bible class of adults.”

“I make it a point, as far as possible, to visit some parts of the parish daily, and hold direct religious conversation with the people. In these visits I am happy to say that I am received with respect, and listened to by the people. Rarely have I gone to one house and commenced conversation, without drawing around me others, particularly the aged.”

“My miscellaneous labors consist in conversing with those who resort to my study for the purpose, and giving out medicine for the sick. I am trying also to crowd in a weekly lecture on the most important points in theology, designed for several of the most pious and intelligent members of our church, in order to enable them to become more efficient helpers in the great work.” (Hitchcock, Missionary Herald)

In the mid-1840s, they were working on building a new church; “Our main work the past year has been the erection of a permanent house of worship … Preparing most of the timber and getting it onto the ground from the distance of ten miles or more, procuring many of the stones for building …”

It was dedicated on April 3, 1844; “The house has been completed nearly two months. It is 100 feet long by 50 broad outside; walls 2-1/2 feet thick and 18 feet high. …. The thatching is pilimaoli. It leaks but little; has 4 doors three of which are 7 feet high and about as wide…” (Hitchcock; HABS) (Remnants of the church are still there; in 2009, a new roof was built inside the walls of the existing church.)

Hitchcock died August 29, 1855 … “for 23 years he has labored with unusual devotion, zeal and earnestness to enlighten, purify and elevate the people … He lived to see his labors crowned with wonderful success.”

“His great work was indeed the preaching of the gospel; yet in the infant state of the people, he had to superintend every thing, schools were to be created and managed; the sick, the aged and the destitute to be cared for; civil officers to be advised, the whole people clad and civilized and their souls saved.”

“He gave himself heartily to his work and made an unreserved consecration. … He did desire to live longer, not however for any selfish end, but that he might preach the gospel.” (The Friend, September 29, 1855) (His grandson was David Howard Hitchcock, the notable artist in Hawaiʻi.)

September 14, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Volcano School

In early nineteenth-century France, Château de Fontainebleau, the Forest of Fontainebleau, became a sanctuary for the growing leisure classes, for whom a train ride from Paris was an easy jaunt.

Called “the branch-office of Italy”, the Forest of Fontainebleau spread across 42,000 acres of dense woods with meadows, marshes, gorges, and sandy clearings. Quiet hamlets ringed the forest.

It was to one of those villages, Barbizon, that artists journeyed beginning in the 1820s, with a promise of room and board at the newly established inn Auberge Ganne. The Auberge provided lodging for these pioneering painters of nature came to be called the Barbizon School and they collectively shared a recognition of landscape as an independent subject. (Met Museum)

In America, the Hudson River School was America’s first true artistic fraternity. Its name was coined to identify a group of New York City-based landscape painters that emerged about 1850 under the influence of the English émigré Thomas Cole (1801–1848) and flourished until about the time of the Centennial.

Several of the artists built homes on the Hudson River. The term “Hudson River School” in the 1870s fairly characterizes the artistic body, its New York headquarters, its landscape subject matter, and often literally its subject. (Met Museum)

In the Islands, there was the Volcano School.

The Volcano School was a generation of mostly non-native Hawaiian painters who portrayed Hawaiʻi Island’s volcanoes in dramatic fashion during the late 19th century. (NPS HAVO)

In the 1880s and 1890s, Mauna Loa kicked off an eruption that brought lava closer to the town of Hilo than ever before. Hawai‘i residents and tourists alike flocked to the Big Island for a chance to see the orange and red glow over the city of Hilo.

This was in the days before color photography – painters were among the most eager to witness and recreate the explosive lava plumes and vibrant flows. (HuffPost)

A distinctive and recognizable school of Hawaiian painting developed; it is perhaps best exemplified by Jules Tavernier’s depictions of craters and eruptions. Other artists, fresh from exposure to the current trends in Europe and America, reinterpreted the lush light and varied landscape of Hawai‘i to create a distinctive body of work.

With the dawning of the twentieth century, art in Hawai‘i reflected the diminishing isolation of the islands and the emergence of a multicultural modernist tradition. (Forbes)

Author and humorist Mark Twain, on assignment for the Sacramento Daily Union, described seeing Kīlauea at night: “…the vast floor of the desert under us was as black as ink, and apparently smooth and level …”

“… but over a mile square of it was ringed and streaked and striped with a thousand branching streams of liquid and gorgeously brilliant fire! Imagine it— imagine a coal-black sky shivered into a tangled network of angry fire!”

Kīlauea was such a popular subject for painters that a group emerged called “the Volcano School,” which included well-known Hawai‘i painters Charles Furneaux, Joseph Dwight Strong, and D. Howard Hitchcock.

Jules Tavernier (French 1844–1889) was arguably the most important Volcano School painter; he arrived in Hawai‘i in December of 1884. He created paintings that came to characterize the genre with dramatic scenes of molten lava bubbling under diffused moonlight, jagged black cliffs, and fiery glows, as seen in his nocturnal view of Kīlauea. (HoMA)

Tavernier had lived in San Francisco with roommate Joseph Dwight Strong. In October 1882 Joseph Dwight Strong, born in Connecticut and at age two came to the Islands with his New England missionary father (American 1852–1899), returned to the Islands with his wife Isobel on a commission to paint landscapes for shipping magnate John D Spreckels, son of the Sugar King Claus Spreckels. (Theroux) (Strong’s step-father-in-law was Robert Louis Stevenson.)

David Howard Hitchcock, grandson of American missionaries (American 1861–1943), is perhaps one of the most important and loved artists from Hawaiʻi. Although born and raised in Hawaiʻi, he left the islands to study art in San Francisco and Paris.

Charles Furneaux (American 1835–1913), showcased the fiery Hawai‘i volcano scenes that have intrigued viewers since he began painting them in the late 19th century. Furneaux’s paintings are described as “among the most sublime depictions of smoldering lava pools, lightning bolts over the ocean, steaming vents and heavy clouds signaling the active presence of the volcano.” (HoMA)

Painter and printmaker Ambrose McCarthy Patterson (Australian 1877–1966) arrived in Hawai‘i on a stopover in 1916 and remained for the next 18 months. Patterson was described as having particular interest in Kīlauea, incorporating the subject into many of the paintings and block prints he produced during his time here. (HoMA)

Other Volcano School artists include Ernst William Christmas (Australian 1863–1918), Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming (Scottish 1837–1924), Ogura Yonesuke Itoh (Japanese 1870–1940), Titian Ramsey Peale (American 1799–1885), Louis Pohl (American 1915–1999), Eduardo Lefebvre Scovell (British 1864–1918), William Pinkney Toler (American 1826–1899), William Twigg-Smith (New Zealander 1883–1950) and Lionel Walden (American 1861–1933).

March 6, 2020 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Try And Leave This World A Little Better Than You Found It

The Boy Scout movement was founded in England by Sir Robert Baden-Powell in 1908. As a military officer, he had noticed that soldiers in his regiment, while well educated in the classroom sense, were ill prepared for the field: “Tell one of them to ride out alone with a message on a dark night and ten to one he would lose his way.”

While stationed in India, he discovered that his men did not know basic first aid or the elementary means of survival in the outdoors. Baden-Powell realized he needed to teach his men many frontier skills, so he wrote a small handbook called Aids to Scouting, which emphasized resourcefulness, adaptability and the qualities of leadership that frontier conditions demanded.

Baden-Powell wanted to develop men who were more at ease in the world. “I wanted them to have courage, from confidence in themselves and from a sense of duty; I wanted them to have knowledge of how to cook their own grub; in short, I wanted each man to be an efficient all-round reliable individual.”

In August 1907, he gathered about 20 boys and took them to Brownsea Island in a sheltered bay off England’s southern coast. They set up a makeshift camp that would be their home for the next 12 days.

The next year, Baden-Powell published his book Scouting for Boys, and Scouting continued to grow. That same year, more than 10,000 Boy Scouts attended a rally held at the Crystal Palace; two years later, membership in Boy Scouts had tripled.

Because of growing demand for the scouting experience by younger boys, in 1914, Baden-Powell began implementing a program for them that was based on Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. The Wolf Cub program began in 1916, and since that time, Wolf Cubbing has spread to other European countries with very little change.

A strong influence from Kipling’s Jungle Book remains today. The terms “Law of the Pack,” “Akela,” “Wolf Cub,” “grand howl,” “den” and “pack” all come from the Jungle Book. At the same time, the Gold and Silver Arrow Points, Webelos emblem and Arrow of Light emblem are taken from American Indian heritage.

The seeds of Scouting were growing in the United States. On a farm in Connecticut, a naturalist and author named Ernest Thompson Seton was organizing a group of boys called the Woodcraft Indians; and Daniel Carter Beard, an artist and writer, organized the Sons of Daniel Boone.

But first, an American businessman had to get lost in the fog in England. Chicago businessman and publisher William D. Boyce was groping his way through the fog when a boy appeared and offered to take him to his destination. When they arrived, Boyce tried to tip the boy, but the boy refused and courteously explained that he was a Scout and could not accept payment for a Good Turn.

Intrigued, the publisher questioned the boy and learned more about Scouting. He visited with Baden-Powell as well, and became captured by the idea of Scouting. When Boyce boarded the transatlantic steamer for home, he had a suitcase filled with information and ideas. On February 8, 1910, Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America.

That same year, a Hawaiʻi artist and outdoorsman by the name of David Howard Hitchcock discovered Scouting in California, and brought it home to Hawaiʻi.

“The boy scout movement, so popular in England, and which aims to develop patriotism, discipline, courage, thrift, helpfulness and cheerfulness in boys is described by Francis Buzzell in an illustrated article in the August Popular Mechanics.”

“He says: “The general organization, and the symbolism of the scout movement are essentially military, but the strict military discipline, and especially the routine of incessant military drill, are almost entirely lacking.”

“General Baden-Powell, chief scout of all the boys In the British Empire, appoints scout commissioners to organize branches, Inspect scout corps, and help scout masters.” (Hawaiian Star, July 27, 1910)

“The ‘Boy Scout’ movement has spread to Hawaii. … The movement was founded in America by Ernest Thompson Seton, but did not attract much attention until the foundation of a similar organization in England by Sir Robert SS Baden-Powell, the hero of Mafeking. General Powell’s organization spread like wildfire and over 400,000 boys are enrolled in England.”

“The object of the movement, as defined by Sir Robert, “is to seize the boy’s character in its red-hot stage of enthusiasm and to weld it into the right shape and encourage and develop its individuality, so that the boy may become a good man and a valuable citizen for our country.” (Hawaiian Star, September 3, 1910)

A newspaper article noted the first meeting: “The Boy Scout movement in Honolulu will be started tonight at the meeting at the K. of P. (Knights of Pythias) Hall. All the parents in the city are invited to hear Colonel Bullard of the regular army tell about the boy scouts of America at eight o’clock in the K. of P. Hall.” (Honolulu Star, September 20, 1910)

Within months of returning home, Hitchcock, a Punahou School graduate, set up Hawaii’s first local troop – Scout Troop 1, the famed Rainbow Patrol (because of the wide range of nationalities represented in its membership) sponsored by Punahou and still in existence today.

The first troop included Hitchcock’s sons, Harvey (1917) and Dickson (1920) Hitchcock, Dudley Pratt (1918,) Walter (1919) and Fred (1920) Vetlesen, Ronald von Holt (1917,) Fred Waterhouse (1918,) Sam Wilder III (1917) and Donald Young (1918.)

According to Hitchcock: “About 1910 I went to California and saw boys in pairs and in small groups camping out as Boy Scouts but with no such organization back of them as now exists.”

“Visiting such men as could be found who were interested, I obtained all the data then available with a series of photographs from the East illustrating (Boy Scout) activities and with these came back to Honolulu where I proceeded to organize a troop which at first consisted of one patrol.”

In later years the patrol was renamed Troop 1 to codify its status as Hawaiʻi’s original Boy Scout troop; it includes not only the students of Punahou, but also boys attending schools located all over the island of Oahu.

Hawaiʻi has a royal link to Boy Scouts. In 1913, Queen Lili‘uokalani presented a silk Hawaiian flag with her royal crest “Onipaa” (Lit., fixed movement – steadfast, established, firm, resolute, determined) and the lettering in gold “The Queen’s Own Troop,” which she had sewn herself. That flag was recently donated to the Bishop Museum.

“This flag symbolizes the Queen’s recognition of Scouting as a positive and productive outlet to encourage young men and women to become leaders for life and contributing citizens who give back to their community,” Rick Burr, executive director of the Aloha Council said. (Bishop Museum)

At the time of the Queen’s death, “Roger Burnham, Scout commissioner, sent a letter to Colonel CP Iaukea, stating that inasmuch as the Queen had given the Boy Scouts a flag they wanted to do what they could to help in the funeral exercises.”

“Colonel Iaukea accepted their offer and the Scouts will have a place assigned them in the funeral procession. The Scouts will doubtless also be used as messengers throughout the week.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 13, 1917)

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Scouting is that – unlike many other activities –it doesn’t focus on competition – it focuses on achievement. Something everyone experiences in Scouting and strives for in their day to day lives.

To not only Be Prepared – but to do a good turn every day. To be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent – as well as to do one’s duty to God and country.

Because of this early community support Scouting was quickly organized and grew. And because of those early community leaders Scouting established a deeply rooted heritage in Hawaiʻi.

Scouting has grown in the United States from 2,000 Boy Scouts and leaders in 1910 to millions strong today. From a program for Boy Scouts only, it has spread into a program including Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, Webelos Scouts, Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Venturers.

The Aloha Council is flourishing geographically as well – encompassing not only Hawaii, but Guam, American Samoa, Marianas, Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau. In all – the Aloha Council covers the largest geographical area in the world – over 8,000,000-square miles on both sides of the equator and date line.

After Baden-Powell’s death in 1941, a letter was found in his desk that he had written to all Scouts. It included this passage: “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.” (Lots of information here from Troop 1 and Aloha Council.)

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