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Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa

During ancient times, various land divisions were used to divide and identify areas of control. Islands were divided into moku; moku were divided into ahupuaʻa. A common feature in each ahupuaʻa was water, typically in the form of a stream or spring.

The Island of O’ahu had six Moku: Kona, Koʻolaupoko, Koʻolauloa, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ʻEwa.

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

Some stories, when first recorded in the 19th- Century, refer to ʻEwa as the first area populated on Oʻahu by the immigrant Polynesians. ‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs.

This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds around the lochs of Puʻuloa (“long hill,) better known today as Pearl Harbor. (Cultural Surveys)

Each had fisheries in the harbor, floodplains with irrigated kalo and fishponds, and interior (lower kula valley streams/gulches) and mountain forests. (Kirch)

Puʻuloa or Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa (the many harbored-sea of Puʻuloa) is situated here.

All water sources in each of the twelve ahupuaʻa of ʻEwa met in Puʻuloa. This was the only moku in all the islands where all waters from its ahupuaʻa did this.

Puʻuloa and Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa are just a couple of its traditional names. It was also known as Awawalei (“garland (lei) of harbors,”) Awalau (“harbor with many inlets”) and Huhui na ʻōpua i Awalau (The clouds met at Awalau.)

Today, we generally call this place Pearl Harbor. The name Pearl Harbor is one of the few English place names in Hawaiʻi that is a close translation of another of its traditional Hawaiian names, Wai Momi (“Pearl Water.”)

Some of the traditional themes associated with this area include connections with Kahiki (Tahiti,) the traditional homeland of Hawaiians.

Legend tells that Kanekuaʻana (a moʻo, or water lizard) came from Kahiki and brought with her the pipi, or pearl oyster. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late-1800s. (The general belief is that runoff sedimentation eventually smothered the oyster habitat.)

The pipi was called the “iʻa hamau leo” or “fish with a silenced voice.” It was not the pipi that was silent but the people who gathered them (if they spoke, wind would ripple the water and the oysters would vanish.)

There are several versions of the chief Kahaʻi leaving from Kalaeloa (Barber’s Point) for a trip to Kahiki; on his return to the Hawaiian Islands, he brought back the first breadfruit and planted it at Puʻuloa.

Traditional accounts indicate several of the fishponds in the Puʻuloa area were believed to have been constructed by Kāne and Kanaloa. Directing the menehune, they made the pond Kapākule (aka Pākule,) which they stocked with all manner of fish. (Kumupono, Hoakalei)

“On the left side of [Kapākule] pond stood the stone called Hina, which represented a goddess of the sea by that name. Each time the sea ebbed, the rock became gradually visible, vanishing again under water at high tide. Ku, another stone on the right, was never seen above sea level. This stone represented Ku’ula, Red Ku, a god of fish and fishermen. (Pukui)

“[T]he harbor of Ewa, or Pearl River, [is] situated on the Island of Oahu, about 7 miles west of Honolulu. Pearl River is a fine sheet of deep water extending inland about 6 miles from its month …”

“Pearl River is not a true river; it partakes more of the character of an estuary. It is divided into three portions called ‘locks’ – the east lock, the middle lock, and the west lock, the three together affording some 30 miles of water front, with deep water in the channels.” (General JM Schofield and General BS Alexander, 1872)

Puʻuloa Salt Works (property of JI Dowsett) “are at the west side of the entrance to Pearl River, and the windmill is a prominent object in the landscape as we enter. It is also one of the guides in steeling vessels inward. On the eastern side and opposite to the Puʻuloa buildings, is the fishery, where are a number of buildings inhabited by Chinamen.” (Daily Bulletin, January 6, 1889)

Puʻuloa was originally an extensive, shallow embayment. Keaunui, the head of the powerful and celebrated ʻEwa chiefs, is attributed for having cut a navigable channel near the Puʻuloa saltworks, by which the great estuary, known as “Pearl River,” was for the first time rendered accessible to navigation.

Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Kaʻahupahau and her brother Kahiʻuka in Hawaiian legends. They were said to live in a cave at the entrance to Puʻuloa and guarded the waters against man-eating sharks.

“There is ample evidence that the lonely scenes, upon which we now gaze with wondering curiosity, were once thickly peopled; and at that period the gospel had not reached Pearl River. Among the objects of their heathen worship was the shark, whoso numbers at Pearl River in those days were very abundant.” (Daily Bulletin, January 6, 1889)

Moku‘ume‘ume (meaning “island of strife”) is a small island located in Pearl Harbor on the Island of Oʻahu. It is entirely surrounded by water deep enough to accommodate deep draft ocean-going vessels. We now call it Ford Island.

The first known foreigner to enter the channel of the Pearl Harbor area, Captain George Vancouver, started to explore the area, but stopped when he realized that the entrance was not deep enough for large ships to pass through.

“If the water upon the bar should be deepened, which I doubt not can be effected, it would afford the best and most capacious harbor in the Pacific.” (Commodore Charles Wilkes, 1840)

In the nineteenth century, the peninsula between Middle Loch and East Loch (part of the Mānana ahupuaʻa) had numerous fishponds, some rice fields, pasture land at the tip, and oyster beds offshore.

As a means of solidifying a site in the central Pacific, the US negotiated an amendment to the Treaty of Reciprocity in 1887. King Kalākaua in his speech before the opening session of the 1887 Hawaiian Legislature stated (November 3, 1887:)

“I take great pleasure in informing you that the Treaty of Reciprocity with the United States of America has been definitely extended for seven years upon the same terms as those in the original treaty …”

“… with the addition of a clause granting to national vessels of the United States the exclusive privilege of entering Pearl River Harbor and establishing there a coaling and repair station.”

“This has been done after mature deliberation and the interchange between my Government and that of the United States of an interpretation of the said clause …”

“… whereby it is agreed and understood that it does not cede any territory or part with or impair any right of sovereignty or jurisdiction on the part of the Hawaiian Kingdom and that such privilege is coterminous with the treaty.”

“I regard this as one of the most important events of my reign, and I sincerely believe that it will re-establish the commercial progress and prosperity which began with the Reciprocity Treaty.” (Kalākaua)

In 1890 some of the Mānana lands became the first planned subdivision outside of urban Honolulu (Pearl City, named in a contest and developed by Benjamin F Dillingham as a way to increase passenger traffic on his Oahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) trains.)

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Kalauao

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”  (Kalākaua)  Kamakahelei was married to Kāʻeokūlani (Kāʻeo – younger brother of Kahekili.)  Kamakahelei and Kāʻeo had a son Kaumualiʻi (born in 1778 at Holoholokū.)

Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.  And, in the late-1780s into 1790, Kamehameha conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought to conquer the rest of the archipelago.

The rich resources of the region, the shoreline fishponds, the numerous springs, and the fertile lands along the streams made ‘Ewa a prize for competing chiefs. Battles were fought for and on ‘Ewa lands, sometimes from competing O‘ahu chiefs, and sometimes by invading chiefs from other islands.  (Cultural Surveys)

At the death of Kahekili in 1793, Kāʻeo became ruling chief of Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.  Kalanikūpule was ruler of Oʻahu.  Homesick for his friends, Kāʻeo set out to return to Kauaʻi by way of Waialua and then to Waimea.  He learned of a conspiracy to kill him and by November, 1794, Kāʻeo and Kalanikūpule were ready to fight.  (Kamakau)

Kāʻeo was successful after some initial skirmishes.  On December 12, 1794, a great battle was fought in the area between Kalauao and ‘Aiea in ‘Ewa.  Kalanikūpule’s forces surrounded Kāʻeo.  (Cultural Surveys)

Kāʻeo with six of his men escaped into a ravine below ‘Aiea and might have disappeared there had not the red of his feather cloak been seen from the boats at sea and there shots drawn the attention of those on land. Hemmed in from above, he was killed fighting bravely.  (Kamakau)

This war, called Kukiʻiahu, was fought from November 16 to December 12, 1794 at Kalauao in ‘Ewa.  (Kamakau)  (It wasn’t long after that Kalanikūpule battled Kamehameha, again; and lost to Kamehameha at the Battle of Nuʻuanu.)

Kalauao Ahupua‘a (the multitude of clouds) extends from the East Loch of Pearl Harbor to the crest of the Koʻolau Range, generally following Kalauao Stream. Kalauao Spring is located near the Pearl Harbor coast.

The Kalauao Spring included two natural springs of percolating water.  In ancient times, the springs irrigated taro loʻi.  Later, the ancient taro lo‘i and ʻauwai (irrigation ditches) were modified and expanded to support rice cultivation.

In 1904, the area was described as, “On the morning of June 2nd, for instance, our destination was Aiea. At ten minutes past seven we boarded the first passenger train going towards Honolulu.”

“For a distance of eight miles the road skirts the shore and then turns landwards or mauka through rice and sugar plantations, Ewa Mill, Waipahu, Pearl City. …”

“Like all rice fields in Hawaii, this one is worked entirely by Chinamen, they alone being able to endure the conditions of location and climate necessary for the cultivation of this cereal.”

“On one side of the railroad track was the broad, muddy inland lake or bay of salt water, Pearl Harbor; on the other side were the terraced plots or fields, flooded to a depth of several inches with water and separated by narrow raised earthen ridges on which the careful Chinaman doubtless succeeded in walking, but which many times proved treacherous to our unsteady feet.”

“A rice plantation, laid out as it generally is on the low flats at the foot of a valley, where mountain streams empty into the sea, is an ideal collecting ground for certain kinds of algae.”  (Thrum 1904)

In 1928, Moriichi and Makiyo Sumida began farming assorted wetland produce on a two-acre plot of land at the springs.  Back then, the area of the springs contained many small farms growing similar produce — bananas, taro, rice, and watercress. Through the ensuing years, the Sumida property grew as they acquired neighboring leases and, by 1950, watercress became the sole crop.  (NPS)

A small waterfall along Kalauao Stream, named Kahuawai (or Kahuewai), was located along the coastal trail connecting Honolulu to Waiʻanae.  Kahuawai (water gourd container) was indicated to have been “a favorite resting place exclusively for chiefs”.  (Cultural Surveys)

Kahuawai was a noted bathing place since ancient times and was guarded so that any one did not bathe in it except the chiefs. Later it was used by all. Kākuhihewa’s daughters and the hero Kalelealuaka (their husband) bathed in this pool. Kāʻeokūlani, the chief of Kauaʻi also bathed here when he came to war here on Oʻahu.  (Cultural Surveys)

Loko Opu, a large fishpond (approximately 10.5-acres in size) located in Kalauao along the Pearl Harbor coast, is said to have been built by the chiefess Kalamanuʻia.  (Cultural Surveys)

During the Māhele, much of the lands in the ahupua‘a of ‘Ewa, as in other districts, were awarded to Ali‘i Nui (high chiefs), who were either the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Kamehameha I.

Half of the ahupua‘a of Kalauao was awarded to Laura Konia (either granddaughter or grandniece of Kamehameha I;) the other half of Kalauao Ahupua‘a was awarded to John Meek, an important merchant in the sandalwood trade.

Today, the Pearl Country Club covers much of the lower section of Kalauao.   Pearlridge Shopping Center is on the lowest side of Kalauao (Pearlridge Uptown was opened in 1972, with an expansion in 1976 to include Pearlridge Downtown.)  Pearlridge surrounds the evidence of the water resources of old, Kalauao Spring that benefits the Sumida watercress farm.

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Kalaeloa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Kimo Ona-Milliona

James was son of William and Martha (Adams) Campbell, descended from the Scottish Campbell clan, the eighth child in the family of eight boys and four girls (born in Ireland, February 4, 1826.)  His father was a carpenter who operated a furniture and cabinet shop adjacent to the home where he and his wife raised their family.

With limited opportunities on that island, at the age of 13, he stowed away on a schooner for Canada and later wound up on a whaler out of New Bedford and was bound for the Pacific.  He survived a shipwreck in the South Pacific (Tuamotus) on the way.

He and two shipmates immediately were seized by the Islanders and bound to trees to await their fate.  After Campbell fixed the chief’s broken musket, they were freed and accepted as members of the community. A few months later Campbell left the Island by drifting out to a passing schooner that took him to Tahiti, and later (1850) he went to Hawaiʻi.

He settled in Lāhainā, Maui and honed his skill as a carpenter in building and repairing boats and constructing homes.  He boarded with a European named Barla and married Barla’s only child, Hannah. There were no children of this marriage, which ended with the death of young Hannah Barla Campbell in 1858.

He expanded beyond carpentry and ventured into the Islands’ fledgling sugar industry.  In 1860, Campbell, with Henry Turton and James Dunbar, established the Pioneer Mill Company (Dunbar later left;) they not only invested capital in the business, they also worked alongside employees in the field and mill.

When Campbell and Turton were starting the plantation, the small sugar mill consisted of three wooden rollers set upright, with mules providing the power to turn the heavy rollers. The cane juice ran into a series of boiling kettles that originally had been used on whaling ships.

By 1876, the annual production had increased to 1,708-tons of raw sugar and the World’s Fair in Philadelphia awarded Pioneer Mill a prize for its fine quality sugar that year. In 1882, Honolulu Iron Works built an iron three-roller mill for the factory and soon there were six boilers generating steam power to drive the machinery.

Pioneer Mill Company not only survived but thrived and enabled Campbell to build a palatial home in Lāhainā.  Despite his success in sugar, his interests turned to other matters, primarily ranching and real estate and he started to acquire lands in Oʻahu, Maui and the island of Hawaiʻi.

In 1876, he purchased approximately 15,000-acres at Kahuku on the northernmost tip of Oʻahu from HA Widemann and Julius L Richardson. In 1877, he acquired from John Coney 41,000-acres of ranch land at Honouliuli.

In 1877, he sold his interest in Pioneer Mill Company to his partner, Turton; he married Abigail Kuaihelani Maipinepine (age 19) and soon after moved to a home on Emma Street in Honolulu, which Campbell purchased from Archibald S Cleghorn in 1878.  (Now the site of the Pacific Club.)

Princess Kaʻiulani, daughter of the Cleghorns, was born there in 1875. The Campbells’ first daughter, Abigail Wahiikaahuula, later Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa, was born in the same room as Princess Kaʻiulani. (Other children included Alice, Beatrice and Muriel; four other children were born to the couple but died in infancy.)

In 1883 he built the Campbell Block Building at the corner of Merchant and Fort Streets, Honolulu, where he established his office. (This building was headquarters for the Campbell Estate until 1967, when the Estate constructed the modern James Campbell Building at this site to house its offices.)

In 1885, Pioneer Mill Company, cultivating about 600 of its 900 acres of land and producing about 2,000 tons of sugar a year, encountered difficulties and Turton declared bankruptcy.  To protect his mortgage, Campbell, with financial partner Paul Isenberg of Hackfeld and Company, acquired all the stock and Campbell again took on management of the operation.

With major interests on Maui and Oʻahu, Campbell split his time between the Islands.  He was a member of the House of Nobles representing Maui, Molokai and Lānaʻi in the special session of 1887 and the regular session of 1888.

Back on Oʻahu, critics scoffed at the doubtful value of Campbell’s purchase of Honouliuli. But he envisioned supplying the arid area with water and commissioned California well-driller James Ashley to drill a well on his Honouliuli Ranch.  In 1879, Ashley drilled Hawaiʻi’s first artesian well; Campbell’s vision had made it possible for Hawaiʻi’s people to grow sugar cane on the dry lands of the ʻEwa Plain.

In 1889, Campbell leased about 40,000-acres of land for fifty years to BF Dillingham (of Oʻahu Railway and Land Co;) after several assignments and sub-leases, about 7,860-acres of Campbell land ended up with Ewa Planation.

(ʻEwa Plantation was considered one of the most prosperous plantations in Hawaiʻi and in 1931 a new 50-year lease was executed, completing the agreement with Oʻahu Railway and Land Company and beginning an association with Campbell Estate.  The ʻEwa mill closed in the mid-1970s; the mill was demolished in 1985.)

After a lengthy illness, Campbell died on April 21, 1900, in his Emma Street home. On the afternoon of his funeral the banks and most of the large business houses closed.  (In January of 1902, Abigail Campbell married Colonel Sam Parker.)

“We knew him then as a very capable and industrious mechanic at Lahaina. By hard work and sound judgment, twenty years later he had built up a valuable sugar plantation in Lahaina. From that beginning of wealth he became the possessor of more than three millions of property, all of it, to the best of our knowledge, honestly gained without detriment to others.”

“Mr. Campbell was a good citizen, although not a religious man. He was remarkable for sound business judgment, capacity for hard persistent effort, and for great personal courage, qualities very commonly accompanying Scotch descent.”  (The Friend, May 1, 1900)

When Campbell died, the Estate of James Campbell was created as a private trust to administer his assets for the benefit of his heirs (in 2007, the James Campbell Company succeeded the Estate of James Campbell.) The Estate played a pivotal role in Hawaiʻi history, from the growth of sugar plantations to the growing new City of Kapolei.

Over the years, Campbell became known by the Hawaiians as “Kimo Ona-Milliona” (James the Millionaire.)  Campbell himself said that the principle upon which he had accumulated his wealth was in always living on less than he made.  (Lots of information here from Campbell Estate publications.)

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Honouliuli

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within a moku.)

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs. This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds around the lochs of Puʻuloa (“long hill,) better known today as Pearl Harbor. (Cultural Surveys)

Each had fisheries in the harbor, floodplains with irrigated kalo and fishponds, and interior (lower kula valley streams/gulches) and mountain forests.  One of these, Honouliuli, had a large coastal area, including what it is typically referred to as the “ʻEwa Plains.”  (Kirch)

Honouliuli includes lands extending from the mountains, to the watered plains where loʻi kalo (taro pond fields) and loko ia (fishponds) were developed, to the arid plains and rich fisheries on the ocean. Along the ocean-fronted coast of Honouliuli are noted places in lore and ancient life, such as Keahi, Kupaka, Keoneula (Oneula), Kualakai, Kalaeloa and Koʻolina.  (Maly)

Honouliuli (dark bay) includes a wide plain back of Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor) and Keahi (a point west of Pearl Harbor) where the homeless, friendless ghosts were said to wander about. These were the ghosts of people who were not found by their family ʻaumakua or gods and taken home with them, or had not found the leaping places where they could leap into the nether world.  (Pukui)

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

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

Nearby Moku ʻUmeʻume (Ford Island) provided pili grass for house thatching. Ewa’s house builders gathered their pili grass for house thatching here until the time came when foreign shingles were introduced, then thatching was discontinued.

It was also covered with kiawe trees; it was noted that the kiawe forests there and the Honouliuli region supplied much of the fuel for kitchen fires in Honolulu.

Reported in 1898, a few fishermen and some of their families built shanties by the shore where they lived, fished and traded their catch for taro at ‘Ewa.  Their drinking water was taken from nearby ponds, and it was so brackish that other people could not stand to drink it. (Cameron; Maly)

James Campbell, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1850, ended up in Lāhainā and started a sugar plantation there in 1860 (later known as Pioneer Mill.)  He also started to acquire lands in Oʻahu, Maui and the island of Hawaiʻi.

In 1876, he purchased approximately 15,000-acres at Kahuku on the northernmost tip of Oʻahu from HA Widemann and Julius L Richardson. In 1877, he acquired from John Coney 41,000-acres of ranch land at Honouliuli.

Many critics scoffed at the doubtful value of his Honouliuli purchase. But Campbell envisioned supplying the arid area with water and commissioned California well-driller James Ashley to drill a well on his Honouliuli Ranch.

In 1879, Ashley drilled Hawaiʻi’s first artesian well; James Campbell’s vision had made it possible for Hawaiʻi’s people to grow sugar cane on the dry lands of the ʻEwa Plain.

“At 240 feet the water commenced to overflow. The bore was continued to 273 feet, the flow increasing and coming to rise from one-half to two-thirds of an inch crown above the pipe, 7 inches in diameter.  This success was a happy surprise to the community. (There was) a sheet of pure water flowing like a dome of glass from all sides of the well casing, and continuing to flow night and day, without diminution.”  (Congressional Record, 1881)

What they discovered was vast reservoirs of artesian water; the groundwater here is composed of a freshwater lens that generally moves toward the ocean but is impeded by a wedge of caprock that overlies the volcanic rock near the coast.  (Nellist, Bauer)

When the first well came in at Honouliuli the Hawaiians named it “Waianiani” (crystal waters.)  (Nellist) The ʻEwa Plain has been irrigated with ground water since 1890. By 1930, Ewa Plantation had drilled 70 artesian wells to irrigate cane lands; more were drilled later.

It was some years after the first artesian wells were brought in before there was a general understanding of the formation of the coastal caprock and its vital importance in the creation and functioning of the artesian reservoirs.

Discovery of artesian water at Honouliuli was beyond question the most important single contribution to the development of Oʻahu and Honolulu as we know the island and city today.  (Nellist)  (The flow from the well continued for 60-years until it was sealed by the City and County of Honolulu in 1939.)

In 1889, Campbell leased about 40,000-acres of land for fifty years to BF Dillingham (of Oʻahu Railway and Land Co;) after several assignments and sub-leases, about 7,860-acres of Campbell land ended up with Ewa Planation.

By 1923, Ewa Plantation was the first sugar company in the world to raise ten tons of sugar per acre and, by 1933, the plantation produced over 61,000-tons of sugar a year.

Ewa Plantation was considered one of the most prosperous plantations in Hawaiʻi and in 1931 a new 50-year lease was executed, completing the agreement with Oʻahu Railway and Land Company and beginning an association with Campbell Estate.

By 1936, ʻEwa Plantation Company was the first plantation to have a fully mechanized harvesting operation and by 1946 tests were made to convert the hauling of cane from railroads to large trucks.

During WWII, Japanese Americans were put in internment camps in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi; one of those sites was at Honouliuli Gulch.  The forced removal of these individuals began a nearly four-year odyssey to a series of camps in Hawaiʻi and on the continental United States.

They were put in these camps, not because they had been tried and found guilty of something, but because either they or their parents or ancestors were from Japan and, as such, they were deemed a “threat” to national security.

In 1962, Castle and Cooke purchased majority control of ʻEwa Plantation Company stock and in 1970 ʻEwa Plantation Company merged with Oʻahu Sugar Company in Waipahu (the ʻEwa mill closed in the mid-1970s after the sale; the mill was demolished in 1985.)

Campbell became known by the Hawaiians as “Kimo Ona-Milliona” (James the Millionaire).  Despite his success in sugar, his interests turned to other matters, primarily ranching and real estate.

When James Campbell died on April 21, 1900, the Estate of James Campbell was created as a private trust to administer his assets for the benefit of his heirs (in 2007, the James Campbell Company succeeded the Estate of James Campbell.) The Estate played a pivotal role in Hawaiʻi history, from the growth of sugar plantations to the growing new City of Kapolei.

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