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June 1, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaupō Field System

At the time of initial contact, Hawaiian subsistence economy was dominated by two distinct agricultural ecosystems: (1) irrigated ponds (primarily for taro production) near permanent streams that could feed irrigation canals and (2) extensive tracts of dryland, rain-fed intensive cultivation (focused on the cultivation of sweet potatoes.)

Although irrigated ponds continued after contact, the intensive dryland field systems were abandoned in the early decades of the nineteenth century (probably due to greater labor demands for the dryland systems.)

Until recently, no intensive, dryland rain-fed field systems had been identified on Maui. However, now, there is clear evidence of such a system at Kaupō.

Before getting into the specifics of the field system, let’s recall what was happening in and around Kaupō in late pre-contact times.

Kaupō is associated in Hawaiian oral traditions with Kekaulike, a famous Maui king (ali‘i nui) who on genealogical estimates is dated to approximately the early eighteenth century.

Kekaulike made Kaupō his residential seat, and assembled his army at Mokulau, preparing for a war of conquest against his rivals on Hawai‘i Island.

After returning from his invasion of Kohala, Kekaulike resided at Kaupō, where he died. The succession of the Maui kingship demonstrated the importance that Kaupō had in the late pre-contact Maui kingdom.

Kaupō is on the south-eastern flanks of Haleakalā, Maui.

The district is dominated by the “Kaupō Gap,” a breach of the southern wall of Haleakalā Crater with a rejuvenation phase of a massive outpouring of lava flows (and one major mudflow) through the Kaupō Gap and down to the sea, creating a vast accretion fan. The Hawaiians called this fan Nā Holokū (“The Cloak.”)

It was this great fan of young lavas with high nutrient content, combined with ideal climate conditions that provided the environmental potential for intensive agricultural production in Kaupō.

Given its use as a Royal Center for Island Ali‘i, there was a definite need for sufficient crop production. Fortunately, the area has an ideal combination of soils, elevation and rainfall making it also a predictable environment for an intensive dryland field system to feed the people.

Historic records note that this region was identified as “the greatest continuous dry planting area in the Hawaiian islands,” both in ancient times and well into the 1930s. But this old culture was vanishing due to a combination of economic and climatic circumstances.

Oral traditions state that sweet potatoes were cultivated from sea level up to about 2,000 feet elevation and great quantities of dry taro were planted in the lower forest belt from one end of the district to the other.

Using high-resolution color aerial photographs of Kaupō and then confirming their findings on the ground, archaeologists identified grid patterns over significant parts of the landscape, confirming the existence of a major dryland field system, the first to be identified for Maui Island.

The field system a closely spaced grid of east-west embankments and small field plots bisected at right angles by longer north-south trending walls; it covered an area of 3,000 to nearly 4,000-acres and could have supported a population of 8,000-10,000 people.

A range of smaller features such as enclosures, shelters and platforms are found within the field system area indicating the presence of a complex social community integrated within the system.

This was truly dryland agriculture, there was no evidence to level terraces as in irrigated pondfield systems (taro lo‘i,) and there was no evidence of water control features or channels; so the conclusion was the system was strictly rainfed.

The most common feature type consists of stacked or core-filled stone-walled enclosures; many of these are rectangular and may be the foundation walls for thatched houses, but a few larger, irregular enclosures may be animal pens.

On Hawai‘i Island, field system complexes are associated with prominent ceremonial structures (heiau) and royal residential centers, such as Mo‘okini Heiau at the northern tip of Kohala, and the royal centers at Kealakekua and Hōnaunau in Kona.

This strong association between field systems and ceremonial architecture is not surprising, given that these intensively cultivated field complexes provided the underpinning of the elite economy.

Like other areas, two heiau at Kaupō stand out for their massive size and labor invested in their construction, Lo‘alo‘a and Kou.

Lo‘alo‘a Heiau is one of the largest on Maui and indeed in the entire archipelago and is associated in Hawaiian traditions with King Kekaulike, who ruled Maui in the early 1700s. Kou Heiau, on a lava promontory jutting into the sea is on the western end of the Kaupō field system.

It is believed that Kaupō with its field system at one time played an important role in the emerging Maui population, particularly in the final century prior to European contact, when it became the seat of the paramount Kekaulike.

The enormous capacity of these field systems enabled the rise of a population center; Lo‘alo‘a and Kou heiau on either side of the Kaupō fields illustrate the inseparable links between agriculture and the religious traditions of ancient Hawai‘i. (Lots here from Kirch.)

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Naholoku Fan at Kaupo Gap-(Kirch)
Naholoku Fan at Kaupo Gap-(Kirch)
Kaupo_Dryland_Field_System
Kaupo_Dryland_Field_System
Kaupo-Gap-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Kaupo-Gap-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Image-of-Enbankments-at-Pauku-Kirch
Image-of-Enbankments-at-Pauku-Kirch
Kaupo-Gap_(upper)-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Kaupo-Gap_(upper)-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
GIS Map of Linear Features-(Kirch)
GIS Map of Linear Features-(Kirch)
Kaupo_Gap-(upper)-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Kaupo_Gap-(upper)-(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Map of Features and Soil Age-(Kirch)
Map of Features and Soil Age-(Kirch)
Kaupo_Gap_(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Kaupo_Gap_(WC-Forest_&_Kim_Starr)
Photo of Naholoku Fan at Kaupo Gap-(Kirch)
Photo of Naholoku Fan at Kaupo Gap-(Kirch)
Kou Heiau-(Kirch)
Kou Heiau-(Kirch)
Loaloa Heiau-(Kirch)
Loaloa Heiau-(Kirch)
Illustrative Cross Sections-(Kirch)
Illustrative Cross Sections-(Kirch)
Historic_Mokus_of_Maui_Map_(Kaupo)
Historic_Mokus_of_Maui_Map_(Kaupo)
Map of Islands noting Majory Dryland Field Systems-(Kirch)
Map of Islands noting Majory Dryland Field Systems-(Kirch)

Filed Under: General, Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Kaupo Field System, Kaupo Gap, Hawaii, Haleakala, Maui, Royal Center, Kaupo, Kekaulike, Field System

December 29, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nu Kaliponi

“During the pre-contact and early contact periods, Kula was primarily an area for farming. Dryland taro patches grew in elevations up to 3,000 feet.”

“Farmers were reliant on growth of sweet potatoes and when crops failed due to caterpillars, blight, frost or sun, people in Makawao and Kula suffered from famine.”

“The arrival of whalers in the 1840s stimulated great demand for Irish and sweet potatoes. Potatoes were taken to Lahaina and sold aboard ships.”

“The California gold rush also resulted in great demand from prospectors for potatoes, other vegetables, sugar, molasses and coffee.”

“Farmers were doing so well that many Hawaiians were going into business for themselves, shipping their goods to San Francisco.” (DHHL)

“The call for [potatoes] is loud and pressing, as some vessels bound for California have taken as many as a thousand barrels each. The price is high, and the probability is that the market can not be supplied this autumn.”

“Kula, however, is full of people. Strangers from Wailuku, Hāmākua and Lahaina are there preparing the ground and planting, so that if the demand from California shall be as urgent next spring as it is now the people will reap a rich harvest.”

“They often repeat the saying of a foreigner, who, after having visited the mines of California, came back to Maui quite satisfied, and said to his neighbors at Waikapu, ‘California is yonder in Kula.’”

“‘There is the gold without the fatigue and sickness of the mining country.’ True, true.” (Polynesian, November 24, 1849)

“The foreigner’s remark caught the fancy of the Hawaiians and they were soon referring to Kula as ‘Kalifonia’ or ‘Nu Kalifonia’ (Nu Kaliponi) and working with great diligence to extract the wealth from the rich pay dirt on the slopes of Haleakala. “

“To encourage the spirit of enterprise which had been thus awakened among the native people, the privy council voted to have the government lands in Kula surveyed and divided into small lots of from one to ten acres and offered for sale to the natives at a price of three dollars per acre.”

“Rev. WP Alexander, one of the teachers at Lahainaluna, was employed to do the surveying and arrange the sales, and he devoted six weeks or more to this work in the spring of 1850. Other districts of the kingdom produced potatoes, but in lesser quantities than Kula.”

“The demand for potatoes continued strong all through 1850 and the first half of 1851. In the former year the exports of Irish potatoes amounted to 51,957 barrels, of sweet potatoes, 9,631 barrels.”

“In 1851 Irish potatoes were exported to the amount of 43,923 barrels, sweet potatoes to the amount of 56,717 barrels. Eighteen fifty-one was a year of disasters in California and of drought and depression in Hawaii.”

“The potato trade was the only branch of industry that presented a cheerful aspect, and by the fall of the year the potato boom was over. Mrs. Judd reports that in August the market was over-stocked, and there were no purchasers or ships to take [Hawaiian produce] to California.”

“Irish potatoes rotted in the ground, and onions and other vegetables scarcely paid the expense of digging. This was very discouraging to the agriculturists, who had expected to realize fortunes speedily by turning over the soil.”

“From this time, except for a slight revival in 1853 due to floods in California, the export trade in Irish potatoes rapidly dwindled away, but sweet potatoes continued to be exported in small quantities for many years longer.”

“A report to the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Society in 1854 stated that the Hawaiian potato growers in 1849-1851, in their eagerness to gain all they could from the trade, shipped many inferior potatoes to California, and Hawaiian potatoes thereby got a bad reputation.”

“A more important reason for the decline of the Irish potato trade between Hawaii and California was the fact that the Californians began to raise potatoes themselves and in addition received large quantities from the neighboring Oregon territory.” (Kuykendall)

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Upcountry Potatoes-Ag Experiment Stn-1913
Upcountry Potatoes-Ag Experiment Stn-1913
Upcountry Potatoes-Ag Experiment Stn-1913
Upcountry Potatoes-Ag Experiment Stn-1913

Filed Under: General, Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Upcountry, Nu Kaliponi, Hawaii, Haleakala, Maui, Kula, Lahaina, Potato

October 16, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘I must own to one great disappointment’

“I was destined to grow up away from the house of my parents. Immediately after my birth I was wrapped in the finest soft tapa cloth, and taken to the house of another chief, by whom I was adopted.”

“Konia, my foster-mother, was a granddaughter of Kamehameha I, and was married to Paki, also a high chief; their only daughter, Bernice Pauahi, afterwards Mrs. Charles R. Bishop, was therefore my foster-sister.”

“In speaking of our relationship, I have adopted the term customarily used in the English language, but there was no such modification recognized in my native land. I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice.”

“I used to climb up on the knees of Paki, put my arms around his neck, kiss him, and he caressed me as a father would his child; while on the contrary, when I met my own parents, it was with perhaps more of interest, yet always with the demeanor I would have shown to any strangers who noticed me.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs’ families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage.”

“This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs. It is not easy to explain its origin to those alien to our national life, but it seems perfectly natural to us.”

“As intelligible a reason as can be given is that this alliance by adoption cemented the ties of friendship between the chiefs. It spread to the common people, and it has doubtless fostered a community of interest and harmony.”

“The house she lived in, ‘Haleakala,’ “was completed in 1851, and occupied by Paki until 1855, when he died. … It was there that the years of my girlhood were passed, after school-days were over, and the pleasant company we often had in that house will never cease to give interest to the spot.”

It was “one of the most beautiful and central of the mansions in Honolulu. To it came all the high chiefs then living there, also the foreign residents; in fact, all the best society of the city.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“In the course of time Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were induced to take up their abode at ‘Haleakala,’ which, with other property, became hers as an inheritance from Paki.”

“This charming home, which immediately became the centre of all that was best, most cultivated, and refined in Hawaiian social life, has been graphically described by a cousin of Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Allen, who arrived in Honolulu in 1864 from California, on a visit.”

“It may be said that a warm and enduring friendship was formed at that time between the two, which continued unbroken during the lifetime of Mrs. Bishop. Of ‘Haleakala,’ as the house was called, and its picturesque life Mrs. Allen wrote:”

“‘At that time her home was the most beautiful in Honolulu, the house large and pleasant, the grounds full of beautiful trees, shrubs, and vines and so well cared-for. I shall never forget my first night’s rest in the home, and the satisfaction of waking in such pleasant surroundings.’”

“‘At that time there were at each end of the premises large yards with long low buildings on two sides, which were divided into rooms and occupied by numerous families attached to her as their chiefess to whom they looked for counsel in all their affairs—joys and sorrows.’”

“‘I was always interested to see her out under a large tamarind tree surrounded by her people, many of whom had come in from the country to advise with her. She would sit for hours with the utmost patience listening to them .’” (Allen; Krout)

Pauahi died October 16, 1884. “When the will of Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop was read, in which she disposed of her own estate, I did not happen to be present …”

“… but her husband, Hon. Charles R. Bishop, informed me that I had been duly remembered, that his wife had bequeathed to me the lands of Kahala, island of Oahu, Lumahai on Kauai, Kealia in Kona, Hawaii …”

“… besides which he sent to me a pair of diamond wristlets, a diamond pin with crown which had once belonged to the Princess Ruth, and a necklace of pearls beautifully chased and set in tigers’ claws.”

“But nevertheless I must own to one great disappointment. The estate which had been so dear to us both in my childhood, the house built by my father, Paki, where I had lived as a girl …”

“… which was connected with many happy memories of my early life, from whence I had been married to Governor Dominis, when he took me to Washington Place, I could not help feeling ought to have been left to me.”

“The estate was called Haleakala, or House of the Sun, and the residence received the name of Aikupika; but both these are forgotten now in that of the Arlington Hotel.”

“This wish of my heart was not gratified, and, at the present day strangers stroll through the grounds or lounge on the piazzas of that home once so dear to me.”

“Yet memories of my adopted parents still cling to that homestead, and rise before me not only when I pass its walls, but I recall in a foreign land the days of my youth.” (Lili‘uokalani)

“The place was maintained as a chief’s residence for many years. It can only have been turned to other uses during the past fifteen years; at the outside. Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop left the estate to her husband, who turned the property over to the Kamehameha estates.” (Bishop, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 6, 1900)

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Haleakala-Bishop_Property-on_King_Street-1855
Haleakala-Bishop_Property-on_King_Street-1855

Filed Under: Buildings, Prominent People, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Pauahi, Hawaii, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Charles Reed Bishop, Liliuokalani, Queen Liliuokalani, Haleakala, Paki, Konia, Bishop Estate

January 23, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Science City

While observing a Haleakala sunrise, Mark Twain was quoted as exclaiming “I felt like the last man, neglected of the judgment, and left pinnacled in mid-heaven, a forgotten relic of a vanished world.”

In 1961, an Executive Order by Governor Quinn set aside land on the summit of Haleakala in a place known as Kolekole, to be under the control and management of the University of Hawaiʻi which established the ‘Haleakala High Altitude Observatory Site,’ sometimes referred to as Science City. (IfA)

But, modern interest in the heavens from Kolekole started a decade earlier. In the spring of 1951, Grote Reber was looking for one of the best sites in the world to undertake radio astronomy experiments.

After the discovery of cosmic radio emissions by Karl Jansky in 1931, one of the first to take up the scientific investigation of these emissions was Reber with a radio telescope in his backyard in Wheaton, Illinois.

In 1951 Reber came to Hawaiʻi to take advantage of a unique geophysical condition. By placing his antenna atop 10,000-foot Haleakala on the island of Maui, he hoped to use the ocean as a reflector so that the antenna received both the direct signal from a cosmic radio source and the signal reflected from the ocean, forming a ‘Lloyd’s Mirror’ type of interferometer.

His antenna was built on a circular track so that it could be rotated in any direction. Reber said “Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the island of Hawai`i, each with 4.24 km altitude, are most desirable scientifically. However, Haleakala on the island of Maui is the most practical due to the relatively easy access.” (IfA)

Ultimately, the facility apparently did not function well, because of signal interference. The bulk of the structure was dismantled about 18-months after the facility was completed. (Xamanek)

In 1956, Dr Fred Whipple, director of the Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory sent a letter to Dr CE Kenneth Mees, explaining the need for a satellite tracking station in Hawaii to form a vital link in a 12-station worldwide tracking network.

Mees was the retired vice president for research of the Eastman Kodak Company and the developer of the color film Kodachrome.

He was especially well known among astronomers because of his interest in developing special photographic emulsions suitable for astrophotography, and his insistence that the company provide these materials to the astronomers at cost. Dr. Whipple asked his old friend if he knew of some way a satellite tracking station could be established in Hawai`i.

Mees turned to the University of Hawaiʻi and offered financial assistance if the University would undertake the project. Mees donated some of his Kodak stock to underwrite the cost.

The University sold the Kodak stock and with the proceeds built a small cinderblock building with a sliding roof to house the anticipated Baker-Nunn Super-Schmidt tracking camera, and a small wood-frame building for living accommodations for the observers.

The satellite tracking facility was ready on July 1, 1957, but the camera was not; they first installed Schmidt meteor-tracking cameras. On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first satellite to be placed in orbit around Earth (forcibly opening the Space Age.) Later, the Baker-Nunn satellite Tracking Camera was dedicated on August 2, 1958.

As tracking technology gradually improved over the years, the usefulness of the Baker-Nunn cameras gradually declined, and the tracking assignments and staff at Haleakala gradually decreased until 1976, when the facility was shut down.

In 1962, Dr Franklin E. Roach of the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder, Colorado, who for many years had conducted photometric studies of auroras, airglow, zodiacal light, and the diffuse galactic light, became intrigued by the possibility of studying these phenomena at a low latitude site.

Haleakala appeared to be an ideal site for such studies because of the atmospheric transparency established earlier, the dark skies uncontaminated by artificial light, the large number of clear nights, and the low latitude (20°N).

January 24, 1964, the University of Hawai`i dedicated the Mees Solar Observatory that would help scientists learn the secrets of the sun. (Apparently, that is when the ‘Science City’ moniker started when a reporter for the Maui News made the reference at the time of the dedication.)

In 1965, the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) constructed an observatory to be operated by the University of Michigan.

At that time the 60-inch (1.6 meter) reflector was one of the world’s 10 largest astronomical telescopes. Additionally, two 48-inch (1.2 meter) infrared telescopes were installed in an adjacent dome. One would be used for tracking missiles and the other for basic research.

Observatories are an ‘identified land use’ in the Conservation District pursuant to HAR §13-5-24, Identified Land Uses permitted in the Resource Subzone include, R-3 Astronomy Facilities, (D-1) Astronomy facilities under an approved management plan.

Science City has housed astronomical facilities since the early 1950s. Current observatories include the Mees Solar Observatory, the Zodiacal Observatory, Pan-STARRS, the Advanced Electro-Optical System, the Maui Space Surveillance Site, the Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS), the Airglow Facility, the Neutron Monitor Station, and the Faulkes Telescope North. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) (formerly known as Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST)) is under construction.

These facilities observe the sun, provide research time to students and educators worldwide, use lasers to measure the distances to satellites, track and catalogue manmade objects, track asteroids and other potential threats to Earth, and obtain detailed images of spacecraft.

This is the principal site for optical and infrared surveillance, inventory and tracking of space debris, and active laser illumination of objects launched into Earth orbit, all of which are crucial to the nation’s space program. (DLNR) (Lots of information here is from IfA.)

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Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory Site Aerial Showing Existing Facilities
Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory Site Aerial Showing Existing Facilities
reber_transit_pedestal1955
reber_transit_pedestal1955
Reber_1st_Radio_Telescope_Maui_1952
Reber_1st_Radio_Telescope_Maui_1952
meteor tracking camera served initially as the satellite tracking camera
meteor tracking camera served initially as the satellite tracking camera
Kolekole_framework-1952
Kolekole_framework-1952
Framework for Reber's antenna, control building to left, Kole Kole on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii-1952
Framework for Reber’s antenna, control building to left, Kole Kole on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii-1952
Baker-Nunn Satellite Tracking Camera was dedicated on August 2, 1958
Baker-Nunn Satellite Tracking Camera was dedicated on August 2, 1958
Zodiacal Light Observatory
Zodiacal Light Observatory
Haleakala-Reber_Steigerphoto1954
Haleakala-Reber_Steigerphoto1954
TLRS-4 Laser Ranging System
TLRS-4 Laser Ranging System
Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS)
Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS)
PAN-STARRS PS 1 and PS 2
PAN-STARRS PS 1 and PS 2
Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS)
Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS)
LCO Faulkes Observatory
LCO Faulkes Observatory
Ground-Based_Electro-Optical_Deep_Space_Surveillance_(GEODSS)
Ground-Based_Electro-Optical_Deep_Space_Surveillance_(GEODSS)
Daniel K Inouye Solar Teselscope (formerly ATST)
Daniel K Inouye Solar Teselscope (formerly ATST)
C.E.K. Mees Solar Observatory
C.E.K. Mees Solar Observatory

Filed Under: General, Buildings, Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Haleakala, Maui, Science City, Haleakala High Altitude Observatory Site

November 7, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Craigielea

“Nui ke anu! Nui ka uku!! Nui ka wauwau!!! Nui ka walaau!!!! Nui ka hiamoe ole!!!!
“It was so very cold! There were so many fleas!! There was so much scratching!!! There was so much talking!!!! There was so little sleep!!!!” (Charles E King, 1896; Engledow; Raymond, NPS)

“An undesirable pest has publicized its presence high above the park entrance by leaving its name on two caves which early visitors found convenient for shelter.”

“Big Flea and Little Flea Caves often appear in accounts of early trips, but never without mention of the annoyance that was caused by their permanent occupants.” (NPS)

Then, the first facility at the National Park was built in 1894 near the summit of Haleakala, a rest house at Kalahaku. The building was constructed by the Maui Chamber of Commerce to give tourists a rough shelter from the unpredictable climate. (NPS)

CW Dickey, acting upon the inspiration of his late father, circulated a subscription list on Maui, and secured $850 for the construction of a rest house on the crater rim.

Prior to its construction, visitors were staying in the caves known as “Little Flea” and “Big Flea” caves. The rest house was called “Craigielea” after a place in Scotland, which the builders knew. (Xamanek)

“The long anticipated pleasure of a ‘house warming’ at Craigielea, the new crater house, was realized on Friday night, Nov. 10th, by a jolly party of twenty-four. The clear, mild weather, the beautiful sunset and sunrise, the grand, old crater In all its varied hues, and the ever-changing cloud effects, all combined to make the occasion most enjoyable.”

“Thirteen of the party, Mrs. CW Dickey, Mrs. D. C. Lindsay, Ethel Mossman, Eva Smith, Grace Dickey, Lottie Baldwin, J. J. Hair, George Aiken, Fred. Baldwin, Sam Baldwin, Harry Mossman, Sylvin Crooke and CW Dickey, spent Thursday night at Olinda, getting an early start for the top on Friday morning.”

“The day slipped quickly away, and at five o’clock a cloud of dust far down the mountain slde announced the approach of HP Baldwin, Helen Chamberlain, Lillian Aiken, Mrs. HG Alexander, Nellie Alexander and Worth Aiken, who were soon followed by J. W. Colvill e, Miss Watson and Miss Hammond.”

“About seven o’clock two more cold and hungry travelers, D. C. Lindsay and F. “W. Armstrong, arrived. The night was too beautiful for any one to think of staying in the house, so, wrapping gay colored blankets about their shoulders, the whole party rallied forth to view the grand, old crater of Haleakala by moonlight.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 19, 1894)

“Here at Craigie Lea, on the brink of this cold furnace, overlooking the sea ten thousand feet below, or turning to gaze into the bottom of the crater two thousand feet beneath us, we ate our luncheon. Although it was deliciously cool, the rarified atmosphere made eating and drinking an indifferent pleasure.” (Overland Monthly, 1903)

“It is constructed of stone, the walls being twenty inches thick, and is covered with an iron roof. The principal entrance is at the west end, with a deep fireplace at the other end.”

“On either side are two pair of casement windows, each pair separated by a narrow stone pier, making the openings too small to serve as an entrance for vagrants. A small door on the mauka side, near the fireplace, furnishes a convenient exit for those occupying that end of the building.”

“The furniture consists of sixteen canvas cots which can be folded and put out of the way, two tables hung by hinges under two of the windows, so as to be let down when not in use, a cupboard with six shelves, and a full set of rough cooking utensils and tin table ware.”

“Near the house is a comfortable shed enclosed by crude stone walls, which can be used as a saddle house and be occupied by servants. Just makai of this shed is a shelter for horses. An oval cistern sir by ten by nine feet deep will provide plenty of water when the winter rains have filled it.”

“The house is securely locked so that no one can obtain access except in the use of a key, twenty of which have been provided, and distributed among the various plantations offices and other places convenient to the public.”

“Any respectable person will have no difficulty in obtaining a key before he climbs the mountain. It is now an easy undertaking to ride from Makawao to the summit, view the sunset and sunrise, and return to civilization on the following day.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 19, 1894)

This first rest house was completed in two months and served for some three years until a heavy storm unroofed it. Sometime later, Worth O Aiken, Chairman of the Haleakala Rest House Committee for many years, raised another community fund which was used to reroof the building, lay a concrete floor, and equip it with a metal door, window frames and shutters.

With the increasing number of visitors to the crater, the rest house became inadequate and, at the Territorial Civic Convention of 1914, which was held on Maui, a new subscription list was started for a new rest house.

With this money, the new building was constructed and made ready for occupancy by the spring of 1915. It was later demolished in 1957. (NPS)

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Craigielea-Maui Historical Society-1904
Craigielea-Maui Historical Society-1904
Stairway-Kalahaku Overlook-NPS
Stairway-Kalahaku Overlook-NPS
Craigielea-NPS
Craigielea-NPS
Kalahaku Overlook-NPS
Kalahaku Overlook-NPS
Rest House-NPS
Rest House-NPS
Rest_House-NPS
Rest_House-NPS
Rest_House-Before Road Construction-NPS
Rest_House-Before Road Construction-NPS
Rest_House-After Road Construction-NPS
Rest_House-After Road Construction-NPS

Filed Under: General, Buildings, Economy Tagged With: Craigielea, Hawaii, Haleakala, Maui, Haleakala National Park, Dickey

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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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