Hawaii Island | Page 22 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 24, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Keakealani School

Peter Lee, an enterprising pioneer with an eye to the future, tried to popularize the Punalu‘u-Pahala route to Kilauea Volcano, a noted attraction, then and now.

“The wonderful volcano of Kīlauea, on the island of Hawaii, is the great attractive of visitors. It is the only crater in the world that is constantly in action, and that can be safely approached at all times to the very edge of the precipice which encloses the boiling lava.”

“To reach Kīlauea necessitates a passage of thirty hours from Honolulu in a fine steamer to Hilo or Punalu‘u, then a ride of thirty
miles in coaches takes visitors to a fine hotel, which overlooks the molten lava lake. It is a sight that will repay the effort and expense incurred ten times over, and one that will never be forgotten.” (Whitney)

In 1891, Lee built a 24-mile wagon road from Pahala to Kilauea, following by seven years the construction of a hotel at Punalu‘u. (NPS) However, the construction of the Volcano Road from Hilo had also begun.

With the completion of the Hilo to Volcano Road in 1894, four-horse stagecoaches came into the picture, reducing the travel time from Hilo from two days to six and one-half hours, and Hilo became the principal departure point for Kilauea. (NPS)

Lee later sold to the new owners of the Volcano House and then managed both hotels for them. Lee would remain as manager of the Volcano House until 1898.

Lee established a home on land near the center of the ʻŌlaʻa Summer Lots 29-Mile subdivision, which later become Volcano Village.

Noting the need for a school there, in 1914, Peter Lee donated a one-acre site on Haunani Road (named for one of his daughters) to the Territory of Hawai‘i for a “school to teach the children of the region”.

In 1915 the first school building was constructed – a classic one-room structure, along with a teacher’s cottage, small garage, and water tank. The school was named “Keakealani School” in honor of another of Lee’s daughters. (VSAC DEA)

In 1934 the growing student population called for larger facilities and the present two-room building was constructed and the teachers’ cottage and garage demolished, which left the layout we see there today.

In the late 1930s the Kennedy Family, who owned the property abutting the school site to the Hilo side, donated 2.25 acres to the Territory to increase the site to its current 3.25 acres.

In addition to the two-room building, the property consists of a grassy field with a few open-sided, temporary shelters. (VSAC DEA)

By Executive Order No. 1040 dated November 27, 1943, control of the subject property was placed in the Territorial Department of Public Instruction, now the Department of Education (DOE).

“The Hawaii Visitors Bureau won’t admit it. Mainland tourists basking in the sun at Waikiki beach won’t believe it. But kerosene and electric heaters are used to warm the tootsies of some 100 youngsters who attend classes in several public schools here in this island paradise when the mercury takes a nose dive.”

“Mrs Antonio Short, principal of KeaKealani school in the volcano area on the island of Hawaii, explained that ‘some days during the winter we keep our heaters burning all day and have frosty windows, like real Christmas weather.’”

“‘Frost ‘fell’ on our school yard twice in five years, and the temperature sometimes gets as low as 32 degrees,’ Mrs Short said. ‘Most of the youngsters even have to wear sweaters and coats until 10 am on cold days. And if it gets much worse, the youngsters will have to wear shoes all the time.’” (The Times, Shreveport, December 16, 1956)

DOE operated a public school on the site until 1973, when the students were transferred to Mountain View Elementary School. Until 2010, DOE used the facility as an outdoor education center for elementary students on the island of Hawaii.

Budgetary constraints caused DOE to terminate this program, and the facility was subsequently licensed on a year-to-year basis to Volcano School of Arts and Sciences (Volcano School), a public charter school, commencing on July 1, 2010. (DLNR)

Volcano School used the facility as its middle school campus, and received a $618,000 grant-in-aid from the 2011 Legislature to expand the facility to better accommodate its middle school program.

DOE and Volcano School subsequently executed a Lease Agreement effective as of August 1, 2012 that specifies that the premises shall be used for a charter school (consistent with the purpose of the executive order). (DLNR)

This allows the school to consolidate its grades K-4 classes, which are currently located on Old Volcano Rd., with its grades 5-8 classes so the school’s students will be together on one campus. (KHON2)

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Keakealani_School rendering

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March 30, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Snow Play

“(A)t early morning, March 30th (1820), to the joy of our expecting little company, the long looked for Hawaii appeared in the West. The lofty Mauna Kea lifted its snow crowned summit above the dark and heavy clouds that begirt its waist.”

“As we approached, we had a fine view of about sixty miles of the NE coast of the island – the districts of Hilo, Hāmākua, and part of Kohala; and as the sun shining in his strength dissipated the clouds, we had a more impressive view of the stupendous pyramidal Mauna Kea …”

“… having a base of some thirty miles, and a height of nearly three miles. Its several terminal peaks rise so near each other, as scarcely to be distinguished at a distance.”

“These, resting on the shoulders of this vast Atlas of the Pacific, prove their great elevation by having their bases environed with ice, and their summits covered with snow, in this tropical region, and heighten the grandeur and beauty of the scene …”

“… by exhibiting in miniature, a northern winter, in contrast with the perpetual summer of the temperate and torrid zones below the snow and ice.” (Bingham)

Such was the first impression of Hiram Bingham as the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first approached and landed in the Islands. He later (September, 1830) visited the summit region with Kauikeaouli, King Kamehameha III.

“(T)he king set out with a party of more than a hundred, for an excursion further into the heart of the island, and an ascent to the summit of Mauna Kea. To watch over and instruct my young pupil, and to benefit my health, I accompanied him.”

“(C)rossing over to Kawaihae with my family, we ascended at evening to the new inland station. When we had escaped from the oppressive heat on the shore, and reached the height of about 2000 feet, we were met by a slight rain and a chilly wind, which made our muscles shiver, though covered with a cloak, as we came within some twenty-five miles of the snows of the mountain.”

“The rain and clouds passed away as we approached the place of the sojourn of Mr. Ruggles and Dr. Judd. The full-orbed moon looked serenely down from her zenith upon the hoary head of Mauna Kea, and the ample and diversified scenery around.”

“The babbling brook, the sound of a small cataract in a glen, the rustling in the tops of the trees, at a little distance, the scattered huts of the natives in the settlement, while their occupants were hushed at midnight …”

“… and the hospitable light of a fire and lamp, beaming from a glass window of the missionary cottage pitched near the north side of the plain, over against Mauna Kea, which appeared in its grandeur …”

“… all contributed to awaken peculiar emotions, and called forth the aspiration, ‘May the Gospel and the Spirit of God dwell here, and the wilderness and the solitary place be glad for them.’”

“The excursion occupied nearly five days, though it might have been accomplished much sooner. Crossing in a southerly direction the plain of Waimea, some on horseback and some on foot, the party ascended a small part of the elevation of the mountain, and being in the afternoon enveloped in dense fog, they halted and encamped for the night.”

“The next day they passed over the western slope of the mountain to the southern side thence eastward along a nearly level plain, some seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, to a point south of the summit, and encamped out again, in the mild open air.”

“In the course of this day’s journey, the youthful king on horseback, pursued, ran down, and caught a yearling wild bullock, for amusement and for a luncheon for his attendants. A foreigner lassoed and killed a wild cow.”

“The next day was occupied chiefly in ascending in a northerly direction, very moderately. Our horses climbed slowly, and by taking a winding and zigzag course, were able, much of the way, to carry a rider.”

“Having gained an elevation of about ten thousand feet, we halted and encamped for the night, in the dreary solitudes of rocks and clouds. When the night spread her dark, damp mantle over us, we found ourselves in the chilly autumnal atmosphere of the temperate zone of this most stupendous Polynesian mountain.”

“Below us, towards Mauna Loa, was spread out a sea of dense fog, above which the tops of the two mountains appeared like islands.”

“We found it a pretty cold lodging place. … In the morning we proceeded slowly upwards till about noon, when we came to banks of snow, and a pond of water partly covered with ice.”

“In his first contact with a snow bank, the juvenile king seemed highly delighted. He bounded and tumbled on it, grasped and handled and hastily examined pieces of it, then ran and offered a fragment of it in vain to his horse.”

“He assisted in cutting out blocks of it, which were wrapped up and sent down as curiosities to the regent and other chiefs, at Waimea, some twenty-eight miles distant.”

“These specimens of snow and ice, like what are found in the colder regions of the earth, excited their interest and gratified their curiosity, and pleased them much; not only by their novelty, but by the evidence thus given of a pleasant remembrance by the youthful king.”

“After refreshing and amusing ourselves at this cold mountain lake, we proceeded a little west of north, and soon reached the lofty area which is surmounted by the ‘seven pillars’ which wisdom had hewed out and based upon it, or the several terminal peaks near each other, resting on what would otherwise be a somewhat irregular table land, or plain of some twelve miles circumference.

“Ere we had reach’d the base of the highest peak, the sun was fast declining and the atmosphere growing cold. The king and nearly all the company declined the attempt to scale the summit, and passing on to the north-west crossed over, not at the highest point, and hastily descended towards Waimea.” (Hiram Bingham)

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Mauna_Kea_Summit_in_Winter-WC

March 17, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kākua

“Karakakooa (Kealakekua) Bay is situated on the west side of the island of Owhyhee, in a district called Akona. It is about a mile in depth, and bounded by two low points of land, at the distance of half a league, and bearing south south-east and north north-west from each other.”

“On the north point, which is flat and barren, stands the village of Kowrowa; and in the bottom of the bay, near a grove of tall cocoa-nut trees, there is another village of a more considerable size, called Kakooa …”

“… between them, runs a high rocky cliff, inaccessible from the sea shore. On the south side, the coast, for about a mile inland, has a rugged appearance; beyond which the country rises with a gradual ascent, and is overspread with cultivated inclosures and groves of cocoa-nut trees, where the habitations of the natives are scattered in great numbers.”

“The shore, all around the buy, is covered with a black coral rock, which makes the landing very dangerous in rough weather; except at the village of Kakooa, where there is a fine sandy beach, with a Morai, or burying-place, at one extremity, and a small well of fresh water at the other.”

“This bay appearing to Captain Cook a proper place to refit the ships, and lay in an additional supply of water and provisions, we moored on the north side, about a quarter of’ a mile from the shore, Kowrowa bearing north-west.” (Captain King’s Journal)

“There is no locality in the Hawaiian Islands which has so many associations with its early history as Kealakekua Bay and its surroundings.”

“The two villages on its shore, Kaawaloa, and Kakua, now called Napo‘opo‘o, are mentioned in nearly all the books and journals written by explorers and traders, from the death of Captain Cook in 1779 onward, but as far as I know there has been no collection of historic data relating to this district.”

“On the north side of the Bay was the village of Ka‘awaloa, where the chief of the district lived. At this period the “r” was largely used where we now use the “I,” so that Cook and those who followed him spelled the name of the Bay, Karakakua.”

“When the missionaries reduced the language to writing they spelled it Kealakekua. This is undoubtedly an abbreviation for Ke-ala-ke-akua, which means the pathway of the gods.”

“Early navigators called the village on the south side of the Bay, Kākua, which is now Napo‘opo‘o.”

“I consulted Joseph S. Emerson and Thomas G. Thrum about this name and they agree that Cook and the rest in spelling Kakooa (Kakua) used the long sound of “a” in the first syllable, so that they pronounced the word Ke-kua, as we do. This word means a place of worship.”

“No doubt the word Ke-ala-ke-kua originated from the fact that on the pathway from the Bay to Kailua, there were many heiaus. Ellis, who went over this road counted nineteen heiaus, and Thomas G. Thrum has listed forty on the same route.”

“The Rev. John Paris writing in 1852 wrote, ‘The road mauka from the Bay is dotted for miles with heathen temples.’”

“So the district was well named, though it really belonged at first to a large division of land, which, though of no great width, ran from the Bay far up the mountain.”

“Now the name is commonly applied to the section of country whose inhabitants receive their mail at the post office with the name Kealakekua.” (Restarick)

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Kealakekua Bay-Henry Roberts with Cook expedition-1779-portion

View_of_Houses_at_Kealakekua,_William_Ellis-1779

A sketch of Kealakekua Bay in 1864, by Missionary Rufus Anderson

Kealakekua Bay from the village of Kaʻawaloa in the 1820s, from Hiram Bingham I’s book

Kealakekua-John Webber art-1779

Cook-Kealakekua_Bay-Webber-1778

Kealakekua Bay-PP-29-11-010-1926

Kealakekua Bay-PP-29-11-018-1935

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Napoopoo-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

February 20, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Island Names

We still pronounce some of the Hawaiian Island names differently.

After western contact and attempts to write about Hawai‘i, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

However, it may be helpful to look how early writers wrote the respective Island names and see if there is a consistency in representative letters for names and the sounds they represent.

Remember, the writing of the letters in each word is based on the sound they hear, then written in the context of the sound of based on their own English language (and pronounced in the English language).

The first writers were Captain James Cook and his crew. Here are the ways he spelled the Island names (and the words we use for them now).

Cook (1778-1779:)
Oreehoua, or Keehoua (Lehua)
Tahoora (Kaʻula)
Oneeheow or Neeheehow (Niʻihau)
Atooi, Atowi, or Towi, and sometimes Kowi (Kauai)
Woahoo, or Oahoo (Oʻahu)
Morotoi or Morokoi (Molokai)
Ranai, or Oranai (Lanai)
Mowee (Maui)
Morotinnee, or Morokinnee (Molokini)
Kahowrowee, or Tahoorowa (Kaho‘olawe)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

First off, let’s look at the preceding O or A in some of the names. ‘O, and sometimes ʻA, beginning a word are markers to note proper name subjects (persons, places or certain special things.) They are vocatives (addressing the person or place you are talking about or to) – i.e. Atooi means ‘this is (or, ‘it is’) Tooi’ – so it is a proper word and the Island name is ‘Tooi.’ (Johnson)

Here are some other early writers’ ways of writing the Island names by the sounds each hears:

Portlock (1785-1788)
Tahoora (Ka‘ula)
Oneehow (Ni‘ihau)
Atoui
Woahoo
Morotoi
Ranai
Mowee
Owhyhee

Vancouver (1792-1794)
Attowai (Kauai)
Woahoo
Morotoi
Ranai
Mowee (Maui)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)

Hiram Bingham (1820-1840)
Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi)
Woahoo (Oʻahu)
Attooi (Kauai)

Let’s start with the double vowel sounds to start to break down the sound … double O, ‘oo’, has a sound that rhymes with ‘Too’ or ‘Two’. Double E, ‘ee’, sounds like the way we say the single letter ‘E’ (rhyming with ‘wee’).

Now let’s look at the ‘i’ in the words – it, too, sounds like the way we say the single letter ‘I’ (rhyming with ‘eye’).

So ‘Atooi’ really is ‘Tooi’ – sounding like ‘two – eye’. As Hiram Bingham was working on the alphabet developed for the written Hawaiian, he actually notes that Atooi (Kauai), in his early writing was written as ‘Kau‘ ai’ (with the ‘okina before the second ‘a’, not after it) and sounds like ‘cow-eye’.

Some, today, say Atooi is pronounced as ‘Ah’ ‘two’ ‘ee’; however, they are putting in the Hawaiian sound for ‘I’ (which sounds like ‘ee’), rather than the English sound for ‘I’, which rhymes with ‘eye’.

Another Island name with varied pronunciations today is Molokai.

It seems there are at least two schools of thought; an explanation on the pronunciation/spelling of the island name (Molokai (Moh-loh-kī) versus Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee)) is noted in the early portion of “Tales of Molokai The Voice of Harriet Ne” by Harriet Ahiona Ayau Ne with Gloria L. Cronin.

Harriet Ne’s grandson, Edward Halealoha Ayau, noted:

“The reason that the name Molokai (as used in the book) is left without the glottal stop is because my tūtū wahine (grandmother) says that when she was growing up in Pelekunu it was never pronounced Molokaʻi (Moh-loh-kah-ee), but rather Molokai (Moh-loh-kī).”

“Then in about the 1930s, the name changed to Molokaʻi, in part she believes because musicians began pronouncing the name that way. Mary Kawena Pukuʻi, three weeks before her death, called my tūtū and told her that the correct name is Molokai, which means ‘the gathering of the ocean waters.’”

“On the rugged north coast of the island, the ocean slams hard into the pali. On the south and east shores, the ocean glides gently to shore due to location of reefs at least a quarter of a mile offshore. Hence the name, Molokai, ‘Gathering of the Ocean Waters.’”

In a follow-up exchange with Halealoha, he resolved the matter saying that the “best answer is both pronunciations are correct and the most correct depends on which family you are speaking to. So for our ʻohana, it would be Molokai. For others, Molokaʻi.”

Bingham writes, “Aiming to avoid an ambiguous, erroneous, and inconvenient orthography, to assign to every character one certain sound, and thus represent with ease and exactness the true pronunciation of the Hawaiian language, the following five vowels and seven consonants have been adopted: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, I, m, n, p, w.”

“The power of the vowels may be thus represented: ‘a’, as ‘a’ in the English words art, father; ‘e’, as ‘a’ in pale, or ‘ey’ in they; ‘I’, as ‘ee’ or, in machine; ‘o’, as ‘o’ in no; ‘u’, as ‘oo’ in too. They are called so as to express their power by their names ‘ Ah, A, Ee, O, Oo.” (Bingham)

“The convenience of such an alphabet for the Hawaiian language, undisturbed by foreign words, is very obvious, because we can express with simplicity, ease, and certainty, those names and phrases with the sound of which former voyagers were utterly unable to make us acquainted by English orthography.”

“Though it were possible to spell them with our English alphabet it would still be inconvenient. A few names may illustrate the reasons for our new orthography.” (Bingham)

The Old. Corrected in English. The New, or Hawaiian.
Tamaahmaah Kah-mā‘-hau-mā-hah Ka me‘ ha-me‘ ha
Terreioboo Kah-lah‘-nȳ-ō-poo‘-oo Ka la’ ni o pu‘ u
Tamoree Kah-oo‘-moo ah lee‘-ee Ka u‘ rnu a Ii‘ i
Owhyhee Hah-wȳe‘-ee Ha wai‘ i
Woahoo, O-ah‘-hoo O a‘ hu
Attooi Cow‘-eye‘ Kau‘ ai‘
Hanaroorah Hō-nō-loo‘-loo Ho no lu‘ lu

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January 10, 2018 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

‘Āinahou

Hawai’i Island was the birthplace and stronghold of Hawai’i’s ranching industry and paniolo (cowboy) culture. The first cattle were brought by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 and 1794 as a gift to Kamehameha I who turned them loose and placed a kapu (taboo) on their slaughter until 1830.

By that time, a dozen cattle had proliferated into a numerous and feral population, which was wreaking havoc on native ecosystems and seemed impossible to control.

Kamehameha III then sent an ambassador to Mexico to bring back some vaqueros (Mexican cowboys) to teach local people to ride horses, rope cattle, and tame wild cattle.

Between 1850 and 1900 many different breeds of cattle were imported throughout the Hawaiian Islands and large-scale ranching operations emerged, particularly on Hawai‘i Island – the chief industries elsewhere in the state were sugarcane and pineapple.

The entire ahupua‘a of Keauhou (at Volcano) was awarded to Victoria Kamāmalu, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I. Between 1866 and 1884, the ownership of Keauhou was successively inherited by members of the Kamehameha lineage upon the deaths of previous heirs until the death of Princess Bernice Pauahi.

At that time, her husband Charles Bishop established BP Bishop Estate to administer Keauhou and other properties in Pauahi’s inheritance. Congress purchased the lower portion of Keauhou from BP Bishop Estate and established Hawai‘i National Park in 1916.

In 1921, Bishop Estate leased other portions of Keauhou to May K and Arthur W Brown and they established Keauhou Ranch. In August 1937, the lease was transferred to the Brown heirs. In November 1937, William H Shipman, Ltd purchased the Brown heirs’ Keauhou Ranch lease as well as all animals, structures and land improvements on the property.

Herbert Cornelius Shipman sought the property as a safe retreat in case of a Japanese invasion for himself, his sisters and his father. He renamed it ‘Āinahou (new land) Ranch.

Herbert C Shipman was the only son of William Herbert Shipman, one of East Hawai‘i’s best known ranchers and businessmen. (Herbert Shipman took over the business after his father’s death in 1943.)

Herbert C Shipman was a locally renowned businessman, cattle rancher, wildlife conservationist, philanthropist, and descendant of one of the oldest missionary families in Hawai’i.

The ‘Āinahou Ranch is located within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, approximately four miles south and down slope from Kilauea Caldera, the world’s most active volcano.

Construction of the ‘Āinahou Ranch House began in 1940 and ended in July of the following year, just before the World War II broke out.

During and after the war, the ranch house was also used as a base of operations for ‘Āinahou Ranch, which supplied beef to military and domestic outlets. After World War II, the ranch supplied meat to Hilo outlets for approximately 20 years.

After the war, ‘Āinahou was used as his personal retreat and a place to entertain friends. An ‘Āinahou guest book contains the signatures of several hundreds of people who were invited by Shipman between 1945-1965.

Among his guest were actresses Joan Crawford and Janet Gaynor, Sir Peter Buck and well known Pacific archaeologists Kenneth Emory and Marian Kelly.

Over the years, elaborate gardens surrounded the ranch house. Shipman moved a surviving flock of nene (Hawaiian goose and State bird) from his coastal residence in Kea‘au to ‘Āinahou Ranch after a tsunami hit the Island of Hawai’i on April 1, 1946, devastating the local nene population. The ranch was used as a nene sanctuary.

Shipman is credited with the saving of the nene from the brink of extinction by initiating a controlled breeding program. At that
time, the total population of the species had been reduced to a few dozen birds.

In 1969, when Kilauea Volcano became active, threatening Shipman’s property, Shipman decided to evacuate all personnel, but left the nene.

In 1971-72, as the lava approached the property within 2/3 of a mile, an agreement was reached where Shipman received payment from the Park Service for the improvements, Bishop Estate terminated Shipman’s lease due to an imminent danger clause and sold the land fee simple to the National Park Service.

The property was purchased by the National Park Service under the authority of the Endangered Species Act, requiring that part of the land be set aside for activities related to preserving endangered species and a portion is currently being used to care for the nene.

Since the National Park Service acquired the property, the house has been used intermittently as a retreat, hostel for visiting work crews and overnight lodging for social groups.

Herbert, who never married, died childless in 1976. In accordance with his will, most of his assets went to establish a philanthropic foundation.

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