Hawaii Island | Page 23 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Haili Church Choir-Winner Singing Contest 1929

Haili Choir-2011

Haili Church – interior

Haili Award-Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame

Haili_Church,_Hilo

December 4, 2017 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Pahala Plantation

“Among the gigantic enterprises which had their birth at the consummation of the Treaty of Reciprocity between this Kingdom and the United States of America …”

“… notible mention should be made of a Company which was incorporated in 1877 under the name of the Hawaiian Agricultural Company (limited.) This Company chose for its locality or base of a site, at Pahala, situated on the southeast side of the Island of Hawaii.” (BF Dillingham; Daily Honolulu Press, November 26, 1885)

“Peter C. Jones, Charles R. Bishop, J.D. Brewer, H.A.P. Carter and several others chose to take advantage of the economic situation and incorporate on December 22, 1876 under the name Hawaiian Agricultural Company.” (HSPA)

“In due time the mill and other necessary buildings were erected, five miles from Punaluu Landing, at an elevation 800 (feet above the sea level, commanding a wide range of ocean, and an extensive view of the surrounding country.”

“Twenty-five miles along the shore by fifteen miles inland, reaching into the mountains, form the boundaries of the magnificent extent of territory taken up by this Company.”

“The first acre of virgin soil on this plantation was broken in 1877. A mill second in size to only one ever built in the history of the world, complete with building frame, and cover all of iron, was landed at Punaluu, in 1878.”

“Hundreds of acres of land had been plowed and planted with cane at an aggregate cost of an amount sufficient to yield more than a Princely income, when the outlook from long continued drought, seemed so strongly to betoken utter failure, that it was proposed by those who had been most sanguine among the promoters of the enterprise, to abandon the undertaking.”

“Without even erecting the ponderous mill which was now lying in a heap at the landing. A delegation of experts appointed by the Company at Honolulu took passage to the scene of distress, and it is said, their report favored the retrograde movement …”

“… and the delegation was of opinion that the prospective capacity of the whole plantation would not exceed 900 tons of sugar per annum. Fortunately for all interested parties, better counsels prevailed: forward! was the order cultivature progressed; rains came at last; cane fields almost white, put on their mantle of thrifty green, and hope revived.”

“In 1880, the ponderous mill, which had already been condemned under the euphonious name of ‘White Elephant,’ was removed from its quiet resting place and put in active service.”

“The area of cane under cultivation has steadily increased from 1,200 acres in 1880 until now there is a belt of cane fields stretching over a distance of seven miles, lying in a north easterly and south-westerly direction.”

“The lower edge of this belt barely reaches the elevation of the mill, rising thence toward the mountain top to a height of 1800 to 2000 feet. The number of acres under cultivation by the Company is 2000; and 600 acres more are cultivated by private planters”.

“The highest numbers of tons of sugar made, bagged, weighed, and shipped during any one day this 26½ tons. The best weeks work during the year shows an average of 46 clarifiers per day, or 138 tons of sugar for the week.”

“This much abused ‘White Elephant’ I am informed upon indisputable authority, has no superior in this kingdom, if any where else.”

“Its mechanism seems perfect as indeed do all its appointments. Its three little rollers, each of eleven tons weight, revolve with majestic quiet and dignity, performing their work of crushing cane in a manner which force upon one the thought suggested in the adage ‘Tho’ the Mills of the Gods grind slowly yet they grind exceedingly small.’” (BF Dillingham; Daily Honolulu Press, November 26, 1885)

“The original mill was brought from London in 1879 and was the largest in the islands at that time. But by 1914, it was necessary to increase it from a 9 roller mill to a 15 roller mill with a capacity of 45 tons of cane per hour. A new flume system and cane weighing scheme were also installed.”

“The flumes were arranged so that each contractor’s cane could be weighed separately, instead of weighing every tenth bundle in the field and averaging the weight. The cane was flumed into cars and weighed on track scales.”

“The Pahala mill also purchased cane from Wood Valley homesteaders, about 20 Hawaiians and Portuguese, who cultivated about 600 acres of land. This group of homesteaders was one of the most successful in the Territory.” (HSPA)

“While we stand watching the packing process, which is manipulated with mechanical precision and dispatch; a six-mule team is driven to the door, and in just four minutes from the time of arrival, the team is started to the tramway with a load of two and one half tons of sugar.”

“The narrow gauge railroad or tramway referred to was graded and built under the supervision of the present manager. Commencing at the wharf at Punaluu this tramway curves among the ledges of pahoehoe, rising on a grade of four feet in every hundred.”

“By the most rigid economy, the meager water supply afforded in very dry weather, by springs, found in the mountains at a distance of five to six miles, a sufficient amount is stored each night to ‘flume’ the required cane during the following day.”

“In making a tour through the cane fields, one is impressed with the thourough cultivation which was noticeable on every acre of ground. With loose earth and perfect freedom from weeds or grass, the full strength of the soil is given to nourish and foster the growth of the cane.”

“The whole working force on this plantation consists of a manager seven Lunas and 325 mill and field hands.”

“The portion of this great property embracing the Sugar Plantation is a small part of the whole; the bulk of the lands being suitable only for a cattle ranch.”

“Large herds of cattle (the aggregate number of which is said to be six thousand), roam at will over the vast expanse of territory. The cattle ranch is under the management of Mr. Julian Monsarrat who resides at Kapapala at the residence of the late WH Reed, former owner of that property. Under the management of this gentleman an effort is being made to improve the breed of both cattle and horses.”

“The plantation is a financial success, and every department is conducted with a quiet orderly mechanical precission, which is a comfort to both governor and governed.” (BF Dillingham; Daily Honolulu Press, November 26, 1885)

“In 1972, C. Brewer & Co. decided to consolidate the Hawaiian Agricultural Company with Hutchinson Sugar Plantation Company. The new entity was named Kau Sugar Company.” (HSPA) In 1999, Hawai‘i Island’s sugar era ended with the closure of Kau Sugar Mill.

Japanese sugar plantation laborers at Kau, Hawaii Island-(HSA)-PP-46-4-010-1890

HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURE COMPANY PLANTATION HOSPITAL

HAWAIIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY – JAMES COMPSIE AND WIFE

Kau_Irrigation

Punaluu village, Hawaii-(HSA)-PPWD-5-6-003-1880

Hawaiian Agricultural Co – stock

November 9, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Waiolama

Ke one ‘anapa o Waiolama
The sparkling sand of Waiolama

This is an expression much used in chants of Hilo, Hawai’i. Waiolama is a place between Waiakea and the town of Hilo. It was said to have sand that sparkled in the sunlight. (Pukui, #1773)

The Waiolama marsh was just inland from the Hilo shoreline. This river/marsh area was also developed into a fishpond and was used for a unique type of kalo cultivation (kipikipi).

“In flat swampy ground earth is heaped up into long mounds 3 or 4 feet high and about 3 feet broad on top, each mound surrounded by water left standing in the ditches created by digging out and heaping up the earth.”

“The taro is planted around the lower margins of the mounds near the water; sweet potatoes are planted on top. This method of swamp-land planting finds its counterpart in the old style of mounding”. (Handy)

The ali‘i Ruth Ke‘elikolani had a house near the bay at Waiolama, and spent time there during her well-known 1880-81 visit to Pele, at which it was said she successfully stopped an advancing lava flow just over a mile above Hilo Bay.

In 1889, a small canal was dredged to divert some of the water from the Waiolama Marsh into the Wailoa River. The drainage canal was enlarged and paved between 1915 and 1917.

Then, in the early 1900s, the Territory of Hawai‘i saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

In Hilo, the Waiolama Reclamation Project included the draining and filling of approximately 40-acres in the area between the Hilo Railway tract, Wailoa River, and Baker and Front Streets. It included diversion of the Alenaio Stream. (1914-1919)

“One of the most important undertakings on Hawaii has been the Waiolama Reclamation Project. The Lord-Young Engineering Company, Ltd., was awarded the contract for the reclamation of about forty acres of swamp land in the district between the Hilo Railway tract, Waioloa River, and Baker and Front streets, Hilo.”

“(T)here was a total flow of 36,000,000 gallons of water into the swamp, exclusive of storm water from the Alenaio Stream, and that the estimated cost of diverting this flow before it enters the swamp would be $33,800.00.” (Superintendent of Public Works Report, 1916)

“Over 215,000 cubic yards (CY) of fill material were needed. Of this, 207,000 CY of black sand were obtained from the nearby Bayfront Beach. The remaining 8,000 CY or so of fill material were obtained from the dredging spoils of the Waiolama Canal which was also a part of the project.”

The nearby Ponahawai Reclamation Project required another 32,000 cubic yards of fill material, all of which was obtained from the Bayfront Beach.

“In all, about 247,000 CY of fill material were required for the two projects. Approximately 239,000 CY of this total came from the Bayfront Beach.”

“Apparently, sand mining along the ocean side was also occurring at about this period. This was accomplished by the railroad company by using a rail-mounted crane with a clamshell to load gondola cars. The sand was used for bedding and a variety of construction purposes in East Hawaii.”

“On 16 December 1921, high waves undermined the railway and deposited sand at various areas. All of Mo‘oheau Park was inundated except for the inland-most 100 feet. Opposition was raised by the Hilo Railroad Company over the dredging of sand from the beach for the Ponahawai Reclamation Project.”

“They claimed that the dredging of sand from the earlier Waiolama project had compounded the heavy surf and had contributed to the undermining of the tracks through the removal of beach frontage.”

“It was at about this time that the railroad company began dumping stone to form a crude revetment at the western portion of the bayfront shoreline. After some delay, the railroad relented their objections to further dredging of beach sand. Then on 3 February 1923, a tsunami (again damaged the railroad tracks along Hilo’s bayfront shoreline.” (Army Corps)

Later, the Army Corps implemented the Alenaio Stream Flood Control project here. Completed in 1997, the project consists of a levee; channel, floodwall structures and other improvements.

Today, what was once a river and marshland … and unique kalo cultivation area is now open space and soccer fields at Hilo’s Bayfront area.

Waiolama River-1910s

Hilo-Waiolama Marsh Area noted near shoreline-center

Waiolama_(Hilo)_Reclamation-suction_dredge

Waiolama_(Hilo)_Reclamation

Waiolama Stream-1905

Alenaio Stream-Waiolama Marsh-1891-over Google Earth

October 10, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Peter Lee Road

“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)

“The Interisland steamer W G Hall, 380 tons burthen, leaves Honolulu alternate Tuesdays and Fridays, at 10 A. M. She is one of the best sea boats plying in our waters, and tourists will find her accomodations and table equal to any, while her officers and stewards are ever on the alert to supply all their wants.”

“(T)he steamer at once proceeds to Punalu‘u, the terminus of the sea route. This is usually reached about 6 P. M. The passengers are landed in boats and will proceed to the Punalu‘u hotel, where they will find themselves comfortably taken care of.” (Whitney)

Lee set upon this venture with the idea of popularizing the Punalu‘u-Pahala route to Kilauea. In 1891, Peter Lee, an enterprising pioneer with an eye to the future, built a 24-mile wagon road from Pahala to Kilauea, following by seven years the construction of a hotel at Punalu‘u, which then became a third takeoff point. (NPS)

“The hotel is clean, the table good, and the proprietor will be found very obliging and ready to afford any information required.” (Whitney)

“Early in the morning the start for the Volcano is made. The first five miles are done by rail to Pahala, where the Hawaiian Agricultural Company have a large plantation and a fine mill. The fields extend far up the hillside and the constant moving of wagons, riders and gangs of men makes a busy scene.” (Whitney)

“At Pahala a coach will be found ready to convey the tourists to the Volcano. The road passes through a pleasant grassy country with the tree-clad slopes of Mauna Loa lying to the left, while to the right glimpses of the sea and the lower land are occasionally caught.” Whitney)

“The Half-way House is reached in about three hours. Here a lunch is prepared for the travelers, and a short rest is given to the animals. The air becomes cooler as the coach advances, and a pleasant ride of seven hours through a country abounding in pretty scenery brings the party to the vicinity of the Volcano House.”

“The smoke which forever overhangs this wonder of nature will have been pointed out by the guide, long before the crater is reached. About a mile from the Volcano House, a first view into the crater is obtained. By daylight the sight is by no means so striking as at night, but enough can be seen to excite wonder in the beholder.” (Whitney)

“For a number of years the Government road from Pahala in Kā‘u, to the Volcano has been practically abandoned, and a private road built and owned by Mr. Lee has been generally traveled.” (Minister of the Interior Report, 1894)

The best estimate for the date of completion of Peter Lee’s Road comes from a Volcano House register entry dated October 1888 by a guest who claimed to be the first visitor to travel by means of a wheeled conveyance the entire way from an ocean port to the volcano.

It is possible that the road was finished earlier, or that the segment that finally connected the two roads was completed before the entire road was fit for travel. (NPS)

In correspondence from Lee to Thurston, Lee notes, “I am just now making a carriage road to the Volcano on the Kā‘u side, which road will be completed in a few weeks, Several competent people have overlooked this road and are highly recommending it.”

“As I have been employed for several years in road building in Peru and California, I am thoroughly familiar with this kind of work, and am confident that I can make this road as good and cheap, and in as short a time as anybody in the country.” (Lee to Thurston, September 22, 1888; Maly)

However, the construction of the Volcano Road from Hilo had 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)

Back to Peter Lee’s road … “The Legislature of 1892 passed an appropriation for the purchase of this road, and practically it was turned over to the Government in December, 1892; but the formal transfer was only completed in January, 1894. The purchase price being $4,500.” (Minister of the Interior Report, 1894)

“This is the main road for travel between the districts of Hilo and Kau, and until last October was the only road by which carriages could go to the Volcano.”

“Nothing has been done on the road by way of repairs for a long time, and it is now a very uncomfortable carriage road. The Kau Road Board should be instructed to put it in order, and in addition, certain portions crossing the lava flows should be regraded and reconstructed, and finished with the traction engine now in use on the Volcano road.” (Minister of the Interior Report, 1894)

Peter Lee sold the Punalu‘u Hotel to the new buyers of the Volcano House; he managed both hotels for them.

From the early 1900s, prisoners at Namakanipaio worked on rebuilding the “Peter Lee Road” into Kaʻū, and on roads and trails around the Kilauea, and towards Puna. The prison site was closed shortly after 1915. (Maly)

Fern Forest Road to the volcano from Punaluu, Hawaii Island-PP-28-13-008

Punaluu-S00084-1880

Suspected Peter Lee Road Marker noting completion-Aug 1887-NPS

KilaueaCrater_USGS_Quadrangle-KilaueaCrater-1922-portion-Peter Lee Road

September 21, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pendulum Peak

Early pendulum experiments helped calculate the force of gravity. By taking different readings at different locations across the planet, it is possible to calculate the contours of the earth, as well as the density of the interior. (A later Foucault pendulum was used to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth.)

Lt Charles Wilkes, as part of the US Exploring Expedition, came to Hawai‘i in 1840 with a 68-inch long pendulum and a pendulum clock. After suspending the pendulum from a tripod, he set up the pendulum clock nearby.

Both the clock and pendulum were swung – since they had different lengths, they swung at different rates. Every so often, they would coincide. Observing the pendulums through a telescope, he would record the time of the coincidence.

Over time, enough data was accumulated to determine the duration of a single swing of the pendulum. With the time and the length of the pendulum, he was able to calculate the force of gravity. (Philbrick)

Just after new year’s in 1841, Wilkes conducted pendulum observations on the top of Mauna Loa, at a site they named Pendulum Peak.

In the days before Christmas, with temperatures in the teens, and “water in the bags, under my pillow, froze,) “it blew a perfect hurricane for several hours, causing an incessant slamming, banging, and flapping of the tents, as though hundreds of persons were beating them with clubs”.

At other times, “at sunset, we had a beautiful appearance of the shadow of the mountain, dome-shaped, projected on the eastern sky: the colour of a light amethyst at the edges, increasing in intensity to a dark purple in the centre; it was as distinct as possible, and the vast dome seemed to rest on the distant horizon.”

“The night was clear, with moonlight, the effect of which on the scene was beautiful: the clouds floating below us, with the horizon above them, reminded us of the ice bergs and ice-fields of the Antarctic: the temperature lent its aid to the deception.”

“The 3d proved fine, and the pendulum-clock and apparatus being arranged and adjusted, the clock was put in motion, and a comparison made with the three chronometers every two hours.”

They made other observations, as well, “During our stay on the summit, we took much pleasure and interest in watching the various movements of the clouds; this day in particular they attracted our attention; the whole island beneath us was covered with a dense white mass, in the centre of which was the cloud of the volcano rising like an immense dome.”

“All was motionless, until the hour arrived when the sea-breeze set in from the different sides of the island: a motion was then seen in the clouds at the opposite extremities, both of which seemed apparently moving towards the same centre, in undulations …”

“… until they became quite compact, and so contracted in space as to enable us to see a well-defined horizon; at the same time, there was a wind from the mountain, at right angles, that was affecting the mass, and driving it asunder in the opposite direction.”

“The play of these masses was at times in circular orbits, as they became influenced alternately by the different forces, until the whole was passing to and from the centre in every direction, assuming every variety of form, shape, and motion.”

“(T)he outward variation (in temperature) still continued from 17° to 50° during the twenty-four hours.”

“On the 8th, we had a change to cold, raw, and disagreeable weather; snow began to fall, and a kona or southwest gale set in; the temperature fell soon to 20°.”

“At 10 pm, I was unable to proceed with the pendulum observations; for such was the fury of the storm, that the journeyman-clock, with a loud beat, although within three feet of my ear, could not be heard. I was indeed apprehensive that the whole tent, house, and apparatus would be blown over and destroyed.”

“This storm continued until sunrise of the 9th, when it moderated. I have seldom experienced so strong a wind; it blew over and broke one of the barometers, although its legs had been guarded carefully by large stones; and the wind was so violent at times, that it was with difficulty we could keep our footing.”

“On the 10th of January, we had snow again. The temperature rose to 32°: the snow melted fast, causing excessive dampness within and without, while other discomforts that may be imagined prevailed.”

“On the 11th, having the eprouvette mortar (a small cannon) with me, I tried some experiments on the velocity of sound, comparing it with our measured bases and the sides of the triangles: these gave results as satisfactory … The great difference was in the sound itself: the report of the gun producing a kind of hissing noise.”

“The eprouvette was of iron, and was fired with a plug driven into it very tightly after it was loaded. When fired near the level of the sea, it was necessary to close the ears when standing within twenty feet of it. The sound could be heard six miles, and the report was equal to that of a large gun.”

“But on the summit we stood close to it without any precaution whatever, and the noise it there made was more like that of a squib (a small firework that burns with a hissing sound before exploding.) … This night we finished the pendulum, and all the dip and intensity observations”.

“When day broke, on the 13th January, all was bustle on the summit of Mauna Loa. Every one was engaged in taking down and packing up the instruments and equipage, loaded with which the native labourers scampered off.”

“Previous to our departure, I had the words ‘Pendulum Peak, January 1841,’ cut in the lava within our village. JG Clarke, one of the seamen belonging to the Vincennes, who made these marks came to me and desired, on the part of the men, that I would allow them to add to it US Ex Ex, in order that there might be no mistake as to who had been there; to this I readily gave my consent.”