Hawaii Island | Page 31 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 7, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lihue Plantation

“(T)he plains of Whymea … are reputed to be very rich and productive, occupying a space of several miles in extent, and winding at the foot of these three lofty mountains far, into the country.”

“In this valley is a great tract of luxuriant, natural pasture, whither all the cattle and sheep imported by me were to be driven, there to roam unrestrained, to ‘increase and multiply.’” (Vancouver, February 1794)

The Waimea of the 1830s and 40s was a busy place. Wild cattle were being caught for hides and beef, tanneries were turning hides into leather, sugar cane was being milled into sugar, and farm products were being grown. In 1835, the Protestant minister, Lorenzo Lyons, wrote to the mission headquarters in Honolulu:

“Waimea ought to be supplied (with more missionaries) for it has become the residence of Governor Adams (Kuakini – brother of Kaʻahumanu) … and many foreigners reside there…” (Lyons, June 25, 1835)

One reason for the presence of so much activity in Waimea was its proximity to the port of Kawaihae, a preferred stopping place for sailing vessels due to its relatively safe anchorage and good provisioning. The ships had access to plentiful supplies of water, salt, beef, pork, sweet potatoes, etc.

On (September 7, 1835) the Diana arrived 92 days from Canton via Bonin Islands. … Brig full of miscellaneous cargo … the principal of the balance to the Chinamen in French’s employ….”

“There were in the brig four Chinese sugar manufacturers with a stone mill and 400 to 600 pots for cloying and 5 cast Iron boilers. They are under control of Atti (Ahtai who was employed by William French) and hopefully can be obtained on fair terms.” (William Hooper, Ladd & Company; Kai)

Besides his interest in sugar, French had a store and a warehouse at Kawaihae as well as a store, a home and a tannery in the uplands at Waimea, Kohala. (Kai)

A visitor to the area in 1839 noted, “I accompanied Mr French on a walk to a place about two miles distant where the business of tanning is being carried on under the direction of Chinamen. The establishment is extensive and the leather exhibited … was of a very superior quality. Besides a saddlemaker close by the tan works, Mr. French has a shoemaker and a carpenter in his employ.” (Olmstead)

Records have not been found giving the names of these Chinese tanners but the names of six other Chinese men who were in the Waimea area during the 1830s and early 1840s are known. These were Ahpong, Ahsam, Ahchow, Aiko (Lum Jo), Lau Ki or Kalauki, and Apokane (Ahsing.) (Kai)

The first sugar mill is described as having been established by a Chinese man named Lau Ki, who had come to Hawai‘i with Captain Joseph Carter, grandfather of AW Carter. The mill was powered by a water wheel using water from Waikoloa Stream. (Stewart)

The sugar plantation was doing business under the name of Achow & Company. (Kai) It was situated in Lihue, an area in Waimea that is generally where the Lālāmilo agricultural subdivision is situated.

Aiko, whose Chinese name was Lum Jo, was listed as one of the six ‘sugar masters’ who came to Hawaiʻi between 1820-1840. He appears to have been one of the principal partners in Lihue Plantation.

Aiko married a Hawaiian woman from the Waimea area in 1835 and they had a daughter, Amelia, born in 1836. Aiko’s wife, Maria Kaʻahuapeʻa, probably from the Waimea area, was baptized a Catholic in 1840. Amelia was their only natural child. They raised other children, hānai and adopted. (Kai)

In 1843, Aiko and his partners sold the Lihue mill, their tools, the cane in the fields and whatever rights they had in their original agreement with Governor Kuakini, to Abraham (Abram) Henry Fayerweather. (Kai)

After selling the plantation Aiko went up to Kohala where he started another plantation in Iole, then came down to Hilo to start another plantation on Ponahawai and he was involved in various businesses including the first bowling alley in Hilo. (Clarry)

Back in Waimea, on December 5, 1843 Fayerweather entered into an agreement with Kuakini. That agreement noted, in part, “Kuakini shall plant sugar cane at Waimea and when the same shall be ripe, shall carry or cause the same to be carried to the sugar mill of AH Fayerweather at Waimea, and shall also furnish men to do all the labour for same including the grinding, and shall furnish firewood for boiling the same.”

“That, AH Fayerweather shall furnish a mill for grinding the aforenamed cane, a sugar maker and all the tools for making the sugar and molasses, and the sugar and molasses, proceeds of the aforenamed cane, shall be shared equally between the said Kuakini and AH Fayerweather, one half each.”

“This agreement is to commence on the first day of January AD one thousand eight hundred and forty four, and is to continue and be binding on the parties, for themselves their heirs and assigns for the term of five years.”

“It is also agreed that the land now planted with cane by the said AH Fayerweather and also heretofore planted by Achow & Co at Waimea, shall be free from taxes of all kinds.” (Kuakini/Fayerweather Agreement)

Although unsuccessful, sugarcane continued to be cultivated in Waimea after George W Macy and James Louzada purchased the mill in 1853. Macy and Louzada leased a large portion of Puʻukapu in 1857 for growing sugarcane. However, cultivation of sugarcane in Puʻukapu was abandoned by 1877. (Kai)

While sugar was out; cattle was in.

Around this time, more lands were converted to pasturage and holding pens; and, according to Lorezo Lyons, Waimea had turned into a “cattle pen” and “(b)y another unfavorable arrangement 2/3 of Waimea have been converted to a pasture for government herds of cattle, sheep, horses, etc.” (MKSWCD)

In 1847, the branding of wild cattle became a government function, overseen by William Beckley. That same year, John Palmer Parker purchased the first acres of land that would become Parker Ranch. (Bergin)

Shortly after, in 1850, the King appointed George Davis Hueu, of Waikoloa, as “Keeper of the Cattle” at Waimea, Mauna Kea and surrounding districts. (MKSWCD)

Likewise, because of the demand for Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes by those in California involved with the Gold Rush, Waimea farmers began to increase their production and shipping of potatoes to California, along with other agricultural products. (Stewart)

(Lihue Plantation Company on Kauai originated in 1849 as a partnership between Charles Reed Bishop, Judge William L. Lee, and Henry A. Pierce of Boston; H Hackfeld & Co. served as agents.)

(The site of the mill was selected in the valley of the Nāwiliwili stream; water power was used to drive the mill rollers, which were iron bound granite crushers brought from China. A centrifugal sugar dryer was installed in 1851. Open kettles provided the means for boiling the syrup.) (HSPA)

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March 25, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ties to the Santa Fe

While small gravity and mule-powered rails popped up here and there in the eastern United States, it was the coming of the steam locomotive that truly allowed railroads to prosper.

In August 1829, Horatio Allen tested an English-built steamer named the Stourbridge Lion in Pennsylvania; by the time of the Civil War there were more than 60,000 miles of railroad in the country, by the 1870s, the Transcontinental Railroad stretched all the way to California and there were more than 190,000 –miles of rail at the beginning of the 20th century.

During the height of the industry, commonly referred to as the ‘Golden Age’ from the late 19th century through the 1920s there were more than 254,000 miles of railroad in service.

The expanding rail system needed material to tie the rails – then, in 1907, the ‘Santa Fe’ came to the Islands.

“Among the passengers for Hawaii on the Kīnaʻu yesterday were EO Faulkner (head of the tie and lumber department of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad) has come to this Territory to investigate the ʻōhiʻa ties”. (Pacific Commercial Advertising, September 25, 1907)

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company (distinctively known as the Santa Fe) was founded by Cyrus K Holiday in Kansas in 1859. A line that reached from Kansas to California and from Kansas to the Gulf of Mexico was the vision of Holiday.

The desire to tap into the cotton and cattle markets in Texas combined with the promise of Texas as a market for Kansas wheat led the Santa Fe to seek an entry into markets in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. (American Rails)

Before he left the Islands, Faulkner “signed a contract with the Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company which will mean the exportation of 90,000,000-board feet of ʻōhiʻa to the mainland within the next five years.”

“While the representatives of their lumber company are unwilling to state the exact price obtained for their lumber under the contract, the fact was obtained that it was between $2,500,000 and $3,000,000.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 11, 1907)

To fulfill the agreement, “The ties will all be handled by the Hilo railroad. The next work to be done will be making a start on the new mill in Puna and we will also build a railroad, connecting with the main line at Pahoa, and running some four miles into the forest eventually.”

“It will run through the ʻōhiʻa forests which skirt the koa, and thus enable us to reach the koa property easily.” (AN Campbell, Henry Waterhouse Co; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 25, 1907)

“The development of the Hawaiian lumber industry stands out preeminent, through the signing in October 1907 of a contract between the Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company and the Santa Fe Railway System to supply during the next five years …” (Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Annual Report, 1908)

“According to the terms of the contract the local company is to furnish 500,000 ties six by eight inches and eight feet in length, each year for five years, the same to be delivered at such Coast ports as shall be designated by the railroad company.”

“In addition to this they shall deliver each year 500 sets of switch ties, which are heavier than the regular tie and vary in length from 10 to 22 feet.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 11, 1907)

“Prior to this contract – in June 1907 – one schooner load of 13,000 ʻōhiʻa ties was sent to San Francisco. Several good-sized orders for ʻōhiʻa ties and ʻōhiʻa piling for use in the Territory have also been filled by the Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company.” (Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Annual Report, 1908)

Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company (also called Pāhoa Lumber Mill) began in 1907 (owned by James B Castle.) By September 1908, the company was operating a lumber mill in Pāhoa.

A narrow gauge railroad was built from Glenwood to the saw-mill in the woods back of the Volcano House, the mill itself has been erected and some of the machinery installed. Trees were felled in the forest, cut into logs and hauled in to the mill yard.

Most of the ties were to be cut in the Puna District on the homestead lots above Olaʻa, on lands of the Puna Plantation that were being cleared for cane, and on other lands in Puna on which rubber will be planted. The ties will be shipped from Hilo by steamers and sailing vessels, the first shipment being sometime in the spring of 1908.

Between 1909 and 1910, Pāhoa Lumber Mill have lumbered something over 1000 acres. In 1911, the Pāhoa Lumber Mill sought more land for logging. However, by 1914, the Division of Forestry notes that the Pahoa Lumber Mill “has barely reached the section set apart as the Puna Forest Reserve…” (Division of Forestry Annual Report, 1914)

In January 5, 1910 Lorrin A Thruston and Frank B. McStocker of the Hawaiian Development Co. Ltd. appeared before Marston Campbell, Commissioner of Public Lands in Honolulu, to secure rights to log a tract of government lands in Puna.

In January 1913, a fire devastated the Pāhoa Lumber Company mill, and that same year the mill changed its name to Hawaiʻi Hardwood Company. According to government records, the Hawaiian Development Company Ltd. was a successor to the Hawaiian Mahogany Lumber Company (Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturalist)

The contract with the Santa Fe Railway System was never fulfilled. The Division of Forestry noted that by 1914, few ‘ʻōhiʻa was being sold for railroad ties after it was realized that the ‘ʻōhiʻa wood ties did not last in the extreme conditions of the southwest.

Likewise, “increasing attention is being paid to finding a market for ʻōhiʻa for uses of higher tirade. Especially is an effort being made to introduce ʻōhiʻa as flooring …”

“… a use to which the firm, close texture of the wood and its handsome color lend themselves admirably. The waste from the ʻōhiʻa mills (slabs, etc.) is sold for firewood, not a little of it being shipped to Honolulu.” (Report of the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, 1911) (Lots of information here is from Uyeoka.)

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Raiload tie mill-Lyman Museum-Uyeoka

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Railroad through Puna Forest-Lyman Museum-Uyeoka

Railroad tracks through Puna-Lyman Museum-Uyeoka

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March 20, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hokuloa Church

Lorenzo and Betsy Lyons arrived in the Hawaiian Islands as missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) on the ‘Averick’ on May 17, 1832. They were part of the large Fifth Company, including the Alexanders, Armstrongs, Emersons, Forbes, Hitchcocks, Lymans and others.

Ultimately, 17 missionary stations were created throughout the Islands; these became the centers for establishing outlying churches (each church served as a community gathering area and was typically accompanied by a school.)

By 1831 eleven hundred schools had been established by the missionaries. The schools were organized in the most populated areas and native teachers and lay-ministers were appointed to administer them.

On July 16 1832, Lyons replaced Reverend Dwight Baldwin as minister at Waimea, South Kohala, Hawai‘i. Lyons’ “Church Field” was centered in Waimea, at what is now the historic church ‘Imiola.

On October 15, 1840, Kamehameha III enacted a law that required the maintenance and local support of the native schools in all populated areas. By this time, one church and school each were established in Kawaihae and Puakō.

By 1851, the lands on which the churches and schools were situated were formally surveyed and conveyed to their respective administrative organizations. (Maly)

Lyons built fourteen churches in the expanse of his mission station including Waipi‘o Valley, Honokaʻa, Kawaihae and Puakō. Each of the churches represented the designs of New England congregational churches.

Each church was constructed of materials found where the church was built. Some were constructed of lava rock and some of wood. The churches at Kawaihae and Puakō were built of lava rock.

The construction of the Hokuloa Church (Hoku loa – ‘evening star’) in Puakō began in 1858 and was completed and dedicated March 20, 1860. It’s the oldest functioning lava rock structure in the district of South Kohala.

The building is rectangular in shape, approximately 25 feet by 40 feet. The original wooden floor was repaired several times; seriously damaged during the tsunami of 1960 and in 1967, it was replaced with concrete.

The 10-foot walls are constructed of lava rocks bound with burnt coral mortar. The side walls vary from two to three feet thick with the gabled ends being the thinner part.

Most of the wood used for construction of the building was hauled from forests growing at higher elevations. Some of the wood was brought by ship from the northwest US. The ships delivered the wood to the edge of the Puakō reef where it was dropped into the ocean and dragged to land.

The original shingled roof was replaced several times with metal sheet roofs and then again in 1990 with a fireproof shingle made of a composite material.

The bell tower houses the original bell purchased from New England for the church by Rev Lyons and installed for the dedication in 1860.

“The stone church, with its whitened walls, and reddened roof and humble spire give the place an air of civilization and religiousness, and the school house in close proximity with its similar walls though thatched roof, makes something of a show, and indicated the existence of a school.” (Lyons, 1863)

“This school carries 18 children on the register, but only 10 attended on the day I was there. The proficiency of the scholars was not very satisfactory. I am inclined to believe that ‘the Schoolmaster is abroad’ too much of his time, he living at Kawaihae too far from the school; but none other was to be had.” (School Inspector Gulick, 1865)

“Puakō is a village on the shore, very like Kawaihae, but larger. It has a small harbor in which naive vessels anchor. Coconut groves give it a verdant aspect. No food grows in the place. The people make salt and catch fish. These they exchanged for vegetables grown elsewhere.” (Lorenzo Lyons, 1835)

“This parish is from 13 to 18 miles SW of Waimea and consists of several small villages, one of which is Puakō. These villages are mostly beautified by tall waving coconuts groves – the lauhala , the loulu or low palm tree – and Kou tree – and some other shrubbery. “

“There are also fish ponds where the delicious mullet etc sport and valuable salt grounds, that furnish employment for both sexes.” (Lyons, 1863)

“This is the poorest parish in my field, rendered still poorer of late by the frequent rains that have prevented the people from making salt – one of their chief dependencies …”

“… the wind – rough weather, and the heat of the volcanic stream that entered the sea near this place have killed or frightened away all their fish and the second source of wealth. There remain the fruit of a few cocoa nut trees, and the lauhala from their leaf of which the women busy themselves in making mats.” (Lyons, 1859)

Rev Lyons died in 1886 at the age of 79. After Lyon’s death the trained ministers and lay leaders of the Imiola Church continued to lead regular worship services at the Puakō Church; the school also continued.

The Puakō school was closed in the 1920s and Ihe children from Puakō were sent to the Kawaihae school. However, students who wanted to progress beyond the ninth grade went to Kohala and Honoka‘a for the upper grades.

The Hokuloa Church was not completely abandoned, although regular services were no longer held. Church members from Imiola from time to time would come to the Puakō church to hold small worship and prayer gatherings. The building lost its roof and bell tower.

In the early 1950s Puakō lands were subdivided into more than 165 house lots and sold at public auction. But it wasn’t until the 1960s when most of the lots had been sold that they began to be used for vacation hideaways.

In 1960 a tsunami which originated in Chile inundated the northern end of Puakō and did extensive damage to the inside of the Hokuloa Church. By 1966, the National Park Service had surveyed the building, and a group of Puakō residents formed to begin repairs of the Hokuloa Church.

In 1990 the building was completely restored and a new congregation was established. (Lots of information here is from the Hokuloa National Register Nomination form.)

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Hokuloa Church

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC General View

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Window

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Remnants of Belfry

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Entrance Door

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Cover

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Elevations

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Sections

Hokuloa Church HABS-LOC Plan-Details

Hokuloa Church – Site Plan -NPS

Hokuloa Church-HVB Warrior Marker

March 11, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Kona Coast

“Her name was Woman … Her other name was Excitement … She belonged to Hawaiʻi’s Kona Coast like the surf riders and the beach bums.”

Whoa, let’s look back …

Richard Allen Boone was born June 18, 1917 in Los Angeles County, California; his father was a descendant of Squire Boone who was the younger brother of frontiersman Daniel Boone. Like Daniel Boone, Richard Boone had a heroic side: was an aerial gunner in the Navy during World War II. (Bloom)

Following the war, he studied with the New York Actors Studio on the GI Bill. In 1947 he made his Broadway debut with Judith Anderson’s Medea, and made his motion picture debut in 1951 in The Halls of Montezuma.

His career in motion pictures, often cast as a western badman (City of Badmen, The Siege at Red River, Man Without a Star, Robber’s Roost, Ten Wanted Men, Star in the Dust, The Tall T, Big Jake, The Shootist and Hombre) or the good guy (Dragnet, The Alamo, The War Lord and The Raid.) (ancestry)

In 1957, Have Gun-Will Travel (with Boone as Paladin) made its TV debut, and soon became one of the most popular programs of the fifties. It ranked in the top five almost immediately and after that trailed only Gunsmoke and Wagon Train for the rest of its run. The theme song, co-written by star Boone, even became a hit single.

Boone moved to and became a permanent resident of Honolulu in 1965 and was a regular commuter between Honolulu and Hollywood. He “considers himself the world’s most satisfied actor – because he can afford the luxury of living in the Hawaiian Islands and working in Hollywood”. (Chicago Tribune, October 35, 1968)

While living on Oʻahu, it was Boone who helped persuade Leonard Freeman to film Hawaiʻi Five-O exclusively in Hawaiʻi. Prior to that, Freeman had planned to do “establishing” location shots in Hawaii but principal production in southern California.

Boone and others convinced Freeman that the islands could offer all necessary support for a major TV series and would provide an authenticity otherwise unobtainable. (Correa)

Then, in 1967, Boone (with Vera Miles, Joan Blondell, Kent Smith, Duane Eddy and a bunch of folks from Kona) filmed ‘Kona Coast,’ a pilot that he hoped CBS would adopt as a series. (Instead, CBS chose Hawaii Five-O.) (It was released in 1968 – with its premier in the Kona Theater.)

“Kona Coast” was an adventure story about a Honolulu charter-boat captain (‘Sam Moran,’ played by Boone) who leads fishing expeditions and later hunts down the man responsible for his daughter’s death.

It did not receive favorable reviews; “… most of Kona Coast utilizes actual locations and this is the film’s single greatest asset.” (Pfeiffer)

Kona Coast Movie Trailer

Kona Coast Movie Preview

The story often takes you to a bar, Akamai Barnes (run by a man of the same name – in real life it was later the Red Pants; today, it’s a vacant lot under the banyan tree on Aliʻi Drive in the middle of Kailua Bay.)

Later (1970,) the bar was the scene of a brawl – “Chuck Norwood pulled a .45-caliber handgun and shot and killed another man. Although he claimed he blacked out and does not remember what happened, he was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 35-years in prison.”

“Norwood, 48, was elected to one of the 13 seats on Hawaiʻi’s Board of Education (1984.) While in prison, Norwood attended classes at Leeward Community College. In 1975, he was paroled and elected student body president.” (Reading Eagle, November 7, 1984) Norwood served back to back two terms (1976-1977) as Associated Students of the University of Hawaiʻi president.

In 1971, Richard Boone moved to his wife’s hometown of St Augustine, Florida where he taught acting classes at Flagler College. Richard Boone died January 10, 1981 in St Augustine of throat cancer. At the time of his death, he was serving as cultural ambassador for the State of Florida.

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January 30, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

ʻAilāʻau

The longest recorded eruption at Kilauea, arguably, was the ʻAilāʻau eruption and lava flow in the 15th century, which may be memorialized in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant. It was the largest in Hawaiʻi in more than 1,000-years.

The flow was named after ʻAilāʻau was known and feared by all the people. ʻAi means the “one who eats or devours.” Lāʻau means “tree” or a “forest.”

ʻAilāʻau was, therefore, the forest eating (destroying) fire-god. Time and again he laid the districts of South Hawaii desolate by the lava he poured out from his fire-pits. (He was the fire god before Pele arrived at Hawaiʻi Island.)

He was the god of the insatiable appetite; the continual eater of trees, whose path through forests was covered with black smoke fragrant with burning wood, and sometimes burdened with the smell of human flesh charred into cinders in the lava flow.

ʻAilāʻau seemed to be destructive and was so named by the people, but his fires were a part of the forces of creation. He built up the islands for future life. The flowing lava made land. Over time, the lava disintegrates and makes earth deposits and soil. When the rain falls, fruitful fields form and people settled there.

ʻAilāʻau still poured out his fire. It spread over the fertile fields, and the people feared him as the destroyer giving no thought to the final good.

He lived, the legends say, for a long time in a very ancient part of Kilauea, on the large island of Hawaii, now separated by a narrow ledge from the great crater and called Kilauea Iki (Little Kilauea).

The ʻAilāʻau eruption took place from a vent area just east of Kilauea Iki. The eruption built a broad shield. The eastern part of Kilauea Iki Crater slices through part of the shield, and red cinder and lava flows near the center of the shield can be seen on the northeastern wall of the crater.

The eruption probably lasted about 60 years, ending around 1470 (based on evaluation of radiocarbon data for 17 samples of lava flows produced by the ʻAilāʻau shield – from charcoal created when lava burns vegetation.) The ages obtained for the 17 samples were averaged and examined statistically to arrive at the final results.

The radiocarbon data are supported by the magnetic declination and inclination of the lava flows, frozen into the flows when they cooled. This study found that these “paleomagnetic directions” are consistent with what was expected for the 15th century.

Such a long eruption naturally produced a large volume of lava, estimated to be about 5.2 cubic kilometers (1.25 cubic miles) after accounting for the bubbles in the lava. The rate of eruption is about the same as that for other long-lasting eruptions at Kilauea.

This large volume of lava covered a huge area, about 166 square miles (over 106,000-acres) – larger than the Island of Lānaʻi. From the summit of the ʻAilāʻau shield, pāhoehoe lava flowed 25-miles northeastward, making it all the way to the coast.

Lava covered all, or most, of what are now Mauna Loa Estates, Royal Hawaiian Estates, Hawaiian Orchid Island Estates, Fern Forest Vacation Estates, Eden Rock Estates, Crescent Acres, Hawaiian Acres, Orchid Land Estates, ʻAinaloa, Hawaiian Paradise Park and Hawaiian Beaches. (USGS)

After a time, ʻAilāʻau left these pit craters and went into the great crater and was said to be living there when Pele came to the seashore far below.

When Pele came to the island Hawaiʻi, she first stopped at a place called Keahialaka in the district of Puna. From this place she began her inland journey toward the mountains. As she passed on her way there grew within her an intense desire to go at once and see ʻAilāʻau, the god to whom Kilauea belonged, and find a resting-place with him as the end of her journey.

She came up, but ʻAilāʻau was not in his house – he had made himself thoroughly lost. He had vanished because he knew that this one coming toward him was Pele. He had seen her toiling down by the sea at Keahialaka. Trembling dread and heavy fear overpowered him.

He ran away and was entirely lost. When he came to that pit she laid out the plan for her abiding home, beginning at once to dig up the foundations. She dug day and night and found that this place fulfilled all her desires. Therefore, she fastened herself tight to Hawaii for all time.

These are the words in which the legend disposes of this ancient god of volcanic fires. He disappears from Hawaiian thought and Pele from a foreign land finds a satisfactory crater in which her spirit power can always dig up everlastingly overflowing fountains of raging lava. (Westervelt)

The ʻAilāʻau flow was such a vast outpouring changed the landscape of much of Puna. It must have had an important impact on local residents, and as such it may well be described in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chant.

Hiʻiaka, late on returning to Kilauea from Kauaʻi with Lohiau, sees that Pele has broken her promise and set afire Hiʻiaka’s treasured ʻōhiʻa lehua forest in Puna. Hiʻiaka is furious, and this leads to her love-making with Lohiau, his subsequent death at the hands of Pele, and Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging to recover the body.

The ʻAilāʻau flows seem to be the most likely candidate because it covered so much of Puna. The timing seems right, too – after the Pele clan arrived from Kahiki, before the caldera formed (Hiʻiaka’s frantic digging may record this), and before the encounters with Kamapuaʻa, some of which probably deal with explosive eruptions between about 1500 and 1790. (Information here is from USGS and Westervelt.)

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