Hawaii | Page 107 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

February 16, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Brothers Come to Hawaii

John Nelson Young was born April 15, 1839 in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, the third child of John Alexander Young and Lucy Baldwin. John grew up in St. Andrews, a small but busy port on the shore of Passamaquoddy Bay, just across the international border from Maine.

His father was a chair and cabinetmaker, and John followed in his father’s footsteps. He also learned the art of trading and shipping for profit. In 1859, when he was twenty years old, he and his brothers, James and Alexander, left St. Andrews to go to California.

They sailed to Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and from there sailed up the west coast to San Francisco. John bought the schooner Champion and sailed between San Francisco and Sacramento carrying trade goods and passengers. (He may also have traded as far north as Portland, OR, or Eureka, CA, and as far south as San Diego.)

In San Francisco on April 15, 1868, John N. Young married Eleanor Annie Gray, daughter of Robert and Mary K Gray, emigrants from Robbinston, Maine. Shortly thereafter, John and Eleanor moved to San Diego.

In 1868, with his brothers James, Alexander, and William, John started a furniture business, one of the first commercial enterprises in San Diego. After James and Alex left the firm in 1869, John and William continued the firm of Young Brothers Carpenters and Furniture Builders, and added undertaking as a sideline.

William Young, John’s brother and business partner, died in 1873. John then reorganized the Young Brothers business as the Pioneer Furniture Company.

John and Eleanor had a growing family with five children. Annie Edith Young was born December 28, 1868 (in San Francisco), then in San Diego, Herbert Gray Young, on March 21, 1870; William Edward Young, on April 24, 1875; John Alexander ‘Jack’ Young, on January 2 1882; and Edgar Nelson Young, on July 21, 1885.

The family supplemented their income with produce from their garden John often took the older boys fishing mackerel and bottom fish in San Diego Bay.

Eleanor Young developed rheumatoid arthritis when she was in her early forties. She died on February 16, 1894 at age forty-five, leaving minor children Jack, 12, and Edgar, 10, and granddaughter Belle, 8.

John Young suffered from tuberculosis in the 1890s. After Eleanor died, he traveled extensively trying in vain to find a more suitable climate. He finally returned to San Diego. There he died September 13, 1896 at age fifty-seven.

John Young’s sons, Herbert and William, were working to help support the family. Herb learned deep sea diving by accepting several salvage jobs that required underwater skills and, in the summer of 1899, all four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat excursion at Catalina Island.

After the season ended, Herb landed a berth on a schooner bound for the Hawaiian Islands, and Will decided to join him on what he would later call ‘the great adventure.’ Twenty-nine-year-old Herb had served as chief engineer during the ten-day journey from San Francisco, while Will, then age twenty-five, served as crew.

The first view of Honolulu that greeted Will and Herb on January 19, 1900 and revealed a town numbering fewer than 45,000 residents. For several days, Chinatown had been burning to what would become a smoldering ruin in an effort to rid the city of bubonic plague.

With a capital of only $86, they bought a small launch, the Billie, and started running a ‘bum boat’ service in Honolulu harbor – they called their family business Young Brothers.

Jack Young arrived later that year (October); he once reminisced about arriving in Honolulu in 1900 with a few cans of fruit, a large trunk and only twenty-five cents in cash-too little to pay to have his trunk brought ashore. So, he rustled up a spare rowboat and rowed in his own gear.

In those days there were usually between five and twenty ships moored off Sand Island in the harbor at any one time. Most of ships used sail and needed help to move about in the crowded harbor.

The Young brothers ran lines for the ships in the harbor. When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship. Or if the ship needed to unload, a line had to be carried to the pier.

The next year they bought the Fun from the Metropolitan Meat Market and took over the contract to deliver meat and other fresh supplies to the ships anchored in the harbor. Herb got the contract, but Jack was assigned the job every morning of picking up meat, vegetables and fruits and deliver them to the various ships in the harbor.

Herb and Will also worked as a diving team, salvaging lost anchors, unfouling propellers, or inspecting hulls of ships for repairs. A more frequently needed undersea service was to scrape the sea growth off the hulls of ships.

The launches of the Young Brothers were routinely asked to pull stranded boats or ships off the shore or reef or to rescue ships in trouble at sea. In 1902 they saved six Japanese fishermen in a sampan that had become disabled in a sudden storm off Honolulu. The sampan had gone too far out to sea searching for fish and was caught by heavy seas.

The same year, they rescued a novice seaman in a rowboat who thought he could row out of the harbor to where a battleship was anchored. If he hadn’t been seen from the boathouse, he would have been lost. On another occasion, the schooner Mokihana was towed back to harbor from twenty miles out in 1901 when she lost control from the helm.

May 1903 saw the beginning of a long association between the Young Brothers and the Customs Department. Young Brothers purchased the launch Water Witch, from AA Young (no relation) and completely renovated her.

They entered a contract to use the Water Witch launch as a revenue and patrol boat, and to take boarding officers to all incoming liners. Herb had the privilege of presenting her and flying the Custom’s flag on May 21, 1903. The Water Witch remained in service for over forty years.

ln March of 1903, the Youngs moved from their first little boathouse on a sand spit near the lighthouse to a spot near what is now Piers 1&2. The Young Brothers’ boathouse was home to Herb, Will and Jack, and was a structure well known on the waterfront as a center of information for everything going on in the harbor.

In 1903, Edith moved to the Hawaiian Islands an joined her brothers. In 1905, Herb sold his interest in the Young Brothers business and went to the mainland to look for work as a diver. Young Brothers incorporated on May 5, 1913.

Following incorporation, Will stopped taking an active role in the operations of the company, preferring to pursue his fascination with sharks, and eventually left the islands for good in 1921 to become a well-known international shark hunter. Jack, the last founding member of the company to remain in Hawai‘i remained as the operating manager.

I am the youngest brother of the youngest brother of the youngest brother of Young Brothers. Jack Young is my grandfather. We never met him, and he and my grandmother never knew they had grandchildren from their son Kenny.

They both had died before they knew my mother was pregnant with my older brother. (Lots of information here is from Young Brothers: 100 Years of Service and a Young family background and genealogy.)

February 13, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Broken Mast

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

Cook continued to sail along the coast searching for a suitable anchorage. His two ships remained offshore, but a few Hawaiians were allowed to come on board on the morning of January 20, before Cook continued on in search of a safe harbor.

On the afternoon of January 20, 1778, Cook anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kauaʻi’s southwestern shore. After a couple of weeks, there, they headed to the west coast of North America.

After the West Coast, Alaska and Bering Strait exploration, on October 24, 1778 the two ships headed back to the islands; they sighted Maui on November 26, circled the Island of Hawaiʻi and eventually anchored at Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779.

Throughout their stay the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pahoa used by the Hawaiians. (Kuykendall)

Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke.

“At midnight, a gale of wind came on, which obliged us to double reef the topsails, and get down the top-gallant yards.”

“On the 8th (of February 1779) at day-break, we found, that the foremast had again given way … and the parts so very defective, as to make it absolutely necessary to replace them, and, of course, to (remove) the mast.”

“In this difficulty, Captain Cook was for some time in doubt, whether he should run the chance of meeting with a harbour in the islands to leeward, or return to Karakakooa (Kealakekua.)”

“In the forenoon, the weather was more moderate, and a few canoes came off to us, from which we learnt, that the late storms had done much mischief; and that several large canoes had been lost.”

“During the remainder of the day we kept beating to windward, and, before night, we were within a mile of the bay; but not choosing to run on, while it was dark, we stood off and on till day-light next morning, when we dropt anchor nearly in the same place as before.”

“Upon coming to anchor, we were surprised to find our reception very different from what it had been on our first arrival ; no shouts, no bustle, no confusion …”

“… but a solitary bay, with only here and there a canoe stealing close along the shore. The impulse of curiosity, which had before operated to so great a degree, might now indeed be supposed to have ceased …”

“… but the hospitable treatment we had invariably met with, and the friendly footing on which we parted, gave us some reason to expect, that they would again have flocked about us with great joy, on our return.”

“… there was something at this time very suspicious in the behaviour of the natives; and that the interdiction of all intercourse with us, on pretence of the king’s absence, was only to give him time to consult with his chiefs in what manner it might be proper to treat us.”

“For though it is not improbable that our sudden return, for which they could see no apparent cause, and the necessity of which we afterward found it very difficult to make them comprehend, might occasion some alarm”.

“(T)he next morning, (Kalaniopuʻu) came immediately to visit Captain Cook, and the consequent return of the natives to their former, friendly intercourse with us, are strong proofs that they neither meant nor apprehended any change of conduct.”

However, “Soon after our return to the tents, we were alarmed by a continued fire of muskets from the Discovery, which we observed to be directed at a canoe, that we saw paddling toward the shore in great haste, pursued by one of our small boats.”

“We immediately concluded, that the firing was in consequence of some theft, and Captain Cook ordered me to follow him with a marine armed, and to endeavour to seize the people as they came on shore. Accordingly we ran toward the place where we supposed the canoe would land, but were too late; the people having quitted it, and made their escape into the country before our arrival.”

“When Captain Cook was informed of what had passed, he expressed much uneasiness at it, and as we were returning on board, ‘I am afraid,’ said he, ‘that these people will oblige me to use some violent measures ; for,’ he added, ‘they must not be left to imagine that they have gained an advantage over us.’”

“However, as it was too late to take any steps this evening, he contented himself with giving orders, that every man and woman on board should be immediately turned out of the ship.”

That night a skiff from the Discovery had been stolen. “It was between seven and eight o’clock when we quitted the ship together; Captain Cook in the pinnace, having Mr Phillips and nine marines with him; and myself in the small boat.”

“Though the enterprise which had carried Captain Cook on shore had now failed, and was abandoned, yet his person did not appear to have been in the least of danger, till an accident happened, which gave a fatal turn to the affair.”

“The boats which had been stationed across the bay, having fired at some canoes that were attempting to get out, unfortunately had killed a chief of first rank.”

“One of the natives, having in his hands a stone, and a long iron spike (which they call a pahooa), came up to the Captain, flourishing his weapon, by way of defiance, and threatening to throw the stone. The Captain desired him to desist ; but the man persisting in his insolence, he was at length provoked to fire a load of small-shot. “

“The man having his mat on, which the shot were not able to penetrate, this had no other effect than to irritate ,and encourage them. Several stones were thrown at the marines ; and one of the Erees attempted to stab Mr. Phillips with his pahooa, but failed in the attempt, and received from him a blow with the butt end of his musket.”

“Captain Cook now fired his second barrel, loaded with ball, and killed one of the foremost of the natives. A general attack with stones immediately followed, which was answered by a discharge of musketry from the marines, and the people in the boats.”

“Our unfortunate Commander, the last time he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water’s edge, and calling out to the boats to cease firing, and to pull in.”

“If it be true, as some of those who were present have imagined, that the marines and boat-men had fired without his orders, and that he was desireous of preventing further bloodshed, it is not improbable that his humanity, on this occasion, proved fatal to him.”

“For it was remarked, that whilst he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any violence, but that having turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the back, and fell with his face in the water.”

On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed – having left a few days before “satisfied with their kindness in general, so I cannot too often, nor too particularly, mention the unbounded and constant friendship of their priests” – having returned to make repairs to a broken mast.

Captain Charles Clerke took over the expedition and they left. (The quotes are from ‘The Voyages of Captain James Cook,’ recorded by Lieutenant James King (who, following these events was appointed to command HMS Discovery.) (Art by Herb Kane.)

Death_of_Cook-February_14,_1779-(HerbKane)

February 12, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pony Express

The Mongol empire, ruled by Genghis Khan and his descendants in the 1200s and 1300s, covered most of Asia, the Middle East, and Russia. Far larger than any empire built by the Greeks, Romans, or Russians, it stretched from the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean, the largest mass of connected land ruled by anyone in history, before or since. (American Museum of Natural History)

In 13th-century China Marco Polo described a “system of post-horses by which the Great Khan sends his dispatches.” Using this as an example, Oregon missionary Marcus Whitman in 1843 proposed using horse relays to deliver mail from the Missouri River to the Columbia River in 40 days. But in 1845 it still took six months to get a message delivered.

Congress established postal service to the Pacific Coast in 1847 and, in 1851, set the rate for a half-ounce letter at three cents for delivery if less than 3,000 miles and six cents if it went farther. Private contractors handled the business, which required huge government subsidies.

In 1848 the US Post Office awarded a contract to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company to carry mail to California. The mail traveled by ship from New York to Panama, moved across Panama by rail, then by ship again to San Francisco.

By the late 1850s a half million people had migrated West, and they wanted up-to-date news from home. Something had to be done to deliver mail faster and to improve communication in the expanding nation. (NPS)

In 1855 Congress even appropriated $30,000 to see if camels could carry mail from Texas to California – they proved impractical. Then, John Butterfield won a $600,000 contract in 1857 that required mail delivery within 25 days. His overland stagecoach service began in 1858 on a 2,800-mile route that left Fort Smith, Arkansas and reached San Francisco.

Pre-Civil War settlers who had already reached California and its promise of gold found themselves cut off from the rest of the world. Butterfield Express’s took twenty-three days for delivery.

Most people knew it was a matter of time before the telegraph and railroad would span the continent, but with the Civil War looming, something was needed to replace the existing overland route. (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

With civil war threatening to close southern routes, northern politicians sought a central route. Benjamin F Ficklin had carried US Army dispatches from Utah Territory and proposed that the government could provide express mail service using a horse relay. (NPS)

William Russell of the freighting firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell created the Pony Express almost by accident. Russell, William Waddell, and Alexander Majors were Missouri business partners with vast experience hauling cargo and passengers – and a great interest in government mail contracts.

Their firm already provided mail and stagecoach service between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City. Russell felt that a horse relay, a Pony Express, would promote his company and gather congressional support to win the mail contract for a central overland route.

The three partners started a new firm, the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company (COC & PP) – the official name of the Pony Express. (NPS) It ran from St Joseph, Missouri (that was connected to the East by railroads and the telegraph) to Sacramento and San Francisco, California.

The St Joseph Daily Gazette declared it would “forward, by the first Pony Express, the first and only newspaper which goes out, and which will be the first paper ever transmitted from the Missouri to California in eight days.” This Pony Express Edition also announced, “The first pony will start this afternoon at 5 pm precisely.” (NPS)

On April 3, 1860, the first Pony Express mail, traveling by horse and rider relay teams, simultaneously left St Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California.

Ten days later, on April 13, the westbound rider and mail packet completed the approximately 1,800-mile journey and arrived in Sacramento, beating the eastbound packet’s arrival in St Joseph by two days and setting a new standard for speedy mail delivery. (History A&E)

COC & PP established home stations every 75 to 100 miles (to house riders between runs) and smaller relay stations every 10 to 15 miles (to provide riders with fresh horses).

Some of the Pony stations were set up at the various forts along the Oregon Trail. Many stations were upgraded from existing stagecoach stations, but some stations were built from scratch. The operation expanded from 86 stations on the Pony’s first run to 147 stations by mid-1861. (NPS)

The company employed between 80 and 100 riders and several hundred station workers. Riders had to weigh less than 120 pounds and carry 20 pounds of mail and 25 pounds of equipment.

Riders earned wages (based on initial advertisements for riders, they were paid $50 per month) plus room and board. They joked that the company’s initials, C.O.C.& P.P., stood for “Clean Out of Cash & Poor Pay.”

Riders had to sign a pledge promising not to swear, drink alcohol, or fight with other employees. The riders carried the mail in the four pockets of a pack which fit snugly over the saddle and was quickly switched from one horse to another. Letters were wrapped in oil silk to protect them from moisture. (Postal Museum)

The company bought 400 to 500 horses, many thoroughbreds for eastern runs and California mustangs for western stretches. Horses averaged 10 miles per hour, at times galloping up to 25 miles per hour. During his route of 75 to 100 miles a rider changed horses eight to 10 times.

The Pony Express charged five dollars per half-ounce for mail (about $85 in today’s money), later reducing the fee to one dollar. At first the Pony ran once a week in each direction. Starting in July 1860 it ran a second weekly trip, delivering mail in 10 days or fewer between St. Joseph and San Francisco.

Newspapers relied on the Pony Express to deliver the latest headlines like when Abraham Lincoln was elected president or when the City of San Francisco opened its first railway that ferried passengers around the city on horse-drawn streetcars.

The Pony Express also helped deliver international news. Headlines that traveled over the ocean by ship could reach the opposite coast in just 18 days. (newspapers-com)

In April 1861 the Pony delivered word of the outbreak of the Civil War. (Pony Express National Museum) On October 26, 1861, the completion of the transcontinental telegraph from New York to San Francisco made the Pony Express obsolete.

On that day the Pony Express was officially terminated, but it was not until November that the last letters completed their journey over the route. (NPS)

News relayed via Pony Express, and then on to ships coming to Hawai‘i, was reported in the local newspapers (under ‘Foreign News’). At least one letter made its way to/from Hawai‘i. In 1861, the US Consul in Honolulu sent a letter to John C Underwood, the fifth auditor of the United States Treasury in Washington DC. (Stamp Auction)

February 11, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Halfway House

The way is long, the way is steep,
the road is crooked, the holes are deep;
on the Half Way House a blessing be?
Lord bless this house, and the thoroughbred flea,
For man may swear, and woman may weep.
But the cursed flea won’t let you sleep;
In the early morn, arise and go
The remaining way to the Lava flow
To the brink of the Pit of fiery depth
The Volcano House upon its width. …
(Max Pracht, San Francisco, 16 May 16, 1884)
(NPS, Volcano House Register)

In the 1800s, tourism was already developing as an important part of Hawaii’s economy. Honolulu was the principal destination and excursions to Kilauea crater were the main drawing card of the island of Hawai’i. Only hardy souls braved the “discomforts of the journey from Honolulu to the Volcano [which] were often vexatious and always considerable.” (Manning)

Two routes may be taken to the crater Kilauea, on the slope of Mauna Loa, one by Puna, the other by Ola‘a. Time being an object, the trip to and from the crater via Olaa can be accomplished in three days, which will give one day and two nights at the volcano house. (Manning)

The most traveled route between Hilo and Kīlauea was the Volcano Trail, which we now refer to as the “Old Volcano Trail” (at the time called “the Volcano Road”). (McEldowney)

The alignment of the Old Volcano Trail was mapped as early as 1874 by John M. Lydgate who referred to the Old Volcano Trail as “Road to Hilo”. The trail appears as a meandering line that straddled the ahupua‘a of ʻŌlaʻa and Keaʻau and strays in and out of the boundaries between the two. (ASM)

A critical step toward developing agriculture in ʻŌlaʻa was the creation of a new road between Hilo and Kīlauea located mauka of the Old Volcano Trail. As the new Volcano Road through ʻŌlaʻa was being built, the Crown made a large portion of potential agricultural lands (Ola‘a Reservation) available for lease and homesteading. (ASM)

The old trail effectively adjoins and runs mauka of the mauka lots in the mass of lots subdivided in Puna in the 1950s-70s (Hawaiian Acres to Fern Forest).

“Fifteen miles from Hilo Olaa is reached, the half-way stopping place. The intermediate territory is covered with ti plant and ferns, while the road consists mostly of pahoehoe lava, scantily covered with bunch grass and occasional bushes and trees.”

“‘The Half-way House’ at Olaa is merely a cluster of grass houses, a passable rest for travelers, who wish to spend the night, and obtain pasturage for horses.” (Whitney, 1875)

“There were at least two different structures over the years. The first probably existed as early as 1867, certainly by 1870. This structure was a one-room grass house with a wooden porch or lanai.”

“The interior was ‘divided in half by a curtain; in one half … a large four-poster bed, rough table and chairs, and in the other … a thick layer of grass covered with mats, on which … the whole family sleep.’”

“Those stopping during the day often used a mattress stuffed with pulu fiber from tree fern fronds laid on the floor instead of the four-poster bed. Around 1880, Hawelu [the operator] built a hale la‘au, a substantial frame house with glass windows.”

“The new halfway house is mentioned in a promotional brochure, ‘The Great Volcano of Kilauea,’ designed by the publishers, Wilder’s Steamship Company, to attract tourists to ‘that extraordinary wonder of nature,’ Kilauea crater.”

“During the Hilo-Volcano horseback trip, the writer suggests a stop to rest at the halfway house, saying, “This house of accommodation has five bedrooms and the usual conveniences of a stopping place. …’” (Manning)

“Here several orange trees display their rich fruit in sight of the road. Although this point is 1138 feet above the sea level, and ten miles from Keaau, (the nearest point on the sea shore) the roar of the sea may be distinctly heard during a heavy surf.”

“Leaving Ola‘a, the route is over pahoehoe in all its varieties, thickly covered with wild grass, straggling ferns, creeping vines, and that vegetation which in tropical lands seeks only water to become impenetrable.” (Whitney, 1875)

“For more than 20 years, Hawelu and Lipeka operated a rest stop or halfway house on the Hilo-Kilauea crater trail. This horseback trip was said to ‘try the patience of most travelers.’”

“Tired and weary travelers could turn off the trail near ‘Kalehuapuaa . . . where there is a mauka road which goes to Hawelu’s.’ Over the years, halfway houses were variously situated along the trail.”

“Hawelu’s house was on the Hilo side of Mahiki. Visitors record that Hawelu’s was anywhere between 13 and 15 miles from Hilo, at an elevation of 1,138 or 1,150 feet. [“A comparison of the many descriptions places Hawelu’s near a point parallel with the Hilo end of present-day Mountain View, but on the Kea’au-‘Ola’a border”.]

“A visitor might rest at Hawelu’s for a few hours or overnight. Heavy rains occasionally stranded people at the halfway house for one or two days.”

“Each service was independently priced, but the price was the same regardless of the service. Horseshoeing was a dollar, food was a dollar, and lodging was a dollar. Lipeka was a full partner. The profits were divided in half, with Lipeka acting as banker.” (Manning)

“Travelers variously reported the accommodations as beautiful and clean or dreary and dirty! Male travelers complained more than females. Women seem to have expected rough ‘camp’ conditions. … Travelers throughout the Kingdom reported their tortures.” (Manning)

As noted by one in the Volcano House Register, “The undersigned left Hilo Friday morning June 7th at 6:30 a.m. Jo Puni as guide. Directly after leaving Hilo they received a moderate wetting down with a sun shower, wh. awakened them to the realities of Hawaiian travelling.”

“It was quite sultry until they arrived at the Half-way House, when a very distinct change in temperature was experienced. Showers of rain kept ahead of them from there to the Volcano House.”

“At the Half-way House a very good meal was heartily enjoyed, and a rest of two hours taken. They arrived at the Volcano House at 3:55 p.m. June 7.”

“The volcano was apparently quite active during the night, but the ride had fatigued your humble servants sufficiently to enable them to sleep soundly. They started for the crater at 7:45 a.m. and traveled down at a jog trot.” (Godwin McNeil, Sacramento, Cal., June 8, 1878; NPS, Volcano House Register)

With the new road, in May 1891 the Kilauea Volcano House began offering a package tour. It included steamer passage from Honolulu, a carriage ride from Hilo to the end of the half-finished road, and saddle horses supplied by Volcano Stables for the remaining ride. Accommodations were provided at the Volcano House.

In the same year, JR Wilson built Mountain View House as a rest stop on the new road. Little, if any, business would have been left to Hawelu’s independent halfway house by 1891 and he stopped his operation about that time. (Manning)

February 10, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā – Laumai‘a – Keanakolu Trail/Road

This is about a trail and a subsequent road on the east side of Mauna Kea. Today, we call the Waimea end (and up Mauna Kea) the Mānā Road and the Saddle Road side of this road we call the Keanakolu Road,. At least part of this trail/road was called Laumai‘a Trail.

Here is some of the background about the need for mauka access in this area of the Island of Hawai‘i, as well as some history on the trails/roads there.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai`i, extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.

Trails and roads connected the coast with the uplands, probably easing travel through the upland forests. Boundary Commission records document numerous trails from the coast to the upper edge of the forest.

Most trails seem to have followed ahupua‘a boundaries (although this could be a factor of the Commission’s purpose, which was to define boundaries). (Tuggle)

Early accounts date back to the 1500s, at the time that ‘Umi-a-Līloa fell into a disagreement with the chief of Hilo over a whale

tooth (ivory) pendant. Traveling from Waipi‘o, across Mauna Kea, ‘Umi and his warriors camped in the uplands of Kaūmana.

Samuel Kamakau wrote that ‘Umi-a-Līloa “conferred with his chiefs and his father’s old war leaders. It was decided to make war on the chiefs of Hilo and to go without delay by way of Mauna Kea.”

“From back of Ka‘umana they were to descend to Hilo. It was shorter to go by way of the mountain to the trail of Poli‘ahu and Poli‘ahu’s spring at the top of Mauna Kea, and then down toward Hilo. It was an ancient trail used by those of Hamakua, Kohala, and Waimea to go to Hilo.”

“They made ready to go with their fighting parties to Mauna Kea, descended back of Hilo, and encamped just above the stream of Waianuenue without the knowledge of Hilo’s people that war was coming from the upland. Hilo’s chiefs were unprepared.” (Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs)

In the period leading up to the mid-1800s, travel to Mauna Kea was done on foot along a system of trails that crossed the mountain lands.

Native ala hele (trails), which had been used for centuries and often provided the “path of least resistance,” to travel around and across the island, proved inadequate for the new methods of travel with horses, wagons and team animals.

By 1847, Kamehameha III had instructed island governors to undertake the survey of routes and construction of new roads, which became known as the Alanui Aupuni (Government Roads). Construction was to be paid for through taxation and “labor days” of the residents of the lands through which the roads would pass. (ASM)

In 1862, the Commission of Boundaries (Boundary Commission) was established in the Hawaiian Kingdom to legally set the boundaries of all the ahupua‘a that had been awarded as a part of the Māhele.

Subsequently, in 1874, the Commissioners of Boundaries were authorized to certify the boundaries for lands brought before them. The primary informants for the boundary descriptions were old native residents of the lands, many of which had also been claimants for kuleana during the Māhele. (ASM)

An informant, Kalaualoha, stated that “in olden times the birdcatchers used to go up the Honohina and Pīhā roads, they could not go up Nanue as the road was so bad.”

“The canoe road of Nanue ran to mauka of Kaahiwa [Ka‘ahina stream], there it ended. But the roads on Honohina and Pīhā ran way mauka.” (Koa logs were selected, prepared in the forest and then hauled down canoe roads.) (Tuggle)

Puuhaula’s testimony for Pāpa‘ikou stated that “the old Alakahi road ran up the boundary to Palauolelo and was said to be the boundary between Makahanaloa and Papaikou.”

Coastal-inland travel in all likelihood extended beyond the limits of any particular ahupua‘a. But McEldowney suggests that paths in the upper subalpine region were not defined; rather, travelers followed “prominent landmarks rather than set or distinct trails.” (Tuggle)

It was not until the second half of the 1800s that specific routes up the mountain were established, probably related to the building and use of ranch establishments at ‘Umikoa (Kukaiau Ranch) and Humu‘ula (Humuula Sheep Station) as base camps.

A major cross-island trail crossed the upper edge of the Hakalau Forest area. In the 19^th century, it was called the Laumai‘a road, but it likely originated in earlier times. The present Keanakolu Road probably roughly follows the Laumai‘a alignment. (Tuggle)

Cordy describes a trail on the east flank of Mauna Kea that connected Kohala, Waimea, and Hāmākua with Hilo. This could be the trail that was used by the high chief ‘Umi in his conquest of Hilo. (Kamakau, Tuggle)

“It was shorter to go by way of the mountain [Mauna Kea] to the trail of Poli‘ahu and Poli‘ahu’s spring at the top of Mauna Kea, and then down toward Hilo. It was an ancient trail used by those of Hamakua, Kohala, and Waimea to go to Hilo.”

Nineteenth century accounts document travel between Kawaihae and Hilo using a mountain route, although the specific alignment of the road may have varied somewhat from the earlier traditional trail.

Although this road probably follows the general alignment of earlier routes, there was a different path for what was alternatively referred to as the Laumai‘a road, the Laumai‘a-Hopuwai road, the Laumai‘a-Hope-a trail, or the connection to the Mānā (Waimea) road. (Tuggle)

The Kalai‘eha-Laumai‘a Trail, was paved with stones in the late 1800s to facilitate transportation of goods around the mountain. (ASM) (Kalai‘eha is the large pu‘u (cinder cone) near Saddle Road on DHHL property, Hilo side of the Mauna Kea Access Road.)

Formal surveys of the Hilo-Kalai‘eha-Waimea government road via Waiki‘i (the early Saddle Road) were begun in 1862. The Kalai‘eha-Waiki‘i alignment remained basically the same until after the outbreak of World War II, and the paving of the “Saddle Road” in the 1940s.

In the area from Kilohana (on the north side of the present-day Girl Scout Camp) to Waiki‘i proper, the route is almost as it was finally laid out in 1869 (overlaying one of the ancient trails through the area), except for widening.

The Kalai‘eha-Hilo section of the route remained basically as constructed in 1869, but because of the dense forest vegetation and the difficulty encountered in traveling through the region, the route received little maintenance and use by travelers other than those on foot or horseback, generally on their way to one of the ranch stations or the summit of Mauna Kea. (Kumu Pono)

The Waimea-Mānā-Kula‘imano-Hilo route along the upper forest line of Hāmākua and Hilo, was developed in 1854, with subsequent modifications in 1877, and again in the 1890s, as a part of the Humu‘ula Sheep Station operation.

Further modifications to the Kalai‘eha-Keanakolu-Mānā route were made as a part of the tenure of Parker Ranch-Humu‘ula Sheep Station, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), and Territorial Forestry tenure of the land. (Kumu Pono)

Access along the eastern side of Mauna Kea was by the old Waimea-Laumai‘a road, which was greatly improved by the CCC; “a truck trail has been cleared along the old horse trails on this mountain so that now one may negotiate the trip completely around Mauna Kea at the general elevation of 7,000 feet in an automobile.” (Judd, Tuggle)

In the 1930s, the CCC, under the direction of L Bill Bryan, undertook improvements on the mountain roads, particularly the section between Kalai‘eha and Keanakolu.

In 1942, following the outbreak of World War II, the US Army began realignment and improvements of the route that became known as the Saddle Road. Territorial ownership of the road was assumed on June 30, 1947. (Kumu Pono)

Construction on the Alanui Aupuni from coastal Kona to the saddle lands was actually begun in 1849, and ten miles of the road, completed by 1850. The route was cut off by the lava flow of 1859, and all but abandoned by public use; though it remained in use by ranchers and those traveling between Kona, the saddle region, and Waimea until the early 1900s. (Kumu Pono)