Hawaii | Page 235 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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March 29, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona Airport at Kailua

Interisland air travel was initiated in Hawaiʻi on November 11, 1929, by Stanley Kennedy, a WWI aviator who acquired two Sikorsky S-38 Amphibian aircraft and initiated direct service from Honolulu to Hilo (3 times a week) via Maʻalaea, Maui, and to Port Allen, Kauai (2 times a week). Later, service was added to Molokai.

For a number of years, Kailua-Kona was only serviced by seaplanes. Then (after clearing an area of rocks the week before,) on August 21, 1935, Alfred W Smith landed his single-seated monoplane about a mile north of Kailua, the first airplane ground landing ever made in Kona.

By the late-1930s, there was a public push to provide an airport at Kailua, Kona. An area parallel to the beach, previously used for small aircraft operations, and known as Kailua Airstrip, was determined to be the only suitable area in the vicinity. It was located about 1½-miles northwest of the Kona Inn.

“It is believed that the proposed airport would result in a great increase in tourist interest in the area and also in the development of vacation homes for residents of Honolulu,” stated a Department of Public Works report.

“The general opening up of the area by providing means for quicker transportation to Honolulu would tend to interest young people of Oahu in the possibility of establishing themselves in the Kona area (where land is relatively available) and thus help solve the land scarcity problem which is critical on Oahu.” (hawaii-gov)

“The shipment of Kona fruits and vegetables to Honolulu by air freight would be economically practicable both for sale in Honolulu and, during certain periods of the year, for trans-shipment to California.” (hawaii-gov)

In late-1940, applications were prepared and processed under the provisions of the 1940 National Airport Act. The next year funds were allotted, but construction never started. Finally, in 1944 the Post War Planning Division of the Territorial Public Works Department proposed proceeding with the airport when the war was over.

Surveys were made and plans prepared by the Department of Public Works, and in May 1948 bids were opened for construction of a runway 100-feet wide by 3,500-feet long, an aircraft parking mat and an access road connecting the main road through the village of Kailua.

Work was started June 10, 1948. Due to the multiple ‘Kailua’ names for various items, including airports (there was another private airport at Kailua, Oʻahu,) on February 7, 1949 the airport was named Kona Airport.

On July 10, 1949 between 3,000 and 4,000 people gathered at the new Kona Airport for the official opening and ceremonies. Acting Governor Oren E Long officially declared the airport open for commercial air transportation, and said he “hoped that in spite of the trade and prosperity that the district would inherit, Kona would remain noted for its hospitality and not become a Great White Way marred by neon signs and a Coney Island atmosphere.” (hawaii-gov)

Hawaiian Airlines President Stan Kennedy announced that additional weekend flights would be made by his airline on the Kona Coaster every Friday afternoon from Honolulu and returning every Sunday afternoon. “Kona will become, now more than ever, a must for the tourist as well as for local travel,” Kennedy said.

Hawaiian Airlines was the first commercial plane to arrive at the airport from Honolulu via Molokai at 11:30 am bringing a full load of passengers and the first direct air mail from Oahu. It took off at noon bound for Honolulu with passengers and air mail.

Over the next few years the facility was expanded and the runway lengthened. However, the location of the airport, with planes flying over Kailua-Kona and nearby residences, started to raise concerns – especially with the increasing number of flights and the need for further expansion with a longer runway to accommodate larger aircraft.

Less than 10-years after it opened, in 1957, there were discussions and planning for the relocation of the airport. Part of the plan was to sell the old airport site for the development of a tourist resort, in order to fund construction of a new airport to replace those facilities.

However, in the interim, in 1966, the runway was lengthened as a stop gap measure to accommodate the growing size of the interisland carriers’ planes.

On June 30, 1970, Kona Airport was closed and all operations were moved to the new Keāhole Airport with operations beginning at the new airport on July 1, 1970, with the new Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway built to that point.

For three summers, I worked for Aloha Airlines, starting at the “Old” Kona Airport – initially throwing bags, then as a ramp agent greeting and saying farewell to the planes as they landed/departed.

The summer of 1970, we moved the airline office furniture and supplies, slowing moving with our tugs and baggage carts piled high along the new Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway to the new Keāhole Airport (extension of Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway to Kawaihae was completed in 1975.)

After the old airport’s closure, its runway was used as a drag strip until the State and the County converted it to a recreational park around 1976. The runway is used as a parking area and access road for the former State park area.

While the State still owns the site, while I was at DLNR, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the set aside (assignment of management jurisdiction) of the former airport site to the County of Hawai‘i for park and recreational purposes.

In October 2010, the State completed the Kona International Airport at Keāhole Airport Master Plan which provides a long-range vision of the developments on airport property. Recently (March 2013,) an EIS preparation notice was filed for proposed airfield improvements and airport facilities related to that plan that are anticipated to be implemented within the next five to ten years.

Air lanes between the principal Hawaiian islands-1930s

Baggage claim, Kona Airport-(hawaii-gov)-1960s

Governor John Burns dedicates Keahole, Kona, Airport

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US mail plane takes off from historic Kailua Bay, Island of Hawaii, landing place of pioneer American missionaries over 100 years ago.

Kona Airport freight terminal-(hawaii-gov)-1966

Kona Airport, Kailua, Hawaii-(hawaii-gov)-1950

Kona Airport, Kailua, Hawaii-(hawaii-gov)-April 21, 1955

Kona Airport, Kailua, Hawaii-(hawaii-gov)-April 22, 1955

Kona Airport, Kailua, Hawaii-(hawaii-gov)-July 12, 1950

Kona Internationa Airport at Keahole-Master_Plan-layout

Feb 1950 Landing strip for Kona Airport

Makaeo_Park-(Old_Airport_Park)-Master_Plan-2011

March 28, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lualualei

Hiʻiaka (Pele’s sister) passed along the kula (plain) of Māʻili, and then turned to look at the uplands. She saw the dazzling light of the sun on the uplands of Lualualei and chanted:

Wela ka la e! Wela ka la e!
Ua wela i ka la ke kula o Lualualei.
Ua nau ia e ka la a ‘oka‘oka.

The sun is hot! The sun is hot!
The heat of the sun is on the plain of Lualualei.
The sun chews it up entirely.” (Maly)

Two meanings are suggested for the place name Lualualei; one meaning “the valley of the flexible wreaths,” a kaona, and the other meaning “beloved one spared.” (Sinoto)

A reference to Lualualei ahupuaʻa is found in Kamakau where he recounts Kākuhihewa’s birth and upbringing. Taken to ʻEwa and raised on “the sweetness of the poi of Kamaile; the soft mullet of Lualualei…,” it is evident that the Waiʻanae coast was beloved, especially for its coastal resources and quality of kalo. (Sinoto)

Further evidence that Lualualei must have been a favored locality for settlement is indicated by the remnant agricultural terraces in the inland areas and the fact that Kamehameha III kept the ahupuaʻa for himself. For that reason, the number of Land Commission Awards is limited to only six mauka lands. (Sinoto)

In 1921, Congress designated 2,000-acres at Lualualei for Hawaiian Homelands. Then, in the early-1930s, Territorial Governor Judd, through Executive Orders, granted all but 475-acres to the US Navy. (This removed a chunk of land from Hawaiian Homelands.)

The transfers under the EOs were later disputed and in 1998 an agreement was reached between the State and Feds where DHHL gained control of lands at Barber’s Point Naval Air Station (at Kalaeloa) and the Navy had continued use of the Lualualei property.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony at Washington Place with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Governor Ben Cayetano signing the memorandum of agreement, with Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary William Cassidy in attendance.

The Navy has used Lualualei as an ammunition depot (initially Naval Ammunition Depot Oʻahu, now Naval Magazine Pearl Harbor) and a communications facility (Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility) since 1934.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Lualualei Annex’s primary tenant is Naval Magazines whose mission is to receive, renovate, maintain, store and issue ammunition, weapons and technical materials for the Navy, Air Force, Army and other activities and units as designated by the Chief of Naval Operations.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains. A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

Kolekole Pass Road is located on the federal lands connecting these military facilities on Waiʻanae coast of Oʻahu to Schofield Barracks Army Installation in Central Oahu. The Army’s 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

The Magazine facility, a terminus for the Kolekole Pass road, contains 255 aboveground storage structures capable of housing 78,000 tons of ammunition and explosives. (hawaii.gov) The shipping and receiving center is located at West Loch, Pearl Harbor.

The Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility is used to transmit state-of-the-art radio signals for the navigation of Navy vessels throughout the Pacific. It is the primary Department of Defense long-range transmitter installation in Hawai‘i. The Navy and Coast Guard jointly use the facility. (hawaii-gov)

The very low frequency (VLF) transmitters communicate with submerged submarines in the Pacific and Arctic regions. VLF signal can travel to extreme depths enabling submarines to receive messages without surfacing and are used 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.

The most notable features related to this are two 1,500-foot cable-stayed steel truss mast antennas of the Navy’s communication systems at Lualualei (built in 1972) which are the state’s highest structure.

From Pohakea Pass. Puu Paheehee at right.

From Pohakea Pass. Cone at left is Puu o Hulu. Cone at right is Puu Mailiili.

Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048252pv-LOC

Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048253pv-LOC

Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048255pv-LOC

Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048258pv-LOC

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Lualualei-Low_Frequency_Power_Input_Station-(Kessler)-1958

Lualualei-Low_Frequency_Transmitter-(Kessler)-1958

On duty inside lo Freq F. O’Neill 1946.

Gate to Radio Station

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Lualualei-Sick_Bay-Barracks-(Kessler)-1958

Low Freq 1946

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VIEW OF ANTENNA TOWER S-109 FACING NORTH. - U.S. Naval Base, Pearl Harbor, Lualualei Radio Transmitter-048253pv-LOC

VIEW OF ANTENNA TOWER S-111 FACING NORTHWEST. COMMUNICATIONS CONTROL LINK BUILDING (BLDG NO. 205)-048257pv-LOC

March 27, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Baldwin Packers

The history of Baldwin Packers dates back to 1836 when Dwight Baldwin, a doctor with the fourth company of American missionaries to Hawaii, settled on Maui.

After seventeen years of service, Doctor Baldwin was granted 2,675-acres, the lands of the Mahinahina and Kahana ahupua’a, for farming and grazing. From that base, new lands were acquired until the holdings, known as Honolua Ranch, reached 24,500 acres in 1902.

The business of Honolua Ranch included fishing, raising cattle and farming crops of taro, mango, aloe and coffee bean. It’s ranch manager, David Fleming, was from Scotland.

First, after careful study of resources, water was directed from streams and gulches, providing water and electricity to the new headquarters of Honolua Ranch which was moved from Honolua Bay to Kapalua, an area more suitable for agriculture. Likewise, Fleming reforested watershed land with sandalwood and koa.

West Maui’s roots in the historic pineapple industry began in 1912, when Fleming began growing pineapple there; almost overnight the pineapple industry boomed. Honolua Ranch was soon renamed Baldwin Packers; at one time they were the largest producer of private label pineapple and pineapple juice in the nation.

Baldwin Packers started pineapple canning in 1914 and at first its cannery was located close to its pineapple fields in the Honolua section. Difficulty in securing labor in the busiest seasons of packing and the distance of the haul from the cannery to Kaʻānapali, which was then its shipping point, made it advisable to secure a location nearer town.

Baldwin Packers Pineapple cannery was eventually located at Lāhainā, this addressed transportation (proximity to Mala Wharf) and labor concerns. At Mala, the cannery was eight or ten miles from the fields and the fruit is transported to the plant by rail and truck.

In 1922, Mala Wharf was built and it was hoped that this new pier would facilitate transporting the pineapple, however, it was discovered that the ocean currents at Mala Wharf were too treacherous for the ships to navigate safely. Produce had to be taken by barge to awaiting ships.

By 1924, the Baldwin Packers Ltd. Cannery was producing 4,500 cases of canned pineapple per day. The pineapples were transported from the fields to the cannery by the Pioneer Mill Co. Railroad Line. By 1932, the roads have been improved enough to transport the fruit by truck to Kahului Harbor.

The Baldwins became one of the Big Five families who dominated Hawaiʻi’s business community in the century before World War II, establishing a far-reaching business empire with holdings in agriculture, ranching, coffee, canning and other activities.

The Baldwins’ growing and canning operations in Lāhainā continued for many decades. However, in 1962 the Baldwins’ east and west Maui holdings and pineapple operations were united when Baldwin Packers merged with Maui Pineapple Company. It was around that time that the Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery in west Maui was closed.

One of the businesses spawned from the varied interests of the Baldwins was Maui Pine’s earliest direct predecessor, the Keahua Ranch Co., which was incorporated in December 1909 to control a portion of the family’s pineapple operations.

In 1929 the Keahua Ranch Co. was renamed the Haleakala Pineapple Co., Ltd., three years before the pineapple operations of Haleakalā and Maui Agricultural Company were consolidated to create Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd.

J. Walter Cameron, a descendant of the Baldwin family, was appointed manager of the new company, presiding over its development for the next 30 years until a flurry of corporate maneuvers created the Maui Pine that existed during the 1990s.

In August 1962, Alexander & Baldwin, a principal Baldwin family concern, merged three of its pineapple operations, Baldwin Packers, Ltd., Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd., and the old Haleakala Pineapple Company, to create what four months later became the Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd.

In 1969, it became Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (ML&P), the largest employer on the island of Maui. The company’s president was Colin C. Cameron, a fifth-generation descendant of the Baldwin family.

All operations were moved to the Kahului plant and the Lāhainā cannery plant was closed soon after. The idea of utilizing the old cannery site as a mall was first conceived in 1972.

However, by 1985, the original cannery building had fallen to such disrepair that any hopes of renovation had to be abandoned, along with the original structure.

In 1987, the Lāhainā Cannery Mall was built on the same site where the original plant once stood; it was designed to look like a pineapple cannery with the corrugated style and factory-like open conduits inside were adopted for the design.

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Baldwin_Packers_Cannery-(MauiNews)-1922

A David T. Fleming invention ... pineapple planter towed by a tractor

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Pineapple-(IronRodArt)

March 26, 2020 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ahupuaʻa ‘Anomalies’

Typically, we think of ahupuaʻa in the general context of the modern day watershed – from the mountains to the sea (ridges to reefs,) affording occupants access to the various climatic and resource zones.

Ahupuaʻa served as a means of managing people and taking care of the people who support them, as well as an easy form of collection of tributes by the chiefs. Ultimately, this helped in preserving resources.

Shaped by island geography, ahupuaʻa varied in shape and size (from as little as 100-acres to more than 100,000-acres.)

Each ahupuaʻa had its own name and boundary lines. Often the markers were natural features such as a large rock or a line of trees or even the home of a certain bird. A valley ahupuaʻa usually used its ridges and peaks as boundaries.

In ancient Hawaiian times, relatives and friends exchanged products. The upland dwellers brought poi, taro and other foods to the shore to give to kinsmen there. The shore dweller gave fish and other seafood. Visits were never made empty-handed but always with something from one’s home to give.

Ahupuaʻa contained nearly all the resources Hawaiians required for survival. Fresh water resources were managed carefully for drinking, bathing and irrigation.

A typical ahupuaʻa was a long strip of land, narrow at its mountain summit, becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef. If there was no reef, then the sea boundary would be one-mile from the shore.

However, there are several ‘anomalies’ to this conventional ahupuaʻa layout.

Some include multiple parts, even skipping over water. Others do not have contact with the ocean, nor reach a mountain peak. Another includes portions of a couple of mountains. Here are some examples (there are others, as well.)

On the island of Hawaiʻi, the ahupuaʻa of Kīʻao in the moku (district) of Kāʻu is land-locked and doesn’t reach the ocean. (Paman) In addition, it doesn’t reach a mountain summit.

Also on the Island of Hawaiʻi, the ahupuaʻa of Humuʻula starts at the summit of Mauna Loa, crosses the saddle between the two mountains and skirts along the side of Mauna Kea and eventually runs down to the ocean along the Hāmākua coast.

This traversing along a relatively similar contour on the side of Mauna Kea is unique; in addition, in doing so, it essentially cuts off the numerous ahupuaʻa along the South Hilo, North Hilo and Hāmākua coasts to the Mauna Kea summit.

Interestingly, the entire island of Kahoʻolawe is part of the Honuaʻula moku (district) across the ocean on Maui. Kahoʻolawe is not its own ahupuaʻa; rather, it is divided into ʻili (smaller land units within ahupua‘a.)

Historically, a “cloud bridge” connected Kahoʻolawe with the slopes of Haleakalā. The Naulu winds brought the Naulu rains that are associated with Kahoʻolawe (a heavy mist and shower of fine rain that would cover the island.)

Heʻeia on the windward side of Oʻahu runs from the mountains to the sea, but also crosses over a portion of the water in Kāneʻohe Bay and includes a portion of a Mōkapu peninsula across the Bay.

The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa also has an un-typical shape – it is sometimes referred to in two parts: Waiʻanae Kai, on its western side, runs from the ocean to the Waiʻanae Mountains (like a typical ahupuaʻa – this portion of Waiʻanae runs from the mountain to the sea.)

From there, however, the section referred to as Waiʻanae Uka continues across Oʻahu’s central plain and extends up into the Koʻolau Mountains – extending approximately 15-miles from the Waianae Mountains to the Koʻolau Mountains and ends up overlooking the windward coastline. (Each section is within the same ahupuaʻa.)

Waimānalo is another Oʻahu ahupuaʻa that is ‘anomalous’ to the ‘ridges to reefs’ characterization of the ‘typical’ ahupuaʻa.

Waimānalo extends from the ridge behind Keolu Hills, around Makapuʻu and ending at Kuliʻouʻou Ridge (Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club;) it essentially wraps over the Koʻolau range from the windward coast to the leeward coast Oʻahu.

Waimānalo incorporates what was once the large fishpond of Maunalua, now known as Hawaiʻi Kai. Kamakau notes, “The ahupuaʻa of Waimānalo, including the fishpond at Maunalua and the travelling uhu of Makapuʻu, belonged to Mauimua (First-Maui.)” (Koʻolaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club)

The image shows a map of the Islands with some of the anomalies to the typical’ ahupuaʻa.