Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Progress Block

“A few years ago even the most progressive citizens of the Paradise of the Pacific would state that there was ‘nothing in real estate’ in Honolulu, and every man with money was chasing after sugar stock or doubling his coin in the business which justly, if not politely, must be described as usury.”

” New blood and fresh ideas were wanted to shake up the community from the lethargy in which every body apparently had fallen.”  (The Independent, April 25, 1898)

“One day CS Desky arrived on the scene, and it didn’t take him very long before he had realized the wonderful opportunities which the islands offered …. Desky treated the public to surprise after surprise. … The new Progress Block erected by him … deserves a special mention being the best finished and up-to-date building ever seen in Honolulu.”  (The Independent, April 25, 1898)

But, wait – that is getting ahead of the story.  Let’s look back; in doing so, we’ll see some history related to some familiar Honolulu institutions.

With a growing maritime industry in the Islands, in 1833, the Seamen’s Friend Society sent Rev John Diell to establish a chapel in Honolulu; the Bethel Chapel and the seamen’s chaplaincy were dedicated on November 28, 1833, in a service attended by “the king, Kīnaʻu, and the principal chiefs … together with a respectable number of residents, masters of vessels and seamen.”

As the population of the town continued to grow, it became evident there was a need to form a separate and self-supporting church; so, in 1852, the Second Foreign Church in Honolulu came into existence.  In 1856, they built a permanent house of worship at the corner of Fort and Beretania streets and the name of the organization was changed to the Fort Street Church of Honolulu.

The Fort Street English Day School was officially established in 1865; it met in the basement of the Fort Street Church.  The Fort Street School was split in 1895 into Kaʻiulani Elementary School and Honolulu High School (the high school moved into Keōua Hale – former residence of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani (now the site of the Central Intermediate School.))  (Later (1907,) the Honolulu High School moved again; that year it changed its name to McKinley High School (Oʻahu’s oldest public high school.))

In April 1887, Fort Street Church prepared a proposal to reunite the Bethel and itself into a new organization, and from that time until the formal union, the two churches worshipped together.  Selection of the new church’s name was settled by vote; the final result was Central Union 28, Church of the Redeemer 18, and Bethel Union 1.

Thus, Central Union Church began its existence. The original congregation numbered 337 members – 250 from the Fort Street Church, 72 from Bethel Union, 13 from other churches and 2 on confession of faith at the first service.  By 1888, increased church membership made it apparent that the Central Union congregation was outgrowing the Fort Street building.

All of these activities (with the Church and School using, then leaving the property) eventually freed up the site at the corner of Fort and Beretania Street (the former home of what are now Central Union Church and McKinley High School.)  This is across the Fort Street Mall from the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

Several newspaper articles help explain what happened next.  The July 27, 1897 issue of the Hawaiian Gazette starts it off with a front page headline reading, “Progress Block.”

“Plans have just been completed at the offices of Ripley & Dickey (Clinton Briggs Ripley and Charles William “CW” Dickey,) architects, for the Progress building, to be erected at the corner of Fort and Beretania streets, according to the orders of CS Desky, proprietor.”

“The Progress building is to be built out of the native rock that is now being so much used in the construction of the latest improved business blocks that have recently been put up in the city, and, taken all in all, it is to be the most beautiful business block in the city, with the very best and most convenient of situations.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, July 27, 1897)

Stores fronting on Fort street are on the first floor; the second floor will have 11 suites of offices (with first-class lavatories and two broad corridors) and the third floor will be the “crowning feature” of the whole building (amusement hall and ball room.)  (Hawaiian Gazette, July 27, 1897)

“The floor of the hall will be polished and waxed for dancing, and a canvas covering will be on hand at all times, to be used during concerts and entertainments. The whole building will be most elegantly finished, and the furnishings will be of the very best.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, July 27, 1897)

“Ground will be broken on the old church property at Fort and Beretania streets next Monday for a three-story stone store and office building that is to contain the finest amusement hall west of San Francisco … to be known as the Progress block.”  (Hawaiian Star, June 25, 1897)

“When Mr CS Desky’s Progress Block, corner of Fort and Beretania, is completed, which will be in about three months, Honolulu will have practically a second up-town theater. The hall on the third floor of the Progress building will be a regular little bijou of a music-hall. There will be a stage of good size and the main auditorium will seat 800 people.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, February 1, 1898)

“Mr Dusky bought the large tract of land known as the Irwin homestead with frontages on Chaplain Lane, Fort street and Beretania street … he has erected the magnificent Progress building which is an ornament to the city and a credit to the owner to the architect and the builder.”

“In a few weeks the building will be delivered by the contractor to the owner and the public will have a chance to inspect and admire the structure which certainly is entitled to the name ‘Progress.’”  (The Independent, April 25, 1898)

The building was completed in May 1898; by July, newspaper reports note that “every store and room in the building was rented.”

It is still here; however, what we see today is not a single building.

“Bruce Cartwright will now identify himself with the development of upper Fort street, yesterday he closed a deal with CS Desky for the purchase of the property just makai of the Progress block, and within ten days he will, it is slated, break ground for a three story stone and brick building, similar in construction and appearance to the Progress block. In fact the plans already prepared by Mr. Desky for an extension of his building will be used, with a few changes.”  (Hawaiian Star, April 26, 1898)

“The makai wall of the present Progress Block will serve as the mauka wall of the new building. Arches will be made in this point wall and for the upper floors of the two blocks there will be used the same electric elevator.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, May 6, 1898)  Construction of Cartwright’s building started on May 4, 1898.

Some of the former users of the property returned; there are several references to Honolulu High School holding commencement exercises in Progress Hall.  Others used the facilities, as well – including some ‘firsts’ in Hawaiʻi.

Progress Hall (“about the only available place at that time where meetings could be held”) ushered in the Elks (with 90 charter members, first initiation and installation took place April 15, 1901.)  Likewise, the First Hebrew Congregation of Honolulu was formally organized at a meeting of some thirty of the Jewish residents of the city in Progress Hall Sunday afternoon, October 27, 1901.

In 1981, both buildings were completely gutted and a new interior designed of steel beams and heavy timber. Elevators, a new roof, central air conditioning, sprinkler systems, safety systems, new window designs and an entrance canopy were added. Some references say a fourth floor was added.  (Burlingame)

Today, Hawaiʻi Pacific University occupies the Model Progress Building (it is not clear when the “Model” moniker was added to the building name;) uses include, Center for Student Life and First-Year Programs, Commuter Services, Dean of Students Office, ELS Language Center, faculty offices and spaces/uses for various departments and programs.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Father of Japanese Immigration to Hawaiʻi’

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

Sugar cultivation/processing started as early as 1802 and it continued to grow that about a century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, it eventually dominated the landscape.

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.)  The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi.  Between 1852 and 1884, the population of Chinese in Hawai’i increased from 364 to 18,254, to become almost a quarter of the population of the Kingdom (almost 30% of them were living in Honolulu.)  (Young – Nordyke & Lee)

Concerned that the Chinese had secured too strong a representation in the labor market, the government passed laws reducing Chinese immigration.  Further government regulations introduced between 1886 to 1892 virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration.

In 1868, an American businessman, Eugene M Van Reed, sent a group of approximately 150-Japanese to Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations and another 40 to Guam. This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (“first year men”,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas.  (JANM)

However, for the next two decades the Meiji government prohibited the departure of “immigrants” due to the slave-like treatment that the first Japanese migrants received in Hawaiʻi and Guam.  (JANM)

About this time (1866,) Robert Walker Irwin, at the age of 22, arrived in Japan to head the Yokohama office of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. In 1867 the company launched the first regular trans-Pacific steamship service fulfilling a contract with the US government to provide monthly mail service between San Francisco and Hong Kong via Yokohama.

Irwin (January 4, 1844 – January 5, 1925,) great-great grandson of Benjamin Franklin, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark to former Pennsylvania politician (Mayor of Pittsburgh and member of the US House of Representatives) and United States Chargé d’affaires to Denmark William W. Irwin and Sophia Arabella Bache Irwin.

He was later hired to work for the Mitsui business conglomerate and cultivated a number of business and government contacts in Japan becoming acquainted with Japanese Finance Minister Masuda Takashi in 1872.

He also became good friends with Japanese Count Kaoru Inouye, who had toured the United States with Irwin in 1876 and became a major force for modernization within Japan.

Later (1880,) the Hawaiian consul general to Japan, Harlan P Lillibridge, took a leave of absence and Irwin was appointed to replace him; the appointment soon became a permanent one.

In March 1881, King Kalākaua visited Japan during which he discussed with Emperor Meiji Hawaii’s desire to encourage Japanese nationals to settle in Hawaiʻi.

As noted in Nupepa-Hawaiʻi, 1881, “His Majesty the King of Hawaiʻi arrived here yesterday morning at 8 am in the Oceanic. As the steamer moved up to her anchorage, the men-of-war in harbour dressed ship and manned yards, the crews of the Russian and Japanese vessels also cheering heartily as the Oceanic passed them. … He subsequently embarked in the Emperor’s State barge.”

Kalākaua’s meeting with Emperor Meiji improved the relationship of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the Japanese government, and an economic depression in Japan served as an impetus for agricultural workers to leave their homeland.  (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

Irwin married Takechi Iki on March 15, 1882. This was the first legal marriage between an American and Japanese citizen and was arranged by Kaoru Inouye, then the Japanese Foreign Minister.  (Irwin had six children. The eldest, Bella, founded the Irwin Gakuen School in Tokyo.)

Focused on Japanese immigration to support Hawaiʻi’s sugar labor needs, and not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the gennenmono episode, Irwin’s friendship and close relationship with Inouye smoothed negotiations; and in 1885 and the first legitimate Japanese immigration to Hawaiʻi occurred.

Irwin arranged for and accompanied the first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi who arrived in Honolulu aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company City of Tokio on February 8, 1885. After returning to Japan, Irwin received government approval for a second set of 930 immigrants who arrived in Hawaiʻi on June 17, 1885.

The laborers were selected “from the farming class with particular attention given to physical condition, youth, and industrious habits.”  They were predominantly unskilled male workers from Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, two neighboring prefectures in the Chugoku district of southwest Japan, and they were accustomed to rural village patterns of early marriage, high birth rates and large families.  (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

With the Japanese government satisfied with treatment of the immigrants, Irwin was able to conclude a formal immigration treaty between Hawaiʻi and Japan on January 28, 1886. The treaty stipulated that the Hawaiʻi government would be held responsible for employers’ treatment of Japanese immigrants.

Irwin was the single most important figure in starting the official labor migration from Japan to Hawaiʻi in 1885. The Kanyaku Imin immigration system that Irwin negotiated concluded in June 1894 with 29,339 Japanese nationals having immigrated to Hawaiʻi. This government-sponsored immigration was quickly replaced with private immigration.

He later became a Japanese citizen and received both the “Order of the Rising Sun” and the “Order of the Sacred Treasure.” In Japan, he is called the “Father of Japanese Immigration to Hawaiʻi.”

In 1891, Irwin purchased a summer home in Ikaho. The residence is a designated Historic Place and is open to the public as a small museum to the Irwin family and Japanese immigration to Hawaiʻi.  Irwin died January 5, 1925 and is buried at Aoyama Cemetery, Tokyo.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻōleiokū

At the time of ‘contact’ (Captain Cook’s arrival (1778,)) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

On the Big Island, one of Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s wives was Kānekapōlei (Kāne in the circle of beloved ones (ksbe.))  She is claimed by some to have been the daughter of Kauakahiakua of the Maui royal family and his wife Umiaemoku; some suggest she is said to have been of the Kaʻū family of chiefs.

According to Hawaiian historian Samuel Kamakau, her father Kauakahiakua owned the sea cucumber (loli) ovens of the district of Kaupo on the island of Maui.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu was born about 1729.  His brother was Keōua.  When Keōua (the father of Kamehameha) died, he commended Kamehameha to the care of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who received him, and treated him as his own child. (Dibble)

Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Kānekapōlei had two sons, Keōua Kuʻahuʻula and Keōua Peʻeale.

In accordance with the ways of the high chiefs at the time, in his youth, Kamehameha had sexual relations with Kānekapōlei and had a son, Pauli Kaʻōleiokū (1767.)

(Among the chiefs, a boy was not only trained in warfare and government but when he was grown physically, a matured chiefess was chosen to train him in sexual practices. This was part of his education. Should a child result, he or she was reared by the mother.  (Handy & Pukui))

Thus it was that Kamehameha claimed Kaʻōleiokū as “the son of my beardless youth,” at the dedication of the heiau of Puʻukohola. This was the son borne to him by Kānekapōlei, one of the wives of his uncle Kalaniʻōpuʻu.  (Handy & Pukui)  He was known as ‘keiki makahiapo’ (first-born child) of Kamehameha.  (Stokes)

On December 1, 1778, Kaʻōleiokū, his brother Keōua Kuʻahuʻula and cousin Kamehameha, slept on board Captain Cook’s vessel ‘Resolution,’ when off the Maui coast. Since Cook’s vessels were regarded as “temples,” the stay overnight probably had a religious significance to the Hawaiians, because their worship ordained spending certain nights in the temples.  (Stokes)

Lieut. King says Kaʻōleiokū was about twelve years old in 1779, and “used to boast of his being admitted to drink ava, and shewed us, with great triumph, a small spot in his side that was growing scaly. … (the) young son pointed to us some places on his hips that were becoming scaly, as a mark of his being long indulged in this Liquor.”

Kaʻōleiokū witnessed Cook’s death on February 14, 1779, with Kalaniʻōpuʻu and Keōua; he had already accepted Cook’s invitation to spend the day on board and proceeded ahead to the pinnace (a tender boat,) where he was seated at the time of the massacre. Greatly frightened at the firing, he asked to be put ashore again, which was done.  (Stokes)

Keōua Kuʻahuʻula and his younger brother Kaʻōleiokū had for many years resisted Kamehameha’s attempts to conquer the whole of Hawaiʻi Island, after the death of Kiwalaʻo in the Battle of Mokuʻōhai (1782.)  Keōua escaped the battle to relatives in the Kaʻū district to the South.  (Stokes)

Keōua was killed in 1791, when Kamehameha invited him to the Puʻukoholā Heiau in Kohala.  Kamakau tells of how Pauli Kaʻōleiokū was spared:
“On the arrival of the canoe of Pauli Kaʻōleiokū, in the vicinity where Keōua was killed … Kamehameha said: ‘He shall not die, as he is the son of my youth and this is the payment for my food on which I was reared.’ … (he then) proclaimed the Māmalahoe Law: the law of life in Kamehameha’s kingdom. When the people on board Pauli Kaʻōleiokū’s canoe heard the law proclaimed, they came ashore, and wails of mourning for the death of Keōuakū‘ahu‘ula resounded.”

Kamehameha had been living on Hawai‘i for four years when the news of the attempts of the Russians to set up a compound at Honolulu Harbor reached him (1815.) He sent Kalanimōku, Ulumāheihei, Nāihe, Kaikioʻewa, Kaʻōleiokū and Keʻeaumoku with numerous warriors equipped with foreign weapons. (Desha)

These aliʻi were commanded to go and fight with those foreigners if they opposed them, and to expel them from the land.  They expelled the Russians. Kalanimōku, with the help of Kaʻōleiokū and other high chiefs built a fort at Honolulu, setting up some cannons on it. (Desha)

Pauli Kaʻōleiokū is said to have married twice, first Keōuawahine and then Luahine.  With Luahine they had one child, Princess Konia; Princess Konia married Abner Paki, they had one child, Princess Bernice Pauahi. (He was also the maternal grandfather of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani.)

Great granddaughter of Kamehameha I and granddaughter of Kānekapōlei, Princess Bernice Pauahi officially was eligible to the throne by order of Kamehameha III; she was offered the throne by Kamehameha V, but refused it.  (Stokes)

In 1850, the princess was married at the Royal School to Mr Charles Reed Bishop of New York, who started the bank of what is now known as First Hawaiian Bank. A small wedding was conducted with only a few attending.

Princess Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884.  She foresaw the need to educate her people and in her will she left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in trust to establish the Kamehameha Schools for children with Hawaiian blood.

(Some suggest Kaʻōleiokū was the son of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, not Kamehameha.  Kalākaua suggests Kaʻōleiokū had four fathers, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, Kamehameha, Keawemauhili and Kaukamu, suggesting Kānekapōlei was sleeping with all of them.) The image shows Konia, daughter of Kaʻōleiokū.  

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early Communication

“Marine Telegraph. Through the exertions of Mr. Jackson, Post Master, we are at length likely to have a marine telegraph erected on ‘Telegraph Hill,’ a knoll just back of Diamond Head and a little to westward of the government road to Waialae. A sum sufficient to defray the cost attending its erection and for keeping it in operation for some months has been subscribed.”

“So much has been said about the supposed value of a telegraph, that we are glad the experiment is to receive a fair trial. The telegraph will consist of a pole (seventy) feet in height, to have four arms, each four feet long.”

“From this knoll vessels can be seen in a clear day from twenty to twenty-five miles either way from Diamond Head, and all coasters as well as foreign vessels will be reported by it.”

“One advantage will be that China bound vessels, passing during the day time can be reported, and probably in most cases can be boarded from the port, to procure news, where heretofore they have passed without stopping.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 4, 1857)

On June 12, 1857, a marine telegraph was put into operation behind Diamond Head.  A companion semaphore signal was put on Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street in downtown Honolulu.

This device was actually a kind of semaphore designed to send visual (rather than electric) signals to the post office in Honolulu Hale when an approaching ship was sighted. (Schmitt)

The ‘marine telegraph’ is a semaphore.  Initially set up by the local Post Master to time the landing of ships to collect the mail, it also served as a means to notify the community of what ship was landing, especially those who service the ships and their passengers.

“There were very few who could not read the signals made by the directions of the arms of the semaphore and as soon as any was made some one would call out “whale ship coming past Koko Head” or “Fore and after coming past Barber’s Point” or “Steamer coming past Koko Head” as the case might be.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 21, 1905)

The postmaster posted advertisements in the newspapers offering to sell “Marine Telegraph Cards of Signals” for $1.

“Back of the head (Lēʻahi, Diamond Head) there was a lookout and when he saw a ship coming he raised a flag. Directly I saw it I gave the cry ‘Sail, ho!’ – and up went the signal on the semaphore. It was my call that brought the people from the neighboring offices and the signal from those further away.”

“If it turned out to be a whaler, all was well; but if it happened to be a schooner from the other islands I came in for a drubbing of words from everybody within the limits of civilization. I as the small boy who was blamed for the error of the lookout and seldom praised for his correct reports.”  (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“Naturally there was a good deal of rivalry among the pilots, for in those days and for years, they received their compensation by the way of fees. Each man was supposed to leave the pilot house when a signal was given and go out to meet the vessel. The first man out got the ship and the fee.”

“If there were more coming down the channel Signal No. 2 would show it.” (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“This enterprise, which has now been conducted for some two years, has proved itself of so much public benefit that there is scarcely a man in the community who would not regret to see it discontinued.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1859)

Unfortunately, a storm in 1872 took the semaphore out of service.  The loss was felt … “That the telegraph is needed and must be put in order again, everyone will concede; but the question is, whose duty is it to see the thing done.”   (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 27, 1872)

The Chamber of Commerce met shortly thereafter.  “It was the general understanding that the telegraph must be resumed, and a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions and attend to the necessary details.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 17, 1872)

“When the telephone system got into working order the lookout station was moved to a position on Diamond Head which gave a view further along the channel, because it was no longer necessary for the station to be in full view of the city.” (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

In 1878 Samuel G Wilder established the first telephone line on Oʻahu, from his government office to his lumber business.  “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.”  (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881)   (Charles Dickey in Haiku, Maui had the first phones in the islands (1878;) connecting his home to his store.)

Diamond Head was connected by telephone with the book store of Whitney & Robertson conducted in Honolulu Hale.  (Evening Bulletin, September 27, 1907)  The Marine Telegraph semaphore system was later discontinued.

Right about this same time, Hawaiʻi was getting connected through a submarine telegraph cable.  The first submarine cable across the Pacific was completed (landing in Waikīkī at Sans Souci Beach) linking the US mainland to Hawaiʻi, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji (1902) and Guam to the Philippines in 1903.  (The first Atlantic submarine cable, connecting Europe with the USA, was completed in 1866.)

The first telegraph message carried on the system was sent from Hawaiʻi and received by President Teddy Roosevelt on January 2, 1903 (that day was declared “Cable Day in Hawaiʻi.”)  On January 3, 1903, the first news dispatches were sent over the Pacific cable to Hawaiʻi by the Associated Press.

On the afternoon of July 4, 1903, Honolulu was connected to the Pacific cable from Midway Island, which extended east to the Philippines and China. On that day, the Pacific cable commenced full operation between Asia and Washington, DC.

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻAlekoko Fishpond (Menehune Fishpond)

ʻAla ke kai o ka ʻanae.
Fragrant is the soup of a big mullet.
(A prosperous person attracts others. (ʻŌlelo Noʻeau))

‘Anae (ʻamaʻama – mullet) and awa (milk fish) were popular fish raised in Hawaiian walled fishponds.  The cultivation of fish took place in Hawaiian agricultural pondfields, as well as in specialized fresh and brackish water fishponds.

Ponds were built to catch and hold fish; the ponds grew algae that fed the fish.  A natural food chain can be expected to produce a ratio of 10:1 in terms of the conversion of one link by another (10,000-kg of algae make 1,000-kg of tiny crustaceans, which in turn make 100-kg of small fish.  (Kelly)

The Hawaiian walled fishpond stands as a technological achievement unmatched elsewhere in island Oceania.  Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures to raise fish for their communities and families.  It is believed these were first built around the fifteenth century.  (Kelly)

These fishponds were symbols of chiefly status and power, and usually under the direct control of aliʻi or konohiki. The fish from these ponds often went to feed chiefly households. (Handy)

One significant fishpond on the southeast side of Kauaʻi is known as ʻAlekoko Fishpond (one of the rarest and most significant cultural and archaeological sites on Kauaʻi.)

Just outside Līhuʻe and Nāwiliwili Harbor on the Hulēʻia River, a Scenic Overlook is located just off of Hulemalu Road, about ½-mile from the entrance to the Nāwiliwili small boat harbor.

The fishpond is located in the Hulēʻia National Wildlife Refuge, 238-acres of river valley that is a habitat for thirty-one species of birds, including endangered Hawaiian birds: aeʻo (Hawaiian stilt,) ʻalae keʻokeʻo (Hawaiian coot,) ʻalae ʻula (Hawaiian moorhen,) nēnē (Hawaiian goose) and koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck.)

Although you can see the fishpond and the refuge from the road, the area is not open to the public. Small boats, kayaks, jet skis, windsurfers and water-skiers use the river.

ʻAlekoko Fishpond is located near the mouth of the Hulēʻia River, in the ahupuaʻa of Niumalu; it was formed by walling off a large bend in the river; the stone-faced, dirt wall is over 900-yards long.

The dirt wall is 5-feet above the water level, 4-feet wide on top and the dirt slants out on both sides. The facing wall begins with a single row of stones and then becomes double-thickness as it gets further out into the river and the current.

The stones also become larger until the double layer is 2-feet thick. The stone facing on the outside is five feet high in most places and is quite perpendicular. The stones are very carefully fitted together; the stone facing runs for about two-thirds of the total length of the wall. (NPS)

“That pond, of course, is monumental, monumental stone work.  To me this is the ultimate fishpond.  What makes it kind of special here on Kauaʻi is the way the stones are fitted.” (David Burney, paleoecologist; star-bulletin)

Ancient Hawaiians often used lava rock to build walls, but they typically shaped them to fit together instead of cutting them into blocks.  “Hawaiians didn’t typically cut rock to build something, (as they did at ʻAlekoko).” (Michael Graves, US archaeology professor; star-bulletin)

The pond did not just hold fish.  In the 1800s, two of the three gaps in the levee were filled in and the pond was used by rice farmers.

In the 1940s, after a tidal wave, the wall was repaired by the man who had the lease at the time. He put bags of cement in the weak spots and now longish “rocks” are visible where the bags deteriorated and the cement hardened.

According to legend, Chief ʻAlekoko asked the Menehune to build two ponds – one for him and one for his sister Hāhālua.  (Menehune, while small in size, were the mythical masters of stone work and engineering; they agreed to build the ponds – with one stipulation: neither should look out of their houses on the night of construction.)

Hāhālua, content with the idea of being able to eat fish from her own pond, did not look; however, her brother could not stand the temptation and he peered out.  Immediately, the Menehune stopped work and washed their bleeding hands in the water – hence the name of the pond, ʻAlekoko (bloody ripples.)

Built by the Menehune, it is also known as Menehune Fishpond.

“Today the lush vegetation on the wall and banks of the pond and the calm blue waters of the Hulēʻia River combine to make Menehune Fishpond an impressive sight, an ideal picture of Polynesia.”

“It is an important historical reminder of the past and a contemporary source of pride for the people of Kauaʻi.”  It was added to the National Register in 1973.  (NPS)  (Unfortunately, it has also been overgrown with invasive plants and silt has filled parts of the pond.)

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC