Kalaupapa | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalaupapa Field System

Molokai Island can be divided into three ecological regions based on rainfall, exposure to northeast trade winds and landform: (1) the wet, windward valleys of the north shore, (2) the dry, leeward valleys of the south shore, and (3) the arid rocklands of the island’s west end.

The Kalaupapa Peninsula, located at the western end of these valleys, is a unique landform formed by a volcanic rejuvenation centered on the Kauhakō Crater (about 330-thousand years ago,) at the base of the north shore’s cliffs.

Archaeological and carbon-dating evidence indicate that the initial settlement and presence of people on the Kalaupapa (“the flat plain”) peninsula on the Island of Molokai was between 800 and 1200.

Next to the peninsula is a distinctly-different, wet ecological zone with sediment soils distributed at the bottoms of the short Waihānau and Wai‘ale‘ia Valleys, the large Waikolu Valley and along the base of the cliffs.

Based on archaeological studies, the northern portion of the peninsula has “two main types of agricultural complexes … alignments with enclosures around them, and alignments without enclosures”. The density of plots within the later type suggested “possible intensification of an earlier field system”.

Identified as the Kalaupapa Field System, there is a grid of rain-fed plots, defined by low stone field walls built, in part, to shelter sweet potatoes and other crops from trade winds, that cover the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

It appears that the field system was a secondary area of settlement and agricultural development, with the wetter valley and sediment soil being the preferred areas.

Like other windward areas, wind erosion is a problem. To address this, long, narrow linear plots (defined by low field walls,) are packed densely together in locations exposed to the northeast trade winds. In addition, plots were in swales between boulder outcrops.

Initial theories suggested the entire field system was primarily the result of a historic boom in the production of potatoes for “gold rush” markets in California.

Recent work by various teams of archaeologists, which included surveys in different ecological zones – specifically, the peninsula and several valleys – revealed a well-preserved archaeological landscape across the region.

Instead of enclosed fields associated with the more recent historic era, archaeologists found dense rows of unenclosed alignments and substantial house sites quite unlike the temporary shelters found in other Hawaiian field systems.

The findings suggest that early agricultural development in the area started well before the “gold rush” exports and was first concentrated in valleys (with permanent streams) and, perhaps more significantly, that most of the Kalaupapa Field System was likely to have been built before European contact.

Although limited cultivation in dryland environments may have begun as early as 1200 and continued through the 13th century, widespread burning across the Kalaupapa Peninsula, which archaeologists suggest signals of the beginning of the Kalaupapa Field System, does not commence until 1450-1550.

It appears that not only is there a correlation between rich, geologically young soils and Hawaiian dryland intensive agricultural systems, but also the creation of these large-scale systems around 1400 appears to have been nearly simultaneous in both windward and leeward districts.

Then, between 1650 and 1795, there were increases in the peninsula population, indicated by house sites, rock shelters, an animal enclosure, a possible shrine and a site interpreted as a men’s house (mua.)

In terms of agriculture, there is good evidence that people continued to actively cultivate the entire area throughout this period.

Following the abandonment of the field system at the end of the 18th century, settlement shifted to small house sites spread along the coast and local roadways.

The introduction of cattle in 1830 caused the construction of large, architecturally-distinct walls to protect fields and yards from roving animals.

In 1849, portions of the fields were reactivated and intensified to supply potatoes and other crops to California’s “gold rush” markets.

The Kingdom of Hawaiʻi instituted in 1865 a century-long program of segregation and isolation of patients with Hansen’s Disease (leprosy) and patients were banished to the isolated peninsula of Kalaupapa, displacing resident families.

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Kalaupapa_Field_System_Walls-(McCoy)

Kalaupapa_Field_System-Walls-(McCoy)

Kalaupapa_Field_System-Field-Plot-(McCoy)

Kalaupapa_Field_System-Field_Plot-(McCoy)

Kalaupapa_Field_System-Zones-(SJSU-McCoy)-Map

Kalaupapa_Field_System-densely packed windbreak field walls are visible from the air-(McCoy)

Kalaupapa_Field_System-(SJSU-McCoy)-Map

Kalaupapa_Field_System-(SJSU-McCoy)-Island_Map

Kalaupapa_Field_System-Illustration_of_Erosion-Zones-(SJSU-McCoy)-Map

March 31, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Wailau

“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer’s deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maui (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture. For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link in the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

“Early the next morning, with a pleasant breeze from the NE, we stood over towards the east point of Mororoi (Molokai.) … we sailed to the westward … In this the land rises rather abruptly from the sea, towards the lofty mountains in the center of the east part of Morotoi …”

“… and though the acclivity was great, yet the face of the country, diversified by eminences and vallies, bore a verdant and fertile appearance. It seemed to be well inhabited, in a high state of cultivation, and presented not only a rich but a romantic prospect.” (Captain George Vancouver, March 19, 1793)

The windward valleys developed into areas of intensive irrigated taro cultivation and seasonal migrations took place to stock up on fish and precious salt for the rest of the year. Kalaupapa was well known for its bountiful ʻuala (sweet potato) crops and its fine-grained, white salt which was preferred over that from the salt ponds of Kawela and Kaunakakai. (Strazar)

The large windward valleys – Pelekunu, Wailau and Halawa – and Papalaua, along with all of Kalaupapa comprise the old Hawaiian Koʻolau Moku (district) of Molokai.

Wailau Valley (“many waters” – the largest along the coast) on Molokai’s North Shore has some interesting history.

The sea cliffs that surround Wailau on the island’s north shore were formed by the ‘Wailau Slide,’ in which a portion of the volcano collapsed into the ocean, leaving a swath of debris strewn across the ocean floor.

The sea cliffs represent the scar left by the collapse and Wailau and the other windward valleys were cut into the scar after the slide.

The Kalaupapa Peninsula, in north central Molokai, was formed later by volcanic rejuvenation.

Molokai’s North Shore Cliffs were designated a National Natural Landmark in December 1972. The Landmark includes 27,100 acres located along 17 miles of the northeast coast between Hālawa and Kalaupapa.

Four major valleys span the coastline, from Hālawa (at the east end of the island of Molokai) westward toward Kalaupapa: from east to west they are Pāpalaua, Wailau, Pelekunu and Waikolu.

This area is accessible by boat and trails into the valleys; there are no roads through North Shore Molokai.

Wailau is made up of a smaller broad valley on the east and a deeper valley on the west, with two major streams flowing down through them – Kahawai‘iki Stream and Wailau Stream.

The Wailau stream, which runs the entire length of the valley, is said to have received its name “because it began in many brooks that flowed from the palis on every side.”

Wailau was a major area of taro production from the pre-contact era until the 1930s, when the valley was abandoned due to a combination of factors, including flooding and unfavorable economic conditions.

A series of intact lo‘i, or taro terraces, forms an agricultural system distributed across almost the entire valley.

There are extensive terraces in the seaward lowlands and back in the lower valleys of streams. Approximately 80 acres were planted in taro. The banks of the numerous taro patches in the lowlands can still be seen from the air.

They say Wailau also has high terracing of valley sides comparable to that on the Napali coast of Kaua‘i.

The cliffs just beyond Pāpalaua Valley are home to Kahiwa Falls, the longest waterfall in the state (over 1,700-feet.) (Lots of the information and images come from reports by Windy K McElroy.)

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Wailau (Windy K McElroy)

Wailau

Wailau (Windy K McElroy)

March 1, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i’s 5th County

Kalawao, encompassing the Kalaupapa Peninsula (also known as the Makanalua Peninsula,) is midway along the North Shore of Molokai.

Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest settlers in the peninsula probably lived in the Waikolu Valley in the A.D. 1100-1550 timeframe. At that time, people had been living in the windward Hālawa Valley for hundreds of years.

The Kalaupapa Peninsula, however, was probably not occupied until slightly later, perhaps around 1300-1400 A.D.

On the peninsula where it is dry and there are no permanent streams, people built field walls to protect crops like sweet potato (‘uala) from the northeast tradewinds. The remnant field walls can be seen from the air as one arrives at Kalaupapa Airport.

In wetter areas near the base of the cliffs, people built garden terraces. True pond field agriculture may have only been practiced in the Waikolu Valley or at the mouth of the Waihanau Valley.

The first peoples of Kalaupapa also collected marine resources along the shore, the reef, and offshore except when strong winter storms prevented it. People visited other parts of the island both by canoe and by trail over the cliffs.

In 1905, the Territorial Legislature passed a law that formed the basis of modern government in Hawaii, the County Act, forming local County governance.

While we easily recognize the four main Counties in Hawai‘i: Kauai, O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i; we often overlook the County of Kalawao, Hawai‘i’s 5th County (encompassing the Kalaupapa Peninsula and surrounding land.)

The four main Counties are governed by elected County Councils. Kalawao is under the jurisdiction of the state’s Health Department; the director of Health serves as the Kalawao County ‘Mayor.’

State law, (HRS §326-34) states that the county of Kalawao consists of that portion of the island of Molokai known as Kalaupapa, Kalawao and Waikolu, and commonly known or designated as the Kalaupapa Settlement, and is not a portion of the County of Maui, but is constituted a county by itself.

This area was set aside very early on as a colony for sufferers of Hansen’s disease (leprosy.) The isolation law was enacted by King Kamehameha V; at its peak, about 1,200 men, women and children were in exile at Kalaupapa.

The first group of Hansen’s disease patients was sent to Kalawao on the eastern, or windward, side of the Kalaupapa peninsula on January 6, 1866.

The forced isolation of people from Hawaiʻi afflicted with Hansen’s disease to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula lasted from 1866 until 1969. This is where Saint Damien and Saint Marianne spent many years caring for the lepers.

On January 7, 1976, the “Kalaupapa Leprosy Settlement” was designated a National Historic Landmark to include 15,645 acres of land and waters.

On April 1, 2004, the NPS renewed its cooperative agreement with the State of Hawai‘i, Department of Health for an additional twenty years, entitled “Preservation of Historic Structures, Kalaupapa.” The NPS is maintaining utilities, roads and non-medical patient functions and maintenance of historic structures within the park.

Access to Kalaupapa is severely limited. There are no roads to the peninsula from “topside” Molokaʻi. Land access is via a steep trail on the pali (sea cliff) that is approximately three miles long with 26 switchbacks.

Air taxi service by commuter class aircraft provides the main access to Kalaupapa, arriving and departing two to four times a day, weather permitting.

Mail, freight, and perishable food, arrive by cargo plane on a daily basis. The barge brings cargo from Honolulu to Kalaupapa once a year, during the summer months when the sea is relatively calm.

While at DLNR, I had the opportunity to visit Kalaupapa on two occasions: once on a visit to the peninsula to review some of its historic buildings, the other as part of a planning retreat/discussion with the National Park Service.

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Kalawao,_Molokai,_(WC-Starr)

Beginnings of the Kalaupapa Leprosy Colony

Kalaupapa peninsula on the island of Molokai

Kalaupapa, Molokai-Bertram

Kalaupapa Molokai-Bertram

Siloama Protestant Church-general view, Moloka’i Island, Kalaupapa, Kalawao County, HI-LOC

Kalawao-Kalaupapa

Edward_Clifford-E2-80-93View_of_the_Kalaupapa_Settlement-1880s

Charles R Bishop Home for Unprotected Girls and Women-Kalaupapa, Molokai-1900

Sisters (Mother Marianne center) and patients at the Bishop Home in Kalaupapa

Kalaupapa home for unprotected girls

Father_Damien_the year he went to Kalaupapa-in_1873

Mother_Marianne_Cope,_Kalaupapa,_1899

January 10, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Emil Van Lil

“In September, 1865, the spit of land on the northern or windward side of the island of Molokai was chosen as a suitable site for the establishment of a settlement for the segregation of lepers.”

“The site is probably one of the most suitable and isolated that could have been chosen for such a purpose. It is surrounded on the north, east, and west by the sea, and the base or southern side is placed beneath a steep pali or precipice from 1,800 to 2,000 feet high, which discourages communication with the rest of the island.”

“The first settlement was at Kalawao, on the eastern side of the spit of land. It lies close to the mountains at the rear and is much exposed to the northeast trade winds.”

“Kalaupapa, the more recent and larger settlement, is situated on the plain to the westward, is further removed from the steep cliffs, and is somewhat protected from northeast winds by the crater of Kahukoo.”

“When the board of health first opened the settlement, and for many years afterwards, much difficulty was experienced from the presence of persons who owned parcels of land in this tract and who were called Kamainas or old settlers. They were not subject to the laws governing lepers, and were free to come and go from the settlement at will.”

“The Hawaiian government has secured the property owned by those Kamainas, and they have been removed from the settlement. Molokai is probably the most complete settlement of its kind in the world.”

“It has hospitals, churches, homes for leprous children, male and female, stores, market dispensaries, cottages for leper residents, jail, storehouses, etc. The majority of the lepers live in cottages built by themselves or by the government, and in the settlement there is a total of all buildings of 716.” (Carmichael, Leprosy in the US, December 30, 1898)

“At a distance Kalaupapa looks like a prosperous little town, and in anticipation of the visit of the board of health a large number of the habitants had gathered at the landing place, some on foot and many mounted on horses.”

“Some difficulty was experienced in landing, which was done by open boat, there being no docks or wharves, as there was a strong northerly swell and the surf was somewhat dangerous. In the hands of natives skilled in surfboating this was soon accomplished without accident, and the entire party landed.”

“Here were seen the different churches, Protestant, Catholic, and Mormon, including that built by Father Damien, and the grave of this leper martyr by the church side. The Baldwin Home for leprous boys was then visited, and the hospitals and cottages for the accommodation of lepers in various stages of the disease.” (Carmichael, Public Health Reports, December 30, 1898)

American Protestant missionary H Harvey Hitchcock held a three-day meeting at Kala‘e, on the cliffs above Kalaupapa, in 1838, which was attended by many from the peninsula and the northern valleys. (An out-station of the Kalua‘aha mission was established there around 1840.) In 1839 a Hawai’ian missionary teacher named Kanakaokai was stationed on the peninsula.

Siloama Protestant Church was the first church to be erected at Kalawao Settlement at Kalaupapa, it was originally constructed and dedicated on October 28, 1871 by the Protestant Congregational Church.

Kana‘ana Hou Church (New Canaan church) was a branch of Siloama’s church; it was built in Kalaupapa in 1878 and enlarged in 1890. In 1881, the congregations of Kalawao and Kalaupapa united as Kanaana Hou. Siloama Church was rebuilt in the 1960s.

Belgium-born Joseph De Veuster arrived in Honolulu on March 19, 1864. There he was ordained a Catholic Priest in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace on May 31 and took the name of Damien.

Another Belgian, John Emil Van Lil, son of John Francis Van Lil and Marie Teresa, came to the peninsula near the turn of the century. He was a lay Catholic brother assisted at the Baldwin Home.

He later was in “charge of all (animal) stock. Mr. Van Lil is a practical farmer, and enthusiastic in his work and I feel that our dairy and farm matters are in good hands.” (Report of the Superintendent of the Leper Settlement, BOH Annual Report, 1903)

“(A) hog ranch (had previously been started) with one boar and ten sows. We have now over one hundred pigs. but through lack of food am unable to go ahead as fast as we might. As the pork is to be issued to the people in lieu of beef, I do not believe it would be a paying proposition to purchase food from the outside.”

“We have cleared about six acres of land in one of the sheltered valleys and planted four thousand papaia trees; about 50 per cent. of which are coming along nicely.”

“We have also planted about two acres in pumpkins which are also doing well. As papaias and pumpkins make good hog feed combined with the cooked offal from the slaughter house. it is only a question of time until we will have sufficient food for all the hogs we can raise.” (Report of the Superintendent of the Leper Settlement, BOH Annual Report, 1903)

“The general health conditions of the Settlement have been excellent … and I here with wish to express my appreciation to Superintendent McVeigh for his foresight in establishing and maintaining this dairy …”

“… as well as to Mr. Emil Van Lil for his able management of the same; not one of the numerous daily milk orders issued having been dishonored, although some 56 gallons of milk are requisitioned daily.” (Board of Health Annual Report, 1906)

A patient from Lahaina, Elizabeth Kaehukai (Baker) Napoleon, had “married Walter U(w)aia Napoleon on April 26, 1890 and they had 12 children together. Seventeen years later, she and Uaia divorced on Dec. 27, 1907.”

“The divorce decree states, ‘On 11 Nov. 1907, Uaia, without just cause or provocation, turned Elizabeth out of his house, and refused to allow her to re-enter their house. Uaia utterly failed, neglected and refused to provide Elizabeth lodging, clothing, food and other necessities. Uaia also refused to allow their children to see or talk with her.’”

“It is likely that Uaia suspected Elizabeth had early signs of leprosy and this is why he kicked her out of the house. By court order, Elizabeth was allowed visits with her children on Saturdays and Monday from 9 am to 7 pm. On Sept. 22, 1911, she was taken in for suspicion of leprosy. She was sent to Kalaupapa on April 9, 1912.” (NPS)

There, she met and married (October 12, 1914) Van Lil at Kalawao. “Six months later, Van Lil was examined on April 10, 1915 and found to have leprosy. He was 59 years old.” (NPS)

“The huge Belgian dairyman, good Van Lil, of old memory, now a patient, had married another, and the pair lived happily in a vine-hidden cottage near Kalawao, making the most of their remaining time on earth.”

“Beyond a fleeting embarrassment in his vague blue eye, he met us on the Damien Road with the undimmed buoyancy of other years, and our eyes could see no blemish on his face. Probably we were more affected than he, for in the main the victim of leprosy is as optimistic as he of the White Plague.”

“And Emil Van Lil was not the only one whom we saw who had perforce changed his status toward society in the intervening eight years. The little mail-carrier who had led us up out of the Settlement, we found in the Bay View Home, cheerful as of yore, although far gone with the malefic blight.”

“And, auwe! some of the men and women we had known here before as extreme cases still lingered, sightless perhaps, but trying to smile with what was left of their contorted visages, in recognition of our voices.”

“Others, whose closing throats had smothered them, breathed through silver tubes in their windpipes. Strange is this will to persist tenacity of life!” (Charmian London )wife of Jack London), 1917)

“Van Lil died four years after Elizabeth on May 2, 1925. He does not have a marked grave.” (NPS)

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John Emil Van Lil

Kalaupapa Molokai-Bertram

Kalaupapa Dairy-Van Lil in white-NPS

Kalaupapa Dairy-Van Lil center-NPS

Catholic Mission_Church-Bertram

Kalaupapa, Molokai-Bertram

Catholic Mission Church-Bertram

St. Philomena’s Church-Bertram

St. Philomena Church-Bertram

March 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokapu

The Hawaiian name for Mokapu is believed to be a contraction of Moku kapu, or ‘sacred island.’

Mokapu is a roughly 10-acre island located approximately 0.7 miles off the north coast of Molokai just east of the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

Mokapu rises steeply out of the water to 360-feet above sea level, ending in a narrow summit ridge.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the most diverse native coastal plant communities in Hawai’i. For example, Mokapu contains 29 native plant species; several of these species are rare and vulnerable to extinction.

The island is dominated by native shrubs, but retains small groves of native lama trees, some native palm trees, which dominate
nearby Huelo, and 11 of the last 14 individuals of the shrub hoawa that is endemic to Molokai.

Mokapu is one of the many offshore islets that form the Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary, created to protect the thousands of seabirds who seek refuge in and around the main Hawaiian Islands.

The majority of seabird-nesting colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands are located on the offshore islands, islets and rocks.

The sanctuary, administered by DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, exists to protect not only seabirds but also endangered native coastal vegetation.

These sanctuaries protect seabirds, Hawaiian Monk seals, migrating shorebirds, and native coastal vegetation.

These small sanctuary areas represent the last vestiges of a once widespread coastal ecosystem that included the coastlines of all the main Hawaiian Islands. (DLNR)

“It is prohibited for any person to land upon, enter or attempt to enter, or remain in any wildlife sanctuaries …” Regardless, landing by boat is nearly impossible due to the lack of a safe beach.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the best native coastal plant habitat in Hawai‘i, with 29 native plant species, several of which are rare and vulnerable. (DOFAW)

Historical uses of the island are unknown although rock mound structures are present on the ridgeline of Mokapu. However, the nature and source of these rock structures are unknown.

The difficulty of accessing Mokapu by water and the steepness of its slopes make it unlikely that it was visited often in the past and there are no known human uses of terrestrial areas today.

However, there is fishing along the north shore of Molokai, including areas near Mokapu. Fishing is primarily during the summer since winter seas are often very rough. (DOFAW)

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