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November 27, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hale O Kapuni

Hawaiian oral tradition and early local informants suggest a heiau (temple,) Hale O Kapuni, existed underwater just offshore in Pelekane Bay near Kawaihae – below the Puʻu Koholā Heiau (“Hill of the Whale”) and Mailekini Heiau (below Puʻu Koholā Heiau halfway down the hill.)

Kamehameha I is said to have used this heiau, and sharks were fed here. Rocks from here may have been used to build Pu‘u-koholā heiau. (Lit., house of Kapuni (a high priest of the chief Keawe.))  (Maly)

Due to tidal actions, sediment that accumulated from runoff from the uplands and nearby construction of the Kawaihae Harbor, this submerged heiau has never been located or documented through underwater archaeology – however, folklore suggests it existed and was dedicated to the shark gods.

Theophilus Davies arrived off Kawaihae in 1859, passing in the water beneath a “sacred enclosure” about twenty yards square and formed by a massive stone fence five feet high (probably Mailekini Heiau).

A large stone formed its altar, he said, and here the bleeding victims were placed before the gods until they became offensive, when they were carried to a heap of stones in the ocean (a little to seaward of our boat) and devoured by the sharks, the supposed deities. (NPS)

The presence of Hale-o-Kapuni is well known to local inhabitants: “When the tide was real low, big boulders use [sic] to come out, and it’s all build [sic] up of big boulders see, so you know it’s man made.”

“And around the side area is all deep and it’s anywhere’s [sic] from low water mark 5 feet. About 8, 9 feet when high water mark. … It was built under water purposely…. “  (Doi, NPS)

An informant pointed out to Marion Kelly the location of the heiau structure, now covered by silt washed off the coral stockpile area nearby.

Anthropologist Lloyd Soehren stated that, as children, older residents of the area remembered seeing the heiau rising about two feet above the water.

One person remembered a channel leading into a larger area within the temple where the bodies were placed for the sharks.  (NPS)

Per Pukui, ʻaumākua are family or personal gods, deified ancestors who might assume the shape of the animal, plant or other feature they represent.

Here, at Hale O Kapuni, it is believed that the heiau was dedicated to sharks.  “The shark was perhaps the most universally worshipped of all the aumakuas, and, strange to say, was regarded as peculiarly the friend and protector of all his faithful worshippers.”  (Emerson)

“Each several locality along the coast of the islands had its special patron shark, whose name, history, place of abode, and appearance, were well known to all frequenters of that coast. Each of these sharks, too, had its kahu [keeper,] who was responsible for its care and worship”.  (Emerson)

“Some of the chiefs under Kamehameha, such as Alapaʻi-malo-iki and Ka-uhi-wawae-ono, were murdering chiefs who did not keep the law against killing men, but went out with their men to catch people for shark bait.”  (Kamakau)

Pōhaku o Alapaʻi ku palupalu mano, “the rock of the chief named Alapaʻi of the one who puts the human shark bait out,” originally stood in the shade of a large kiawe tree on the shore below Mailekini Heiau.  (NPS)

One early account said that King Kamehameha sat there while his staff compiled the tally of the latest fishing expeditions, and that somewhere near the stone might have been the spot of Keōua’s death.

Apple states that although referred to as Kamehameha’s Chair, the rock is by local tradition more closely associated with one of Kamehameha’s staff chiefs named Alapaʻi Kupalupalu Mano who liked to use human flesh for shark bait and watched from this point as sharks entered Hale-o-Kapuni to devour the food offerings put out for them.  (NPS)

Apple notes that catching sharks was a sport indulged in by high chiefs and conjectured that perhaps the animals were conditioned to rotten flesh in the offshore temple so that they could be enticed with it into the deeper water and easily noosed.

Today, this area is known to be frequented by sharks.  In the early morning hours, you can usually see the sharks plying the waters just offshore, near where the heiau is believed to be located.

Click here for a link to a video on sharks in and around the area identified as where Hale O Kapuni in Pelekane Bay is located (Pacific Islands National Parks:)

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Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Kawaihae, Puukohola, Pelekane, Mailekini, Hale O Kapuni

November 26, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Lighthouses

The origin of the Pacific Ocean Division of the US Army Corps of Engineers goes back to 1905 when Lieutenant John R. Slattery became the first Honolulu District Engineer.

In the early years the District constructed lighthouses and improved harbors in the Territory of Hawaii and erected seacoast fortifications for the defense of Honolulu and Pearl harbors on the island of Oahu.

The direct cause of assigning a Corps of Engineers’ officer to Hawaii was neither river and harbor improvements nor construction of fortifications. Lieutenant John R. Slattery, four years out of West Point, arrived in Honolulu in February 1904 because Hawaii had been found “woefully deficient” in lighthouses.

This conclusion had been reached by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico during its investigation of the condition of lighthouses and other federal matters in the Territory in 1903.

The Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities concerning lights and other aids to navigation had begun in 1852. Because of past problems in the Treasury Department office responsible for the construction and operation of lights, the Congress had authorized the creation of a Lighthouse Board that year.

The coasts of the United States were divided into districts, of which the Pacific Coast became the Twelfth Lighthouse District with its office in San Francisco.

The Army Engineer assigned to the Twelfth District had responsibilities in the construction, inspection, and maintenance of aids to navigation from the Canadian to the Mexican border.

In the early days at San Francisco, this officer was at times the San Francisco Engineer District Officer and at times the staff engineer assigned to the U.S. Army’s Department of California.

By 1903, however, lighthouse duties had become so complex that an Army Engineer, at this time Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Handbury, with a staff of his own, had become the Twelfth Lighthouse District Engineer.

Unlike San Francisco Bay, the ports of Hawaii do not experience navigational problems caused by fog. Early efforts in Hawaii to aid seamen were centered on the erection of lights at harbor entrances and at a few dangerous points of land near sea lanes.

Most of these lights were “fixed,” that is, steady beams of light with no revolving apparatus, and were low-powered and of short range.

Of an estimated 35 lights in the islands before aids to navigation became a United States responsibility in 1904, 19 had been erected by the Hawaiian government and the other 16 were privately owned.

The first light to be erected is said to have been at the port of Kawaihae on the northwest coast of Hawaii. Privately owned, it was lit in 1859 to guide whaling vessels into the harbor. Another port heavily used by whalers was the Lahaina Roadstead, Maui.

As many as 500 whaling vessels could be found there at one time in the heyday of the industry —much to the disgust of the missionaries on shore. In 1866, a small light was erected at Lahaina whose beam was visible six miles to sea.

Vessels entering Honolulu Harbor were assisted by two lights that were erected in 1869. The kingdom’s Interior Department reported at that time that a frame lighthouse had been constructed on the west reef at the inner end of the entrance channel.

It was supplied with an up-to-date Fresnel light of the fourth order, placed 25 feet above the high-water mark, and visible at a distance of ten miles.

Vessels entering at night determined the location of the entrance to the channel by lining this light up with a second one mounted on a tower on the Esplanade (later on top of the custom house). As the port grew, sea captains complained that they could not distinguish this light from others in the neighborhood. Perhaps that is why a red cloth was tied around it.
The south shore of Oahu was further marked by the erection of other lights: at Barbers Point to the west of Honolulu in 1888, and at Diamond Head around 1892.

Also at Diamond Head was a lookout station for reporting arriving ships to Honolulu (all ships sailing to Honolulu from the Pacific Coast passed through the channel separating Oahu and Molokai, past Diamond Head, and on to Honolulu). The lookout stationed at Diamond Head in 1902 was named Charles Peterson, but known to all as ‘Diamond Head Charlie.’

While the lights in the Hawaiian Islands were not as far advanced, it should be noted that the first American lighthouse on the Pacific Coast was not lit until 1854 – only five years before the Kawaihae light.

Nor did annexation bring immediate improvement to Hawaii’s aids to navigation; six more years passed before the United States Lighthouse Board (including Army Engineers) assumed responsibility for them. (All here is from Thompson and his History of the Army Corps.)

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Honolulu Harbor Light-1880s
Honolulu Harbor Light-1880s

Filed Under: Economy, General, Sailing, Shipping & Shipwrecks Tagged With: Kawaihae, Lighthouse, Hawaii

May 24, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kawaihae – First School?

When the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries first stopped at Kawaihae, an emissary was sent into the village to learn the whereabouts of the king. Lucy G. Thurston, wife of Reverend Asa Thurston, recounted the event …

“Approaching Kawaihae, Hopu went ashore to invite some of the highest chiefs of the nation. Kalanimōku was the first person of distinction that came. In dress and manner he appeared with the dignity of a man of culture.”

Obviously familiar with western customs, the chief gallantly bowed and shook the hands of the ladies. Mrs. Thurston continued, “The effects of that first warm appreciating clasp I feel even now. To be met by such a specimen of heathen humanity on the borders of their land, was to stay us with flagons, and comfort us with apples.”

After sending gifts of hogs and sweet potatoes, Kalanimōku appeared and Bingham comments on ‘his great civility.’ “His appearance was much more interesting than we expected. His dress was a neat dimity jacket, black silk vest, mankin pantaloons, white cotton stockings, and shoes, plaid cravat, and a neat English hat.” (Bingham)

After a brief stop at Kawaihae, where they learned of the death of Kamehameha and the abolition of the old religion, they proceeded down the coast to Kailua with the chiefs on board to meet with the new king and hopefully gain permission to remain in the islands to establish a mission. (Del Piano)

Kamehameha had granted Kawaihae Komohana ahupua‘a (present Kawaihae 1) to Kalanimōku, his ‘prime minister’:

“As his principal executive officer (his kalaimoku according to the traditional scheme of government), Kamehameha appointed a young chief named (in modern writings) Kalanimōku …”

“… in his own lifetime, this chief was usually called Karaimoku by the Hawaiians, sometimes Kalaimoku; foreigners rendered his name Crymoku or Crimoku or gave it some similar form …”

“… he himself adopted the name of his contemporary, the great English prime minister, William Pitt, and he was frequently referred to and addressed by foreigners as Mr. Pitt or Billy Pitt.”

“Kalanimōku was Kamehameha’s prime minister and treasurer, the advisor on whom the king leaned most heavily. He was a man of great natural ability, both in purely governmental and in business matters. He was liked and respected by foreigners, who learned from experience that they could rely on his word.” (Kuykendall)

Kalanimōku maintained a residence at Kawaihae and was there when the first company of Protestant missionaries reached the Hawaiian Islands in 1820. (Cultural Surveys)

At Kawaihae, the missionaries took aboard a number of chiefs who sailed with them south to Kailua, Kona where they anchored on April 4, 1820. (Cultural Surveys)

“Thus to facilitate the diffusion of light over these islands, we were quickly and widely scattered’. (Bingham) They quickly set about establishing mission stations.

Reverend Asa Thurston; Mrs. Lucy Goodale Thurston; Thomas Holman, MD; and Mrs. Lucia Holman, accompanied by Hawaiian converts Thomas Hopu and William Kanui, were sent to Kailua to minister to the people of that district — teaching them literature, the arts, and most importantly, Christianity (“training them for heaven”). (NPS)

“Arrangements were made by the 23d of July, for Messrs. W(hitney) and R(uggles). and their wives to take up their residence at Waimea, on Kauai.”

“On the eve of their departure from Honolulu, eleven of our number united in celebrating the dying love of our exalted Redeemer, for the first time on the shores of the Sandwich Islands, and found the season happy.” (Bingham)

Among their first pupils were the new king and his younger brother, two of his wives, and some other youths. The king was particularly interested in having Holman present to provide medical care for the royal family. (NPS)

“Mr. Loomis hastened to Kawaihae and engaged in teaching Kalanimōku and his wife, and a class of favorite youths whom he wished to have instructed.” (Bingham)

“The first resident missionary at Kawaihae was Elisha Loomis, a 21-year old printer, who was supported by Kalanimōku. In the summer of 1820, Loomis was given two buildings (a schoolhouse and a dwelling place) and 10 youths to educate”. (Marion Kelly)

Kawaihae was the site of one of the first mission stations in the Hawaiian Islands, although it was only briefly looked after by Elisha Loomis beginning in 1821. (NPS)

Though Loomis and his pupils were moved to Honolulu in November, the schoolhouse at Kawaihae may represent the first missionary-run school in the Hawaiian Islands. (Cultural Surveys)

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Kawaihae_Bay_in_1822
Kawaihae_Bay_in_1822

Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Schools Tagged With: Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Missionaries, Kalanimoku, Elisha Loomis, Kawaihae, School, American Protestant Missionaries

March 31, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

First Days

“On the 31st of March (1820,) a considerable number of the natives came off to our vessel, from the shores of Kohala, to dispose of their little articles of barter, and to look at the strangers. Their maneuvres in their canoes, some being propelled by short paddles, and some by small sails, attracted the attention of our little group, and for a moment, gratified curiosity …”

“On the 1st of April, as we were abreast of Kawaihae, Kalanimōku and his wives, and Kalākua (subsequently Hoapiliwahine) and her sister Nāmāhāna (sometimes Opi‘ia), two of the widows of the late king, came oft to us with their loquacious attendants, in their double canoe. It was propelled with spirit, by eighteen or twenty athletic men.”

“Having over their heads a huge Chinese umbrella, and the nodding kahilis or plumed rods of the nobility, they made a novel and imposing appearance as they drew near our becalmed Mission Barque, while we fixed on them, and their movements, our scrutinizing gaze.”

“As they were welcomed on board, the felicitous native compliment, aloha (good-will, peace, affection), with shaking hands, passed between them, and each member of the mission family, Captain Blanchard and others.”

“Their tall, portly, ponderous appearance seemed to indicate a different race from those who had visited the vessel before, or a decided superiority of the nobility over the peasantry.”

“Kalanimōku was distinguished from almost the whole nation, by being decently clad. His dress, put on for the occasion, consisted of a white dimity roundabout, a black silk vest, yellow Nankeen pants, shoes, and white cotton hose, plaid cravat, and fur hat. … Kalanimōku was much attracted by the kamali‘i keokeo (white children], and all were struck with the first appearance of CIvilized women.”

“Happy in so early and pleasant an introduction to personages of so much influence, we were assiduous in our efforts to impress them favorably, making them acquainted with our business, and our wish to reside in the country. But, notwithstanding our solicitude to obtain Kalanimōku’s assent at once, he referred us to the king.”

“As a token of friendship and confidence, he presented us a curiously wrought spear, a signal, we hoped, that their weapons of war were soon to be converted into implements of husbandry, and their warriors enlisted as soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Near sunset, our distinguished guests took leave and returned to the shore on their state vehicle-their double canoe, seated on a light narrow scaffolding which rested on the semi-elliptical timbers by which two large parallel canoes, each neatly carved from a tree, are yoked together, five or six feet apart.”

“Their large canoes are two to three feet in depth, and thirty to fifty in length. The thin sides are raised by the addition of a nicely fitted waist-board. Additional pieces of thin wood, ingeniously carved, are attached at the ends, covering a few feet as a deck turning up some fifteen inches at the extremity, and giving the appearance of greater finish, beauty and utility.”

“The favored passengers on a Hawaiian double canoe sit three or four feet above the surface of the water, while the rowers sit on thwarts in the canoe with their feet below the surface and their faces forward. The steersmen sit in the stern. Their paddles have a round handle from three to four feet long, and a thin blade from twelve to eighteen inches long and eight to twelve wide, and are grasped by one hand at the extreme end, and by the other, near the blade, and are used by main strength.”

“The chiefs, on this occasion, were rowed off with spirit by nine or ten athletic men in each of the coupled canoes, making regular, rapid and effective strokes, all on one side for a while, then, changing at a signal in exact time, all on the other.”

“Each raising his head erect, and lifting one hand high to throw the paddle blade forward beside the canoe, the rowers, dipping their blades, and bowing simultaneously and earnestly, swept their paddles back with naked muscular arms, making the brine boil, and giving great speed to their novel and serviceable sea-craft.”

“Then, ere the excitement of the chiefs’ visit was over, Mr. Thurston and his yoke-fellow ascended the shrouds, and, standing upon the main-top (the mission family, captain and crew being on deck), as we gently floated along on the smooth silent sea, under the lee of Hawaii’s dark shores, sang a favorite song of Zion (Melton Mowbray), which they had sung at their ordination at Goshen, and with the Park Church choir, at Boston, on the day of embarkation.”

“The next morning, our brig being in Kawaihae bay, I made my first visit on shore, landed on the beach near where Keoua and his companions had been murdered, and called on Kalanimoku at his thatched hut or cottage in that small uninviting village.”

“With him, I visited Puukohola, the large heathen temple at that place, a monument of folly, superstition and madness, which the Idolatrous conqueror and his murderous priests had consecrated with human blood to the senseless deities of Pagan Hawaii.”

“Built on a rough hill, a little way from the shore of the bay, it occupied an area about 240 feet in length, and 120 in breadth, and appeared as much like a fort as a church. On the ends and inland side of the parallelogram, the walls, of loose black stone or fragments of lava, were 15 feet high, 10 feet thick at the bottom, and 5 at the top.”

“This monument of idolatry, I surveyed with mingled emotions of grief, horror, pity, regret, gratitude, and hope; of grief and horror at the enormities which men and devils had perpetrated there before high heaven …”

“…of pity and regret that the victims and many of the builders and worshippers, had gone to their account without the knowledge of the Gospel, which ought to have been conveyed to them; of gratitude, that this strong-hold of Satan had been demolished and the spell around it broken …”

“… and of hope, that soon temples to the living God would take the place of these altars of heathen abomination.”

“After this brief survey of this part of the field, Kalanimōku, his wives, and two of the widows of Kamehameha, embarked with us and as we together proceeded toward Kailua, the residence of the king, we engaged In public worship, and dwelt with pleasure on the glorious theme …”

“… the design of the Messiah to establish his universal reign, and to bring the isles to submit to him, and rejoice in his grace, as indicated by the language of the Prophet Isaiah, ‘He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law.’”

“Kalākua, a widow of Kamehameha, having little sympathy with the Evangelical prophet, and shrewdly aiming to see what the white women could do for her temporal benefit, asked them to make a gown for her in fashion like their own.”

“Putting her off till the Sabbath was over, apprising her that unnecessary labor was on that day prohibited to all by the great Jehovah whom we worshipped, they cheerfully plied scissors and needle the next day, and soon fitted out the rude giantess with a white cambric dress.”

“Thus, feeble, voyage-worn, having been long without fresh provisions, and withering under a tropical sun as they crossed the equatorial regions the second time, they began before we cast anchor, to secure favor by kindness and demonstration of their ability and readiness to make themselves useful.”

“As we coasted slowly along southward, we had a grand view of Hualalai, the volcanic mountain that rises some eight or nine thousand feet, near the western side of Hawaii, with Its terminal crater, its forests, and apparently recent streams of lava. “

“Becalmed in sight of the king’s residence, we were once more allowed on the morrow to unite with thousands of our friends whose sympathies and supplications had followed us, in observing the monthly concert of prayer for the conversion of the world …”

“… mingling thanksgiving for our safe and opportune arrival, with petItions that an abundant entrance among these Gentiles might be ministered to us, and that our service for them might be soon and joyfully accepted.”

“On the morning of the 4th of April, 163 days from Boston, we came to anchor, abreast of the village of Kailua.” (Hiram Bingham)

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Kawaihae_Bay_in_1822
Kawaihae_Bay_in_1822

Filed Under: Place Names, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Hawaiian Traditions Tagged With: Hawaii, Missionaries, Kalanimoku, Kawaihae, Namahana, Kalakua, Hiram Bingham

July 26, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puakō Plantation

In Hawaiian tradition, there was a man named Puakō, “a very handsome man whose form was perfect.” At the place where he lived, he would carry “sea water and filling pools for salt making.’ (Fornander) Some suggest the name Puakō is associated with salt-making.

Others suggest Puakō (sugarcane blossom) is associated with sugar, “Mr. WL Vreedenburg (sic) one Sunday came to Hawi in a state of considerable excitement, with four or five sticks of fine looking cane strapped to his saddle …”

“… which, as he put it, he discovered at Puakō the day before while on a shooting trip. This cane was grown without irrigation, and he enthusiastically announced, there were large areas of as good land as that on which these particular sticks were grown…” (Hind; Maly)

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

“Not infrequently at Kawaihae and Puakō there is no food to be had. The people live without food for days, except a little fish which prevents starvation. Nor is this to be had everyday, the ocean being so rough they cannot fish, or a government working day interferes, when the sailing of a canoe is tabu – unless the owner chooses to pay a fine.”

“The water too at these places is such that I cannot drink it. I would as soon drink a dose of Epsom salts… On the way to Puakō, all is barren and still more desolate. After an hour’s walk from my house, not a human dwelling is to be seen till you reach the shore, which requires a walk of about five hours.” (Lorenzo Lyons, 1839-1846; Maly)

In 1880, Bower noted, “At Puakō there is some grief for the eye, in the shape of a grove of cocoa-palms, which are growing quite close to the water’s edge. These had been planted right amongst the lava, and where they got their sustenance from I could not imagine. They are not of any great height, running from twenty to sixty feet.”

“There are about a dozen native huts in the place. These buildings are from twenty to forty feet long and about fifteen feet high to the ridge of the roof. They only contain a single room each, and are covered with several layers of matting.” (Bower; Maly)

“At Puakō and South Kohala is the most unique affair on the Island. There, a little pocket of alluvial soil covering an area of 300 acres, lying between lava flows and fronting the ocean, has been secured from the great landed proprietor, Sam Parker, and converted into the Puakō plantation.”

“Wells have been bored and an abundant supply of good water secured for irrigation. The cane is of the Lahaina variety and grows as rank as the bamboo kind.”

“A mill with a capacity of 2000 tons is to be erected soon. A good road to Kawaihae, a distance of four miles, is greatly needed. The enterprise is under the management of Mr (Wilmont) Vredenberg.” (Honolulu Republican, July 29, 1900)

“Puakō Plantation, which was started near Kawaihae about fourteen months ago, is making a good showing under the management of Mr Vredenberg.”

“Samples of cane brought from there this week show excellent growth, the sticks running eighteen feet long and having six to eight Inch joints. The samples are of cane planted a year ago. The two pumps are doing excellent work and the quality of the water is fairly good.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 5, 1901)

A wharf was constructed, just south of the present day boat launch, to facilitate the shipment of materials for mill construction. In his journal, John Hind wrote, “a fine up to date little mill with all the appurtenances which go with a modern plantation was installed (ca. 1905,) on an ideal site, a hundred or so yards from the landing”. (Hind; Rechtman)

This area contained crushing machinery, mixers, vats, and all the other mechanical necessities for the mill, along with dormitories and a camp for over three hundred workers, a company store, two schoolhouses, an office building, various storehouse and warehouse facilities, and a shed for honey processing machinery.

A rail line connected the mill operations with field operations. Other improvements to the plantation included the construction of an approximately eight-mile long section of flume that carried water from Waimea Stream to the plantation.

“We found a good rain was of very great benefit, and finally as a forlorn hope, after keeping tab, on the Waimea stream for over eighteen months, put in an eight mile flume, but strange as it may seem, the water failed just before the flume was finished.”

“Mr. Carter the Manager of the Parker Ranch (1903) attributed the failure to the unprecedented dry weather in the mountains, but as the stream, never after that, continued to flow with any degree of regularity, it would appear the shrinkage of forest area in the mountains was having its effect.”

(This 1903 “severe reduction in rainfall” also brought about discussions which led to the development of the Kohala Ditch. In 1904, John Hind “launched his ditch campaign”.)

(The Honokāne section of Kohala Ditch was opened on June 11, 1906; waters of Honokāne began flowing to the Kohala, Niuliʻi, Hālawa, Hawi and Union mills; the Awini section was finished in 1907. The ditch carried the water for 23-miles northwest toward Hawi (mostly as tunnel.))

“Puakō, as a sugar proposition, I was satisfied, was hopeless, so finally was closed down, and parts gradually sold off at what they would bring (closed by ca. 1914.)” (Hind; Maly)

Hind continued to foster other economic development in Puakō even after the failure of the sugar plantation, “extending his ranching interests (a kiawe feed lot and cattle shipping operation), honey making, and making charcoal on his lease lands”. (Rechtman)

By 1930, additional grants were being awarded the few native families living on the beach, and by 1950, the beach lands had been subdivided into more than 165 Beach House Lots which at the time were generally “vacation” houses. (Maly) (Lots of information here is from Maly and Rechtman.)

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Kawaihae to Anaehoomalu-DAGS2786-zoom-zoom-noting Puako Plantation Site
Kawaihae to Anaehoomalu-DAGS2786-zoom-zoom-noting Puako Plantation Site
Puako Bay-DAGS4027-zoom-noting Grant 4856-Puako Mill Site
Puako Bay-DAGS4027-zoom-noting Grant 4856-Puako Mill Site

Filed Under: Economy, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii Island, Sugar, Kawaihae, Puako, Wilmont Vredenberg, John Hind, Hawaii

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Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2021 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

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