Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

US Marine Hospital

“Lāhainā (anciently called Lele, from the short stay of Chiefs there) is pleasantly located on the western shore of West Maui … It may be considered as the second port of the Hawaiian Islands, as, next to Honolulu, it is most generally frequented by the whaling fleet which touch at the islands in the spring and fall for recruits and refreshments.”

“This town was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to lie the seat of government of the group … It has two churches, a hospital, a “palace,” which from the anchorage looms up and appears a stately building … There are three ship chandlery stores, some fifteen retail stores, and three practicing physicians.”  (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

“As near as we can ascertain, the first whale ships that visited these islands and touched at this port were the “Bellina,’ Capt, Gardner, and (unknown) Capt. Worth, which was some where about 1819.”

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands.  Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Several hundred whaling ships might call in season, each with 20 to 30 men aboard and each desiring to resupply with enough food for another tour ‘on Japan,’ ‘on the Northwest’ or into the Arctic.   (Thrum)

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet.  During that time, up to 1,500 sailors at a time were on the streets of the small town.

One reason why so many whalers preferred Lāhainā to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

“To whale ships no port at the islands offers better facilities for all their business (with the exception of heavy repairs) than does Lāhainā.  As it is on this island, and but a short distance that the extensive potato fields are located that have furnished an almost inexhaustible supply … and fine herds of cattle …”    (The Friend, April 30, 1857)

About this same time (1831,) Joaquin Armas came to Islands from Mexico (California) to catch cattle for Kamehameha III.  His later reward for years of service to the King was several parcels of land, including a site in Lāhainā.  (Pyle)

It is suggested that in 1833 Kamehameha III commissioned the construction of a two-story stone building on a property left to Armas, about a mile from the central core of Lāhainā, to serve as a store and inn to cater to visiting sailors.  (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation)

During Armas’ occupation, on January 24, 1841, the first Catholic mass on Maui was celebrated in the house.  (Bergin)  Armas left the Islands in 1844.

On February 4, 1844, Milo Calkin was appointed US Vice Commercial Agent for the port of Lāhainā by William Hooper, acting United States Commercial Agent.  One of his duties was to arrange for medical care for sick sailors.

In the beginning, sick and destitute sailors were being boarded out at some private establishment and being given medical care by a physician hired by the Agent.  Calkin soon requested the ability to contract for a hospital to attend to the growing numbers.  (HABS)

By August 1844, the US Marine Hospital was opened on the Armas site.  Back then, the hospital business was divided into three major sections. The Commercial Agent (Calkin was the first) was responsible for recommending seamen to the hospital, keeping necessary papers and books, and handling the financial transactions.

A physician of the hospital (the first in Lāhainā was Dr Charles Winslow) had a contract with the US States Government which guaranteed him exclusive treatment of American seamen at US expense.

The third person involved in the hospital management was the purveyor (the first at Lāhainā was John Munn,) supplying food, clothing, shelter, maid service, laundry service and assorted other necessities.  All of these services were charged to the US government.  (Pyle)

The hospital (sometimes referred to as the ‘Seamen’s Hospital’) continued until 1862.  A couple things caused it to close – (1) demand was dwindling (in 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry) and (2) a festering scandal surfaced accusing misuse of government funds.

Part of the scandal started with some questions about the exorbitant amounts charged by Dr Winslow.  Winslow evidently made his fortune in Lāhainā and left.  In a November 19, 1847 letter (Rev Baldwin to EB Robinson, “…. tomorrow morning they (Winslow) embark … for the U. States. Dr. W. came out four years since from Nantucket—has had the Seamenʻs hospital here and other practices who have probably yielded him $20,000 or more, and now feels rich enough to go home.”

Calkin was not only Commercial Agent, he was a successful ship chandler; however, he abruptly dissolved his business in February, 1846 and departed from Hawaiʻi in November of that same year.  “It seems unlikely that Calkin was actually involved in the fraud, but he must have known about it.”  (Pyle)

After Charles Bunker of Massachusetts arrived as US consul to Lāhainā in 1850 (which had recently been elevated to a Consulate from an Agent) costs at the consulate skyrocketed. By 1852, officials at the Treasury Department had become suspicious. The costs to care for seamen at Lāhainā were nearly double per person than those in Honolulu.  (US Archives)

The situation continued for a few more years, but when the total amount spent for the hospitals in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo reached more than $150,000 per year, an investigation was demanded by the Treasury Department.

US Commissioner in Hawaii, James W Borden, investigated the workings of the United States hospital and consular system in Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo.

In part, Borden reported, “A careful examination of the evidence will, I believe, satisfy you that the Physician as well as the Purveyor, in this respect, and also in that of obtaining from the seamen blank receipts, have been engaged in defrauding the Government, and I have therefore no hesitation in recommending the removal of them both …” (Borden, April 27, 1860; US Archives)

“It is a notorious fact that … many of our citizens deprecated the system which has been so long pursued by the consuls in the expenditures of the fund so wisely appropriated by Congress for the relief of sick and disabled American seamen, and the exaction of illegal fees and unjust charges from the seamen…”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

“The testimony disclosed the long mooted fact, that the consulates of Honolulu and Lāhainā have a large patronage and that therefore the temptation to illegal practices is consequently very great; that the offices of physician and purveyor, highly lucrative positions …”

“…they possessed power to embarrass the operations of the merchants and shipmasters … therefore, the corrupt and unwarranted practices of the consuls has been heretofore winked at by them…”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 28, 1861)

The US Marine Hospital (Seamen’s Hospital) in Lāhainā officially closed on September 10, 1862.

In 1865 the Anglican sisters founded St. Cross School for Girls at the Marine Hospital premises, at first leasing the property and finally purchasing it in 1872. The Sisterhood opened a similar school – St Andrew’s Priory – on May 30, 1867.  The Lāhainā school continued to operate until 1877.

After the school closed, the building was used for many years as a vicarage for the Anglican ministers and was later exchanged with Bishop Estate for another piece of property in 1909.  (HABS)  It has also been used as a private home and a meeting room for civic groups.  (Lāhainā Restoration Foundation) The structure was impacted by the Lahaina Fire.

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Near Abdication

“In referring to the several journals of the day one is struck with the absence of any account of the occurrence at the time”. (Thrum)

While local papers appear to have had stories squashed by a “pocket veto” of the King, a couple mainland papers ran short stories on the tragic events and follow-up.

“No legal notice of the event was in any way taken; no person would have been foolhardy enough to propose it. It is not my purpose to defend the right of the king to this execution of summary vengeance …”

“… especially as it was done in a moment of anger; yet beyond the sadness of the act, it has a certain bearing on this sketch of my life as one of the descendants from the ruling families of Hawaii.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“On Sunday, September 11th, 1859, occurred a melancholy and tragical affair at Lahaina, which, as a matter of history, should not be omitted in these recollections.” (Thrum)

“The first news we received was that the king in a fit of passion had shot and mortally wounded one of the party, his own secretary, Mr. HA Neilson.”

“After the occurrence all that the tenderest of brothers could have done was proffered by the king to the wounded man; but after lingering for some months, Mr. Neilson died.“ (Liliʻuokalani)

“(T)he community was electrified by the intelligence, from Lahaina, that his Majesty had shot, and dangerously, if not fatally, wounded Henry A Neilson, formerly of New York, but since the accession of the King … his private secretary and constant attendant, confident and friend.” (New York Times)

“Much more might be said, were I disposed to report every flying rumor. Conjecture is alive to the motive of such an imprudent, impolitic act. The first supposition of all is that it was jealousy – whether well-founded or baseless.”

“But no breath of suspicion lights upon the young Queen. She is by every one acquitted of such a folly and dishonor as giving any cause of vengeance to her lord. She is above reproach.” (New York Times)

“I incline to the opinion that the act was committed under the influence of ungovernable passion, accompanied by more or less of temporary mental aberration brought on by brooding on his troubles.”

“There seemed to be a distinct intention to kill the man he shot. For this some assign as the cause jealousy, created by ill-disposed persons in his train; others anger at indiscretions of Neilson. All feel deeply for the Queen.” (New York Times)

The Honolulu Advertiser ventured an editorial on September 28 and actually mentioned the act (“the king shooting his secretary”) but with no details. They said the act was “an open contradiction to the laws of God and man, which can under no pretext be justified.” Yet, it concluded: “He has erred, so we are all liable to commit acts of error.” (Theroux)

On October 12 the king wrote a letter to Neilson in which he “regretted” this “great false act of my life … the act committed by me was premeditated, founded upon suspicions long harrowed up and extending for a length of time.” (Theroux)

King Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho) announced that he would make a public proclamation, submit to a trial and abdicate the throne. A flurry of letters were exchanged between the king and his minister of foreign affairs, Robert Wylie.

The King listed his reasons for abdication, but Wylie begged him not to exaggerate the gravity of the affair and opposed the proclamation. He insisted that “no emergency has occurred,” that “abdication” would be “a shame on himself” and “annihilation on the sovereignty of the nation.” (Theroux)

The Privy Council and the House of Nobles, the legislatures of the day, advised against “abdication.” One of the few items that appeared in the papers was a notice from the Privy Council that, despite rumors, the king would not abdicate his throne.

“We are authorized to state, for the purpose of allaying any anxiety that may exist in the public mind, that the rumors in regard to his Majesty’s abdication are, we are happy to say, without foundation.” (New York Times)

By October 20, McKibbin reported to the king that Neilson was “feverish and in low spirits.” On November 20, he suffered a relapse and the wound opened “afresh.”

“There were causes which were apparent to any of our people for something very like righteous anger on the part of the king. His Majesty was trying to make us each and all happy; yet even during moments of relaxation, undue familiarity, absence of etiquette, rudeness, or any other form which implied …”

“… or suggested disrespect to royalty in any manner whatsoever, would never be tolerated by anyone of the native chiefs of the Hawaiian people.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“To allow any such breach of good manners to pass unnoticed would be looked upon by his own retainers as belittling to him, and they would be the first to demand the punishment of the offender.”

“It was in this case far too severe. No one realized that more than the king himself, who suffered much distress for his victim, and was with difficulty dissuaded from the abdication of his throne.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“If ever mortal man suffered the pangs of remorse it was Liholiho the king. From the first sober moment, if he was drunk, he never forgot the deed, and all that he could order done for the poor unfortunate sufferer was done to relieve him.” (Gorham D. Gilman, in Thrum)

“I used to visit Mr. Neilson and never a word did I hear him utter against the king. I believe that they were two friends until that fateful night. … In my recollection Kamehameha IV was the most of a gentleman in his manner of the five kings I was favored to be acquainted with. He was so from boyhood.” (Gorham D. Gilman, in Thrum)

“The (then) seaside cottage of the king, on the present site of the Enterprise Mill, was assigned to him for a residence. Subsequently he was moved to a cottage on Alakea street, just below the Wicke’s premises, and which he occupied to the time of his death, which occurred February 12th, 1862, as shown by the following notice in the Advertiser of the 13th:”

“‘Yesterday morning, Mr. Henry A. Neilson died in this city. In former years he was well known, but for two and a half years past has been confined to his room by the unfortunate occurrence which is familiar to all.’” (Thrum)

There was never an official investigation into the shooting of Henry Neilson.

On the 27th of August, 1862, Prince Albert, the four-year-old son of Alexander Liholiho and Emma died. “The king and queen had the sympathy of all parties in their bereavement; but Kamehameha IV completely lost his interest in public life, living in the utmost possible retirement until his death.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The king became a recluse, suffering from asthma and depression. He died on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1863, two months’ short of his 30th birthday. Emma ran unsuccessfully for the throne in 1874, losing to David Kalākaua. She died in 1885 at the age of 50.

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Keōpūolani Sails to Lāhainā

On the arrival of the American missionaries in April 1820, all the chiefs were consulted respecting the expediency of their establishment in the islands. Some of the chiefs seemed to doubt; but Keōpūolani without hesitation approved their proposals.    (Keōpūolani Memoir)

Keōpūolani welcomed them. As the highest ranking ali‘i of her time, her embracing of Christianity set a crucial seal of approval on the missionaries and their god.  (Langlas & Lyon)

Keōpūolani was the daughter of Kīwalaʻo. Kīwalaʻo was the son of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Kalola (sister of Kahekili.)  Her mother was Kekuiapoiwa Liliha, Kīwalaʻo sister.  She was aliʻi kapu of nī‘aupi‘o (high-born – offspring of the marriage of a high-born brother and sister or half-brother and half-sister.)

Her ancestors on her mother’s side were ruling chiefs of Maui; her ancestors on her father’s side were the ruling chiefs of the island of Hawai‘i.  Keōpūolani’s genealogy traced back to Ulu, who descended from Hulihonua and Keakahulilani, the first man and woman created by the gods.

In the year 1822, while at Honolulu, she was very ill, and her attention seems to have been then first drawn to the instructions of the missionaries.  (Anderson)

On April 27, 1823, the Second Company (First Reinforcements) arrived in the Islands. On board were missionaries Reverend Artemas Bishop and Mrs. Bishop, Dr. Abraham Blatchley and Mrs. Blatchley, Mr. Levi Chamberlain, Mr. James Ely and Mrs. Ely, Mr. Joseph Goodrich and Mrs. Goodrich, The Reverend William Richards and Mrs. Richards, The Reverend Charles S. Stewart and Mrs. Stewart, and Miss Betsey Stockton.

In May 1823, Keōpūolani and her husband Hoapili expressed a desire to have an instructor connected with them. They selected Taua, a native teacher sent by the church at Huaheine, in company with the Rev.William Ellis, to instruct them and their people in the first principles of the Gospel, and teach them to read and write. (Memoir)

Keōpūolani requested, as did the king and chiefs, that missionaries might accompany her. As Lāhainā had been previously selected for a missionary station, the missionaries were happy to commence their labors there under such auspices.  (Keōpūolani Memoir)

Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) was the son of Kamehameha and Keōpūolani. Like his father, Liholiho had loved foreign ships; over time he had collected a sizable fleet of Western vessels, which, with guns and training by the foreigners, were a major asset in unifying and maintaining his kingdom across the islands.

Liholiho purchased Cleopatra’s Barge and her cargo for 1.07-million pounds of sandalwood, worth $80,000 at the time.  On January 4, 1821, King Liholiho took formal possession of Cleopatra’s Barge, appointing his personal secretary, Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Rives, as temporary captain. That ship was to take Keōpūolani to Lāhainā.

“On the 26th of May [1823] we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. [Stewart] was appointed to go: he chose Mr. [Richards] for his companion, who was also appointed the next day. On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton)

As noted in Rev Stewart’s book of his time in Hawaii “The Cleopatra’s Barge, at sea, May 30, 1823. On Wednesday, the 28th, Mr and Mrs Richards, [Harriet Stewart] and myself, [Betsey Stockton] and [Stewarts’ son Charles – born at sea on the way to the Islands], with William Kamahoula, and Mr. [Elisha] Loomis, who makes the voyage to see us established at our station, embarked with the queen Keopuolani for Maui.”

“Our designation was so unexpected, and departure so sudden, that we had scarce leisure to turn a thought on the separation about to take place from our fellow laborers, or to cast a glance of anticipation at the possible trials that might await us, in a distant and solitary district of the islands.”

“The topsails of the barge had long been unfurled as a signal for sailing, before we had completed our preparations, and the last package was scarcely secured, before the farewell hymn and benedictions of our friends were sounding in our ears, and we hurried to the open bosom of the Pacific.”

“Left to the deliberate contemplation of our position, we almost trembled at the responsibility resting upon us, and at the arduous duties in prospect. Every thought was exquisitely awake to the life on which we had now actually entered.”

“Months indeed had passed since we bade adieu to our country, home, and friends; but during a voyage of 18,000 miles, we had still been surrounded by those we loved; and for the last few weeks, though on heathen shores, we had been calmly reposing in the bosom of a band of intelligent and affectionate Christians, without a participation of their labors and their cares. …”

“We were fully alive to the contrast; and, in the anticipation of the privations and trials, by which we believe the work in which we are engaged must be accomplished, we could scarce refrain exclaiming, ‘Farewell ease – farewell comfort – farewell every wordly joy.’”

“But with these feelings there was no mingling of despondency. No, in the kind providence of God, every circumstance attending our situation is too auspicious to admit the indulgence of any unbelieving fear of the ultimate success of our enterprise.

“We had been on board scarce an hour, before the polite and kind attention of those under whose immediate and express patronage we had embarked, made us almost forget that we were not still in the bosom of beloved friends. …”

“[I]n the evening, while a splendid moon gave a softened beauty to the receding promontories of Oahu, and brought to light the distant shores of Molokai and Lanai, overtopped by the loftier heights of Maui …”

“Previous to our embarcation, we had but little opportunity to judge, from personal intercourse, of the degree of civilization to which the chiefs have attained in minor points, and were somewhat surprised at the ceremonious attentions paid us.”

“Immediately on reaching the vessel, we were informed that the after-cabin was appropriated exclusively to-our use; though there were not less than two hundred persons on board, many of them high chiefs, with their particular friends; …”

“… and we had hardly cleared the harbor, when the steward waited on us, to know what we would order for dinner, and at what hour it should be served.

“Mr [Anthony] Allen had sent us a fine ready-dressed kid, with some melons, for our passage; and Mrs [Hiram] Bingham had kindly prepared coffee and other refreshments; but our table has been so regularly and comfortably spread, that our basket of cold provisions remains untouched.”

“This attention is the more noticeable, because the trouble is entirely on our account, all the natives eating their favorite dishes on their mats on deck. Kalaimoku [Kalanimōku], from courtesy, very politely took his seat with us the first time we sat down. to, meal, but excused himself from partaking of the dinner, by saying that he had eaten above.”

“There was something also in the attentions of the king to his mother, when leaving Honolulu, that had a pleasing effect on our minds. This venerable old lady was the last person that came on board.”

“After we had reached the quarter-deck of the barge, she appeared on the beach, surrounded by an immense crowd, and supported by Liholiho in a tender and respectful manner.”

“He would let no one assist her into the long-boat but himself; and seemed to think of nothing but her ease and safety, till she was seated on her couch, beneath an awning over the main hatch.”

“The king continued to manifest the utmost affection and respect for her till we got under way; and, apparently from the same filial feelings, accompanied us fifteen miles to sea, and left the brig in a pilot-boat, in time barely to reach the harbor before dark.” (Charles Stewart)

“On their passage [Keōpūolani] told [the missionaries] she would be their mother; and indeed she acted the part of a mother ever afterwards. On the evening of Saturday, the clay of their arrival, she sent them as much food, already cooked, as was necessary for their comfort at the time, and also for the next day, which was the Sabbath.”

“In the morning of the 31st, we all came on deck, and were in sight of land. In the middle of the day we came to anchor; the gentlemen left the vessel to see if they could obtain a house, or any accommodations for us. They returned in a few hours with Mr. Butler, an American resident, who had kindly offered us a house.”  (Betsey Stockton)

“Immediately on their arrival, [Keōpūolani] requested [the missionaries] to commence teaching, and said, also, ‘It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.’”

“They were always present, sung a hymn in the native language, and when nothing special prevented, addressed through an interpreter the people who were present, when Taua, or the interpreter, concluded the service with prayer.” (Keōpūolani Memoir)

“In the afternoon our things were landed, and we took up our residence in Lahaina. We had not seen a tree that looked green and beautiful since we left home, until we came here.” (Betsey Stockton)

On April 24, 1873, while serving as Sheriff on Maui, William Owen Smith (a son of missionary Lowell Smith) planted Lāhainā’s Indian Banyan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lāhainā. 

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Pioneer Mill

The early Polynesians brought sugarcane with them to the Islands.  Kō (sugarcane) was planted as a subsistence crop – with domestic, medicinal and spiritual uses.

In 1802, processed sugar was first made in the islands on the island of Lānaʻi by a native of China, who came here in one of the vessels trading for sandalwood and brought a stone mill and boilers.  After grinding off a small crop and making it into sugar, he went back to China the next year.

It was not until ca. 1823 that several members of the Lāhainā Mission Station began to process sugar from native sugarcanes, for their tables.  By the 1840s, efforts were underway in Lāhainā to develop a means for making sugar as a commodity.  (Maly)

Sugar was being processed in small quantities in Lāhainā throughout the 1840s and 1850s; in 1849, it was reported that the finest sugar in the islands could be found in Lāhainā.  (Maly)

James Campbell, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1850 – having served as a carpenter on a whaling ship and then operated a carpentry business in Lāhainā, started a sugar plantation there in 1860. The small mill, together with cane from Campbell’s fields, manufactured sugar on shares for small cane growers in the vicinity.

Soon after the establishment of the new plantation, Henry Turton and James Dunbar joined Campbell. Under the name of Campbell & Turton, the company grew cane and manufactured sugar.

The small sugar mill consisted of three wooden rollers set upright, with mules providing the power to turn the heavy rollers. The cane juice ran into a series of boiling kettles that originally had been used on whaling ships.

When the nearby Lāhainā Sugar Company, a small company founded by H Dickenson in 1861, went bankrupt in 1863, its assets were acquired by Campbell and his partners.

In 1865, the plantation became known as Pioneer Mill Company (that year Dunbar left the company.)  By 1874, Campbell and Turton added the West Maui Sugar Company, a venture of Kamehameha V, to the holdings of Pioneer Mill Company.

The Pioneer Mill Company was extremely profitable, enabling Campbell to build a large home in Lāhainā and to acquire parcels of land on Maui and Oʻahu.

Campbell became known by the Hawaiians as “Kimo Ona-Milliona” (James the Millionaire).  Despite his success in sugar, his interests turned to other matters, primarily ranching and real estate.

Over the years, Campbell acquired property in Kahuku, Honouliuli, Kahaualea and elsewhere, amassing the holdings that eventually became ‘The Estate of James Campbell.’

In 1877, James Campbell sold his half interest to partner Henry Turton for $500,000 with agents Hackfeld & Company holding a second mortgage of $250,000. The company’s charter was dated in 1882, but by 1885, Mr. Turton declared bankruptcy and sold the property back to James Campbell and to Paul Isenberg, who was associated with Hackfeld & Co. Mr. CF Horner was selected to manage the plantation.

With later acquisitions of additional West Maui lands, Pioneer Mill was incorporated on June 29, 1895.  Horner sold his interest to American Factors, formerly Hackfeld & Co., and in 1960, Pioneer Mill Company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Amfac.

Irrigation of Pioneer Mill Company’s fields, an area that eventually extended 14-miles long and 1 1/2-miles wide with altitudes between 10 and 700 feet, was accomplished with water drawn from artesian wells and water transported from the West Maui Mountains. The McCandless brothers drilled the first well on Maui for Pioneer Mill Company in 1883.

Pioneer Mill Company was one of the earliest plantations to use a steam tramway for transporting harvested cane from the fields to the mill. Cane from about 1000-acres was flumed directly to the mill cane carrier with the rest coming to the mill by rail.  (The Sugar Cane Train is a remnant of that system.)

In 1937, mechanically harvested cane was bringing so much mud to the factory that Pioneer Mill Company began the development of a cane cleaner.

Between 1948 and 1951, a rock removal program rehabilitated 3,153 acres of Pioneer land to permit mechanical planting, cultivating, and harvesting. In 1952, the railroad was eliminated and a year later new feeder tables were conveying cane directly from cane trucks into the factory.

Lāhainā Light and Power Company, Lāhainā Ice Company, the Lāhainā and Puʻukoliʻi Stores, and the Pioneer Mill Hospital were associated with the plantation, providing services to employees as well to Lahaina residents.

Faced with international competition, Hawaiʻi’s sugar industry, including Pioneer Mill Company, found it increasingly difficult to economically survive.

At the industry’s peak in the 1930s, Hawaiʻi’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000-workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.  That plummeted to 492,000-tons in 1995.  A majority of the plantations closed in the 1990s.

Seeing hard times ahead, Pioneer Mill Company took 2,000-acres out of cane during the 1960s to develop Kāʻanapali as a visitor resort destination.

By 1986, the plantation had reduced its acreage down to 4,000-acre (which at its height had 14,000-acres planted in cane.)  After years of losing money, in 1999, Pioneer Mill closed its operations.

The Lāhainā Restoration Foundation and others worked to preserve the Pioneer Mill Smokestack.  It remains tall above the Lāhainā Community as a reminder of the legacy of sugar in the West Maui community.  (Lots of information here from the UH-Manoa, HSPA Plantation Archives.)

(One of our few locations that survived the Lahaina fire relatively unscathed is the Pioneer Mill Smokestack and Locomotives. (Lahaina Restoration Foundation))

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Lahaina, i ka malu ‘ulu o Lele

Lahaina, i ka malu ‘ulu o Lele

(Lahaina, in the shade of the breadfruit trees of Lele) (Pukui, 1983, No. 1936) (Lele is an earlier name for Lahaina.)

Hālau Lahaina, malu i ka ‘ulu

(Lahaina is like a large house shaded by breadfruit trees) (Pukui, 1983, No. 430).

In 1898, Albert Kaleikini, a student at Lahainaluna, went on an excursion to Pu‘u Pa‘upa‘u.  (Pa‘upa‘u (lit. drudgery (servants were weary of bringing water to bathe the chief’s child)) is a hill above Lahainaluna School on Maui.)

Though David Malo did not die at Pa‘upa‘u, he wanted to be (and was) buried there (Malo died October 21, 1853).  Pu‘u Pa‘upa‘u has a symbol from Malo’s school (he was one of the first students enrolled at Lahainaluna Seminary).   A large ‘L’ (standing for Lahainaluna, reportedly put there in 1929) is visible from most parts below.

Beholding the spectacular view from Pu‘u Pa‘upa‘u, Kaleikini was moved to write “Lahainaluna”, which became the school’s Alma Mater. (Lahainaluna 150th reunion) It’s first verse is:

O ka Malu ‘ulu o Lele (Nō e ka ‘oi)

Nā kualono nani ē (kū kilakila)

Me ka ua kilikilihune (Aʻo Hālona)

Hoʻopulu  i ke oho o ka palai

Oh, the land of shadow of the flying breadfruit

The wonder of lands

With the every spraying delightful showers (of Halona)

Wetting the foliage of the ferns

“Lahaina District was a favorable place for the high chiefs of Maui and their entourage for a number of reasons: the abundance of food from both land and sea; its equable climate and its attractiveness as a place of residence …”

“… it had probably the largest concentration of population, with its adjoining areas of habitation; easy communication with the other heavily populated area of eastern and northeastern West Maui, ‘The Four Streams,’ and with the people living on the western, southwestern and southern slope of Haleakala; and its propinquity to Lanai and Molokai.” (Handy and Pukui)

“The southern shores of western Maui were perhaps second only to Puna, Hawaii, as a favorable locality for breadfruit culture. … Puna on Hawaii was the district most famous for its breadfruit.” (Handys and Pukui) At Puna in 1823, Ellis noted “Groves of cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees are seen in every direction, loaded with fruit, or clothed with luxuriant foliage.”

“Brigham (in 1911) wrote that ‘at Lahaina on Maui, were as fine trees forty years ago as any I have seen in Samoa or Fiji.’ …  Lahaina is referred to in chants as Ka malu ‘ulu o Lele, ‘The breadfruit-shade of Lele.’” (Handys and Pukui)

In ancient Hawai‘i, most of the makaʻāinana (‘common people’) were farmers, a few were fishermen.  Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

“The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. … The soil is most fertile, being formed from the decay of recent lava flows.”

“There the natives found their chief means of subsistence, and, in good seasons, were sufficiently fed.  In bad seasons there were droughts, and more or less of ‘wī,’ or famine.”  (Bishop)

The food plants of Hawaiʻi can be divided into three groups: those known as staple foods (the principal starchy foods – kalo (taro,) ʻuala (sweet potato,) ʻulu (breadfruit,) etc;) those of less importance (to add nutrients and variety to the diet;) and those known as famine foods.  (Krauss)

In 1819, Arago noted, “The environs of Lahaina are like a garden. It would be difficult to find a soil more fertile, or a people who can turn it to greater advantage; little pathways sufficiently raised, and kept in excellent condition, serve as communications between the different estates. …”

“The space cultivated by the natives of Lahaina is about three leagues in length (~9-miles), and one (~3 miles) in its greatest breadth. Beyond this all is dry and barren; everything recalls the image of desolation.” (Arago)

Ellis noted (about 1823), “we found ourselves within about four miles of Lahaina, which is the principal district in Maui, on account of its being the general residence of the chiefs, and the common resort of ships that touch at the island for refreshments.”

“The appearance of Lahaina from the anchorage is singularly romantic and beautiful. A fine sandy beach stretches along the margin of the sea, lined for a considerable distance with houses, and adorned with shady clumps of kou trees, or waving groves of cocoanuts.”

“The level land of the whole district, for about three miles, is one continued garden, laid out in beds of taro, potatoes, yams, sugar-cane, or cloth plants. The lowly cottage of the farmer is seen peeping through the leaves of the luxuriant plantain and banana tree, and in every direction white columns of smoke ascend, curling up among the wide-spreading branches of the bread-fruit tree.”

“The sloping hills immediately behind, and the lofty mountains in the interior, clothed with verdure to their very summits, intersected by deep and dark ravines, frequently enlivened by glittering waterfalls, or divided by winding valleys, terminate the delightful prospect.” (Ellis, Polynesian Researches)

“The settlement is far more beautiful than any place we have yet seen on the islands.  The whole district, stretching nearly three miles along the sea-side, is covered with luxuriant groves, not only of the cocoanut, but also of the bread-fruit and of the kou”  (American Missionary, CS Stewart was resided in the Hawaiian Islands from 1823 to 1825)

For thousands of years, Ulu (Breadfruit) was a staple food in Oceania.  It is believed to have originated in New Guinea and the Indo-Malay region and was spread throughout the vast Pacific by voyaging islanders.

The breadfruit is multipurpose, it may be eaten ripe as a fruit or under-ripe as a vegetable – it is roasted, baked, boiled, fried, pickled, fermented, frozen, mashed into a puree, and dried and ground into meal or flour.

It was a canoe crop – one of around 30 plants brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians when they first arrived in Hawaiʻi.

“This tree, whose fruit is so useful, if not necessary, to the inhabitants of most of the islands of the South Seas, has been chiefly celebrated as a production of the Sandwich Islands; it is not confined to these alone, but is also found in all the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.”  (Book of Trees, 1837)

“If a man plant ten breadfruit trees in his life, which he can do in about an hour, he would completely fulfil his duty to his own as well as future generations.” (Joseph Banks, 1769)

“Breadfruit is spoken of as ‘ai kameha‘i, meaning that it is a food (‘ai) that simply reproduces itself ‘by the will of the gods,’ that is, by sprouting. It is not planted by means of seeds or slips.” (Handys and Pukui)

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