Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battery Pennsylvania

On the morning of December 7, 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched an air strike against the US Pacific Fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor.  The attack decimated the ships and personnel of the fleet and thrust the US into WW II.

The USS Arizona (the second of two Pennsylvania-class battleships – built in 1916) was moored on “Battleship Row.”  Just before 8 am, the ship’s air raid alarm was sounded and the crew was ordered to general quarters.  During the attack the Arizona was struck by as many as eight aerial bombs.

In addition, one 1,700-lb armor-piercing shell penetrated the deck and detonated in the powder magazine, causing a “cataclysmic” explosion “which destroyed the ship forward” and ignited a fire which burned for two days. It is thought that most of the Arizona crewmen who perished in the attack died instantly during the explosion. (DPAA)

After the attack, the Arizona was left resting on the bottom with the deck just awash.  (U of Arizona)  Within one week of the attack, divers surveyed the submerged portions of the ship to determine which parts could be salvaged. (DPAA)

One of the divers, Lt Col Lawrence M Guyer of the Hawaiian Seacoast Artillery Command (HSCAC), concluded that, from an artillery viewpoint, Arizona’s aft turrets 3 and 4 (with three guns each) were serviceable and capable of being used on land.

Guyer was credited with establishing numerous seacoast gun batteries on O‘ahu, including four batteries, each armed with two twin-gun 8-inch 55-caliber naval mounts removed from the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga in early 1942.

Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the coastal defenses for the island were considered extremely inadequate.  Standard coast artillery then in production would have taken two to three years to procure, and Arizona’s 14-inch guns had much greater hitting power than the 6-inch and 8-inch guns being used on O‘ahu at the time. (John Bennett)

The Navy decided that the Army would receive gun turrets 3 and 4 for use as coastal defense guns. (NPS)  In June 1942 the Hawaiian Department Engineer and representatives of the Hawaiian Seacoast Artillery Command examined potential sites on O‘ahu after the War Department gave preliminary endorsement to reusing both 14-inch naval turret batteries.

Two sites were selected: one at Mōkapu (Kāne‘ohe – to cover the eastern portions of O‘ahu) , and the other at Kahe, an area known today as Electric Hill (HEI generating plant) on the western shore of Oahu, up the slopes of the Waianae Mountains – to cover the south and west.

Arizona’s aft guns were removed in May 1942. Because the removal of the turrets began before any consideration was given to their reuse, no consideration was given to their reassembly, and no attempt was made to safeguard the integrity of the turret shells, which had been separated into two major components.

The Navy’s 150-ton heavy-lift floating crane transported Turret 4’s faceplate and slide assembly and the aft catapult to Waipio Point for safekeeping in early March 1942. The smaller turret components were removed from the Arizona, transported to the Pearl City Peninsula, and taken to a nearby yard and warehouse, where they were set aside for the salvage operation in May 1943.

Once ashore the equipment was disassembled completely; then the time-consuming task began – cleaning the small parts of corrosion caused by immersion in seawater for over a year. This included reworking and rewinding electrical motors and completely overhauling the hydraulic systems. (John Bennett)

Batteries Pennsylvania (at Mōkapu) and Arizona (at Kahe) were named on October 21, 1942, by a directive from Brig. Gen. Robert C. Garrett, commanding HSCAC. Garret approved the construction plans for both batteries on May 7, 1943.

The adjutant general of the army gave final approval to both projects on August 13, 1943, based on a Hawaiian Dept. letter of May 11, 1943, ‘Plan for Batteries Arizona and Pennsylvania.’

The most complex project undertaken during World War II at Mōkapu Peninsula was that of the construction of Battery Pennsylvania at Mōkapu Point.

Battery Pennsylvania is a 7-stories deep self-contained unit, gouged out of the side of Ulupa‘u Crater. It contains reinforced concrete rooms for radar, plotting, powder and shell storage and eating and sleeping quarters for approximately 160 troops. The battery was completely air conditioned.

Project engineers had to design a central concrete barbette well that extended 70 feet down in rock. The nucleus of the battery was the barbette (the gun mounting system): 42.5 feet in diameter and 70 feet deep.

To sustain a vertical load of 780 tons and a firing thrust of 2,620 tons, a heavy circular steel foundation ring supported the roller path, with radial webs anchored to the reinforced concrete barbette that ranged from nine to 15 feet thick.

The barbette contained three service levels; the first two levels were accessed from the powder and projectile magazines 70 feet below ground.  Ammunition service was by a pair of naval-style shell skips powered by motor-winches that raised the shells from the floor of the magazine to the shell-loading platform in the turret 45 feet above.

The capacity of this room was 105 shells aboard ship; the number was increased to 150 at the batteries. A pair of powder hoists similar to those aboard ship raised the powder bags to the powder handling room, 25 feet above the magazine.

It took nearly four years to build the battery and reassemble the gun.  In 1944, Army Ground Forces had scheduled Batteries Arizona and Pennsylvania to be manned by four officers and 157 enlisted men each when completed.

Battery Arizona’s construction was halted on August 1, 1945. Although the turret and guns had been mounted, the battery still lacked some components. It was not probable that it was turned over to the coast artillery and manned. The heavy guns at Battery Arizona were never test fired.

Only Battery Pennsylvania was fully completed; it was completed just before the end of the war in the Pacific. Battery Pennsylvania was test fired on August 10, 1945 (the only firing of its guns). (HABS)  Today both sites are abandoned; the guns were removed and cut up for scrap shortly after the war ended. (Lots of information and imagery is from John Bennett.)

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Mōkapu Peninsula

“I learnt, that their present king’s name was Taheeterre [Kahekili], and that he was also king of Morotoi [Molokai] and Mowee [Maui]. The old man informed me, that his residence was in a bay [Kāne‘ohe Bay] round the West point, and importuned me very much to carry the ships there, as that place, he said, afforded plenty of fine hogs and vegetables.”

“Indeed, I had some reason to think, that the inhabitants on that part of the island were more numerous than in King George’s Bay [Maunalua Bay], as I observed most of the double canoes came round the West point; but as the people now brought us plenty of water, I determined to keep my present situation, it being in many respects a very eligible one …”

“… for we hitherto had been favoured with a most refreshing sea breeze, which blows over the low land at the head of the bay; and the bay all round has a very beautiful appearance …”

“… the low land and vallies being in a high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugarcane, &c. interspersed with a great number of cocoa-nut trees, which renders the prospect truly delightful. …”

“Potatoes and taro are likewise met with here-in great plenty, but I never observed any bread-fruit, and scarcely any yams; so that there is reason to suppose they are not cultivated by the inhabitants of Woahoo [O‘ahu].” (Capt Nathaiel Portlock, June 1786)

Mōkapu received its basic formation when volcanic eruptions of the southeast end of the Ko‘olau mountain range produced many lava flows and much falling rock. These same eruptions produced secondary tuff cones now known as Diamond Head, Koko Head and Punchbowl. (Steele, MCBH)

 Like Lē‘ahi (Diamond Head), Ulapa‘u tuff is a volcanic rock made up of a mixture of volcanic rock and mineral fragments (they were likely explosive volcanic eruptions).  (SOEST)

“The ahupua‘a of Heeia and its sources of foods such as the sea pond of Heeia, the large mullet of Kalimuloa and Kealohi, the reef of Malauka‘a where octopus were found, the travelling uhu and ohua fishes, and the wooden bowls of Mokapu, belonged to Maui-kiikii (Top-knot Maui).” (Kamakau in Sterling & Summers)

Mōkapu Peninsula encompasses portions He‘eia and Kāne‘ohe – these are extensions of the ahupua‘a across the large basin of Kāne‘ohe Bay.  Mōkapu peninsula is further sub-divided into six sections.

The tip of the left lobe of the peninsula was called Mōkapu and was in the He‘eia section, while Heleloa, Kuwa‘aohe, Ulupa‘u, Halekou-Kaluapuhi, and Nu‘upia, rested in the Kāne‘ohe district. (Sterling & Summers)

“The two divergent lobes of Mo-kapu possess distinctive features. The left lobe … is marked by Hawaii Loa crater, the coral bluffs, lava sheets, Pyramid Rock, and stone ruins.  The right lobe is dominated and terminated by the Ulu-pa‘u crater. This is a broad, shallow, saucer-shaped vent, a truncated hollow cone, very similar in appearance and structure to Le-ahi.” (MacCaughey, 1917)

‘Mōkapu’ is the contraction of ‘Mōku Kapu’ … ‘mōku’ (island) and ‘kapu’ (sacred or restricted),  which means “Sacred or Forbidden Island.”

The sea and bays around Mōkapu were kapu in pre-contact days. The right to fish in the surrounding waters was granted only to the high chiefs and servants of the king. These fishing grounds were called ko‘a.  (Steele, MCBH)

Fishing was confined to certain types of fish native to certain sections of the ocean. Persons were assigned to areas with the task of feeding the fish two or three times a week.  (Steele, MCBH)

Though Mōkapu Peninsula had only limited fresh water, ‘uala (sweet potatoes) and ipu (gourds) were cultivated there. It is also likely that other mulched dryland crops such as kalo (taro), ko (sugar canes), niu (coconuts), ‘ulu (breadfruit), and the pia (arrow root) also grew there.

However, the most important resource of the peninsula were its loko i‘a (fishponds). There were at least five loko i‘a on Mokapu Peninsula, including Ka-lua-puhi (literally: The eel pit), Nu‘u-pia (interpretively: arrow root mound) …

… Hale-kou (interpretively: House surrounded by kou trees), Hele-loa (literally: Distant travel), Muli-wai-‘olena (interpretively: Turmeric [yellowish] estuary), and Pa-‘ohua (literally: Fish fry enclosure). (Maly)

Prior to Polynesian settlement, the ponds were thought to be a shallow open channel between Kāneʻohe and Kailua Bays, making Mōkapu an island, connected to Oʻahu by a thin coastal barrier dune.

Kaneohe Ranch began in 1893, when Nannie Rice leased 15,000 acres to JP Mendonca and C Bolte for cattle ranching.  Incorporated as Kaneohe Ranch Company, Ltd. in 1894, the lands were leased and primarily used for raising pineapple, processing sugar, and cattle operations.

In 1905, James Bicknell Castle acquired the cattle ranching interest of Mendonca and Bolte, and in 1907 he purchased large blocks of shares in the cattle operations of the Kaneohe Ranch Company.

In 1917, Harold Kainalu Long Castle, son of James B Castle, purchased the title to 9,500 acres of land from Mrs. Rice, which included the ‘iii of Heleloa. (HABS No. HI-311-L)

The United States’ military presence on the Mōkapu Peninsula area initially began in 1918. It was through President Woodrow Wilson’s Executive Order No. 2900 that the Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation was established. (HABS No. HI-311-L)

Use and ownership has been shared and alternated between the Army and Navy over the years. Following the Base Realignment and Closure Committee’s decision to close NAS Barbers Point, the Kāne‘ohe base acquired 4 Navy P-3 patrol squadrons and one SH-60 Anti-Submarine squadron in 1999.

Today, there are almost 10,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel attached to the base.  The Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH) on Mōkapu maintains and operates the airfield and other training facilities in support of the readiness and global projection of DoD and military operating forces. (MCBH)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Military Units on the Mōkapu Peninsula

At present, the Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH) on Mōkapu peninsula at Kāne‘ohe Bay maintains and operates the airfield and other training facilities in support of the readiness and global projection of DoD and military operating forces. (MCBH)

The Base has trained countless carrier pilots for combat, provided logistical support for naval aviation forces throughout the Pacific, and supported airborne early warning and antisubmarine patrol operations. (Marines)

But the Marines weren’t there first, and they aren’t alone. Let’s look back …

On February 6, 1901, the US Army artillery corps divided into separate field and coast artillery components by General Order 9, War Department, implementing the Army Reorganization Act (31 Stat. 748), February 2, 1901.

Tactical artillery districts, each consisting of one or more forts and accompanying mine fields and land defenses, were established by General Order 81, War Department, June 13, 1901, to protect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States and the coasts of Hawai‘i and Puerto Rico.  (US Archives)

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)”

In 1906 the Taft Board recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu.  Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed around the Island.

The Army mission in Hawai‘i was defined as “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets.”

Renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses, following World War I and until the end of World War II additional coastal batteries were constructed throughout the Island.

President Woodrow Wilson’s signing of Executive Order No. 2900 established a military reservation on July 2, 1918 and set aside 322 acres of public land on the Mōkapu peninsula for military use. The first name for the Army installation on the east side of the Mōkapu peninsula was Kuwa‘ahohe Military Reservation.

In 1927, the Oahu contingent of the Army’s Coast Artillery Corps, based at Fort Kamehameha since 1908, established a coast defense position at Ulupau.

It began after WWI, when the Army expanded its ideas of how the Coast Artillery units of Fort Kamehameha should be protecting Pearl Harbor. Army planners realized that in addition to providing protection against a naval bombardment of Pearl Harbor, it was also necessary to prevent enemy forces from landing anywhere on Oahu.

This was to thwart a possible land attack on the naval base.  In 1922, upon the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, the US diverted twelve 240mm howitzers to Hawai‘i from shipments originally bound for the Philippines.

Article XIX of the treaty prohibited new fortifications or upgrading of coastal defenses of US, British, and Japanese bases in their small island territories in the Pacific. The treaty allowed expansion at the US bases in Hawai‘i, Alaska, Panama Canal Zone, and the mainland. (HABS 311-P)

Between WWI and WWII, ranchers leased some portions of the Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation.  Army usage at Kuwa‘aohe began to increase in anticipation of war. Although the Army did not man the former 240mm howitzer battery, they formed various coast artillery batteries and activity increased at the installation.

From 1940 to 1941, the military reservation had a different Hawaiian name – Camp Ulupau. The change in 1942 to Fort Hase honored Major General William Frederick Hase. He was the Chief of the Army Coast Artillery Corps from 1934 until his death. He received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his service in France during WWI.

Fort Hase was the headquarters for the Army’s Harbor Defenses of Kāne‘ohe Bay (HDKB), created about 1940 to defend NAS Kāne‘ohe. Prior to and during World War II, Fort Hase grew from a humble beginning as a defense battalion to a major unit of the Windward Coastal Artillery Command.

About this time, Navy planners began eyeing the Mōkapu peninsula as the home of a strategic seaplane base.  They liked the isolated location, the flat plains for an airfield and the probability of flights into prevailing trade winds.

The Navy acquired 464 acres of the peninsula for use by the PBY Catalina Patrol seaplanes [PB representing ‘Patrol Bomber’ and Y being the code assigned to Consolidated Aircraft as its manufacturer] for long-range reconnaissance flights. One year later, the Navy owned all of the Mōkapu peninsula except for Fort Hase. (Marines)

The Kāne‘ohe Naval Air Station was established following a recommendation by the Hepburn Board in 1938 to develop a base for squadrons of seaplanes to support the Pearl Harbor fleet.  Construction of NAS Kāne‘ohe started in September 1939.  By the end of 1941 the air station had approximately 90 permanent and 60 temporary buildings. (HABS 311-M)

The initial design for NAS Kāne‘ohe was to support five seaplane patrol squadrons. The first work was dredging seaplane lanes and using the spoils to fill shallow bay areas (about 280 acres total of filled land) for building sites.

Extensive dredging of Kāne‘ohe Bay and its entrance channel enabled ships and seaplanes to utilize the bay, and, of equal importance, provided the large amount of fill needed to enlarge the buildable area of Mōkapu peninsula. (HABS HI-311-P)

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the air station minutes prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of the 36 Catalinas stationed at the base, 27 were destroyed, six others were damaged, and 18 sailors perished in the attack.

The first Japanese aircraft destroyed in action were shot down at Kāne‘ohe, and Aviation Ordnanceman Chief Petty Officer John Finn, stationed at Kāne‘ohe Bay, was awarded one of the 1st Medals of Honor for valor on that day. (Marines)

The naval air station’s Search and Rescue Crash Facility (SAR) was responsible for the rescue of any boats in distress in Kāne‘ohe Bay, or any planes which might crash into these waters. Their charge was to save lives and attempt any possible salvage.

By August 1946 the SAR at Kāne‘ohe Naval Air Station managed twenty one boats, including three crash boats, each 63 feet long.  Crews were responsible to check the permits of privately owned boats in Kāne‘ohe Bay waters. (HABS 311-M)

The first permanent Coast Guard aviation unit in Hawai‘i became reality in 1945 when a unit was located at the Naval Air Station Kāne‘ohe. The Coast Guard Air detachment was established to provide air-sea rescue services.

Coast Guard Air detachment runs went from Kāne‘ohe to Hickam Field, then Johnson Island, Majuro, Kwajalein, Guam, Sangley Point to Japan and then back through Wake, and Midway.  The trip took between 20 and 28 days.

In 1949 the Navy decommissioned the Kāne‘ohe air station and the Coast Guard air detachment moved to NAS Barbers Point on the west coast of O‘ahu and was established as a Coast Guard Air Facility.  (Coast Guard Aviation Association)

After WWII ended, Fort Hase “became a skeleton outpost” for the Army. It remained under Army jurisdiction until 1952 when the land became part of Marine Corps Air Station Kāne‘ohe. (HABS HI-311-P)

The Marine Corps assumed control of both Fort Hase and the air station after landowner, Mr. Harold K. Castle, refused to take back the property in 1951.  Castle believed it was important to maintain a military base on the windward side of Oahu for defense and economic continuity.  (MCBH)

On January 15, 1952 the Marine Corps re-commissioned the idle airfield Marine Corps Air Station Kāne‘ohe Bay, making it a training site for a combined air/ground team.

Following the reactivation of the Mōkapu installation in 1952 as a Marine Corps Air Station, the Crash Boat operations were manned by an all-Navy unit, and organizationally was attached to the Airfield Operations Department as a Waterfront Operations Branch.

Station Operations and Headquarters Squadron supported flight operations until June 30, 1972, when Station Operations and Maintenance Squadron (SOMS) was created to take its place.

SOMS served until it was disbanded on July 30, 1994. Marine Corps Air Facility, Kāne‘ohe Bay was formed on that date. Following the Base Realignment and Closure Committee’s decision to close NAS Barbers Point, the Kāne‘ohe base acquired 4 Navy P-3 patrol squadrons and one SH-60 Anti-Submarine squadron in 1999.

Under the 1994 Base Realignment and Closure the Marine Corps consolidated all of its installations and facilities in Hawai‘i under a single command, identified as Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH); Marine Corps Air Facility (MCAF) and Headquarters Battalion (HQBN) are subordinate commands. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade was also deactivated. (MCBH)

On May 22, 2009, a redesignation ceremony was held renaming Marine Corps Air Facility to Marine Corps Air Station Kāne‘ohe Bay and the commemorative naming of the Airfield to Carl Field in Honor of Major General Marion Eugene Carl USMC.

Major General Carl, the Marine Corps’ first air ace who downed 10 enemy aircraft during the battle for Guadalcanal, was twice awarded the Navy Cross, and who finished World War II with 18 kills to his credit, was killed June 28, 1998 during a robbery at his home in Roseburg, Oregon. 

A Memorandum of Agreement between MCBH and Coast Guard Sector Honolulu calls for MCBH to provide rescue vessels and waterfront operation resources, and to coordinate with the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu’s Command Center (SCC) for SAR efforts in the vicinity of MCBH / Windward Oahu. (MCBH)

Known today as the Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i (MCBH), Kāne‘ohe Bay, this facility occupies virtually the entire peninsula and houses thousands of military personnel and their dependents. (HASS HI-311-C) Today there are almost 10,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel attached to the base.

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Before the Marine Base

O‘ahu used to be nearly twice as big as it is now.  (Thompson) The Island consists of two major shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau; the eroded remnants of which are the Waiʻanae Range and the Koʻolau Range.

Koʻolau volcano started as a seamount above the Hawaiian hotspot around 4-million years ago. It broke sea level some time prior to 2.9-million years ago.

About 2-million years ago, much of the northeast flank of Koʻolau volcano was sheared off and material was swept onto the ocean floor (named the Nuʻuanu Avalanche) – one of the largest landslides on Earth.

The Pali is the remaining edge of the giant basin, or caldera, formed by the volcano. At its base are the towns of Kāne’ohe, Kailua and Waimānalo – beyond that, open ocean. The other half of the caldera, an area the size of Brooklyn, tore away and tumbled into the ocean.  (Sullivan)

Mōkapu Peninsula (where Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i is situated) is evidence of subsequent secondary volcanic eruptions that formed Ulupaʻu Crater (the large hill on the Kailua side of the peninsula,) Pu‘u Hawaiiloa (the central hill that originally had the base control tower, now has radar (‘the hill’,)) Pyramid Rock and the nearby Moku Manu (Bird Island.)

Coral reefs and marine terraces were formed at different elevations due to the changing sea levels over time.  There are some broad lowland areas in the lower reaches of deeply alluvial valleys. (Moberly)

Mōkapu Peninsula is part of two ahupua’a in the district of Ko‘olaupoko: He‘eia and Kāne‘ohe. He‘eia ahupua’a encompasses the western third of the peninsula (called the ‘iii of Mōkapu) and extended inland; Kāne‘ohe ahupua‘a is on the eastern two-thirds of the peninsula.

Hawaiians lived on Mōkapu Peninsula for at least 500 to 800 years before Western Contact. Farmers cultivated dryland crops like sweet potato for food, and gourds for household utensils.

They tended groves of hala (pandanus) trees for the lauhala (leaves) to weave into mats and baskets, and wauke plants for kapa (paperbark cloth). The highly prized wetland taro might have been grown in the marshy area at the center of the peninsula.

Mōkapu people fished in the protected waters of Kāne‘ohe Bay, in Kailua Bay, and in the deep ocean to the north; and took advantage of the rich shore resources.

There were at least two small villages on the peninsula, as well as scattered houses along the coastline. With walls up to six feet wide, the massive fishponds of Mōkapu are an indication of political significance since only chiefs could command the labor to build such monuments. They were being used from as early as the 15th or 16th centuries.

British Captain James Cook made landfall in Hawai‘i in 1778, the first documented Western contact with the islands. He was followed in short order by European and American explorers and traders.

In the first decades after Western Contact, Honolulu was the focus of interactions between Hawaiians and foreigners. On remote Mōkapu Peninsula, separated from urban Honolulu by the high, sheer Pali, life continued in the cycle of subsistence farming.

Mōkapu, and Kāne‘ohe, in general, were far from the attentions of foreigners. It was not until the US Exploring Expedition of 1840-1841 that Kāne‘ohe Bay and its environs were documented in detail.

Under King Kamehameha III, the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawai‘i was the separation of the rights of the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents) through the Great Mahele in 1848.

The King retained all of his private lands as his individual property; one third of the remaining land was to be for the Hawaiian Government; one third for the Chiefs and Konohiki; and one third to be set aside for the tenants, the actual cultivators of the soil.

Paki (father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop) received the ahupua‘a of He‘eia, including the ‘ili of Mōkapu. Kamehameha III kept the ‘ili of Kuwa‘ahohe in the center of the peninsula, as well as Halekou and Kaluapūhi ponds; Kalama, his wife, received most of the ahupua‘a of Kāne‘ohe including Nu‘upia Fishpond.

Following Paki’s death in 1855, the Sumner brothers, John and William, bought the ‘Ili of Mōkapu.  In 1885, John Sumner became sole owner when his brother died. In 1892, John left Mōkapu in a trust to his nephew, Robert Wyllie Davis (the son of Sumner’s younger sister Maria).

In the first half of the 20th century, truck farms and commercial plantings replaced the traditional subsistence gardens on almost all of the tillable land of the peninsula, including inside Ulupa‘u Crater.

Watermelon thrived in the hot and sunny, loamy soil of the peninsula – papaya, sweet potato, Irish potato, pumpkins, squash, and sweet corn were also grown.   The Japanese farming community was about where the MCBH runway is today .

One of the earliest commercial efforts was Albert van Clief and Addie Gear’s cotton plantation. “Strange as it may seem our cotton pickers are Hawaiian. … We have three Hawaiian women and one Hawaiian man and a Korean couple.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Dec 10. 1910)  But hard times for the Gears quickly followed.

Chinatown was the primary market for the Mōkapu farmers.  The Maui News of June 21, 1918, reported that Mōkapu farmer N. Ewasaki won second place for “Best ten-pound any white variety” of Irish potatoes at the annual Maui County.

As early as 1890, Joseph Paul Mendonça and his partner Christel Bolte had been leasing the former Kāne‘ohe Ahupua‘a lands of Queen Kalama. A journal entry on June 1, 1893, noted “We commenced today doing business under the name of Kāneʻohe Ranch”.

They started with the herd with imported Angus cattle, purchased from James I Dowsett, one of the founders of the ranching industry in Hawai‘i. Horses, sheep, and goats rounded out the livestock assets.

Then, Mendonça was ready for a change; the Ranch ledger entry for December 31, 1899 stated, “Joe Mendonça is ‘pau ke aloha’ with Kaneohe, he wants to sell out or do something, he does not exactly know what ….” (MCBH) By 1905, James B.Castle was a shareholder in the Ranch.

In 1917, Castle’s son, Harold KL Castle, purchased the ranch. Harold Castle and his family spent weekends at their beach home on the ocean side of the high Heleloa Dune.

Kāne‘ohe Ranch was the main cattle operation (on the eastern portion of the peninsula); Robert Davis and later Arthur H. Rice, Sr., had their own smaller herds in the former ‘ili of Mōkapu. Scattered wild lands were covered in kiawe, hau, and haole koa trees, and lantana and feral tomatoes were rampant.

In 1921, the Territory of Hawai‘i established a game farm on Mōkapu Peninsula. The farm contained about 350-acres, which included Halekou and Kaluapūhi fishponds.  As a part of the farm program, the Territory also initiated a reforestation program at Mōkapu in which about 5,000 trees had been planted by the end of 1930, and about 2,000 coconuts in 1932.

The tract of land that Mōkapu Game Farm was developed on was described in 1929 as “an arid waste, barren, silent, almost desolate” (Honolulu Star Bulletin Oct. 31, 1929). At the end of 1930, 185 acres of the land had to be fenced to protect it from “wandering stock” (Hawaii, Terr., Bd. Comm. Ag. & For. 1931:118) (Maly)

The Mōkapu Game Farm raised and released many types of game birds, including: Pheasants (the primary bird raised and released); California quail, Gambel’s quail, and Japanese quail; Chukars; Guinea fowl; Ducks; and others. The birds were raised and released to benefit hunters and to increase agricultural yield by preying on plantation pests.

Folks at the Game Farm apparently also raised Japanese oysters in the nearby mud flats by the old Wilson Pier, used by the Territorial Game Farm that was situated near the location of the present H-3 interchange. (George Davis; Maly)

In the 1920s, the peninsula was a private holding with no access to the general public, and there were few permanent residents. Wally Davis and the Date family lived at Davis Point in southwestern Mōkapu. Some Japanese farmers had homes on the peninsula, but many lived in Kailua or Kāne‘ohe and came to the peninsula only to work their fields.

Dr. George Straub and members of the Kawainui Shooting Club were periodic visitors to their places along the Kailua Bay frontage. The supervisor of the Territorial Game Farm had a residence at Halekou Fishpond.

The ‘ili of Mōkapu became the “Fisherman’s Paradise” with development of the Mōkapu Tract Subdivision – “A private sea fishery is an appurtenant to the land, in which lot owners are given the privilege of fishing for personal.”

Beach lots were offered for sale from $1,000 and up; and second tier lots with rights of way to the beach for $500 and up.  “Put on the market in 1932, Mōkapu has met with exceptional success.”  (Maly)

In 1934, a radio facility was built by Pan American Airways on the crest of He‘eia Dune, roughly between Pyramid Rock and the north end of the present Runway 4/22. It was used as a link for Pan Am trans-Pacific flights, that started in 1935.

In 1918, through Executive Order 2900, President Woodrow Wilson designated 322 acres in the central portion of Mōkapu Peninsula as the Army’s Kuwa‘ahohe Military Reservation. Deactivated at the end of World War I, the reservation was leased for ranching until 1939, when it was reactivated as Fort Kuwa‘aohe.

In December 1940, Fort Kuwa‘aohe was renamed Fort Hase, in honor of Major General William F Hase, who served as Chief of Staff of the Army’s Hawaiian Department from April 1934 to January 1935. It served as headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Kāne‘ohe Bay.

On the western side of the peninsula, Naval Air Station (NAS) Kāne‘ohe was established in 1939; a base for squadrons of seaplanes to support the Pearl Harbor fleet was developed.

The work included dredge and fill operations that added 280 acres to the Kāne‘ohe Bay side of the peninsula, as well as filled low-lying areas for runway and hangar construction.

The great bulk of all reef material dredged in Kāne‘ohe Bay was removed in connection with the construction at Mōkapu of the Kāne‘ohe Naval Air Station (now Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i) between 1939 and 1945.

Dredging for the base began on September 27, 1939, and continued throughout World War II.  A bulkhead was constructed on the west side of Mōkapu Peninsula, and initial dredged material from the adjacent reef flat was used as fill behind it.

In November 1939, the patch reefs in the seaplane take-off area in the main Bay basin were dredged to 10-feet (later most were taken down to 30-feet.)

Other early dredging was just off the northwest tip of the peninsula, near the site of the “landing mat” (runway.)  It appears that a fairly reliable total of dredged material is 15,193,000 cubic yards.

(Do the Math … Let’s say the common dump truck load is 10 cubic yards … that’s a million and a half truckloads of dredge material.)  The runway was about half complete at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. (Lots here is from Tomonari-Tuggle & Arakaki)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Heʻeia

The nine ahupuaʻa of Kāneʻohe Bay, beginning at the boundary between Koʻolauloa and Koʻolaupoko Districts (west) and moving eastward, are Kualoa, Hakipuʻu, Waikāne, Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Waiheʻe, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāneʻohe.

The ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia and Kāneʻohe also included portions of Mōkapu Peninsula (Heʻeia runs from the mountains to the sea, but also crosses over a portion of the water in Kāneʻohe Bay and includes a portion of a Mōkapu peninsula across the Bay.)  Heʻeia also includes Moku-o-Loʻe (Coconut Island,) Kahaluʻu includes Kapapa Island and Kualoa includes Mokoliʻi.

The name of the land of Heʻeia is traditionally associated with Heʻeia, the handsome foster son of the goddess Haumea and grandson of the demigod ʻOlopana, who was an uncle of Kamapuaʻa.

Heʻeia was named in commemoration of a tsunami-type wave that washed Haumea and others into the sea – a great tidal wave that “washed (he‘e ‘ia) … out to sea and back” (Lit., surfed, or washed (out to sea,) or swept away.)

They swam until they were exhausted and were finally washed ashore at Kapapa Island in Kāneʻohe Bay. It was the handsome Heʻeia who fell in love with Kaohelo, a younger sister of Pele and Hiʻiaka, whom he met in Koʻolau, Oʻahu.  (Devaney)

In ancient Hawai‘i, fishponds were an integral part of the ahupua‘a food source.  Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures in near shore waters to raise fish for their communities and families.  Loko iʻa (fishpond) were used for fattening and storing of fish for food and also as a source for kapu (forbidden) fish.  Walled, brackish-water fishponds were usually constructed on the reef along the shore and one or more mākāhā (sluice gate.)

Heʻeia Fishpond’s wall was one of the longest, extending nearly a mile.  As a large pond, it is subject to considerable evaporation, increasing salinity in the pond; as such, fresh water is added.  Heʻeia is somewhat unique in that it has mākāhā gates on the mauka wall to control the flow of fresh water.

Kalo (taro) was a main staple in the diet of nearly all Hawaiians prior to European contact and was extensively cultivated.  As early as 1789, Portlock described this area:

“… the bay all around has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and valleys being in high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees ….”

The region had a considerable amount of land cultivated in taro up through the early-1800s.  “Southeastward along the windward coast, beginning with Waikāne and continuing through Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe, were broad valley bottoms and flatlands between the mountains and the sea which, taken all together, represent the most extensive wet-taro area on Oʻahu.” (Handy, Devaney)

The rains that sweep through here have been memorialized in poetry and song.  A traditional mele honoring Kaumuali‘i suggests “the sound of heavy rain drops on dry leaves, or dry thatching of the pandanus leaf, … of the rain accompanying the koʻolau wind, which calms the troubled waters”.

This “heavy-sounding rain” of the Koʻolau has been transformed into a poetical saying, “Ka ua kani koʻo o Heʻeia, The rain of Heʻeia that sounds like the tapping of walking canes”.  (Fornander)

During the early historic times, many of the ruling chiefs favored this area as their place of residence. Kahahana the ruler of Oʻahu sometimes resided there. Kahekili after defeating Kahahana lived in Kailua, Kāneʻohe and Heʻeia.

The Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu was founded by the Catholic mission at Ahuimanu, Heʻeia in 1846.  “Outside the city, at Ahuimanu, Maigret has now a country retreat that he refers to by the Hawaiian word māla.  It is a combination garden, orchard and kitchen garden. …”

“The venerable bishop has built his own vineyard and planted his own orchard … His retreat in the mountain, his “garden in the air” as he terms it, is a pleasant and profitable sight … When the pressure of events allows it, Maigret takes refuge there.” (Charlot)

One of its students, Damien (born as Jozef de Veuster,) arrived in Hawaiʻi on March 9, 1864, at the time a 24-year-old choirboy.  Determined to become a priest, he had the remainder of the schooling at the College of Ahuimanu.  Bishop Maigret ordained Father Damien at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in 1864 and later assigned him to Molokaʻi.  In 2009, Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.

The earliest of the modern large commercial agricultural ventures started with the cultivation of sugar cane in Kualoa in the 1860s. By 1880, three more sugar companies had emerged in Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe. Heʻeia Sugar Company (also called Heʻeia Agricultural Co. Ltd) operated from 1878 to 1903.

In 1880, the region reported 7,000-acres available for cultivation; in 1883 a railroad was installed at Heʻeia, and by the summer of that year it was noted that the railroad had allowed a much greater amount of land to be harvested, even allowing cane from Kāneʻohe to be ground at Heʻeia; however, the commercial cultivation of sugar cane was short-lived.  (Devaney)

Rice cultivation did not occur in earnest until the decline of sugar, and in 1880 the first Chinese rice company started in the nearby Waineʻe area. Abandoned systems of loʻi kalo were modified into rice paddies. The Kāneʻohe Rice Mill was built around 1892-1893 in nearby Waikalua.

Another commercial crop, pineapple, was also grown here, starting around 1910.  By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby gained control of land here and built the first large-scale cannery with an annual capacity of 250,000-cans at nearby Kahaluʻu; growing and canning pineapples became a major industry in the area for a period of 15 years (to 1925.)

The US military first established a presence on the Mōkapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation (the western portion of Mōkapu is within the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa.)

Today, Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi continues to serve as a fully functional operational and training base for US Marine Corps forces. The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) here operates a 7,800-foot runway (on the ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia) that can accommodate both fixed wing and rotor-driven aircraft.

With World War II underway, the Navy recognized the need to be able to communicate across the Pacific.  In 1942, a group of radio experts determined a superpower radio station with across-the-Pacific range might be built provided that the antenna could be raised high enough above the ground.

The solution was to find a topographic feature that would act like the “unbuildable” tall tower.  Using technology developed pre-World War I, they strategically positioned four Alexanderson Alternators; one was located in Haiku Valley in Heʻeia.  Haiku Valley with its horseshoe shape and sheer side-walls filled the prescription perfectly.

To build it, mountain climbers pounded spikes into the vertical cliff, then added wooden stairs up the mountain.  A lift to haul up materials was added and they strung cables across the valley.  The Alexanderson Alternator radio system, transmitting Morse code across the Pacific, was operational in 3-months.  A reminder of that facility is the Haiku Ladder, Haiku Stairs – the Stairway to Heaven (a 3,922-step ladder/stairway ascending the summit of the Koʻolau mountain range.)

Today, Windward Mall, portions of Windward Community College, Valley of the Temples, Tetsuo Harano Tunnels (H3,) Hawaiʻi Institute for Marine Biology, MCBH, Heʻeia Kea Small Boat Harbor and a bunch of other folks call Heʻeia home.

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