Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The lighthouse is reached, no drop! the outer buoy, no stop!

This is a story about Joseph Lawrence Van Tassell.  But before we get to Van Tassell, let’s look at a predecessor and his attempts at the first successful aeronautical event in Hawaiʻi.  At the time, the technology was hot air balloons.

Emil L Melville had advertised a balloon show where he would hang from a trapeze in his 86-foot balloon.  For Melville, third time was the charm.

The headline on the first attempt tells the story, “An Immense Audience – No Ascension.”  It goes on to note, “The crowd continued to surge into the (Kapiʻolani) Park until about the time set for the ascension when there were from 3,000 to 4,000 persons within the enclosure and perhaps 2,000 more in the surrounding grounds.”

“Promptly at the advertised hour 2 o’clock (March 2, 1889) Prof Melville arose from a nap with which he was refreshing himself in a room near the grand stand and dressed himself in a gay suit of tights.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 5, 1889)

“What the process is actually remains a professional secret … the canvas in a few moments began to flutter and fill then bulge out into something like rotund shape. … Matters were in this struggling stage at 5:45 o’clock … a wreath of smoke curling up from the upper slope of the cloth … Another burst … Many of the helpers ran off panic-stricken … The next scene was a grand and speedy dispersion (of the crowd.”)   (Hawaiian Gazette, March 5, 1889)

A week later, the paper noted, “’There could not have been a better day,’ (March 11, 1889) was the universal remark, suggested by the very slight stir in the air and such motion as there was being off the sea. The balloon filled up beautifully – was in fact every moment looking more like an article of that name until it had about three fourths of its capacity-charged with concentrated caloric and smoke.”

“The furnace roars once and again and next thing the aeronaut thunders out ‘All let go!’ … and away the monster creeps laterally … off she goes and then up, only the spectators in the inner rings observing the gallant Professor Melville dragging headforemost to the trapeze – he had no time to fasten on the parachute.”

“Up through the wicked spikes of the young algeroba (kiawe) thicket the aeronaut was dragged … Now the balloon is fast sinking with the man’s weight. It disappears behind the bush and almost immediately soars majestically aloft but there is no man dangling from the trapeze.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 12, 1889)

Finally, on April 6, 1889, “ … Prof Emil Melville with the assistance of sailors from HBMS Cormorant was inflating his balloon, the one used in the two previous attempts to fly skyward.  About half-past 2 o’clock … the balloon was up.  Sure enough there it was sailing gracefully over the town at an elevation of two or three thousand feet.”

“… a little steady gazing was rewarded by the vision of a streak of red the aeronauts athletic costume … going through movements on the bar which made the balloon sag and sway at intervals.”

“At a point nearly over Palace Square the balloon was noticed to be descending which caused the rush of hundreds to the water front to see the finish of the aerial voyage.  … The aeronaut let go when near the surface of the water dropping in about four or five feet depth on the reef inside the breakers off Kakaʻako. His balloon in a few seconds took the water having careened on its side under a gust of wind.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 9, 1889)

Joseph Lawrence Van Tassell was another balloonist who came to Hawaiʻi.

Some credit him with the first flight in the islands, but it is clear from the above, that Melville made it on his third try (although unceremoniously with a dunking in the water.)

Like Melville, Van Tassell staged a flight from Kapiʻolani Park, collecting admission fees from spectators.  On November 2, 1889, “The attendance at Kapiʻolani Park … was not so large as it ought to have been. About five hundred persons were in the enclosure, but there was a much larger number outside. Many people witnessed the ascension from the top of Punchbowl and other commanding positions”.

“… It progressed so rapidly and in such a thorough manner that at four o’clock ‘let go’ was heard and the balloon ascended gracefully into the air. (At the appropriate time,) “the aeronaut partly opened the parachute and a few seconds later parted from the balloon, coming down in a very graceful manner”.  (Daily Bulletin, November 4, 1889)

What’s it like?  “We go up in a balloon which holds 75,000 cubic feet of gas and lifts 2,800 pounds. … The parachute is fastened to the side of the balloon with a rope. … Underneath the parachute is an ordinary trapeze. When we get ready to jump, we swing out of the balloon throwing one leg out of the trapeze under the parachute.”

“Then we cut it loose at the same instant pulling a cord that collapses the balloon. We fall the first two hundred feet with terrible rapidity and then comes the most dangerous part of the jump, next to landing, for in falling the two hundred feet the parachute opens and it brings up with a jerk that almost hurls you off the bar.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 26, 1889)

Then, a fateful event.

Van Tassell promised a special show to honor King Kalākaua on his 53rd birthday; he had no trouble selling tickets.  He promised to ascend from the crater Punchbowl then parachute to a landing in the palace grounds.  (hawaii-gov)

“The inflation commenced about 2 o’clock and the big bag was quickly filled. … At 2:19 pm the aeronaut declared himself ready and with a pleasant wave of the hand to a few friends he straddled the iron bar of the parachute and grasping the ropes gave the order ‘let go’ and started on his ride”.

“The point of starting was so well sheltered from the brisk trade wind that was blowing that the balloon had an excellent opportunity to rise upward which it did to a height estimated at between five and six thousand feet. “

“The balloon now caught the force of the trade wind and commenced to set slowly towards the south-west, passing over the Palace at which point it had been arranged by the aeronaut he would cut loose and begin his descent.”

“Slowly the balloon passed to a wind directly over the corner of Richard and King streets where it was discernable, now at 2:22 o’clock after being up three minutes, that Professor Joe had at last cut loose.”

“The parachute however instead of coming, as was hoped, directly earthwards seemed on the contrary to have been caught by the trade wind and lifted upward, and also drifted rapidly towards the sea.”

“And now commenced a race between the balloon and parachute to seaward, the parachute with its living freight for the first few minutes appearing to be equal in height with the balloon.”

“The lighthouse is reached, no drop! the outer buoy, no stop! On goes the parachute, on goes the balloon. Now appears the danger, there is no provision for assistance, the parachute is now two miles from shore and still receding. At last he drops …”

“From 3 o’clock until 5:30 search, diligent and careful was made, the sail-boats cruising in different courses, Minister Thurston in the “Hawaii” going well in shore and the tug making circles that covered all probable points.”

“No trace of man or parachute could be found ….”  (The balloon was later recovered,) “Prof. Joseph Lawrence Van Tassell had made his last leap, had jumped into eternity and had added his name to the list of those daring spirits of his profession who had joined the great majority.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, November 19, 1889)

On November 18, 1889, Van Tassell became Hawaiʻi’s first air fatality.  The image shows an advertisement for the November 2, 1889 ascent and jump from a balloon.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kolekole

From Kūkaniloko (royal birth stones near Wahiawa,) the winter solstice (December 21) occurs when the sun is aligned with Kolekole.

The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa has an un-typical shape – it has two parts: Waiʻanae Kai, on its western side, runs from the ocean to the Waiʻanae Mountains (like a typical ahupuaʻa;) however, Waiʻanae Uka continues across Oʻahu’s central plain and extends up into the Koʻolau Mountains.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains.  A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

As a result, the trail was of strategic importance. Kolekole Pass is not far from the base of Mount Kaʻala, the highest summit on O‘ahu, an important place in Hawaiian religion, ceremony, legend and perhaps celestial observations.

When Kahekili was reigning as king of Maui, and Kahahana was king of Oʻahu, it was during this period that Kahahawai, with a number of warriors, came to make war on Oʻahu (Kahahawai was a strategist for Kahekili.)

A decisive battle in the war between Kahekili and Kahahana, fought in the Waiʻanae mountain range, took place near Kolekole Pass.

“Kahahawai told them to prepare torches. When these were ready they went one evening to the top of a hill which was near to the rendezvous of the enemies where they lighted their torches.”  (Fornander)

“After the torches were lit they moved away to a cliff called Kolekole and hid themselves there, leaving their torches burning at the former place until they died out. The enemies thought that Kahahawai and his men had gone off to sleep. They therefore made a raid … But Kahahawai and his men arose and destroyed all the people who were asleep on the hills and the mountains of Kaʻala. Thus the enemies were annihilated, none escaping.”  (Fornander)

Therefore, the conquest of Oʻahu by Kahekili was complete through the bravery and great ingenuity of Kahahawai in devising means for the destruction of the enemy.  Oʻahu remained until the reign of Kalanikūpule, Kahekili’s son – until Oʻahu was conquered by Kamehameha in 1795.

Near Kolekole Pass is the Kolekole Stone, which is described as a “sacrificial stone,” but the story that victims were decapitated over this stone may be a fairly recent rendition. Older stories suggest the stone represents the Guardian of the Pass, a woman named Kolekole.

Reportedly, Kolekole was a place where students practiced lua fighting. Students practiced their techniques on “passing victims” on the “plains of Leilehua.”  Lua was an “art” that involved dangerous hand-to-hand fighting in which the fighters broke bones, dislocated bones at the joints, and inflicted severe pain by pressing on nerve centers.

This form of fighting involved a number of skills: “first, how to grasp with the hands, second, how to prod with a kauila cane; third, how to whirl the club called the pikoi or ikoi that had one end … tied with a rope of olona fibers.”  (Na Oihana Lua Kaula 1865 – Army)

In the late-1800s, James I Dowsett had ranching interests on lands now occupied by Fort Shafter, Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield; portions of the latter two were part of his extensive Leilehua Ranch. Cattle from George Galbraith’s Mikilua Ranch in Lualualei Valley on the Waiʻanae coast may have been herded across Kolekole Pass to pasture on Leilehua Ranch plateau lands.

With later US military use in Waiʻanae and Central Oʻahu, passage through Kolekole Pass provided a convenient short cut across the Waiʻanae Mountains between Schofield Barracks and Lualualei Naval Magazine.  The Army’s 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

Kolekole Pass, is located at the northern corner of the Lualualei Valley and connects the Waianae coast with Waianae Uka (the present Schofield Barracks.)

On the morning of December 7, 1941, six Japanese carriers transported torpedo planes, dive bombers and fighters to a point about 220 miles north of Oʻahu.  Launching the aircraft in two waves, the attackers achieved total surprise and wreaked havoc.

Contrary to general belief, the attacking aircraft did not come through Kolekole Pass west of Wheeler but flew straight down the island.  Most of the attacking planes approached Pearl Harbor from the south.  Some came from the north over the Koʻolau Range, where they had been hidden en route by large cumulus clouds.  (hawaii-gov)

In 1997, a 35-year-old, 35-ton white steel cross at Kolekole Pass was ordered dismantled by the Army – threatened with lawsuit, they chose removal, rather than fighting a separation of church and state claim.

The first cross at the pass was put up in the 1920s; later, a metal one was erected in 1962.  It was later replaced with an 80-foot flagpole that flew an American flag.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahana

Forever I shall sing the praises
Of Kahana’s beauty unsurpassed
The fragrance of beauteous mountains
By the zephyrs to thee is wafted
(Written for Mary Foster and her country home at Kahana)

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within the moku.)

Kahana (Lit., the work, cutting or turning point;) approximately 5,250-acres, is one of the 32 ahupua‘a that make up the moku of Koʻolauloa on the windward and north shore side of the island.  It extends from the top of the Koʻolau mountain (at approximate the 2,700-foot elevation) down to the ocean.

The ahupuaʻa of Kahana, like all land in Hawai`i prior to the Great Māhele of 1848, belonged to the King. It is estimated that a population of 600 – 1,000 people lived here at the time of the arrival of Captain Cook (1778,) and about 200 at the time of the Māhele.

Much of the lower marshland surrounding the river was planted with taro; the higher dryland area leading to the ridges on both sides of the river was planted with trees, sugar cane, banana and sweet potato.  Groves of bamboo, ti leaves, kukui and hala trees at various locations indicate significant areas of ancient dwelling places.  (Kaʻanaʻana)

Ane Keohokālole, mother of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani received the bulk of the ahupuaʻa of Kahana at the Māhele; several kuleana awards to makaʻāinana (commoners) were scattered in the valley, as well as land for a school and roads.

Keohokālole received 5,050-acres, and the kuleana awards totaled less than 200-acres (the kuleana lands included the house lots and taro loʻi of the makaʻāinana.) The remainder of the ahupuaʻa included undeveloped uplands.

In 1856, Keohokālole and her husband Kapaʻakea created an asset pool, a type of trust.  As trustee, Keohokālole later sold Kahana (May 1857) to AhSing (also known as Apakana,) a Chinese merchant.  (LRB)

These lands later passed through the hands of a few other Chinese merchants  before being bought by a land hui composed of Hawaiian members of the Church of Jesus Chris Latter Day Saints, called the Ka Hui Kuʻai i ka ʻĀina ʻo Kahana in 1874. The hui had 95 members; most members getting one share, and a few receiving multiple shares.  (LRB)

The hui movement was not isolated to Kahana, it was throughout the Islands.  They were formed as an attempt to retain or reestablish part of the old system that predated private ownership granted through the Māhele.  (Stauffer)

Here, each shareholder had his or her own house lot and taro loʻi, but all had an undivided interest in the pasture and uplands, and in the freshwater rights, ocean fishing rights and Huilua fishpond.

Each member was allowed an equal share in the akule that were caught, and could have up to six animals running freely on the land (additional animals would be paid at a quarter per year.)  (LRB)

When the call came in the late-1880s for Mormons to gather at Salt Lake City, many from Kahana wanted to leave for Utah with other Hawaiian Mormons; at least a third of the founders of the Hawaiian Mormon Iosepa (Joseph) Colony in Utah were from Kahana.  (Stauffer)

Then, Mary Foster (daughter of James Robinson and wife of Thomas Foster – an initial organizer of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company, that later became Hawaiian Airlines) became involved in purchasing interests in land in Kahana.

This was the beginning a “bitter economic and legal struggle” with Kāneʻohe Ranch for control of the valley.  An out of court settlement was reached in 1901 in which Mary Foster bought out the Ranch’s interest, giving her a controlling interest in Kahana.

With added acquisitions, by 1920, she eventually owned 97% of the valley.  Mrs. Foster died in 1930, and Kahana passed to her estate and was held in trust for her heirs.

When World War II broke out, the military moved the Japanese families out, and in 1942 the US Army Corps of Engineers erected a jungle warfare training center in the valley.

In 1955, the Robinson Agency, acting as the agent for the Foster Estate, contracted with a planner for feasibility studies on Kahana. The report recommended making an authentic South Sea island resort village – an inn with 20 rooms, creating a small lake in the valley, and a nine-hole golf course.  Nothing happened as a result of this plan.

A study on usage of the valley as a public park was done, but no action was taken. Also in 1962, a private foundation presented a plan to create a scientific botanical garden.

In 1965, John J. Hulten (real estate appraiser and State Senator) prepared a report for DLNR noting that Kahana was ideally suited to be a regional park, offering seashore water sports, mountain camping, and salt and freshwater fishing, and a tropical botanical garden. “Properly developed it will be a major attraction with 1,000,000 visits annually.”

The “proper development” he had in mind included 600 “developable acres” for camping, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and swimming, and foresaw over 1,000 camping sites plus cabins, restaurant, and shops.

He said that a hotel and other commercial buildings could be developed, and wanted the creation of a 50 acre lake.  All of this development would be assisted by a botanical garden and a mauka road from Likelike Highway to Kahana.

In 1965, the State condemned the property for park purposes with a $5,000,000 price, paid in five annual installments (which included some federal funds.)   By 1969, the State owned Kahana free and clear.

A 1987 law authorized DLNR to issue long term residential leases to individuals who had been living on the lands and provided authorization for a residential subdivision in Kahana Valley. In 1993, the Department entered into 65 year leases covering 31 residential properties – in lieu of rent payments, the lessees are required to contribute at least twenty-five hours of service each month.

A later law (2008) created the Living Park Planning Council, placed within the DLNR for administrative purposes. The purpose of the Council was to create a master plan and advise the Department of matters pertaining to the park.

Kahana Valley State Park was renamed the Ahupuaʻa ʻo Kahana State Park in November 2000.  Kahana is the second-largest state park in the state park system (Na Pali Coast State Park is larger, at 6,175 acres.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kālia

In traditional times, Pi‘inaio Stream was the dominant feature of the western area of Waikīkī.

It entered the ocean as a wide, ribboned kahawai (wide delta,) bringing fresh waters from the mountain valleys and creating an area of abundance. The early-Hawaiians found this plentiful land and marine resources as an excellent place to settle (the early settlers arrived around 600 AD.).

The Stream played a vital role in the geography, and cultural usage, of the ‘ili of Kālia. The meaning of Pi‘inaio is uncertain but it could be an allusion to going inland (pi‘i), to the location of a naio (a sandalwood-like tree – as may have commonly grown in the vicinity.)  (Cultural Surveys)

Waikīkī was famous for its fishponds with one listing citing 45 ponds.  The ten fishponds at Kālia were loko puʻuone (isolated shore fishponds formed by a barrier sand berm) with salt-water lens intrusion and fresh water entering from upland ʻauwai (irrigation canals.)

The shallow relatively-protected reefs of Waikīkī and the availability of the riparian resources of the Pi‘inaio estuary made the back dune ponds easily adaptable into fish ponds.

The inland ponds may have formed along the coast where existing depressions in the sand were chosen to make the loko puʻuone, and brush was cleared out. During traditional times, the ponds were used to farm fish, usually for the Hawaiian Ali‘i (royalty). The ʻamaʻama (mullet) and the awa (milkfish) were the two types of fish traditionally raised in the ponds.

Kālia was once renowned for the fragrant limu līpoa, as well as several other varieties of seaweed such as manauea, wāwaeʻiole, ʻeleʻele, kala and some kohu.

Limu kala was harvested to make lei for offerings.  The lei limu kala was and is still offered at the kūʻula [stone god used to attract fish] by fishermen or anyone who wishes to be favored by or is grateful to the sea.

John Papa ʻĪʻī relates an account from the early-1800s of a catch at a Kālia fishpond: “so large that a great heap of fish lay spoiling upon the bank of the pond.” (The waste was disapproved of.) This abundance of fishponds may have required significant maintenance and would have provided a potentially huge source of food for distribution at chiefly discretion.

The name of the area “Kālia” translated as “waited for” has a sense of “waiting”, “loitering” or “hesitating.” While the nuance is uncertain, one could imagine that the mouth of the Pi‘inaio Stream would be a logical place for travelers to pause.

An ʻōlelo noʻeau (Hawaiian proverb/saying) speaks of the pleasant portion of the coast of Kālia in Waikīkī:  Ke kai wawalo leo leʻa o Kālia, The pleasing, echoing sea of Kālia.  (Pukui)

Kālia is also mentioned in a story about a woman who left her husband and children on Kīpahulu, Maui, to go away with a man of O‘ahu. Her husband missed her and went to see a kahuna (priest) who was skilled in hana aloha (prayer to evoke love) sorcery.

The kahuna told the man to find a container with a lid and then speak into it of his love for his wife. The kahuna then uttered an incantation into the container, closed it, and threw it into the sea. The wife was fishing one morning at Kālia, O‘ahu, and saw the container. She opened the lid, and was possessed by a great longing to return to her husband. She walked until she found a canoe to take her home (Pukui): Ka makani kāʻili aloha o Kīpahulu; The love-snatching wind of Kīpahulu (Cultural Surveys)

In Fragments of Hawaiian History John Papa ʻĪʻī described “Honolulu trails of about 1810,” including the trail from Honolulu to Waikiki. He said that: Kawaiahaʻo which led to lower Waikiki went along Kaʻananiau, into the coconut grove at Pawaʻa, the coconut grove of Kuakuaka, then down to Piʻinaio; along the upper side of Kahanaumaikai‘s coconut grove, along the border of Kaihikapu pond, into Kawehewehe; then through the center of Helumoa of Puaʻaliʻiliʻi, down to the mouth of the Āpuakēhau Stream.

Based on ʻĪʻī‘s description, the trail from Honolulu to Waikiki in 1810 coursed through the makai side of the present Fort DeRussy grounds in the vicinity of Kālia Road. It is likely that this trail was a long-established traditional route through Waikiki.

Toward the beginning of the 1900s, downtown Honolulu was the destination for Hawaiian visitors, who numbered only about 3,000. While Honolulu had numerous hotels, there were few places to stay in Waikiki.

In 1891, at Kālia, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikiki to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped in 1928 as the Niumalu Hotel; the site eventually became the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

In 1911, the Army acquired 70-acres for the construction of Fort DeRussy and started filling in the fishponds which covered most of the Fort – pumping fill from the ocean continuously for nearly a year in order to build up an area on which permanent structures could be built.

Then, as part of the government’s Waikīkī Land Reclamation project, the Waikīkī landscape was further transformed with the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal – begun in 1921 and completed in 1928 – resulted in the draining and filling in of the ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

Dredging for the project was performed by Hawaiian Dredging Company, owned by Walter F. Dillingham, who then sold the dredged sediments to Waikīkī developers. The dredge produced fill for the reclamation of over 600-acres of land in the Waikīkī vicinity.

The ʻili of Kālia runs from the ʻEwa end of today’s Ala Moana Center (near Piʻikoi Street) to the vicinity of the Halekūlani Hotel (makai of Kalākaua Avenue.)  (Lots of information here from Cultural Surveys.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Henry Wise

On a cold Saturday afternoon November 19, 1892, Oberlin’s Yeomen football team took the field in Ann Arbor against the heavily favored Michigan Wolverines (which had trounced them handily the year before.)  Oberlin’s new coach, Johann Wilhelm Heisman, brought an undefeated team with him to Ann Arbor.

(After several successful years of coaching, Heisman became director of the Downtown Athletic Club in Manhattan, New York.  The club awarded a trophy to the best football player east of the Mississippi River.)

(On December 10, 1936, just two months after Heisman’s death, the trophy was renamed the Heisman Memorial Trophy; it’s now given to the season’s most outstanding collegiate football player.)

OK, back to Oberlin and their fateful game.

One of Oberlin’s players was from Hawaiʻi, theology student John Henry Wise, half-Hawaiian and half-German; he came to Oberlin after graduating from Kamehameha Schools (he was part of the KS inaugural class in 1887.)

It is believed Wise was the first Hawaiian to participate in college football.  He was considered their best lineman.

Newspapers noted Wise’s immense strength, reporting that he was “able to run with three men on his back without noticing the extra weight,” and referred to Wise and his fellow lineman ‘Jumbo’ Teeters as “two of the biggest men ever seen on a football field.”

Football was quickly becoming a dominant pastime on college campuses across the country, and this young Hawaiian was one of its rising stars.  (Williams)

It’s not clear what the ‘official’ outcome of the game was.  The team captains agreed on a shortened second half, to end at 4:50 pm, so Oberlin could catch the last train home.  With less than a minute to go it was Oberlin 24, Michigan 22. As Michigan launched its last drive, the referee (from Oberlin) announced time had expired, and the Oberlin squad left the field to catch the train.

Next the umpire (from Michigan) ruled that four minutes remained, owing to timeouts that Oberlin’s timekeeper had not recorded. Michigan then walked the ball over the goal line for an uncontested touchdown and was declared the winner, 26 to 24. By that time the Oberlinians were headed home clutching their own victory, 24 to 22. (oberlin-edu)

(The scoring values in 1892 were five points for a field goal, four points for a touchdown, and two points each for a PAT (point after try) and safety.)

Who really won that game in 1892? The Michigan Daily and Detroit Tribune reported that Michigan had won the game, while The Oberlin News and The Oberlin Review reported that Oberlin had won.  Both schools continue to claim victory.  (oberlin-edu)

But being the first Hawaiian to play college football is only part of Wise’s legacy.

When Wise returned home in 1893, the Islands were in turmoil – Queen Liliʻuokalani was overthrown and a Provisional Government had been formed.  Wise became a key member of the resistance, helping plan a January 1895 counter-revolution to restore Queen Lili‘uokalani to the throne by force.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of battles on the island of Oʻahu.

It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.  The goal of the rebellion failed; Wise and over three hundred royalists (including Prince Kūhiō) were arrested.

On February 5, 1895, Wise was tried under martial law, but refused to testify against his compatriots and pleaded guilty to “misprision of treason” (knowing of a treasonous plot and failing to inform the government.)

He was sentenced to three years’ hard labor.  Wise, though sentenced to a shorter term than many who were freed, remained behind bars. He was part of a final group of eight prisoners released on New Year’s Day 1896. (Williams)

In 1907, Prince Kūhiō, along with other prominent Hawaiian men including Wise, reorganized and restored to public light, the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. In 1917, Prince Kūhiō, along with four other prominent Hawaiian men (John C. Lane, John H. Wise, Noah Aluli and Jesse Ulihi,) established the Hawaiian Civic Clubs.  (ROOK)

Wise got into politics, serving in leadership positions for all three of the major political parties of the era: Independent Home Rule, Democratic and Republican, always as an advocate fighting for the rights of native people. (Williams)

On November 13, 1914, 200-Hawaiians (including Wise) attended a meeting at the Waikīkī residence of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole and agreed to form the Ahahui Puʻuhonua O Na Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Protective Association), an organization which would work to uplift the Hawaiian people. US Delegate to Congress Prince Kūhiō, together with others, including Wise, were selected to draft the constitution and by-laws of the organization.  (McGregor)

In December 1918, the association’s legislative committee finalized the draft of a “rehabilitation” resolution.  Wise (who was serving as Territorial Representative (and later as Senator)) introduced it when the Territorial legislature opened in January 1919 – this set the foundation for the legislative effort to have the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act passed by Congress.

By April 25, 1919, the Territorial House of Representatives passed the resolution, and Wise was appointed to a Territorial Legislative Committee responsible for carrying the Territory’s legislative package to Congress.

In testimony before Congress, Wise stated, “The Hawaiian people are a farming people and fishermen, out-of-door people, and when they were frozen out of their lands and driven into the cities they had to live in the cheapest places, tenements. That is one of the big reasons why the Hawaiian people are dying. Now, the only way to save them, I contend, is to take them back to the lands and give them the mode of living that their ancestors were accustomed to and in that way rehabilitate them.”

“We are not only asking for justice in the matter of division of the lands, but we are asking that the great people of the United States should pause for one moment and, instead of giving all your help to Europe, give some help to the Hawaiians and see if you can not rehabilitate this noble people.”  (Congressional Record, 1920)

The effort to pass the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act took from December 1918 to July 1921; on July 9, 1921, the bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law.  The US Congress set aside close to 200,000-acres of former Crown and Kingdom lands for exclusive homesteading by Hawaiians of at least half Hawaiian ancestry.

It called for the formation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission to administer the homesteading program and noted that lands would be parceled out for homesteading under 99-year leases at a charge of $1 per year.

Wise retired from politics in 1925 and took up the quiet life of a farmer on Moloka‘i, where he raised pigs and grew taro. But he soon returned to Honolulu – there, he helped restore Hawaiian language instruction at his alma mater, Kamehameha Schools.

Frank Midkiff, KS president and later trustee, reminisced: “I thought it would be good to help our young people learn Hawaiian. So we got the trustees to make Hawaiian language a required course. The students were very interested in it and happy. But soon several parents came in and objected. ‘Why do you teach our children Hawaiian? … Before, here, our children were punished if they spoke Hawaiian. They were required to speak English. That is what they need.’”  (Eyre)

Midkiff continued: “I hated to give up what I knew was good for them. I took it to the trustees. … The trustees said, ‘Well, let’s make it elective. Maybe that will be acceptable.’ But before long, after it was made elective, several gave it up and before long the courses had to be withdrawn. All followed the parents’ inclination and the teaching of Hawaiian language and culture was given up for that time being.” (Eyre)

But Midkiff, a speaker of Hawaiian, did not give up. Later that year, he and Wise wrote and published a Hawaiian language textbook, “A First Course in Hawaiian Language.” (Eyre)

One year later, and two years after the first Hawaiian language course was dropped, John Wise was hired and Hawaiian was reinstated in the curriculum, using the Midkiff/Wise textbook.  (Eyre)  In the same year, Wise was also hired by the University of Hawai‘i as its second-ever professor of Hawaiian language. (Williams)

John Henry Wise was born on July 19, 1869 in Kapaʻau, North Kohala; he died of pneumonia on August 12, 1937, at the age of 68.  At a meeting soon after his death, the University of Hawai‘i, which he helped found by sponsoring the bill that created it in 1919, named the school’s athletic field Wise Field (it was torn up and relocated long ago.) (Williams)

Staying on the football theme … we used to have UH football season tickets; now we have Colorado State football season tickets. Today, UH plays CSU in Colorado – we’ll be there. Go RamBows!

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