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November 8, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keanakolu

Aia i ka lai o Keanakolu,
Kuu lei mamane lu‘a i ke anu.

There in the calm of Keanakolu,
Is my garland of mamane blossoms that droop in the cold.
(“Ka Pua Mamane” Ka Hoku o Hawaii (November 23, 1938) (Maly)

Keanakolu (‘Three Caves’) is named for a cluster of lava-tube caves nearby that likely provided shelter well before the cattle arrived, when the mountain was roamed by bird-catchers collecting feathers for Hawaii’s dramatic royal cloaks.  (Patel)

“Rockshelters in gulches and lava tubes were regularly used throughout the period of ranching, and one identified cave complex, Keanakolu (literally: the three caves), was likely used in the precontact era as well as throughout the ranching period.” (Peter Mills)

The caves, “one supposed to go Hilo, one Kona, one Hāmākua” (Johnny Ah San; Maly) are located between the 5,300 ft. and 6,400 ft. elevation on the slopes of Mauna Kea near the border of the North Hilo and Hāmākua Districts. (Mills; UH Maunakea Stewardship)

“So the three caves…actually what they call Keanakolu now, is not where the caves are eh?… The caves are above. You know where Douglas Pit? … Yes. … On the…well, we call it the Hāmākua side. There’s a little gulch, then you go up.”

“Oh, so from Douglas Pit, Hāmākua side, there’s a gulch, and you walk up the gulch? … Yes, the old Russian camp [On October 9th, Mr. Ah San reconfirmed that it was his understanding, as told by L. Bryan, that there had been a Russian settlement in the area as well.].” (Exchange between Kepa Maly and Johnny Ah San)

“Well, they tried to build something. That’s why they have stone walls and little shacks like up here. But nobody knows who put this. The Russians or what… It’s all gone now, the building. And there is the stone corral up there.”

“So we’re just a short distance away from the three caves? … Yes, just down the slope [to the north]. … And we’re here by the stone corral and the old stone house? …”

“Yes, the corral. And the house, nobody knew. A shack, nobody knew what it was. Then there are more stone walls, like Robinson Crusoe shelter. Maybe the people built that so the pigs don’t get in. But no more door, so how did the people get in and out? The four corners are all closed.”  (Exchange between Kepa Maly and Johnny Ah San)

Cattle were introduced to Hawai‘i in 1793 by Captain George Vancouver; Kamehameha immediately instituted a kapu on the animals for a period of ten years. The animals became a serious problem, as they survived and reproduced handsomely in the wild

 Ellis (1825) writes that the cattle “resorted to the mountains and became so wild and ferocious that the natives are afraid to go near them.” By the 1820s, cattle hunting was an industry, for salted and barreled beef was a valuable commodity for the growing provisioning trade related to Pacific whaling.

A trade in hides and tallow also developed and by the 1830s was the primary focus of cattle hunting; an article in the July 1, 1843 Friend reported that 10,686 bullock hides were exported from Hawai‘i. (Tomonari-Tuggle)

The trade of bullock hunting began in the early 1800s and by mid-century had developed into formal cattle ranching, with dire results in some areas from overgrazing. (“The forest on this area is doomed ⎯ only a matter of a few years of persistent grazing.”) (Tomonari-Tuggle)

During the early historic period, the upland section of the Laupāhoehoe forests were impacted by herds of wild sheep and bullocks. By 1825, foreign bullock hunters had established camps on the outer edges of the forest, in the region where Laupāhoehoe and neighboring lands are cut off by the ahupua‘a of Humu‘ula. (Maly)

By the 1830s, cattle ranching, as opposed to hunting, was developing in the Waimea area. Much of the initial stock of the cattle herds was the wild cattle, although by mid-century, there was a movement to improve the stock by importing purebred cattle.

By 1859, the wild cattle were hunted almost solely for their hides, which being unbranded brought a higher price than branded tame cattle.

Like cattle, sheep were introduced to Hawai‘i in the closing years of the 18th century and became a serious threat to the health of the forest. In 1856, an informal sheep station was established near Humu‘ula on the Mauna Kea-Mauna Loa saddle to take advantage of the feral sheep population.  (Parker Ranch acquired the sheep station in 1914). (Tomonari-Tuggle)

In Humu‘ula, the Waimea Grazing and Agricultural Company first established ranching stations at Kalai‘ehā, Laumai‘a, and Hopuwai, and possibly also Keanakolu and Lahohinu, where cattle were raised. These stations represent the first significant capital investments in commercial enterprises in the Humu‘ula region. (Peter Mills)

“In 1876, WGAC sold its lease of Humu‘ula to James W. Gay of Honolulu for a 25-year term. Gay established the Humu‘ula Sheep Company, and his headquarters were at Keanakolu.”

“The lease was underwritten by Paul Isenberg, a Hawaiian senator who also served as a manager of the German-run merchant firm, H. Hackfeld & Company.” (Mills)

In the 1930s, there was an estimated 40,000 sheep around the summit of Mauna Kea. A major project of the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was the construction of a stock-proof fence encircling the entire mountain, combined with systematic hunting to reduce the population of wild cattle, sheep, and pigs. (Tomonari-Tuggle)

By the 1880s, the original sheep ranch station at Keanakolu (in the original place of that name, near the Laupāhoehoe-Humu‘ula boundary), was built, and historic photos from 1885 depict ranch buildings made of koa logs.

There remain on the land in the present-day, the ruins of stone shelters, pens, and foundations on the upper Laupāhoehoe-Humu‘ula region. Noted places such as Keanakolu (not the same location of the present-day cabin of that name), Lahohinu, and Keahua-ai (Douglas Pit), are considered significant features of the historical landscape. (Maly)

“There were three, four stations, Keanakolu, Hopuwai, Laumai‘a and Kalai‘eha. And the best pasture was on the Keanakolu side. But when there was good pasture on this side, you would move them out. And we would take those cattle up as old yearlings, I guess you would call them.  We’d wean them from their mother’s, take them to Pā‘auhau, hold ‘em there.”

“These are all heifers, we’re talking about. Then they got to be a certain age, then we’d take ‘em to Keanakolu, and we might take, oh eight, nine hundred, a thousand head at a crack.”

“And we’d time it, so that the Humu‘ula cattle… We’d pick Humu‘ula cattle out that grew up there. And they’d stay there until they grew out, and when they came back they’d either go into the breeding herd, if they were good, or the junk one’s would be sent to market.”

“in the olden days, they never moved cattle from Humu‘ula, that’s Kalai‘eha, what I’m calling Humu‘ula, Kalai‘eha to Waiki‘i. They always used to go around Keanakolu side.”  (Leonard Radcliffe “Rally” Greenwell; Maly)

The Rev. Mr. J. M. Lydgate “visited an abandoned fruit orchard at Keanakolu, which is situated on the southern slope of Mauna Kea on the Island of Hawaii at an elevation of about five thousand feet.”

“This orchard was planted about twenty-five or more years ago close to where the Humu‘ula Sheep Ranch house was then situated. The headquarters at Keanakolu were afterward abandoned and the fruit orchard was left uncared for.”

“Very fortunately, however, a fence strong enough to prevent cattle, wild goats, and other animals from damaging the trees had been erected, and it is because of this that we are enabled to judge of what results might have been obtained in other places had the same condition prevailed.”

“Mr. Lydgate found apple, plum, pear, apricot, cherry, and peach trees, and several varieties of each. He states that the apple trees run mostly to whips, causing a meager crop of fruit, but Mrs. Lydgate claims that those she saw were of excellent quality.”

“The fine crop of Bartlett pears and the cherries and peaches were, at the time of their visit, too green to eat, though the cherries, which were few, are probably ripe by this time. There were but few peaches, but those seen were of good size.”

“The plum and apricot crops had already matured and there was no fruit left by which one might form an opinion, but it is said that the fruits have been gathered by those who have visited the orchard during the past few years, and have been found equal to those grown on the mainland.”

“One peculiarity that Mr. Lydgate could not explain was the ripening of the apricots long before the cherries. The opposite condition prevails in California, apricots coming into market there some weeks after the close of the cherry season.”  (Mesick, Paradise of the Pacific, September 1909)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Mauna Kea, Keanakolu, Ranching, Sheep Station

November 4, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Eben’s Glove

“He was always immaculately dressed and tailored when I saw him.” (Lucas; Watumull)

He was married to Elizabeth Pu‘uki Napoleon (“really Napoli. … Became known as Napoleon later.”)

“She was always known as Lizzie Low. My mother’s people were not well known to us because she was hanaied by Judge and Mrs. Sanford B. Dole when she was about twelve years of age [circa 1879].”

“Judge Dole was a teacher at Kawaiaha‘o Sunday School and had in his class a little girl of about six whose name was Lizzie Napoleon. And he became very attached to this little girl so when she got a little older, he asked her mother if she wouldn’t allow her to live with them.”

“She didn’t want to go at first but she did finally become attached to both Judge and Mrs. Dole and lived there until she was married.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“My father was known as Rawhide Ben because ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper, I guess, he loved the ranch life. And he was brought up as a member of the family in Mana and Kamuela with the rest of them.”

“So as a little boy he always had a chance to do something with animals. And this was his whole life. All he ever thought about was his cowboy experiences. But he became known as Rawhide Ben …”

“… I think, because even though he was sent to Maui and then to Honolulu later, at Iolani School, to get educated when he was a little fellow, he always went back to the ranch and that was all he wanted to do.”

“And as soon as he became an adult, his first job – big job – was given him by Theo. H. Davies and Company as manager of Puakea Ranch which is in Kohala – South Kohala there.”

Eben Parker Low was born in Honolulu, a great grandson of John Palmer Parker I and his Hawaiian wife, Kipikane. He spent his early years on Parker Ranch, Handling cows and calves by the time he was six years old.”

“He had very little education; in his own words, ‘… just plain common sense plus some English grammar and arithmetic and writing.’”

“At the age of 26 he became manager of Pu‘uhue ranch in Kohala, and began a career that made him one of the big island’s most famous and colorful paniolo.” (Hawaii Cattlemen’s Hall of Fame)

Unfortunately, he lost a portion of his left arm while roping … “he was trying to get a wild bullock that they had been chasing for a long time and he finally caught it but it was very wild and the thing was just swishing around this way (she indicates to the right and around the back of her) …”

“… so he had just enough time to duck down and the rope (with which the bullock was lassoed) went over his head. But he had the rope tied at the end of his pommel, which he never does ordinarily but he did that time because he didn’t want to lose it. And it caught his hand, see, ‘cause the loop was around his hand and it just tore the thing right off.”

“So then, there was one man with him and I don’t know how long they had – about two hours before they could get to anyplace. And of course he had this thing up and was bleeding like a cut pig.”

“And when they finally found the doctor and could get him up there, hours had passed and gangrene was starting to come in, so they cut it. They had to cut it down here (indicates forearm) and had to cut it again at the elbow.”

“But he got through that and, well, he was a young man then. I think he was about twenty-five when that happened, so he had a lot of time to get over it, too.” (Lucas; Watumull)

“Low was known as ‘one of the better artists with a rope, horse and steer’. Low had lost his left hand in a roping accident, but ‘managed to excel at roping despite his handicap of the one missing hand’”. (Marion Kelly)

“(H)e had that one arm that had to be amputated forearm and so he’d … usually wore a … false hand with a glove on his left hand and then when he roped he had a thing he’d put on with a hook it just you know a mean hook it you’d look like a pirate you look at the pictures of old pirates”. (Billy Paris; Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association)

“And I remember that leather glove. I always remembered that leather glove. I can just see him so clearly.”

“Yeah, he was a rascal with that glove because obviously, you know, there was an artificial arm. Let’s see now, his arm was cut here (indicates it was just below the elbow) so there was just a little leverage here, right below the elbow, and would give him leverage, so this thing – this gloved hand – would fit right into the end of this stump.”

“And so, he could twist it and take it off or not as he pleased. And half the time he would take it off and put a hook on it because he could handle a hook more easily than he could a glove. But oh, he used to do terrible things with that glove.”

“For instance, I remember one time when a woman – I can’t remember who she was now but it was someone that I thought should not have been in any way fooled with because she was very dignified and she was very well dressed and she was so sedate, so prim and proper …”

“… and my father just couldn’t stand it and so he just twisted this thing off and threw the [gloved] hand in her lap. That woman nearly died of a heart attack.” (Lucas; Watumull)

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Eben 'Rawhide Ben' Low-PP-75-5-007-1939
Eben ‘Rawhide Ben’ Low-PP-75-5-007-1939

Filed Under: Economy, General, Prominent People Tagged With: Rawhide Ben, Hawaii, Cattle, Eben Low, Ranching

May 9, 2012 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Cattle In Hawai‘i

With the arrival of Western ships, new plants and animals soon found their way to the Hawaiian Islands.
The simple‐seeming gift of a few cattle given to Kamehameha I by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 made a major impact on the Hawai`i’s economy and ecosystem.
It also spawned a rich tradition of cowboy and ranch culture that is still here today.
Spaniards introduced the first cattle to Veracruz, Mexico in 1521.  Vancouver picked up descendants of these animals from the Spanish mission in Monterey, California when he set off across the Pacific, intending to use them as food and gifts.
Cattle were not the only animals introduced to Hawai`i during this period.  In 1778, Captain Cook left both goats and pigs.
British introduced sheep in the 1790s and they all soon roamed on Mauna Kea and Hualālai.  In 1803, American Richard Cleveland presented horses ‐ a stallion and a mare ‐ to Kamehameha.
When Vancouver landed additional cattle at Kealakekua in 1794, he strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.
In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance.  By 1846, 25,000-wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000-semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.
A wild bull or cow could weigh 1,200 to 1,500-pounds and had a six‐foot horn spread.  Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people.
Kamehameha III lifted the kapu in 1830 and the hunting of wild cattle was encouraged.  The king hired cattle hunters from overseas to help in the effort; many of these were former convicts from Botany Bay in Australia.
Hunting sometimes ended in inadvertent tragedy.  In 1834, the trampled dead body of Scottish botanist David Douglas, for whom the Douglas Fir tree is named, was discovered in a cattle-trap pit on Mauna Kea.
Hawaiʻi’s wild cattle population needed to be controlled for safety reasons, but the arrival of cattle hunters and Mexican vaquero (“Paniolo”) also happened to coincide with an economic opportunity.
In the early-1830s, trade in sandalwood slowed down as island forests became depleted.  At about the same time, whaling ships hunting in the north Pacific began wintering in Hawaiian waters.
Ships provisioning in Hawaiʻi ports provided a market for salt beef, in addition to hides and tallow.  With the economic push of providing provisions to the whaling fleets, ranching became a commercial enterprise that grew in the islands.
Cattle ranching remains an important export and food industry in Hawai‘i.
The total number of cattle and calves on Hawai‘i’s ranches as of January 1, 2012 was estimated at 140,000-head, roaming nearly 750,000-acres of pasture land.
When living in Waimea, I had a brief experience in “ranching.”
We picked up a day-old dairy bull calf from an Āhualoa dairy; we named him “Freezer Burn.”  We removed the middle seat and transported him back home in our VW van.  (I know; real cowboys don’t name their steers.)
After bottle-feeding him and briefly pasturing him, he ditched the premises and hooked up with part of the Parker Ranch herd.
The image shows them swimming cattle to a transport boat, farther out in the bay.  In addition, I have included some other images of cattle transport using this similar technique in a folder of like name in the Photos section of my Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

Filed Under: Economy, General Tagged With: Cattle, Captain Vancouver, Ranching, Hawaii, Kamehameha

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