“Who’s Your Papa (aloa)?”

The old village of Papaaloa is located along the Hamakua Coastline on the eastern part of the Big Island -- 23 miles north of Hilo. It is one of the many plantation towns that line Highway 19. Papaaloa is near some of Hawaii’s most stunning waterfalls including Akaka Falls and the Kahuna Falls, as well as one of Hawaii’s most beautiful places -- the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens -- as well as close to the Laupahoehoe Train Museum and Laupahoehoe Point.

In 1954 two thousand guests celebrated the eighth birthday of Lani Matsu, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Matsu of Papaaloa. He was chairman of Unit 8, ILWU Local 142 and worked outside as a poison truck driver. This birthday party was significant because it symbolized improved labor relations between the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) and the Laupahoehoe Sugar Company who had its only remaining mill located in Papaaloa.

“The Filipino union members prepared a nine course dinner of their native dishes while the Japanese friends prepared their native delicacies. Tables were also decked with a full course Hawaiian dinner, “down to raw liver,” as guests commented. Gallons and gallons of delicious opihi and shrimps form the gulches were served. Hula dancers from Hilo in costume waited at tables and did several numbers.” hawaii.edu/Honolulu Record

The Laupahoehoe Sugar Company was established in 1880 and the new plantation employed 70 men, 50 mules and 70 oxen. Plantation fields extended approximately ten miles along the coast and rose to 1850 feet above sea level. Ending in high sea cliffs, 22 gulches divided the company land.

Laupahoehoe Sugar had a unique transportation system to supply the factory with cane. A steam hoist lifted cane-loaded cars up 1,100 feet by cable at Maulu Gulch. At the top, the cane was dumped into flumes and traveled to the mill about a mile distant.

Labor relations were not always what were hoped. In fact, seven years earlier in 1947 a young girl of 16 fell off a truck as she was riding to work in the fields during her summer vacation from school. She was subsequently run over by a company truck and suffered a fractured pelvis and permanent damage to her left leg leaving it one-and-one-half inch shorter than her right leg.

The company wrote to the Bureau of Workmen’s compensation, “On the basis of Dr. Hatt’s (a company hired “expert”) examination, technically there is no defect, but because of the pelvis deformity that exists, which will in future prevent normal childbirth” the company would be agreeable to an award of 10 per cent. Hawaii.edu/HonoluluRecord/

This was after such behavior precipitated the “Hilo Massacre” in August, 1938, in Hilo, Hawaii, when over 70 police officers attempted to disband 200 unarmed protesters. In their attempts to disband the crowd, officers gassed, hosed and finally fired their riot guns, leading to 50 injuries, but no deaths.

uhwo.hawaii

These protesters were multi-ethnic, including Chinese, Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Luso (people from countries with Portuguese roots) and Filipino Americans. In addition, the strikers were not from one single union; members of many different unions, including the ILWU participated. The different groups, long at odds, put aside their differences to demand equal wages with workers on the West Coast of the United States.

As a postscript in October 1938, injured protester Kai Uratani filed a lawsuit against the officers responsible for the shooting. He lost, and instead had to pay for the officers' defense costs.

So why was this party in Papaaloa some 18 years later such a big deal? Well, for one thing it was the culmination of a two-day program put on by the ILWU. And, the company’s manager participated (!) leading to the Honolulu Record’s comment, the Papaaloa and Laupahoehoe communities where the local newspapers made anti-ILWU attacks almost daily “are today not the same places any more. The shining proof of the healthy change was the gala celebration of the ILWU by Local 142, Unit 8.”

I guess time really does heal all wounds.

One reason I like selling real estate is the great people I get to meet. Another, is the opportunity it provides to learn more about the vast variety of towns and villages on the Big Island. My company recently listed a property in Papaaloa which led me to this research (www.WesIsland.com).

David Douglas (Douglas Fir) and Hawaii

Living in Connecticut some time ago we always looked for Douglas Firs this time of year for our Christmas tree (“Doug-fir” to my son). Probably as a reaction to growing up in Ohio and having sparse balsam fir trees all my early life (think Charlie Brown trees), I grew to prefer the lush, long-needled Douglas Fir for the holidays.

Moving to Hawaii I was surprised to learn that David Douglas, for whom the tree is named, died here on the Big Island at the young age of only 35. On July 12, 1834 while trying to explore Mauna Kea he fell into a bullock pit, or was pushed, and then died from wounds from being gored by a steer either already in the pit or one that fell in later.

His life is venerated by many, particularly by botanists of all stripes, and by his native Scotland and those of Scottish descent. In fact, there is a marker indicating where his death occurred erected in the 1930’s by the Robert Burns Society of Hilo. It is called Kaluakauka ("Doctor's Pit" in the Hawaiian language).

David Douglas Memorial, Hawaii Island

Photo: Gordon Mason

The circumstances around his passing are confusing because before beginning his trek he was alerted to the location of the three bullock pits on the trail, and he had already passed two. Some think he may have been examining the third and accidentally fallen into it. Others think that his host the prior night, a “well-known scoundrel,” may have followed him and robbed Douglas of his gold – which he was known to carry with him – before pushing him into the pit.

We do know that Douglas was expected back in Hilo to again stay with the Lyman’s, one of the earlier missionary families. Virtually all visitors to the island ended up at the Lyman’s sooner or later, at least for dinner, including Mark Twain and the many whaleboat captains who used Hilo’s harbor for provisioning.

David Douglas had been with the Lymans prior to his successful climb over Mauna Loa and was expected to stay with them on his return from Mauna Kea.

His remains were salted and sent to Oahu for an autopsy which proved to be inconclusive. Douglas was then buried at Kawiaihoa Church in Honolulu, where a plaque commemorates his achievements.

Douglas accomplished an amazing amount in his short life, for instance, he introduced more North American plants to Europe than anyone else (more than 250). There are about 50 plant species and one genus (Douglasia) bearing his name. After his death, the great tree of western North America was given the name Douglas fir. Kathleen Airdrie

A documentary film, Finding David Douglas, about the life and achievements of Douglas has just been completed and its United States premier will be Thursday, April 8, 2010 at the World Forestry Center, 4033 SW Canyon Road, Portland, Oregon – time to be determined (http://www.ochcom.org/).

So heads up to all our friends in Portland! All pictures from Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission website.

Blog: Temperatures Drop Below Minus 459⁰F in Hawaii !

Perhaps the coldest spot in the universe is on the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island. It is inside a giant, complex camera known as SCUBA-2 that is mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), a joint project of the national astronomy organizations in the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.

SCUBA-2, when fully operational, will detect sub millimeter radiation, which is sensitive to the heat emitted by the extremely cold dust in the Universe. This technical advancement is expected to make discoveries related to the origins of the galaxies, stars and planets.

Looking at Scuba2

In order to detect such low levels of heat, the detectors inside the camera must be as sensitive as possible. To achieve this they must be cooled to within a tenth of a degree above absolute zero (or about -459 Fahrenheit). And to prevent the detectors being affected by heat from the camera itself, the internal optics of the camera must also be cooled. As a result, the complete camera is the size of a family car, weighing about four tons!

“With a much larger field-of-view and sky-background limited sensitivity, SCUBA 2 will map large areas of sky up to 1000 times faster than the current SCUBA camera. All areas of astronomy will benefit, from studies of our Solar System and surveys of proto stellar complexes in the Milky Way, to answering key questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early Universe.” (Science & Technology Facilities Council, UK Astronomy Technology Centre).

More details may be found at http://astro.uwaterloo.ca/SCUBA2/Posters&Presentations/SCUBA2_descriptionV1.pdf

http://www.roe.ac.uk/ukatc/projects/scubatwo/

All photos are courtesy of Devany Davidson.

SCUBA-2 took seven years to build and was the result of a joint initiative of groups and institutions in the United Kingdom and Canada including the Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC) at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; the University of Cardiff; the University of Waterloo;the University of British Columbia; the University of Lethbridge; and the Université de Montréal. Initial funding for development work came from the JCMT Instrument Development Fund. Funds for the construction of SCUBA-2 were provided by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council(UK) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Apologizes to anyone who blogged “scuba diving” and ended up here.