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This article discusses pronunciation as well as different descriptions of areas of the Moku of Hāmākua. It includes a section on the history of Waipiʻo and the boundaries of the Ahupuaa. It tells also of the history of conquest and the significance of the valley to the people in agriculture and spirit.

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Listen to Inoa Matters for Hāmākua to learn more about place and street names - how to pronounce them and some background information for each. It can be tricky to pronounce names because not all public signage includes the diacritical marks like the ʻokina (glottal stop) and kahakō (macron or line over a vowel).

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WAIPI'O: MANO WAI : AN ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION

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WAIPI'O: MANO WAI : AN ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION

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This oral history project collect direct accounts from families in Hawaii all over the islands. This paper contains many excerpts from families directly from and impacted by event in Waipio. The excerpts also speak about waipio's resilience to famines in the 1200s when many came to the area for help. It also examines the loss of self sufficiency in the are as time went on.

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New user? Click here to register. Have you forgotten your password?

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This report highlights the way of life and lives of people in Waipi‘o Valley from before 1778. It then highlights the peried from then until 1880, showing how these times affected the people and way of life. After that the report summarizes changes in agriculture from 1880 to 1942 and on.

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The Bishop Museum’s Anthropology Department has prepared two reports that examine the history of Waipi`o Valley. They are available in pdf format to download and print.

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The Mahele and Later in Waipio Valley, Hawaii

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The Mahele and Later in Waipio Valley, Hawaii

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This report focuses more on the time of the mahele and how this affected agricultural practices and social life. This report includes missionary records, census data reports, moolelo, and the change of traditional practices.

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The Bishop Museum’s Anthropology Department has prepared two reports that examine the history of Waipi`o Valley. They are available in pdf format to download and print.

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The article explores the history of Waipiʻo Valley on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island, once a royal center and home to significant battles and sacred sites like Honuaʻula and Pakaʻalana heiaus. It highlights the valley’s thriving taro farming, which supported thousands of residents, and its later shift to rice farming and poi production. Devastating tidal waves in 1819 and 1946 led to a decline in agriculture and population. Access to the valley remains limited due to its steep roadway. Historical images included in the article help bring Waipiʻo’s rich past and lush landscapes to life.

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The valley floor was once the largest wetland kalo (taro) cultivation site on the Big Island and one of the largest in the Islands; but only a small portion of the land is still in production today…

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This image displays the structured lifestyle of the Hawaiians pre Mahele. The industrial development is not yet out of control and the image looks synergistic.

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This map gives us historical sites to examine within the area. We can see all of the fishponds and Heiaus.

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Aerial view of Waipi‘o Valley, 3 May 1925

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Aerial view of Waipi‘o Valley, 3 May 1925

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We can see a semi-clear view of the relatively undisturbed valley compared to today, even in 1925. We can still view clearing and obvious change of the land. During this point there is a shift in eating rice over poi because of the price.

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Aerial view of Waipi‘o Valley, ca. 1935

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Aerial view of Waipi‘o Valley, ca. 1935

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This is another ariel view of the Valley.

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LCAs with Kula in Mahele Period Documents

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LCAs with Kula in Mahele Period Documents

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This shows the awards of land with pasturelands on it. We can see another change of lifestyle through this diagram.

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LCAs With Lo‘i  in Mahele Period Documents

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LCAs With Lo‘i  in Mahele Period Documents

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In contrast we see lo'i standing firm after the mahele as this was a staple from the people and could not be erased. However, we would still se a dietary shift due to price.

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Land Commission Awards with House lots in the Valley

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Land Commission Awards with House lots in the Valley

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We can see the Hawaiian way of life change visually as the division of land would lead to the segmentation and disconnection of their synergetic society. This provides insight to the loss of lands.

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LCAs With Wauke in Mahele Period Documents

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LCAs With Wauke in Mahele Period Documents

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We can see that there was little designated lands post Mahele for the agricultural needs for traditional cloth making. This would mean that change these lands in the future would disrupt the way of life. This would turn out true.

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Fornander, A. (1918–1919). Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore (pp. 176-181)

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Fornander, A. (1918–1919). Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore (pp. 176-181)

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The legend of Kihapi‘ilani highlights divine spiritual aspects of Hawaiian society. The story also ties spirituality towards Waipiʻo and highlight it as a place of deep spirituality.

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Fornander collection 5 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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Kalākaua, D. (1888). The legends and myths of Hawaii: The fables and folk-lore of a strange people (pp. 249-315)

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Kalākaua, D. (1888). The legends and myths of Hawaii: The fables and folk-lore of a strange people (pp. 249-315)

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The story of Umi, the peasent prince of Hawaii, tells a tale of a prince who rises to power and control of Waipiʻo and the valley. The tale tells of his journey and the religious significance of the area. Umi would be associated with a period of prosperity for the ahupuaa.

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The legends and myths of Hawaii : the fables and folk-lore of a strange people : Kalakaua, David, King of Hawaii, 1836-1891 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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From Ancient Times to Today, Water Has Defined Waipi`o Valley

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From Ancient Times to Today, Water Has Defined Waipi`o Valley

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This article describes how water is an essential aspect of the valley. The text also highlights important historic sights that are spiritually important to Hawaiian culture and tradition in the area.

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In Geology and Ground-Water Resources of the Island of Hawai`i, H.T. Stearns and G.A. MacDonald describe the formation of Waipi`o Valley and its neighbor to the west, Waimanu Valley:

"The spectacular canyons of Waimanu and Waipi`o, cut deep into the carapace of Kohala dome, are separated by a very thin divide and have a complicated history. One would suppose from their topographic relations that Waimanu Stream is about to pirate the Kawainui Branch of Waipi`o Stream. A field examination of these streams shows instead that Waipi`o Stream has captured most of the former drainage of Waimanu Stream. The head of Waimanu Canyon is choked with large landslides which the stream, with its present reduced water supply, is unable to remove."

The authors reconstruct the evolution of these two valleys in four stages dating all the way back to the end of volcanic activity in the Kohala region. Eons ago, in the first stage, "the ancestral Kawainui branch of Waipi`o Stream was tributary to Waimanu... Waimanu Stream without the large Kawainui drainage probably would not have become a master stream." In the second stage, both Waimanu and Waipi`o streams cut "deep canyons as the result of tapping water confined at high levels between dikes... [T]he spring coves at the head of Waipi`o Canyon progressively cut more dikes and tapped more water as they cut headward. One cove advanced westward toward Waimanu following the strike of a dike swarm. The same dike swarm supplied most of the water for the Waimanu Springs. The perennial flow of Waipi`o Stream with its spring-fed tributaries was greater than Waimanu Stream; hence, it cut a deeper canyon farther inland than Waimanu. This steeper gradient caused the western spring cove as it migrated westward to drain more and more ground water from Waimanu."

Stage 3, Stearns and MacDonald say, "shows the piracy of the main tributary of Waimanu by the western spring cove of Waipi`o. The sea had cut cliffs more than 2,500 feet high in the weak rocks concurrent with the streams cutting the deep canyons. A lava flow from Mauna Kea has spilled into Hi`ilawe cove in the east side of Waipi`o Canyon." In Stage 4, "the lower stretches of the canyons have been deeply filled with alluvium to form flat floors. Piracy of Waimanu water has been nearly stopped as a result of the decrease in grade of Waipi`o Stream." ¹

Waipi`o means curving water, a fitting name for the waters that, having carved the valley through the ages, now flow sinuously over its floor on their way to the ocean.

Waipi`o figures prominently in Hawaiian myths and royal genealogies. The father of the island's race, Wakea, retired to Waipi`o. Still in ancient times, "the brother gods Kane and Kanaloa, the great `awa drinkers who traveled about the islands opening up springs, dwelt at Alakahi in Waipi`o in company with some lesser gods." ²

It was in Waipi`o, beside the falls of Hi`ilawe, that the brothers of the god Lono found Ka-iki-lani, the woman who was to become Lono's wife. It was from the kahuna Kalei`iolu in Waipi`o that Maui obtained the Ipu-makani-a-ka-maumau (gourd of constant winds), which kept his kite aloft.

Waipi`o was where the chief Milu was swept into the underworld, there to become ruler of the land of the dead.

Maweke has been identified in genealogies as one of the earliest colonizers of the islands to come from northern Tahiti, sometime between the eleventh and twelfth centuries. ³ The descendants of Mo`ikeha, a high chief and one of Maweke's grandsons, eventually were established as the ruling line of chiefs. At one point, legend has it, Mo`ikeha lived with his brother Olopana and Olopana's wife, Lu`ukia, in Waipi`o. Following a flood, they returned to Kahiki (Tahiti). Not long afterward, Mo`ikeha was driven from Kahiki back to Hawai`i after becoming infatuated with Lu`ukia. Arriving on Kaua`i, he married the daughters of the chief Puna. They bore him several sons, the most favored of whom was Kila.

Kila succeeded Mo`ikeha as chief of Kaua`i, but his jealous brothers enticed him to join them on a trip to Waipi`o. Kila was abandoned there, and his mother on Kaua`i was told that he had been eaten by a shark. In Waipi`o, meanwhile, Kila was soon suspected by temple priests as being a young man of high rank and was adopted by the ruling chief, who made Kila "land agent," as described by Beckwith. It was Kila, she reports, "who devises the system of working a certain number of days for the chief. He is beloved for his industry."

When a great famine occurred in the islands, Waipi`o alone had food. In a story bearing more than passing resemblance to that of Joseph in the Old Testament, Kila's brothers were sent to obtain food for their famished people. Kila recognized them and threw them in prison. When their mothers then came to Waipi`o and learned the truth about what their sons had done to Kila, they demanded Kila kill the brothers. Instead, Kila reconciled his family, gave to his aunts rule over Kaua`i, and remained in Waipi`o. ⁴

Chief Liloa of Waipi`o has been credited with building Paka`alana, a great heiau at the valley mouth in the 15th century. His son `Umi-a-Liloa united the island of Hawai`i and took an active role in farming taro and in fishing. Fornander credits `Umi with building "large taro patches in Waipi`o... he was noted as the husbandman king." ⁵

It was of this lineage, some eight generations later, that Kamehameha I was born.

Handy and Handy note, "There is no locality on Hawai`i in connection with which there was more lore and history told than Waipi`o." Connected tightly to this is the close association of the dynasty of Waipi`o ali`i with the cultivation of irrigated taro. ⁶ Waipi`o, they continue, is "the largest area in which wet taro was cultivated on the island of Hawai`i and one of the most favorable localities in the islands for a lo`i system" (referring to the system of irrigated taro patches).

At its peak, Waipi`o may have been home to as many as 40,000 people, according to some oral traditions. ⁷ A more commonly accepted figure is about 10,000. The population the valley could support with its taro cultivation probably far exceeded the number of people living there. It is said, for example, that a square mile (640 acres) of land in taro cultivation is able to feed 15,000 people a year. In prehistoric times, about 800 acres of land in the lower part of the valley were cultivated, along with land on the lower slopes of the valley walls "until the grade exceeded 25 percent." ⁸ Handy and Handy write: "Besides the main body of terraces on the flat floor of the valley there were terraces up Hi`ilawe, a side valley; others were beyond the area of flatland in the main valley for several miles up Waipi`o Stream and in the side valleys of Waima, Kuiawa [better known as Ko`iawe], Alakahi, and Kawainui." ⁹

Altogether, it is probable that at least two square miles of land in the valley was under intensive cultivation, enough to support some 30,000 Hawaiians. Whatever the habitation of the valley in ages past, when Captain Cook arrived in the islands, its population was estimated at around 4,000 souls.

From the time of Liloa and `Umi to Kamehameha I, Waipi`o was relatively unscathed by battle. The heiau of Paka`alana, with its sacred threshold laid by Liloa, remained intact, as did the taro lo`i laid out by `Umi. But as Kamehameha launched his effort to unify the islands under one kingdom, Waipi`o was targeted for destruction by a rival, Ka`eokulani of Kaua`i. Setting sail for Waipi`o from Kaupo, Ka`eokulani was accompanied by his soldiers and by one "Mr. Mare Amara, a man skillful in the use of arms who acted as his gunner." ¹⁰

At Waipi`o, Kamakau reports, "Ka`eokulani wantonly destroyed everything in Waipi`o. He overthrew the sacred places and the tabu threshold of Liloa; he set fire to Ka-hou-kapu's sacred threshold of nioi wood and utterly destroyed all the places held sacred for years by the people of Hawai`i. No one before him, not even Keoua who had passed through there the year before and destroyed the land and the food, had made such wanton destruction." ¹¹ This occurred probably in 1790.

In April or May of 1791, Hawai'i saw its first naval battle using Western-style weaponry. The battle took place in waters off the shores of Waipi`o and Waimanu. The forces of Kamehameha were arrayed against those of Ka`eo and Kahekili of Maui in the long, bloody, and ultimately indecisive stand-off, which came to be known as Kepuwaha`ula ("the red-mouthed gun" in Hawaiian).

In 1823, Asa Thurston and William Ellis were the first Western missionaries to visit Waipi`o. Ellis described what they beheld before the descent down the steep valley walls: "Viewed from the great elevation at which we stood, the charming valley, spread out beneath us like a map, with its numerous inhabitants, cottages, plantations, fishponds, and meandering streams (on the surface of which the light canoe was moving to and fro), appeared in beautiful miniature." Paka`alana heiau was probably substantially diminished by the invasion of Ka`eo thirty years earlier, but Ellis still described it as "a large enclosure," although not as large as the pu`uhonua, or place of refuge, at Honaunau. Hawaiian religion seemed to be thriving: "We tried," Ellis wrote, "but could not gain admittance to the pahu tabu, or sacred enclosure" in Paka`alana. "We also endeavored to obtain a sight of the bones of Riroa [Liloa], but the man who had charge of the house told us we must offer a hog before we could be admitted..."

The bottom of the valley was "one continuous garden, cultivated with taro, bananas, sugar cane, and other products of the islands all growing luxuriantly," Ellis wrote. Near the mouth of the valley were "several large, well-stocked fish ponds." Ellis counted 265 dwellings, and on this basis, he estimated the resident population to be 1,325. A census in 1830 placed the population at 1,200. ¹²

Nine years later, Lorenzo Lyons became the first missionary to minister regularly to Waipi`o, which he described as "a beautiful valley, containing many inhabitants."

The peripatetic Isabella Bird visited Waipi`o in 1873. By then, disease, urbanization, and the other displacing effects of western contact had taken their toll. Bird's host in the valley was a Hawaiian named Halemanu. "He deplores most deeply the dwindling of his people," Bird wrote, "and his manner became very sad about it. D. [Bird's companion and translator] said, 'He's very unhappy; he says soon there will be no more Kanakas.'[ ¹³] He told me that this beautiful valley was once very populous, and even forty years ago, when Mr. Ellis visited it, there were 1,300 people here. Now probably there are not more than 200." ¹⁴

Soon after Bird's visit, the face of agriculture in the valley - and of its population - began to change dramatically. Bird, who was something of an amateur botanist and a keen observer of Hawaiian flora, reported seeing taro patches, groves of orange and coffee trees, figs, breadfruit, and palms. The residents she encountered spoke Hawaiian exclusively.

By 1880, about 580 acres of the valley were under cultivation, with taro and rice being the predominant crops. The Hawaiian population had been "reduced to a handful... there are 30 to 40 houses and a couple of stores well stocked with every necessity of life." ¹⁵ Following the privatization of land in Hawai`i in 1848, more than half of the valley - some 5,800 acres, more or less - had come under the ownership of Charles Kana`ina. Kana`ina appears to have leased his land to Col. Sam Parker, who placed cattle on much of it and sub-let the remainder. Among those who sub-leased it were former plantation workers who, after finishing their contracts with the sugar companies along the Hamakua Coast, began to grow rice in Waipi`o Valley. Kana`ina died without a will, and in 1881 his land was sold at public auction to Parker for $18,000. Parker, in turn, sold it to Charles Reed Bishop, who leased it back to Parker. Parker sub-let the land to a number of individual planters, including many of the Chinese rice-growers and shop-keepers. ¹⁶ The land was conveyed to Bishop Museum in 1896.

Charles Bishop's purpose in acquiring the land and then placing it under the museum's control seems to have been honorable. In a letter to Henry Holmes dated February 22, 1897 - in other words, after the land was in the hands of the museum - Bishop wrote: "There is a matter that should not be lost sight of. I mean the acquisition and control of the heiaus and pu`uhonuas, say those of Mo`okini in Kahala, of Pu`ukohola at Kawaihae, of Paka`alana in Waipi`o, of Honaunau in Kona, and perhaps one on the islet of Mokuola in Hilo Bay, and any others of interest and worth preserving ... [O]nce in the control of the Museum they should be protected perpetually." ¹⁷

The cultivation of taro never completely vanished in Waipi`o, but for a time, rice seemed to eclipse taro - and the Chinese planters outnumbered the native Hawaiians. In 1902, Arthur Tuttle, an engineer hired by Bishop Museum to assess the possibilities of developing the valley waters, found 580 acres under cultivation in taro and rice. According to Lennox, "the last rice crop was harvested in 1927, when cheap California rice caused an accelerated abandoning of the crop in Hawai`i."

Streams cutting down the five "fingers" of the Waipi`o Valley are the primary sources of water in the valley. Starting from the most distant end of the valley, these streams are Kawainui, Alakahi, Koiawe, Waima, and Hi`ilawe.

No accurate record exists of the volume of flows that occurred naturally in Waipi`o before the turn of the century. Descriptions of the river are suggestive, however. In April 1835, Lorenzo Lyons described crossing the stream: "Today I had to be carried over a river of nearly two hundred feet breadth on the back of a native."

In 1873, Isabella Bird described "the smooth-bottomed river, which the Waipio folk use as a road. Canoes glide along it, brown-skinned men wade down it floating bundles of kalo after them, and strings of laden horses and mules follow each other along its still waters."

For 146 days in 1901 and 1902, the U.S. Geological Service had gauges measuring flows in the Waipi`o River about 400 feet below its confluence with Waima Stream. The minimum daily flow measured was 31.5 million gallons (on December 23). The maximum daily flow was recorded six days later: 271 million gallons (two days after a horrendous rain storm hit the island). Average flows throughout the period of gaging were 63.8 million gallons a day. ¹⁸

In 1901, the museum renewed the lease of Col. Parker with the proviso that if any party made an offer to take the "surplus water" from the lands, Parker could match their offer within 60 days or forfeit the lease. Just such an offer was made in 1904 by the Hawai`i Ditch Company, "which," Lennox notes, "Col. Parker did not care to meet." Parker's own involvement with the ditch company (which later changed its name to the Hawaiian Irrigation Company) is not mentioned by Lennox.

The ditch company paid the museum $5,000 a year for the water rights and $3,000 annually for the land. ¹⁹ It continued to sublease the taro and rice lands and allow Parker's cattle in the lower portion of the valley. As Lennox writes, "This arrangement gave the lessee control over the whole valley and the management of the upper valley, where it was engaged in an extensive irrigation water development scheme." ²⁰

As part of that "scheme," starting in 1907, water from Kawainui, Alakahi, and Koiawe streams above the valley rim was diverted into what became known as the Upper Hamakua Ditch. This 23-mile-long water collection system had been built by an independent company formed to bring mountain water to the Hamakua plantations. The system was intended to have a capacity of 30 million gallons a day, but because of poor construction techniques, the Upper Hamakua Ditch never lived up to its builders' hopes. In 1948, it was turned over to the Territory of Hawai`i, which - after much expensive renovation - continues to run it, taking on average some 10 million gallons a day from the Waipi`o headwaters.

In 1910, the Hawaiian Irrigation Company completed work on a second water transportation system to take still more water from the same four streams - this time cutting across the back of the valley at a level of about 1,000 feet. This system became known as the Lower Hamakua Ditch or the Waipi`o Ditch and succeeded in delivering a near-constant flow of 32 million gallons a day to the Hamakua sugar fields.

Around this same time, a diversion was made on the fifth tributary to the valley - Lalakea Stream, whose two branches create Hi`ilawe and Hakalaoa Falls as they spill over the valley cliffs. Few records exist to indicate how much water this took from the valley; one source suggests the average flow in the Lalakea Ditch system was somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million gallons a day. ²¹

The total amount of water taken from the Waipi`o streams varied from day to day, especially in the case of the lower ditch. The capacity of the tunnel system to gather water was huge - up to 100 million gallons a day. The ability of the ditch system to carry water was far smaller: initially about 60 mgd, and, in recent years, has been limited to about 30 mgd. ²² As a result, the ditch operators regularly would throw away the difference between what water was collected and what water the ditch could handle at a weir in Kukuihaele, where the tunnel stopped and the ditch began.

The territory of Hawai`i had given the Hawaiian Irrigation Company license to take water for the upper ditch. Permission to divert water for the lower ditch had been granted in 1904 by Bishop Museum.

Prices for taro and rice fell after 1915, and many of the valley farmers could no longer afford to pay the $25-per-acre annual sublease rent to Hawaiian Irrigation Company. The last rice crop was harvested in 1928. Much of the land under cultivation was abandoned, prompting the irrigation company to complain to the museum that it was losing money on the lease.

In 1945, the territory closed the elementary school. In its last year, the two-room school had had just 17 pupils in three grades. Soon thereafter, the last of the stores and churches boarded up. In 1946, the same tsunami that devastated Hilo and other areas along the Hilo-Hamakua coast took its toll on Waipi`o as well. After that, many of the remaining residents permanently relocated to upland areas.

In 1954, when Lennox wrote his report for Bishop Museum, "about 300 acres are used for taro cultivation, with about half of this area in use for a crop at any one time and the balance in fallow" - or, in other words, about 150 acres planted in taro cultivation at a given moment. He estimated the number of residents at between 30 and 40: "These are mostly Filipinos who live in makeshift shanties and labor in the taro patches. Only two or three Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian families live in the valley. Only one family with young children was noted," although several farmers were apparently living in Kukuihaele and riding into the valley daily to tend their fields. ²³

In 1966, Howard Butcher III, a Philadelphia investment banker and a director of Honoka`a Sugar Company, began to build on land near the base of Hi`ilawe Falls that Honoka`a Sugar had leased from Bishop Museum. Butcher's project was described to the Board of Land and Natural Resources a "resort restaurant," but, in the face of opposition (including from the Hawai`i County Planning Commission), the application to the BLNR was amended to describe instead a "private park," with a restaurant as an ancillary activity. ²⁴

Again, the Planning Commission urged the BLNR to deny the project, inasmuch as the restaurant - an obvious commercial use - was still a part of the project.

Butcher amended his project a second time. As described in a letter from the BLNR to the Planning Commission on July 27, 1967, the project (for which Hawaiian Irrigation Co., Ltd., was the official applicant), now was for a private park and overlook of the falls. "Incidental to this viewing function is a provision for living quarters where a full-time caretaker may stay. A small kitchen is included so that refreshments for visitors may be served on the covered viewing level." Although the "small kitchen" remained in the plans, many residents of the valley and others concerned about the commercialization of Waipi`o were led to believe that Butcher no longer intended to have an operating restaurant as a part of his project. ²⁵

On September 22, 1967, the Planning Commission voted - for a third time - to recommend that the BLNR deny the application. Despite this, the BLNR approved the park, including the "small kitchen" and caretaker's living quarters.

Five years later, the Land Board again was reviewing the matter. In the intervening years, Butcher had built the lookout and had acquired title to the land from Bishop Estate. Far from his building being the unobtrusive, natural-stone structure that, the community was told, would "blend with the natural environment," ²⁶ it was a steel-framed cube whose walls of bronzed glass made it visible for miles. Butcher called it the "Ti House," a name that has stuck over the years.

In addition, Butcher had brought electricity to the valley. A line of utility poles marched down the pali walls in a straight line leading directly to the Ti House. For this, Butcher had received no BLNR permission; for this, the BLNR fined him $500.

In 1972, the Land Board again held a hearing on Butcher's project, this time to determine whether he would be allowed to run a restaurant serving snacks and soft drinks at the Ti House. (An earlier request to serve liquor had been denied the previous year.) By now, community sentiment was overwhelmingly against him. His building, as well as his unauthorized installation of the utility lines, were regarded as a breach of trust. Petitions with more than 1700 signatures of people opposed to his restaurant were submitted to the Land Board.

At a packed public hearing in Waimea, held November 17, 1972, witness after witness denounced the project. The mayor of Hawai`i County, Shunichi Kimura, wrote the board in opposition. The Hawai`i County Council adopted a resolution asking the board to defer action until after it had completed a master plan for Waipi`o Valley. Just five witnesses - including Butcher's caretaker, his attorney, and a tour van operator - spoke in its favor. At its decision-making meeting, held in Honolulu on January 26, 1973, the Land Board voted to deny the application to operate the restaurant, citing four reasons: the hazardous road, the anticipated increase in traffic drawn by the restaurant; the adverse impact on taro farmers that the traffic would have; and the inconsistency of the restaurant with the values of Waipi`o Valley. (According to a staff note made during the meeting, Board Member Larry Mehau went along with the denial, although he "wasn't sold on reason #4.")

Afterward, Butcher deeded the Ti House and the land on which it sits back to the Bishop Museum, which, according to Roland Force, director of the museum at the time, would use the structure as "headquarters for our historical research in the valley." But the museum has done nothing with the structure and, more than two decades after its official opening, the jungle has taken over the elaborate gardens and rockwork and the elements have begun to take their toll on the steel beams that frame the building. From afar, though, the building gleams gold as brightly as ever, Howard Butcher's gift to the Hawai`i he professed to love.
Coda
After Butcher conveyed the Ti House and the five and a half acres of land under it to the Bishop Museum, the museum, in 1980, sold most of the back of Waipi`o Valley, including the Ti House, to Hamakua Sugar Company. The museum continued to pay taxes on the Ti-House parcel, however, thinking it still owned the site.

More than a decade later, Bishop Museum realized that the Ti House parcel had been included - mistakenly - in the land transferred to Hamakua Sugar. In 1992, at the museum's request, Hamakua Sugar Company gave a quitclaim deed for the parcel back to the museum, which continues to hold title.

1. Stearns and G.A. MacDonald, Geology and Ground-Water Resources of the Island of Hawai`i, Bulletin 9, Hawai`i Division of Hydrography (1946), pp.43-46.
2. Handy and Handy,Native Planters in Old Hawai`i, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 233 (1972), p.535.
3. Martha Beckwith,Hawaiian Mythology (University of Hawai`i Press: Honolulu, 1970), pp. 352ff.
4. Beckwith does not give a date for this famine. A similar account of a famine is found in the Abraham Fornander,Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities, Volume 4, (Bishop Museum, 1916), p. 136. Fornander says the famine occurred during the early 1200s. "During a spell of great drought, when a great famine was experienced over all the lands from Hawai`i to Kaua`i, all the wet lands were parched and the crops dried up on account of the drought, so nothing remained even in the mountains. Waipi`o was the only land where the water had not dried up, and it was the only land where the food was in abundance; and the people from all parts of Hawai`i and as far as Maui came to this place for food."
5. Cited in Handy and Handy,Native Planters in Old Hawai`i, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin, 233 (1972), p.354.
6. Handy and Handy, p.534.
7. See, for example, the pamphlet "Waipi`o," prepared as an exhibition catalog by Frank Salmoiraghi and Yukie Yoshinaga (no publisher, 1974.)
8. Colin G. Lennox, "A Report to the Trustees of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum on the Resources of Waipi`o Valley," October 1954 (manuscript).
9. Handy and Handy, page 533.
10. Samuel Kamakau,Ruling Chiefs of Hawai`i (Kamehameha Schools: Honolulu, 1961), page 159. A footnote to this passage mentions that Fornander has interpreted "Mare Amara" to have been "Mare the Armorer - probably the gunner or blacksmith of some foreign vessel trading at the islands."
11. Kamakau, p. 160.
12. William Ellis, "Narrative of a Tour of Owhyhee; with Remarks on the History, Traditions, Manners, Customs, and Language...," originally published London 1827, reprinted asJournal of William Ellis (Advertiser Publishing Company: Honolulu, 1963), pp. 254-261.
13. Kanaka is the term by which Hawaiians refer to themselves as a race.
14. Bird,Six Months in the Sandwich Islands (University of Hawai`i Press: Honolulu, 1964), p.96.
15. Bowser, as quoted by Lennox, p. 22.
16. No comprehensive account of this transaction could be found. Our report derives from two main sources: Harold W. Kent,Charles Reed Bishop: Man of Hawai`i (Pacific Books: Palo Alto, 1965), p.167, and Colin Lennox, op.cit., p.4. Lennox gives the former owner as one H. Kalama, although he appears to be mistaken on this point. Kana`ina, it may be worth noting, was father of Lunalilo. In 1892, Bishop conveyed the land to the Bishop Estate, which turned it over to Bishop Museum in 1896, when the Museum Trust was established. (See Kent, p. 167.)
17. Harold W. Kent, editor,Charles Reed Bishop: Letter File (no publisher given: Honolulu, 1972).
18. Territorial Planning Board, "Surface Water Resources of the Territory of Hawai`i, 1901-1938" (December 1939), p397. In Stearns and MacDonald's 1946 report, cited above, the average dry-weather flows for the main tributaries of Waipi`o (or Wailoa) River measured in December 1944 agree remarkably with these figures. Figures they provide for both the Lower Hamakua Ditch and the river show a total of 31.5 million gallons a day, on average, diverted by the ditch, and a total of 31.5 mgd remaining in the stream. It should be noted that the gaging stations in 1901-02 and in 1944 were upstream of Hi`ilawe Stream. No gaging records could be found at all for Hi`ilawe.
19. Lennox, p.25.
20. Lennox, p. 24.
21. Mink & Yuen, Inc., "Water Resources Study, Hamakua Sugar Company Lands," prepared for Western Farm Credit Band (December 1990), pp. 21-22.
22. Wai Engineering report on the Lower Hamakua Ditch system (May 1995), prepared for the state of Hawai`i. Vol. 1, p. vi.
23. Lennox, p.22.
24. A chronology of the history of this application was prepared by a group of Hilo College students, who testified against the project before the Land Board in 1972. The group included Margie Petersen, Blaise Caldera, and Wally Matsunami. Their testimony is on file at the Department of Land and Natural Resources' Office of Conservation and Environmental Affairs, in Honolulu.
25. See, for example, the testimony of the Sierra Club - Hawai`i Chapter to the BLNR, November 1972. "The Club was, in fact, [in 1967] relieved to learn of the withdrawal of the ... petition for a 'resort restaurant.'"
26. See, for example, "Millionaire may develop a Waipi`o Lookout,"Hawai`i Business & Industry, December 1966, p. 40.
- Patricia Tummons

Volume 6, Number 2 August 1995

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From Ancient Times to Today, Water Has Defined Waipi`o Valley -

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In Geology and Ground-Water Resources of the Island of Hawai`i, H.T. Stearns and G.A. MacDonald describe the formation of Waipi`o Valley and its neighbor to the west, Waimanu Valley: "The spectacular canyons of Waimanu and Waipi`o, cut deep into the carapace of Kohala dome, are separated by a very thin divide and have a complicated history.

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Legends of gods and ghosts (Hawaiian mythology) Lau-Ka-īeīe (pp. 36-48)

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Legends of gods and ghosts (Hawaiian mythology) Lau-Ka-īeīe (pp. 36-48)

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This story blends both the physical and spiritual realm, relating many aspects of characters, such as name, to the aspects of the land. The story tells of horror such as abduction but concludes with triumph with the help of forces from nature.

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Legends of gods and ghosts (Hawaiian mythology) : Westervelt, W. D. (William Drake), 1849-1939 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

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This article cover the beginning to restore this fishpond that has been lost to the powers that be post mahele. Many historic sites have been seemingly forgotten from the past.

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“… make the valley whole once again”: Effort underway to reactivate historic Waipio fishpond

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Almost 71 years ago to the day, efforts officially will begin to reactivate Lalakea loko i‘a (fishpond) in Waipio Valley that was devastated by the 1946 tsunami that struck the Hawaiian Islands. ADVERTISING Almost 71 years ago to the day,

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This site provide breif insight of the inception of this Heiau.

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This webpage by the Bishop Museum provides an good overview of significant cultural and historical sites within Waipiʻo Valley, focusing on the area’s rich spiritual and historical heritage. Key highlights include Pakaʻalana Heiau, described as a puʻuhonua (place of refuge) with sacred tabus, and Honuaʻula Heiau, noted for its ritual sacrifices and divine manifestations. The site also features Hokuwelowelo Heiau, linked to Hawaiian mythology, and Moaʻula Heiau, dedicated after a historic rebellion. Additionally, natural features like Hiʻilawe Falls, the tallest waterfall in Hawaiʻi, and the Muliwai and Lalakea fishponds illustrate the valley’s ecological and cultural importance. This resource is valuable for understanding the interconnectedness of spirituality, history, and nature in Hawaiian culture.

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Annotated Bibliography: Waipiʻo Ahupuaʻa (Hawaiʻi Island, Hāmākua Moku)

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Annotated Bibliography: Waipiʻo Ahupuaʻa (Hawaiʻi Island, Hāmākua Moku)

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Refer here for more insight on the sources provided.