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The Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter July - August - September 2001 |
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The Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club Newsletter July - August - September 2001 |
KO`OLAU SUMMIT TRAIL HISTORY - PARTS 2 & 3
Stuart BallII. Pig Hunter Trails and Cabins (1927-1932)
With cattle largely fenced out of the Ko`olau reserves, Territorial Forest-er Charles S. Judd realized that wild pigs were the greatest threat to the native forest watershed. In 1923 at the request of Bishop Es-tate, Judd and two pig hunters had climbed the old Castle Trail to check the upper Kaluanui Valley. They found no pigs, but observed severe and extensive damage to the native vegetation near the summit. Several years later Judd wrote, "It is felt that the solution to the pig problem on O`ahu may be attained through the construction of trails and con-sequently opening up of the moun-tain country to voluntary hunters."
Judd began by enlisting the sup-port of companies and landowners with a stake in preserving the cen-tral Ko`olau watershed. In March 1927 the Division of Forestry built a cabin for pig hunters partway up the Waiawa-Waipi`o ridge in the heart of the `Ewa Forest Reserve. Bishop Estate provided the funds and O`ahu Sugar Company, the labor for construction. In September 1927 the Forestry Division of the Hawai-ian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA) cleared the new Pe`ahinai`a Trail on the ridge south of 'Opae`ula Stream. The HSPA established two rain gauges along the route and allowed access to the summit for pig hunters and surveyors. In Novem-ber 1928 the La`ie Forestry crew packed pig traps up the Castle Trail to upper Kaluanui Valley for use by hunters hired by Bishop Estate.
The Hawaiian Trail and Mountain club (HTMC) took advantage of the trails cleared for the pig hunters. Thomas McGuire, O`ahu Forest Rang-er and club member, led 38 hikers up the new Pe`ahinai`a Trail on 29 January 1928. Rear guide for that hike was Edmund J. Meadows, house painter and author of a pamphlet describing the HTMC hikes of the late 1920s. On 29 July 1928 Meadows guided a club hike to the pig hunt-ers' cabin on Waipi`o Ridge. On 24 November 1929 Meadows led the HTMC hike up the Castle or Pig God Trail, originally built in 1906. On 22 May 1930 Forestry hired Special Hunters John Pahamoa and Nicholas Mendes to clear trail and hunt pigs along the summit in the Kaipapa`u and Hau`ula Forest Reserves for $75 per month. Despite heavy rains the two men killed 13 pigs in the first week on the job. To find their quar-ry, the special hunters blazed routes above Castle Trail in both directions along the Ko`olau summit ridge. For one week in July, Ranger Plunkett and his crew worked up Castle Trail to the summit and then cleared north toward La`ie.
In April 1931 Forestry crews brushed out the new Malaekahana Trail in the Kahuku Forest Reserve. In July of that year they built a cabin near the trail end at the sum-mit. The 10 by 10 foot hut had a redwood frame and galvanized iron roof and walls. Total construction cost was $41.36. The cabin was a frequent overnight stop for Special Hunter Mendes, now working alone. He and his dogs killed 320 pigs dur-ing the last nine months of 1931. In October 1932 Ranger Landgraf and his tree planting crew reopened the old marsh route to the head of Poa-moho Stream in the `Ewa Forest Reserve. In six days his crew packed up materials and construct-ed a 10 by 10 foot cabin for pig hunters. One month later Ranger Plunkett and his trail crew con-structed the Punaiki Trail in ten days. The graded route looped around the lower sections of Ma`a-kua, Papali, and Punaiki Gulches and provided easy access to the Papali-Maakua Ridge for tree plant-ers, fence builders, and pig hunt-ers. In late 1932 Territorial Forester Judd, Rangers Russ and Landgraf, Special Hunter Mendes, and Army Captain Weiner inspected the native forest on the northern Ko`olau sum-mit. They spent the night at Malae-kahana cabin and came out the Pup-ukea-Kahuku Trail. Judd wrote "This is heavy jungle country through which one cannot travel faster than two miles per hour. The forest is generally in good condition and functioning well as a conserver of water. Mendes has done a good job of clearing out the wild pigs."
The efforts of Mendes and other special hunters had gradually pushed the pigs off the summit ridge into the lower, more accessi-ble valleys for easier taking. In addition, the number of pig hunters had increased as the Great Depres-sion deepened. Unemployed men turned to hunting to help put food on the table. The result was 3,834 pigs reported killed during the two-year period ending 31 December 1932. Another result was the begin-nings of a trail system on the Ko`o-lau summit.
III. Forestry and Army Cooperation (1931-1932)
On 24 October 1930 Major General Briant H. Wells arrived on O`ahu to take command of the Hawaiian Divi-sion at Schofield Barracks. Wells was a hard charging, no nonsense soldier and an enthusiastic hiker. He strongly believed that an enemy invading O`ahu would attack across the Ko`olau or Wai`anae Ranges, rather than through Honolulu or Hale`iwa, as envisioned in the Army's War Plan Orange. Wells and his staff set out to explore the vari-ous routes over and along the two mountain ranges.
On 19 January General Wells met Forester Charles S.Judd at Scho-field Barracks. Judd advised the general on tree removal and plant-ing for the post. Wells agreed to provide soldiers to reclear the Pe`a-hinai`a Trail. Over subsequent meet-ings, usually on foot or on horse-back, the two men developed a close working relationship and became good friends. In early 1931 General Wells formed the Piko Club, an in-formal hiking group for Army offi-cers, their families, and friends. Wells was President, Judd was Chief Guide, and a staff officer, Major Charles W. Thomas, Jr. was Chief Scout. The club's Sunday outings emphasized summit hiking and in-cluded the Makua-Mokule`ia, Scho-field-Waikane, Castle, Malaekahana, and Pupukea-Kahuku Trails, the latter recently regraded by the 27th Infantry to allow passage of machine gun carts. The club took its name from a humorous Hawaiian greeting. During a hike the leaders periodically yelled, Pehea kou piko? (How's your navel?). Those in the rear answered, Maika`i no! (fine!). After lunch or during coffee and smoke breaks the hikers sometimes sang the Piko Club song, which featured the greeting and response. The club membership card showed a leaping hiker and a small white dog, Judd's constant trail companion. Judd always hiked in shorts and smeared his legs with Vaseline to ward off scratchy lantana shrubs and uluhe ferns. Wells usually wore a large silk kerchief tied around his neck and secured with a kukui nut slide.
The friendship of Judd and Wells yielded benefits to both Forestry and the Army. Forestry rangers developed trail maps for Army divi-sion officers and included them on inspection hikes in the forest re-serves. In turn, the Army helped clear trail and build cabins in the fight against wild pigs. On 14 No-vember 1932 Forestry personnel delivered three bundles wrapped in burlap to the Army bomber hangar at Luke Field. Inside the bundles were redwood frames, and tin roof and siding for a 10 by 10 foot cabin to be dropped at the head of Kaipa-pa`u Stream near the Ko`olau sum-mit. On 16 November Judd, Assistant Forester Russ and Ranger Landgraf hiked up the Castle Trail to the cabin site, cleared it, and set up a 6 by 20 foot white cloth as target for the bombers. That evening a severe Kona storm came in and dumped 8 inches of rain on the summit. De-spite the storm the group spent a "fairly comfortable" night in their tent. The next morning heavy clouds draped the summit, keeping the bombers on the ground. On 21 November 1932 the clouds lifted briefly, allowing a bomber to drop one bundle. It landed within 75 feet of the target, but unfortunately hit a rock bank. The tin sections sur-vived the impact, but the redwood beams shattered. On the afternoon of 29 November the bombers dropped the remaining two bundles on target and in good condition. On 23 December Forestry crews fin-ished building the cabin to be used by pig hunters. The Army assis-tance had saved the crews many hours packing the material up the Castle Trail.
(to be continued)Next: Judd Goes to Washington (1933)
BUTCH, THE KOOLAU BEAR Norman Roberts
While on the Ka'a'wa Valley Hike last August, there came a point at which the grazing cattle turned as one and stared menacingly at us as we passed nearby. One of the hikers expressed relief that there were no large, wild animals in Hawaii. What old-timer could resist a straight line like that!
"But there have been," I said. "There used to be a black bear that roamed both sides of the Koolaus from Maunawili to Pupukea and back to Moanalua."
My statement was greeted with ex-pressions of polite, sheer, and stark disbelief.
"Isn't that just a legend?" I was asked.
"It probably is now," I replied.
"Is he still around?" asked another hiker.
"Probably not. Bears live 20 to 25 years, and he was last seen in 1970."
"Did they ever find his body?" asked a particularly skeptical hiker.
"No," I replied, "but there are lots of reports of sightings and bear signs, most by reliable observers."The subject dropped because by this time we were starting up the hill. For some time, I've been att-empting to locate as much informa-tion as is easily available about "Butch," the Koolau Bear and his adventures. There ought to be a story there. Maybe there already is. I think I have seen a children's book about a little lost bear in Ha-waii. It would probably have come out twenty or more years ago after a feature article on Butch appeared in the Advertiser. The bear facts are as follows:
Sometime around the Ides of March and St. Patrick's day in 1956, Butch,an eighteen-month old Ameri-can black bear cub pulled up his stake and escaped from Al "Whitey" Jensen's animal farm in Heeia Kea, near Kaneohe. Jensen boarded ani-mals used for entertainment and other commercial purposes, and there were usually a variety of exotic (to Hawaii) trained animals at his farm. He had recently acquired two bear cubs, Butch and Sis. He and his trainer, Jim Woods, had been working with the cubs. Butch apparently learned fast. Both Jens-en and Woods commented on his intelligence. Both bears were se-cured by a chain attached to a stake and to a chain collar around their necks. These collars had an extra link, secured by a master snap link, to allow for expansion as the animals grew larger.
Butch and Sis got on very well, according to trainer Jim Woods, but then something happened. One night Butch broke loose from his stake and took off into the bush, trailing his chain from his collar. Apparent-ly Jensen was not terribly con-cerned; he expected Butch to come-back to a regular food supply, fe-male companionship, and regular grooming. No animal trailing a six-foot or longer chain could get very far, he reasoned. The chain was bound to snag on a root or get caught in the rocks, and the bear's freedom wouldn't last very long. According to reports, Butch did not stray very far from Jensen's farm. He came around at night looking for something to eat, cleverly eluding all the ingenious traps Jensen and Woods had set to catch him. There were signs that he had visited Sis on several occasions. The female bear evidently wasn't interested in a life in the wild because she made no attempt to escape to join Butch.
Butch had actually been free for six months before the story got report-ed in the newspapers. Then for the next year there appeared regular accounts of Butch's activities and his owner's attempts to recapture him. These articles were written in a whimsical style, poking good-na-tured fun at the humans, and ex-pressing admiration for Butch. At one time there were 150 men from the Army's Search and Rescue Force, plus two helicopters, search-ing for Butch. According to the newspaper accounts M/Sgt Allen C. Wheeler and his men ran across the bear several times, but Butch al-ways eluded them. Sergeant Wheeler said, "He's too slippery for us. There are too many places to hide. The area is thick. We could pass right by him and never know it."
At this time there were large num-bers of wild dogs all over Oahu. According to Wheeler, his men would hear the dogs barking, they would go to thelocation, and there would be Butch. None of the newspaper articles make any mention of any-body seeing Butch's collar or the chain attatched to it. This fact makes me think that Butch must have got the chain caught early on, and by clawing at the snap link, eventually got it open, expanding the collar, which he then slipped out of.
During the fall of 1956 Jensen and Woods hit upon the bright idea of staking Sis out in the area where Butch was roaming. They figured Butch would come to Sis and they'd trap him. It didn't work. Butch was too intelligent to be taken in by a chained female. About this time Woods reported that as Butch grew, the chain collar would gradually cause his death. The chain would get tight, rub the neck raw,which would then get infected and the infection would kill him. Other ex-perts thought that the tight collar would eventually strangle the bear. By December 1956 the papers re-ported that Butch had not been seen for five weeks. There was spe-culation that he was already dead because of the tight collar. By Jan-uary 1957 the search for Butch ceased. Bob Krauss reported in his column the difficulties the search teams encountered. Quoting Sgt Wheeler, he wrote,
"We have too much help. Pig hunt-ers and their dogs just chase him into another area and we have to start all over again. It's a real jun-gle there, swamp, high grass, trees, bamboo, guavas." Jensen stated that volunteer civilian hikers had come out scared. "We need experienced people or someone will get lost," he said.
A member of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club was quoted as saying that the area was spooky and easy to get lost in. I'm not familiar with the area, but I'm not at all sur-prised that the bear easily eluded the searchers, many of whom were probably reluctant, and others just plain ignorant. None of the accounts reveal what the searchers expected to do when they finally cornered the bear. Jensen and Woods proba-bly had a plan. In an interview Jen-sen indicated that Butch knew them, and once he was cornered, they could get him.
Krauss's column was the only article that expressed a decided lack of sympathy for Butch. Wrote Krauss, who admitted he was no animal lov-er,"I'm wondering if it might not be time to quit chuckling over Butch as a symbol of a revolt against civiliza-tion. Maybe it would be kinder to shoot him and get it over with. Up to now, chasing Butch has been described as a sort of combination Snipe hunt and a Sunday school picnic. I'm afraid it's just the oppo-site. The area in which he operates is jungle: guava, grass 12 feet high, lantana, swamp, nearly impenetrable bamboo forest. You're lucky to come back out at all, much less with Butch."
But before you can shoot a bear, you have to see him; and you have to see him long enough to get him in your rifle sights and pull the trig-ger. And you want to be sure you can get off a second shot just in case the first one doesn't get him. I don't think anybody caught more than a glimpse of Butch's back or tail as he slipped into thicker growth. In my experience bears are not seen unless they want to be seen. And if the Search and Rescue people, whose business it is to find what they go looking for, couldn't get close to him, who could?
On March 9, 1957, the Advertiser reported that residents of Palolo had heard bear-like growls, and dogs gave chase to an animal that had attacked a garbage can. Mrs. Jean Sasaki of a Palolo Ave. address said dogs chased the animal to the crest of the hill on the Ewa side of Palolo Valley. No one actually saw the animal, but Mrs. Sasaki said it did not sound like a dog or a pig. She reported that for a week the animal had been in the area, but this was the first time it had come so far down the valley. On May 15, 1957, William M. Shields of a Kailua address reported that at 10 a.m. he saw Butch on the Maunawili side of the Kailua cut off road, a quarter mile on the Kailua side of the junc-tion with Pali Road. I'm not sure just where this location might be. I didn't arrive in Hawaii until 1958 and didn't get around much until later. Maybe an older timer than I can tell where Shields saw Butch, perched on a bluff above Kailua cut off, watching the cars go by. The area is described as brush land with guava trees, and Cook pine, not as dense as the area he had previously roamed. Evidently Butch was on the move.
By now, Butch was supplementing his diet of guavas, roots, grubs, and whatnot by raiding the Kaneohe dump and an occasional garbage can. When interviewed at about this time, owner Jensen said, "If he's been eating well,he could be 125 pounds by now. Any other bear would have been sleeping in some-body's bedroom by now, but not this one. He's shy, extremely clever, and capable of taking care of him-self." He added that Butch was worth $2000 because of his training. "It's too bad," Jensen said, "He's a terrific animal. It's too bad."
There are no more newspaper re-ports of Butch until December 12, 1960, when Marine Gunnery Ser-geant Gus P. Lass, Jr. said that three weeks previously he and 40 companions saw a black bear in the Koolau mountains. "He was walking along a stream, minding his own business, and eating guavas, 500 yards away. Four feet high, walking on all fours, in good health." It's the 500 yards bit that bothers me here. That's over a third of amile. I know marine gunnery sergeants are pretty capable people, but to iden-tify a bear at that distance and estimate his height with any accu-racy is pushing the envelope. No mention is made of binoculars, but with the unaided eye, not even Dan-iel Boone nor my Uncle Charlie could make a positive identification. Be-sides, I don't think there are many places where you can get that field of vision in the Koolau forests.
The next day's follow-up article presents some different facts. This time it's ten marines and the dis-tance is 2000 feet. Theanimal is de-scribed as about the size of a large dog. Frankly, it's getting difficult to tell what the marines saw or thought they saw. Or did the re-porter scramble his notes? Or did anybody care anymore about the facts? Harry Whitten, a long-time Star Bulletin reporter on nature and the environment, wrote up an interview with Al Jensen as a fol-low-up. Jensen said, "If he's alive and behaving himself, as he seems to be, I'd favor leaving him alone to become a legend. Won't do any harm if you leave him alone. Wild bears aren't dangerous. It's the tame ones that are dangerous. A wild bear won't come to you; he'll always try to get away. He may live to 20, 25 years if left alone." At this time Jensen still had Sis, the female bear. He speculated that while bears wander around a lot, they are apt to stay in one area if there is food and water. Jensen said he wouldn't try to catch Butch unless there were more sightings to pinpoint the area. "If we couldn't catch him in '56, it won't be any easier now."
And so Butch became a legend in his own time. There were no more news,stories about him for ten years, but during this period sight-ings were frequently reported to the police and the newspapers. A hunter reported finding bear tracks in Waimalu Valley which he photo-graphed. A hiker reported seeing a bear above Aiea. This same hiker reported seeing Butch on the Pupu-kea Summit Trail. Honolulu Zoo Di-rector Paul Breeze [1960] speculated that Butch was probably dead, if not from the collar, then probably pig hunters had dispatched and eaten him and kept quiet about it. "I like the idea of a bear in the woods." Breeze said in an interview. "In fact, I tell that to people. But it really isn't very likely any more."
And then in November, 1970, James Malcolm, from Schofield, while hik-ing the Waimano Trail with the Ha-waiian Trail and Mountain Club, said he saw a bear about thirty feet down the trail from him. Malcolm came from New Hampshire and could be expected to know a bear when he saw one. He said the bear would have been five and a half feet tall if he had stood up. They looked at each other briefly whereupon the bear went up the mountain, as they are supposed to do, according to the nursery song.Malcolm hurried along the trail to catch up with the other hikers. When I read the ac-count in the Star-Bulletin that eve-ning, I announced to my boys (aged ten and eight at that time) that come Saturday, we would go looking for bear tracks. Neither seemed very excited about it. [When I asked number-one son the other day if he remembered the hunt, he said, "No." So much for corroboration, but I remember quite distinctly.]
We started out about seven in the morning and hiked the Waimano Trail from the entrance. At the point described by Malcolm in the news-paper article I found where some-thing had gone up the hill, but there was nothing that I could call a bear track in evidence. Nor did I really expect to find any. We hiked on to the dam where we had a swim, cooked our lunch, relaxed, had an-other swim, and then hiked out. After a period of heavy rain the following spring [1971], we hiked to the dam one Saturday morning. It took us about three hours to get there. In those days before the dam washed out, there was a little sand beach at the far end of the pond, and it was here on that day, I found what I am pretty certain were bear tracks. Beyond the sand beach in the campsite area I discovered a rotting log that had been torn apart. Some distance beyond was a kukui tree that had some pretty convincing claw marks. While I ad-mit that an enterprising Boy Scout could have set the scene with a plaster cast and wire "claws,"I like to think that Butch had passed that way. My sons were more interested in swimming than bear track hunt-ing, so instead of looking for more tracks, we hiked back home.
The last newspaper article about Butch appeared in the Advertiser on July 2, 1975. It is essentially a summary article based on previous-ly published articles. There had been no reports of Butch since Mal-colm's in 1970. It was about ninteen and a half years since Butch had escaped. He had been eighteen months old at the time. If he was still alive, he was a lonely old bear. In all probability he had been long dead. Zoo Director Jack Throp [1975] speculated that a number of reported sightings had probably been wild pigs. If you only heard something moving through the brush or merely caught a glimpse of something black disappearing into a thicket, you couldn't really be sure what you'd seen or heard. And even a mongooses can make a lot of noise when they don't think there's any-thing around to bother them.
The Advertiser account is mostly based on old new-spaper reports which give the out-line of the story with the names and dates. There are probably more details to be found in police blotters and officer's reports. There are most likely permit appli-cations on file wherever the official city/county records are kept, and the state archives would have some information. It would be nice to interview people who lived in Heeia Kea at the time, the people who en-gaged in the searches, and people who have claimed to have sighted Butch over the years. There must be a huge fund of oral tradition here, if you could find people who would talk. There's the real prob-lem; most people don't talk. They don't want the notoriety; they don't want to be contradicted; they no like make "A." The psychologists tell us we see what we want to see. A bear in the Koolau? Nonsense! It's just a legend, right? Yeah, right.
FOOTPRINTS FROM THE BOARD, APRIL 18 & MAY 16, 2001 Carmen Craig
1) This is the first installment of "Footprints from the Board," a new communication tool to let members know of important business and announcements from the Board meetings.
2) The schedule committee has met for the last time at Thelma Greig's house. The new location is at the residence of Donna Davis-Brown.
3) The Board has agreed that the by-laws and standing rules need to be reviewed and up-dated. A standing rules committee has been started with Jay Feldman as the Chairperson.
4) The Opae'ula fencing project is going well with the combined efforts of many. Thank you for your help.
5) There have been numerous donations to the clubhouse. Thank you to all for your help and support.
6) All complete, approved Board meeting minutes are kept on file at the clubhouse.
CLUBHOUSE NEWS Alex BroadfootIf you can help us locate an air compressor and spray gun which we can borrow for one day of work, please let me know. It would be handled with care and cleaned thor-oughly. We need it as soon as possi-ble.
We will have another Clubhouse workday on July 14 (see hike sche-dule)
The Clubhouse needs the following new or used donations:
1) bookshelf speakers (for 35 watt public address system)
2) hand truck
3) fans - all types
4) fall arrest or climbing harness
5) heavy duty, steel workshop storage shelves
6) garden pickPlease phone me at 945-3973 if you can help with any of the above items.
Mahalo to Steve Becker, Peter Kempf, Jean Bleich, Lynn Black, Thea Ferentinos, Larry Oswald, Magnolia Pitiquen, Jim Yuen and Allan Yoshimoto for much appreciat-ed items. A special mahalo to Marie Mankhof and Ken Ferster for a was-hing machine and many other useful items, as well as an exceptional amount of volunteer help around the Clubhouse. A special mahalo to Roger Breton for purchasing mate-rials costing about $70, and to Ralph Valentino for designing new storage shed, and donating much material for it. A special mahalo to Steve Becker for coaxing the Club's old, neglected, gas powered weedwack-ers back to life for renewed service clearing trails.
JAY FELDMAN'S RULES OF HIKING
Camping Tips.
Tent pegs are designed to bend rather then grip; if they do grip they will pull out three minutes after the rain starts.
Regardless of how level your camp-site seems, by 3am you will know that everything seems flat during the day.
Rocks, regardless of how deeply buried, surface when pressured from above.
Seam sealant is properly named, since it only seems to seal.
Convincing your new hiking partner that taking one tent will save weight is an example of male cogni-tive function. Her agreement is an example of female cognitive dys-function.
Dehydrated food packets are typi-cally more nutritious and tastier than their contents.
At some time during your camping adventure you will remember every-thing you forgot to bring.
NEWSLETTER SUBMISSIONS
ALONG THE TRAIL is a quarterly publication of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club designed to in-form the membership of club activi-ties and matters of interest to the hiking community. HTMC members and any other inter-ested parties are welcome to submit articles to ALONG THE TRAIL. Submis-sions must be re-ceived by the 5th day of March, June, September, and Decem-ber in order to appear in the news-letter published for the quarter, and may be sent in any of the fol-lowing ways (email preferred):
E-Mail: Richard27@prodigy.net
Computer diskette: MS/DOS [3.5"]
FAX: 293-2603
Phone: 293-2554
Mail: Richard McMahon
57-531 Kamehameha Hwy
Kahuku, HI 96731-2128
Bookmark The HTMC Web Page http://www.geocities.com/~htmc - or -
http://htmc.u4l.com- or -
http://www.webalias.com/htmc/
Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club
P.O. Box 2238
Honolulu, HI 96804
Clubhouse: 41-023 Puuone St
Waimanalo, HI 96795
Phone: 259-5443
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