Lanai Ranch The Koele Headquarters

Walter Murray Gibson originally settled the Palawai Basin in 1862 as a Mormon colony for native Hawaiians. Within a few years, he abandoned the plan and kept the land. By the 1870s, Gibson focused his ranching interests in the area called Koele, situated in a sheltered valley in the uplands of Kamoku Ahupuaa. As the ranch operation was developed, Koele was transformed from an area of traditional residency and sustainable agriculture to the ranch headquarters. Herds of sheep were managed from Koele, and during shipping season, wool and mutton for the meat markets in Honolulu, were shipped from the coastal village of Awalua, at the northern end of the island.

View of the Lanai Ranch Headquarters at Koele (1921, viewed from Kaiholena) Courtesy of Suki Richardson Nakoa

LANAI AND THE RANCHING OPERATIONS DESCRIBED IN 1893

"The Island of Lanai with its delightful climate and other attractive features, is one of the most interesting of the Hawaiian Islands. It is the principal sheep-growing district of the Kingdom, and from it are chiefly drawn the mutton supplies for Honolulu and other portions of the Islands... To the visitor approaching it by sea, Lanai has, by no means an inviting appearance, the brown slope rising towards the inner range in almost every direction, giving no indication of the rich grass-covered lands which lie beyond, or of the timber and shrub-covered ridges and ravines with which it is interspersed. Nevertheless, some 45,000 or 50,000 sheep and lambs here fatten upon the succulent grasses, as well as some 600 horses, 500 horned cattle, and goats and hogs. Wild turkeys almost without number also inhabit the island. During the last ten months there were shipped from this island some 5,000 sheep; and numbers of cattle and horses. Very large quantities and an excellent quality of wool are also clipped here, and shipped to the United States, England and other countries... The island is held partly in fee simple and partly in leasehold, by Mr. Fred H. Hayselden..., its ownership having been originally acquired by the late ex-Premier Walter M. Gibson, from whom it descended to Mr. Hayselden and his wife, who is a daughter of that prominent and ambitious statesman whose name is inseparably lined with the political history and general affairs of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Since Mr. Gibson's death, Mr. Hayselden has, from time to time, added largely to his landed possessions, and the entire island, with the exception of a few kuleanas (native homesteads), is now under his control."

"The kanaka population is now in the neighborhood of two hundred and fifty, who are engaged in cultivating small patches, in sheep-herding, and in fishing...

Lanai is a place well supplied with water. There are springs and several small streams in ravines; and upon the beach in different places wells have been sunk which furnish a liberal supply of fresh water. There is one perpetual river, or rivulet, which flows through the ravine of Maunalei. The lovers of the grand and beautiful in nature will here find much to gratify and please, and the botanist, especially, will obtain much food for study and entertaining research among the numerous canyons covered with shrubs and timber forest." [in Paradise of the Pacific. April 1893:51]

The Naming of Koele

The ancient name, Ko'ele, literally describes a parcel of land worked for the sustenance of a chief. Interpretively, the name may also describe the dark clouds drawn down, across the area from the Kaiholena Valley and slopes of Lanai Hale that lie above.

At times, the mist cover can be so thick and dark that you are unable to see but a few feet in front of you. Dark, almost black (ele), water-bearing mists, which gave life to the land, are regularly drawn (ko) across the land area, thus the name, Koele.

From 1910 to 1950, the Lanai Ranch operations—focused on cattle—were stationed out of Koele, which in the early years included more than 30 residences, a store, offices, a one-room school house, and outlying buildings, as a part of the Koele Ranch complex. Many of the homes and buildings of the Koele vicinity were relocated from the Keomoku Village of the former Maunalei Sugar Company. The ranch ended operations in 1950, as the Hawaiian Pineapple Company focused all its efforts on the Lanai pineapple plantation.

THE LONE NORFOLK ISLAND PINE ON LANAI

It was a lone Norfolk Island Pine, planted at Koele in 1878, that in 1911, alerted ranch manager, George C. Munro, to the importance of the fog coming off of Lanai Hale as a producer of valuable water in the form of fog drip. Hearing the constant drip of water on the corrugated roof of the ranch house situated along side the Norfolk Pine, Munro realized that the pine boughs collected water from the fog and clouds. As a result, Munro initiated a program of planting pines across Lanai. The pines seen around Lanai today, are Cook Island Pines which were initially planted under Munros' management. After years of depredation by herds of feral goats and sheep, which stripped the island of vegetation, this effort began the process of restoring the islands' watershed. To this day, work initiated by Munro, nearly 100 years ago, continues under partnerships between Castle & Cooke and various organizations and agencies.

The Original Norfolk Island Pine and Ranch Headquarters at Koele
(Dole Collection, 1912)

LANAI UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF CHARLES GAY AND JAMES DOLE

In 1902 Charles and Luika Gay purchased the sugar company interests, and put their energies in cattle ranching and limited agriculture—with a focus on watermelon crops and beehives for honey. By the late 1920s, the coastal villages of the Keomoku vicinity were in decline, and the last native family—Daniel S. Kaopuiki, Sr., and his wife, Hattie Holohua Kaenaokalani Kaopuiki—moved to Lanai City from the shore, in the early 1950s.

By 1920, the Charles Gay family, which in 1902 began to purchase most of the fee-simple land on the island, undertook the first efforts at cultivating pineapple at the Nininiwai-Lalakoa vicinity of Lanai—roughly in the open lands that lie behind the present-day Lanai City.

The Original Pineapple Fields of Lanai planted in the Nininiwai Valley by Charles Gay and Family (Courtesy of Violet Gay).

The Gay family experiments in pineapple cultivation met with success, and in 1922, James Dole's Hawaiian Pineapple Company, Ltd. purchased the island, and in 1923, began development of what became the world's largest pineapple plantation. These efforts also led to the diversification of Lanai's community. It was no longer predominately Hawaiian, but being largely made up of Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, and Puerto Rican immigrants. All of whom came to Hawaii as laborers. There was also a small number of Western residents, who were generally managers and "luna" (overseers) of the plantation era, which lasted 70 years on Lanai, with the last harvest taking place in 1992.

MORE HISTORICAL NARRATIVES TO BE ADDED SOON. MAHALO FOR YOUR PATIENCE!