|
262 LAND AND POWER IN HAWAII 8/Hawaii:Subdividing Lava Fields 263
<br /> i
<br /> How were these Big Island subdivisions promoted and sold?Who were would ever have dreamed possible,actually underwater at high tide.
<br /> the sales campaigns aimed at?What did the buyers think they were getting? The Big Island version of a Florida development was a subdivision laid
<br /> And what did they actually get? out on volcanic lava.
<br /> "Along the southern shores of the Big Island, Hawaii, largest of the Ha- Royal Gardens was an example of this. It covered part of the old Hawai-
<br /> waiian chain," read a brochure for one typical development, "lies the his- ian ahupua'a of Pulama, which made a kind of boundary from the moun-
<br /> toric and legendary lands of Kalapana. This is the setting for Royal Gar- tains to the sea between the habitable areas of Puna and the uninhabitable
<br /> dens,.a fertile area directly adjacent to the Hawaii Volcano National Park ;, lava fields of Kilauea Volcano.
<br /> with its spectacular attractions,yet only walking distance away from lovely . The land of Royal Gardens was about 40% covered with a`a. A`a was
<br /> beach and shore areas.Royal Gardens lots are all one acre in size,making it defined by the US Soil Conservation Service as loose lava rocks,"rough and
<br /> possible for the owners to have a small orchard or truck garden,or a magni- broken.. . a mass of clinkery, hard,glassy,sharp pieces[of lava] in tumbled
<br /> ficent garden,as well as a home and a haven for retirement."13 j heaps." About 20% was pahoehoe, solid thick sheets of lava, hard and
<br /> Royal Gardens started selling its one-acre lots in the early 1960s for : smooth-surfaced, with "no soil covering," usually "bare of vegetation" ex-
<br /> $995—only$100 down and $15 a month, plus 6% interest on the unpaid cept for mosses at lower elevations, and scrub bushes and trees growing in
<br /> balance.The development was widely and heavily promoted,locally and on cracks higher up. The remaining 40% was opihikao, "extremely rocky
<br /> the mainland.For example,in 1961 a Royal Gardens lot was given away as a muck," with pahoehoe underneath. Water was chronically scarce—no
<br /> prize to ABC-TV's Queen For A Day,plus a trip to visit the place.14 streams,just a few widely scattered waterholes.1e
<br /> This was in the world-famous tropical paradise of Hawaii, now the .1 When a private property system was introduced in the Hawaiian king-
<br /> fiftieth state of the Union,only five hours by commercial jet from the West dom in mid-nineteenth century, the area became the property of the king.
<br /> Coast.The price seemed amazingly low. ) It had no great value because it had no real usefulness. In 1864 1,179 acres
<br /> At Royal Gardens and elsewhere on the Big Island, people by the thou- of what later became Royal Gardens were sold by the government for
<br /> sands,by the scores of thousands,were ready to buy—and even to buy from • $110.50; and in 1894 the balance of 628 of the future subdivision's 1,807
<br /> a distance. A sizable majority, in fact, bought sight unseen: well over half, acres were sold for $680. Early in the twentieth century a Portuguese
<br /> perhaps as many as two-thirds.15 . ' rancher put some of the land to extremely limited pasture use. But a trust
<br /> Here there was a loud echo of the classic American story of speculative company officer who later helped administer the rancher's estate said the
<br /> land development, going back far beyond the Hawaii boom, back to the land had essentially"no value for pasturage. . . I doubt a cow could walk far
<br /> mainland, back to the original boom in subdivided vacation or retirement enough in a day to get enough to eat."19 In loose a`a Hawaiians used to grow
<br /> house lots—Florida in the 1920s. 'I sweet potatoes.As well,some kinds of fruit trees,like papaya,and ornamen-
<br /> The formula as perfected in Florida went like this: acquire cheap raw tals like the Hawaiian Christmas berry,could grow.Overall,though,the Soil
<br /> land with little or no economic use value,even waste land.Subdivide it with Conservation Service gave a`a the lowest possible soil productivity rating.
<br /> little or no site improvement. Promote it heavily nationwide. Advertise in Opihikao contained some organic matter, but the SCS classified it as having
<br /> terms that make the house lots sound simultaneously like a place to be en- "very severe limitations that make [it] unsuitable to cultivation."20 On.pa-
<br /> joyed on vacation,a haven for old age, a prudent investment, and an excit- hoehoe nothing would grow, except in the cracks, though it was possible to
<br /> ing bit of speculation offering quick return. And sell sight unseen if possi- use a bulldozer to rip up.pahoehoe and then plant it as if it was a`a.One thing
<br /> ble,to first-time buyers if possible—in other words to real estate amateurs." j was certain—there were never "royal gardens" on the land that became
<br /> Florida was worth millions to developers.And from then on,between the Royal Gardens.There never could have been.And in the twentieth century,
<br /> 1920s on themainland and the 1960s on the Big Island, any number of to have a truck garden or a"magnificent"home garden of the kind the bro-
<br /> similar developments were floated,especially in states with a high number chures talked about,a lot owner would have to catch his own water,possibly
<br /> of sunny days per year. haul in his own soil,and anyway use.chemical fertilizer.
<br /> One characteristic common to many of these subdivisions was that they All this was so because Royal Gardens was on volcano land,recent lava.A
<br /> were located onland that had virtually no productive value, remote, often brochure described the development as being"directly adjacent to Hawaii
<br /> essentially waste land,sometimes totally unlivable.''In Florida,so intense was Volcano National Park with its spectacular attractions."21 Another way of
<br /> the speculation—and so frequent the fraud—that a purchaser who had .j putting this would be to say that Royal Gardens was only 12 miles to the east-
<br /> bought a lot through the mail,sight unseen,might arrive to take a first look at southeast of an active volcano,Kilauea.
<br /> his"beachfront"real estate and find that it was even closer to the sea than he Kilauea's east rift zone stretched from the volcano's crater to about 30
<br />
|