Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

KM: Oh, yes.
AL: You’ve got to face the elements there, the worst is the hail storm.
KM: Wow!
AL: I always like to use cap, so we go down there, when get hail storm if it hits you in the ear
so when you hold your ear, it hits you on the hands.
KM: [chuckling]
AL: Unless you can find a rock or tree underneath you can hide see, but in the open you
can’t [chuckling].
KM: No can. Oh, so you would walk basically like Pu‘u Lä‘au back towards Pöhakuloa side
AL: Yes.
KM: And then go up further.
AL: Yes.
KM: You said yesterday that one of those walks when Dave Woodside send you out was you
went to Waikahälulu.
AL: Yes.
KM: And you found the pipe, that three-quarter inch pipe
AL: Yes.
KM: That was that kind of time
AL: Uh-hmm.
KM: Oh.
Discusses the old horse and cattle trap built up by Waihü Spring:
AL: A lot of people don’t talk about it but there’s an old horse and cattle trap, up Pöhakuloa
Gulch, where you were talking about, Waihü.
KM: That’s right, right up here.
AL: Then you go to Humu‘ula side of it. One end is a deep gulch that goes down, so they
never fence ‘em but they fenced the three sides, see.
KM: Uh-hmm.
AL: And got a swing gate. According to them, that must be Parker Ranch doing that because
they have the leases all over there. So one day, I talked to Willie and he said, “Yes you
go down there you stay makai, they get couple men stay makai and you wait for the
cattle come over there. Waihü that’s where we’re going, little more seepage comes out,
the cattle come for the seepage and they go drink water.”
KM: Yes.
AL: They have couple cowboys, they wait over there and when the animals go in they see,
they close the gate. The next day or so they go up there with the horses and they rope
‘em, they bring ‘em down. According to Willie Kaniho, you bring ‘em down the pali, the
slope, all the way to Pöhakuloa, and then they bring ‘em to Humu‘ula.
KM: So, they would go down the slope Pöhakuloa Gulch side, down to the shack there
AL: Yes. Now you can see it’s where the water tanks are. The State water tank and the
pipelines go. So I asked Willie, “You fellas huki the pipi down there, the other side, you
fella lead ‘em down there” He said, “Yes, those days, those old horses, the breed of
horses, they were good horses.”
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:404