Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
KM:
AL:
Yes.
I understand John Giffin, the Wildlife Biologist told me that they went down 4,200 feet,
they found real good water in there.
Oh yeah, oh.
They pump, pump, pump, never going down, strong water. There’s plenty water in there
it looks like.
Good, good.
I think they spent, whoever did that, they spent a lot of money.
Yes. And this is the important thing though ‘cause the land has so much, but if you take
too much, pilikia right
Yes, they come in with salt water.
That water there has been building up for thousands and thousands of years.
Yes.
You know when the observatories were starting to go on to Mauna Kea. ‘Cause you were
working there already when they put the road up. Teddy Bell, Alex’s son was one of the
guys who bulldozed to make the road.
Oh.
He said that Forestry people were very strict about, “You don’t take things out, you watch
things like this.” Did you hear anything, did anyone have any thoughts about building the
observatories on the mountain Hawaiians or local people
No.
You didn’t hear any one talk about it
Only thing, you see the adze quarry, Barbara and I went several times to see there. It
seems like, you know all those rocks there, chips. Must have been there for long time
because it seems like, whether through human travel, walking on it, that thing has kind of
gone down a little bit.
Yes, you’re right, where the chips are, the fragments when they were shaping the preformed
stone. You actually see a groove where the feet traveled across it for centuries.
Gee, must have been a lot of people here. Or maybe certain time of the year when that
thing…the mountain is after snow or something, that thing is worked and the guys go
down. More like a trail already you know.
Yes. And there are little caves up in there you know, you find ‘öpihi. You can see where
people were actually sheltering you know. Very interesting.
Yes.
Mr. Lee, pardon me when I transcribe this if I make a mistake with some of the Chinese
names in spelling. I’ll do the best I can, please pardon me.
No trouble.
I’m going to bring the transcripts home to you and your wife, and she’ll enjoy reading
through it and you can mark anything down. We’ll get it so we can get it nice and as a
part of a history, a collection of oral histories you know. It will be a very important thing.
Okay.
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:418