Voice of Kapolei - Ewa Plain Sacred Trails
By John Bond Kanehili Cultural Hui November 30, 2012
The recent Federal ruling on Rail stated that the City and HART FAILED to adequately identify TCP's (Traditional Cultural Places) along the Honolulu Rail route corridor.
In fact, HART has published a map where the extremely important 1825 Malden Trails were ERASED to show that NOTHING was "there" on the Ewa Plains where the railway line and stations are located.
Yet- under a HART TCP contract there WAS the identification of the extremely important Hawaiian "Leina a ka Uhane" - (Spiritual jumping off place) in this same Ewa Plains location.
So HOW could HART neglect to show the extremely important trails that the Royal Navy in the early 1800's felt were so visible and prominent that they were featured on one of the very first major maps of Oahu (and which show up on later published maps throughout the 1800's.)?
How did the THOUSANDS of people who were buried along this sacred Ewa wahi pana route get there?
WHERE did Hawaiians have their very important Makahiki processions and where did Hawaiian Alii travel along to go to the Ewa shoreline?
These were MAJOR Oahu Hawaiian trails and evidence of them STILL EXISTS- but developers are anxious to get there FIRST with SHPD approvals so that they can be forever wiped out.
HART RAIL Will Run Directly Though Most Sacred National Register Burial/Battlefield Sites
HART has intentionally HIDDEN this TCP information and the news media has failed to report this.
The news media not surprisingly would NOT do a story on a site where a HART TCP contractor stated contained hundreds if not THOUSANDS of iwi kupuna burial sites...
I recently obtained this 1878 trail map. It includes ORIGINAL published maps like this one and the 1825 Royal Navy Malden survey map - which I also now have in high resolution from the originals.
I used Photoshop to match up the 1878 trail map with a 1962 USGS map based upon an earlier archeological research report done for the US Navy BRAC in 1997-99 by the Tuggles (contracted archeologists.)
The Historic Malden Trail - Oneula Route- runs though MCAS Ewa Field, Ewa battlefield, Hunt Panhandle and by Barbers Point Riding Club stables revetments.
I also believe now that the original surveyors of the 1925 Ewa Mooring Mast located the tower near this same trail intentionally.
And the trails influenced the location the the Ewa Mill Plantation, which also influenced the route of the Oahu Railway line, which influenced the location of the Ewa Mooring Mast, etc...
The other Kualaka'i section runs by the MCAS Ewa Field Ewa Field Historic Warehouse district area (which still shows evidence of this trail) and down what was originally called Henderson Rd. and then on down to the US Coast Guard station where the Kualaka'i village was.
The Kualaka'i section of the Malden Trail runs exactly through where Shad Kane's well preserved ancient Hawaiian trail area is.
Scaling used Puu Kapolei, Onelua Beach and related landmarks to match the 1878 map to the 1962 USGS map.
Without out a doubt these are Oahu's most important and sacred trails and very likely used for annual Makahiki processions and likely for special Alii burial processions as part of the Kanehili "Leina a ka Uhane" wahi pana.
HART RAIL Will Run Directly Though These Most Sacred National Register Burial/Battlefield Sites but they don't want ANYONE to know.
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