The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-05-18
RUSSIAN FORT,
Strong Fertilization on
the Island of Kauai.
Hts Surrender to Ramehameha the
Firsi---InterestinE Description
Of its site and Rims.

Of Kamehameha l., there was a certain DR..
school, a German by birth, who was sta
toned here as the agent of the Russian &
Trading Company. Having heard Of the
wreck Of a Russian trading vessel on the !
shores Of Kauai, he FASTENED to that island 4
to take possession Of what might be saved /
from her. Finding the vessel ashore at the :
mouth Of the Waiamea river, he saved what
he could of her cargo, and then the ideaS
struck hin. that it would be good thing to-
build fort a the mouth of the river, and !!
so have virtual control over the whole dis /
trict, if not the island itself. Accordingly,
THE FORT WAS BUILT,
Armed with guns, manned by Russians andI
others in the employ Of the company, and for:
a short time things went along quite;
smoothly. But al length Kamehameha, the;
King began to fear that the Russian Doc
tor as he was called, might become too;
powerful, and finally take possession of thel
island of Kauai, if not checked. According
lily, the King ordered the Governor of thei
island, Kaumualii, to send the doctor away I
As the King was accustomed to beingI
ODGNGQs lliG OOkGIuOI SCI dUOuL TIC thoh .
land much to his establishment, and relief
perhaps, met with no resistance from the
Iwould-be military ruler of the fort.
THE RUSSIANS SURRENDER THE FORT.
The whole of the Russians, upon the
Kings orders being made known to them,
quietly embarked on board brig that was
lopportunely at hand, and sailed away from
&l,a .T,r.
with his soldiers took possession of the fort,
and from that time up to as late as 1910,
when Kamehameha III. was King of the
islands, it was occupied by Hawaiian sol
|diers 1t had probably never been kept in
repair after the Russians left it, and now,
after a lapse of seventy years, is nothing but
IA ruin. But it is interesting even in decay,
and when Captain Jackson, of the Hawaiian
Government Survey, was on the island few
weeks ago, he having little spare time,
made a very complete and careful survey OF
the ruin, and from his notes and sketches,
has drawn plan of the fort as it stood
'urobablv at the time the Doctor was its
lcommandant This plan evidences that
considerable judgment was shown in the
selection of the site upon which the fort was
built, and a great deal of labor expended in
making il really formidable work of de-
tense.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT FROM CAPTAIN
JACKsoN's PLAN.
The fort stands on fiat piece of land on
the east bank Of TIE Waiamea river, close to
where it empties into the sea. On the river
front the land breaks off i'll an abrupt preci-
pice of hard basaltic lava which, at the point
above the fort where the road crossing the
stream is cut through it, is about 80 feet
high, and from thence diminishes in height
along front Of about l 500 feet to the sea
shore below the fort. Opposite this steep
shore Il long sand spit runs out, almost clos
ing the mouth of the river, which is never
HnavigabIe for anything larger than 4 canoe.
On the Low fiat land from which this spit
puts out, stands the village of Waiamea
which has always been populous place.
though now much smaller than in the times
when the guns of the Russian fort only 2,oOs
feet distant, commanded it. The road
spoken of as crossing the river does 50 now on
BRIDGE $50 FEET IN LENGTH,
1t being the longest structure of the kind in
the Kingdom. After leaving the river and
attaining the level upon which the fort
stands this road curves to the north, pass
ing near where once stood the trading house
of the Russian Company. On the cast side
of the fort the land is very bare and rocky,
land around on the north runs off into a
sandy beach, outside of which is shoal water
for considerable distance. These shoals
continue around and join the rocky cliff that
forms the northeast side of tie rivers
mouth.
The fort itself was star-shape on the half
commanding the approach by sea and the
entrance to the river. The wall was built
/ Of lava rock, neatly trimmed, and is still in
position at the angles, of which there were
five salient and as many retreatinS. This
wall had an average thickness of As or so
afeet. and was about II feet high. On each
one Of
THE SALIENT ANGLES
Was mounted an iron gun, one Of which
ranged directly over Waiamea village. the
next three covered the mouth of the river
and the approach from sea, while the fifth
commanded the canoe landing on the shoals
.on the northeast. From the angle on which
was placed the fifth gun wall from II to 90
feet in thickness, and somewhat lower than
the sea-war of the fort, was built, which
extended around on the land side of the fort
to near the angle on which stood gun NUM-
Der one This wall, or curtain, completed
the decentralization of the fortifcation, and
on il was mounted two smaller guns, of brass
probably, one of which was pointed up the
road when it left The trading house, and the
other commanded the ford, where the bridge
now IS, and up the river. From outside the
angle on which was placed this last gun al
low stone wall was built around
q THE TRADING HOUSE
And Joined the main wall of the fort near
gun number one In the retired angIeI
horned by the junction of the curtain with
the main wall was the entrance to the FORT
and close to this, inside, was placed the
quarters, an adobe building
21x45 feet in size. Near this was the arsenal
and powder magazine, STAB, built of good
brick and stone, having in the center a
sunken space, lined with masonry, feet
square for the powder. A short distance
from the arsenal stood the barracks, an
adobe building, 20 feet long by 81 feet wide.
The entrance to both the barracks and the
arsenal was BY covered way some 40 feet