The Hawaiian gazette., 1888-03-20
THE M0LOKAI WATER WORKS
High Winds at Camp-visit of the
Minister of Interior.

tOr some Uille klnlC AFTER MY pre-
vious miSSive toyou there was nothing
of special interest occurred here save
the regular arrival of the Camp angel
who brings us the favorS of our
friends in the staunch, if not swift,
little steamer MOkolii. The weather
had continued pleasant, though cool,
and the work laid out by Superinten-
dent Wilson, during his few days
absence in Honolulu, was being carried
out rs per programme,
On the 18th inst, at midnight, the
wind commenced TO show an increase
in strength, and heavy rain squalls
became the order of the night, sudden
and fierce blasts shook the canvas
walls of the dwellings of Camp Liliuo-
kalani and at l2:45 p. m, the occupants
of the tent used as the Superin-
tendent'S Office heard the ominous
crack rack rrrdck of the ripping
stitches in the tent hood and a haSty
turnout was made to secure against
being east out eoverleSS upon the bleak
and barren ground that surrounded
| the tent, The efforts were both timely
and successful, and temporary respite
was had from the impending disaster
On the 18th inst. Superintendent
| Wilson arrived back nj camp via
steamer Mokolii, Captain MeGregor
and Kalaupapa from Honolulu, and
with him appeared the well known
face of an old kamaaina, Mr.. Robert
| Grieve. Mr.. Grieve remained rs the
guest of the camp until the next morn
| ing being Joined in the meantime here
by jolly Captain McGregorl, and dur
ing his stay he was shown thoroughly
about the place and made some of the
/ perilous aseents himself.
On the 14th inst His ENcelIency the
Minister of Interior, Hon. l.. \.
| Thurston, accompanied by DIR. Peter
son of the leper settlement, without
any warming, sailed gracefully and
! quietly into camp, on horseback. No
! preparation had been made TO receive
| His Exeellency and the lack thereof
! did not seem TO disturb him in the
! least, he being evidently on business
| trip and not one of pleasure. a ride
was taken along the trail leading To
! the proposed reservoir rs far rs the
: horses would go, then legs were used
as means of transit. superintendent
| Wilson, who had no knowledge of the
so near approach of the Minister, was
| found, rifle in hand, ut the fountain
head laying out the lines to be follow
| ed in the near future. Congratulate
lions, explanations, ETC., etc., followed
and the Minister and Superintendent
| returned TO camp together and in
| dulged in taste of the few delicacies
| that the camp afforded, Minister
Thurston tackling the hard tack like
a regular ''old salt" Minister Thurs
| ton and DR.. Peterson left again for the
! settlement about s p. m, taking the
dangerous and only path underneath
| the overhanging precipices that line
| the beach, at that late hour, Il route
made doubly dangerous on account of
the darkness.
Time debars me from giving you an
| account in full of 4 Waikolu cyclone
! that visited us on the morning of the
| 18th instant, and how the first stroke
| of the powerful wind was witnessed
| by Minister ThurstOn, who arrived at
an Opportune moment TO witness the
demolition of the Superintendent
office, which was split from elew to
carving, or rather from top to bottom,
and the documentary contents of sew
eraI boxes were waited upwards by the
gentle breezes two and three thousand
| feet high, being well scattered in
transit. As | said, time does not allow
to describe all that happened, and only
passing mention can now be made of
| the revels and pranks of the 40-knot
zepf yr, which carried plates OF sheet
| iron, wrested off the cook house, one
after the other, over 100 feet from the
place of start, upset barrels of pork and
sent them on the run up hill as if going
downwards, blew copies of the various
Honolulu papers, of which the camp
was well supplied, to heights of more
than 5000 feet, and Minister ThurstOn
can tell you that one of the heavy
editorials in one of the newspapers Il
am not sure whether GAZETTE or not
was scanned by a colony of boat
swain's birds at the summit of the
eastern pail, some 1000 feet above sea
level. The spray was taken from the
seething waves and like snow from Il
snowbank was carried inland and up
ward to a height of over 600 feet.
Minister ThurstOn gave the heavy
wind credit for more strength than |
am inclined to, for he remarked to his
guide that, from the Superintendent
/ appearance (he being clothed simply
in air and couple of towels, it looked
as though 1.-THE wind had blown the
clothes of of Wilson" The advice
and assistance given by Minister
| ThuTstOn were characteristic of him, he
buckling to a guy rope and hauling as
heartily and eheerily as if on board the
Pauline in yacht race, and wet was
no name for tia better statement
would be ''almOst drowned in rain.
With the wind storm came heavy
rain and consequent freshet, the river
rising about five feet and changing
from the usual peIIucid stream to a
surging, foaming, dashing, mass of
turbid water The height of the gale
was reached at about $50 p. M, sew
eraI hours after Minister Thurston had
left, he making the dangerous passage,
before described, by the sea beach, at
I:3O p. IN. During the blow, Black,
who had been reciting some of his ex-
peTiences about zephyTs, cyclones, etc,
in the States, was quietly questioned
by Superintendent Wilson relative to
what he knew about 'hard times in
Kansas The point will be appreci-
I