The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-03-06
HONOLULU HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS
Nuuanu vaIIey---The Battle of the PaIi---New
Road Work---Progress at the Dam.

The battle of the .Nuuanu pail is
not only to be commemorated, but. if
there be anything in the gossip among
the road laborers stationed in the
windy gap, it is about to commence
all over again, the actors in the drama
to be the Daughters of Hawaii, the
organization among the daughters of
the soil of foreign extraction, and the
real daughters of Hawaii, at whose
head stands Queen Liliuokalani, and
the causus belli is the natural desire
OF both huis of daughters to be first
on the spot with commemorative tab
lets. The tablet proposal originated
with the Daughters with the capital
ID, but the others forestalled any at
tempt at pioneering by rushing to the,
brink of the precipice, erecting flag
pole and unfurling Hawaiian flag,
Queen Liliuokalani hosting it to the
top of the mast and metaphorically
mailing it there.
Then the breeze that comes over the
manioc. below and is stiffened thereby
whooped over the edge and the flag
went Tapping off down the valley,
while the fair commentators luaued
in the lee of the crags and celebrated
their victory. But there was another
flag raising since then, this time on
the highest peak of the mountain
shouldering the rain clouds that stream
from the windward for the filing of
the series of dinky reservoirs on the
lower terraces. Again it was the hand
of royalty that threw the colors to
the breeze from the higher altitude,
below which japanese laborers are pick
ing into the face off the cliff niche
for commemorative tablet. The niche
the japanese are digging is for the
Daughters of Hawaii and the selected
portion of the cliff, which overhangs
the county road at that particular
place, has crowded Sam johnson and
his blasters out OF choice quarry site.
They have picked another spot for
their drilling and dynamiting a few
feet further down.
Here, hundred feet or so makai
of the pail IS shetIness, have been es-
tablished temporary homes fer the pick
and shovel mer thar are rebuilding
the pail road, twenty four Gf them I'M
der Luna Charley Clark They have
made an excelienz begIuling on tits
very much needed work and by the
end of this week promise tC have the
macadam crowned up ana rolled down
from the head OF the climb to the lit.
tie red bird-house hex with the gu. S.
MALI tabu sign en- 1T, a thousand feet
practically The :abu letters on that
mail box work mighty well 1t is doubt
full if any letters ever get in it, but a
slr are-faced bottle, half full, stayed
there inviclate overnight once.
The quarters established by the coun-
tv FIR its men at the pail are very
comforta BILE, SO much so that a number
of the laborers have brought their
wives along with them and have set
tied down to stay as long as the job
lasts and the expediencies of politics
do not necessitate the substitutions Of
names on the payroll. Sheds for mules, I
tents for the commissary, blacksmith |
shop, rock crusher and steam roller, all
help to make the pail a place of set
Element and enable the men to do their
work without spending a share of the
energy they owe the county by climb
ing the hill every dav. The wives like
it. too, for the license commissioners
have not worked up that far and the
nearest Federal license holder is quite
a walk away.
When the pail road is finished again
the automobiles will be satisfied. The
Telford system of road making, the
one adopted by the former contractor,
is being abandoned and the big rocks
that have worked their way up through |
the top-dressing in many places will
be dug out and ground up. Expert |
ence has shown that this system is a
poor one in country that has such
rains as are constantly washing things
around in Nuuanu, while as an addI- |
tional protection to the road, after 1t |
is macadamized, there ought to be |
slathers of oil put on it. This will
prevent the top-dressing from coming
into town in the shape of mud and |
will also keep down the growth of
weeds in the drain bitches alongside |
and the consequent flooding of the road |
way because OF cHOcheu CUTTERS. 1t has
been decided to oil the road on the |
Koolau slope to preserve it and it would |
be economy to complete the job by |
oiling this slope into town.
ACTIVITY AT THE DAM.
There are some signs of activity at |
the Nuuanu reservoir, but the fine crop
of grass waving on the eastern en- |
bankments above the road gives rather |
the impression that the mound build |
ers have been at work there in the |
days when the heiaus flourished in the |
land. Contractor Whitehouse is work
ing a big gang of men, however, and
Is only waiting for his three new
pumps to commence making the dirt
fv in earnest. Just now he is opening |
I'D a new quarry, building railroad
lines across the landscape, shifting
things around generally and building |
quarters for himself. He intends TO |
move his family up the valley with /
him and live on the job until his con-
tract is completed.
Below the dam, crisscrossing the |
road. the big pipe that is to bring the
,,-a+ay down m town has been laid in |