Monday Town Hall with Ruggles

[Rob Tucker]

Well actually there are some prime examples of taking land from Hawaiians. Waikiki was a good example.

Back in the day the folks in power wanted Waikiki. It was mostly low land taro fields. A mosquito abatement organization was formed and the method was to bill the owners of the Waikiki taro fields for the cost of mosquito abatement. The abatement method was to drain the taro fields (hence the Ala Wai Canal) and in the process destroy their farms. When the locals couldn't pay the cost of destroying their farms the land was seized in compensation.

Hawaiian Dredging Company was formed for this purpose as I recall. They are still around. Dillingham was highly involved in the scheme.

Sad history.

From Wikipedia:

"In the early 1900s, Waik#299;k#299; was home to many wetlands, which were believed to harbor disease-carrying mosquitoes. To get rid of the mosquitoes, islanders created the Ala Wai canal. The canal, originally known as the Waik#299;k#299; Drainage Canal, was created by a Hawaiian dredging company run by Walter F. Dillingham. The project took about seven years, 1921-1928."