Land Use: Military Development

The following article was entitled “First Pearl Harbor Treaty” and was published with a "Map of Pearl Harbor" in the Related Maps below.

Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, and David Kalakaua, King of Hawaii, concluded the treaty which first placed Pearl Harbor within the control of the United States.

The proclamation setting forth the terms of the treaty is now in the archives of Hawaii and reads as follows:

This article is about Hawai‘i’s position in the Pacific and its strategic value to the US.

Look at Hawaii on the Map

Midway between Unalaska and the Society Islands, midway between Sitka and Samoa, midway between Port Townsend and the Fiji Islands, midway between San Francisco and the Carolines, midway between the Panama Canal and Hong Kong, and on the direct route from South America ports to Japan, the central location of these islands makes their commercial importance evident.

An article about the assessed value of lands owned by the Oahu Railway & Land Company was entitled “Three Million Dollar Assessment for Pearl Harbor Lands” and subtitled “How tax assessor Holt arrived at his figures in Oahu railway case.”

The tax appeal of the Oahu Railway and Land Company was argued and submitted by Assessor Holt regarding his method of arriving at the

This article is about the US government’s acquisition of Puuloa Fort Site, which occurred in 1904.

United States District Attorney Breckons paid out nearly $80,000 yesterday to the owners of Puuloa, Pearl Harbor property. Titles passed from the Dowsett Estate which received over $65,000, and the remainder was distributed among Waterhouse, Lovekin, and three others.

The title of the following article, “Development of Pearl Harbor,” accurately describes its content. It was published in the Hawaiian Gazette in 1903.

Reefs and Shallows of Pearl Harbor Channels; Many Points that may be Dredged or Blasted Away Before Navigation Commences—Sharp Corners that Form Natural Protection

The following is an essay by a student on the history of Pearl Harbor entitled “An Essay on Acquisition of Pearl Harbor” and subtitled “Pearl Harbor. The history of its acquisition,” “Its location, appearance, and other characteristics,” and “An unorthodox view by a student.” This was published in the Independent over several issues in 1895.

The move by businessmen—many the children of missionaries, and others foreigners who had taken up residency in the Hawaiian Kingdom—to develop sugar plantations led to the movement toward reciprocity. The sugar growers sought a way to compete with sugar growers in the southern United States, and through the Reciprocity Treaty which took effect on September 9, 1876, the Hawai‘i sugar growers were able to export their sugar and rice crops with relief from taxation on foreign imports.

Pu‘uloa, the land area of Honouliuli, and the lochs of the harbor played a major role in Hawai‘i’s political history and eventual loss of sovereignty. The narratives under Related Documents below take readers through the decades of turmoil in development of sugar plantations, trade agreements, the “Reciprocity Treaty” (1875 & 1884), and eventual military control of Pearl Harbor and large tracts of Honouliuli Ahupua‘a by the United States.