Page 427 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

awaii Volcanoes National Park, estab- (along with women and children who were hotel from 1891 to 1904. William R. Castle
H lished in 1916, is a United States Na- in the area) were caught in an unusually first proposed the idea in 1903. Thurston,
tional Park located in the U.S. State of Ha- violent eruption. Many were killed and oth- who then owned the Honolulu Advertiser
waii on the island of Hawaii. It encompasses ers left footprints in the lava that can still newspaper, printed editorials in favor of the
two active volcanoes: Kīlauea, one of the be seen today. The first western visitors to park idea. In 1907, the territory of Hawaii
world’s most active volcanoes, and Mauna the site, English missionary William Ellis and paid for fifty members of Congress and
Loa, the world’s most massive subaerial vol- American Asa Thurston, went to Kīlauea in their wives to visit Haleakala and Kīlauea.
cano. The park gives scientists insight into 1823. Ellis wrote of his reaction to the first It included a dinner cooked over lava
the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and ongo- sight of the erupting volcano, “A spectacle, steam vents. In 1908 Thurston entertained
ing studies into the processes of vulcan- sublime and even appalling, presented Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph
ism. For visitors, the park offers dramatic itself before us. ‘We stopped and trembled.’ Garfield, and in 1909 another congressional
volcanic landscapes as well as glimpses of Astonishment and awe for some moments delegation. Governor Walter F. Frear pro-
rare flora and fauna. In recognition of its rendered us mute, and, like statues, we posed a draft bill in 1911 to create “Kilauea
outstanding natural values, Hawaii Volca- stood fixed to the spot, with our eyes riv- National Park” for $50,000. Thurston and
noes National Park was designated as an eted on the abyss below.” local landowner William Herbert Shipman
International Biosphere Reserve in 1980 proposed boundaries, but ran into some
and a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2012 he volcano became a tourist attraction opposition from ranchers. Thurston printed
the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park was T in the 1840s, and local businessmen endorsements from John Muir, Henry Cabot
honored on the 14th quarter of the America such as Benjamin Pitman and George Ly- Lodge, and former President Theodore
the Beautiful Quarters series. curgus ran a series of hotels at the rim. Vol- Roosevelt. After several attempts, the legis-
cano House is the only hotel or restaurant lation introduced by delegate Jonah Kūhiō
lauea and its Halemaumau caldera were located within the borders of the National Kalaniana’ole finally passed to create the
K traditionally considered the sacred Park. Lorrin A. Thurston, grandson of the park. House Resolution 9525 was signed by
home of the volcano goddess Pele, and American missionary Asa Thurston, was one Woodrow Wilson on August 1, 1916. It was
Hawaiians visited the crater to offer gifts of the driving forces behind the establish- the 11th National Park in the United States,
to the goddess. In 1790, a party of warriors ment of the park after investing in the and the first in a Territory.