Waikolu, Hawaii
| Waikolu | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
 Waikolu
|
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| Coordinates: 21°9′9″N 156°55′26″W / 21.15250°N 156.92389°WCoordinates: 21°9′9″N 156°55′26″W / 21.15250°N 156.92389°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Hawaii |
| County | Maui / Kalawao |
| Elevation | 1,581 ft (482 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 1 |
| Time zone | Hawaii-Aleutian (UTC-10) |
| GNIS feature ID | 364703 |
Waikolu Valley, also called Waikola, is on the North Shore of Molokai in Hawaii. Access to this uninhabited valley is currently restricted as it is a partly within the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.
Hawaiians lived along the North Shore of Molokai including Waikolu Valley, cultivating taro and other food crops. These isolated valleys were visited in the summer months when the weather is calmer; in winter, heavy surf renders the beaches inaccessible by outrigger canoe, the islanders' chief form of transportation.
The Native Hawaiian inhabitants were removed in 1865 and 1866 when the leper colony was established on the Kalaupapa Peninsula. Waikolu Valley was where the first leprosy patients were off loaded in 1866. However, the valley was soon abandoned, and the colony was established at Kalawao nearby.
Kalawao obtained its water supply from a spring in the Waikolu Valley, carried by pipe across the adjacent Waialeia Valley, one mile from the settlement. The spring was also the source of the water supply for Kalaupapa, on the dry side of the peninsula, where the leper colony moved in the early 20th century. In the late 1930s, the colony had expanded to the point that the limited water from Waikolu was no longer sufficient for the growing needs of the settlement. A water development project was undertaken to provide a sufficient supply of fresh water from Waikolu stream.
An intake system was installed at the 520 foot elevation, 1.4 miles up the valley, with a catchment system in the upper Waikolu Valley. The water was piped in galvanized 8” and 6” pipe down to the shoreline where it ran on concrete posts along the base of the high cliffs separating Waikolu from Kalawao. The pipeline had sufficient head to push the water up to Kalawao peninsula where the settlement was located. The concrete monuments along the shoreline are the remnants of this early water delivery system.
This system was difficult to maintain especially in the winter months when the shoreline is pounded with winter swells and storms often would damage or clog the intake. Maintenance crews would hike up to a point near the intake and camp in a maintenance shack to do repairs to the system. This system was replaced in 1982 with a well which gets water from an underground aquifer.
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Wikipedia