Waikiki in the mid 1920's

Waikiki in the mid 1920's

WAIKIKI in the mid-1920's after Dillingham dredged the Ala Wai canal on the left. He dug it two and a half miles long, 250 feet wide and 28 feet deep to create coral spoils which he dumped on six s quare miles of fertile and productive Native Hawaiian taro gardens including 38 major fishponds. He got his bookkeeper L. H. Pinkham appointed as governor of the stolen territory. Pinkham awarded the dredging contract to his former boss who made millions destroying 300 years of highly successful cultivation of these lowlands by our Native Hawaiian kupuna. Pinkham charged each family 59 cents a cubic yard for the coral that destroyed their source of food, livelihood and homes! As poor farmers, most couldn't pay, were homeless and their lands put up for auction. Guess who ended up owning much of Waikiki! Yup, big pig Walter Dillingham.