Moloka’i (Kalaupapa)

Captain C.W. Otwell of the Corps of Engineers designed a second-order flashing light for the peninsula, and construction on the new light station began in June 1908 on a twenty-two-acre parcel that had been set aside by executive order. As the Board of Health controlled access to the peninsula, all personnel working on the lighthouse were required to obtain permits to enter or leave the area, just like any other visitor to the settlement.

The 132-foot octagonal tower, Hawai`i’s tallest, was constructed of concrete. The stairs leading up to and including the fourth landing were also of concrete, while the remainder of the staircase up to the lantern room was of cast iron. In December 1908, John Souza, a Portuguese laborer, was stationed at the top of the tower with another worker to unload the cars of concrete that were carried to the top by an elevator. Souza’s co-worker took the elevator down to get instructions of some kind, and Souza, forgetting the elevator was absent, pushed a car into the space formerly occupied by the elevator and fell ninety feet to his death.

A second-order Fresnel lens and lantern room were manufactured by Chance Brothers and Company in England and delivered to Honolulu in November 1908. The lens and lantern room were originally intended for Makapuu Lighthouse, but a larger lens was obtained for Makapuu, and the second-order lens and lantern room were redirected to Molokai. The clamshell lens, which weighs over three tons, floated in a vat of mercury. A large weight suspended in the tower powered a clockwork mechanism that rotated the lens to produce a white flash every twenty seconds at a height of 120 feet above the base of the tower and 213 feet above the surrounding water. James Keanu, the keeper of the temporary light, ascended the 189 stairs in the new lighthouse on the evening of September 1, 1909 and lit the incandescent-oil-vapor lamp for the first time. Keeper Keanu served three stints as head keeper of Molokai Lighthouse, and when he retired in 1939, he had spent roughly twenty-three years on the peninsula. One day while using dynamite to create post holes for a fence, Keeper Keanu lost a hand to an exploding stick of dynamite, but that setback didn’t stop him from performing his duties.

Earthquakes occasionally shook the station, including one that occurred while Ed Marques was on duty on January 22, 1938. Marques later recalled the effect of the earthquake on the tower.

"The mercury sloshed out all over and soon there was not enough mercury in the vat to support the weight of the lens and it stopped revolving. A supply of mercury was stored in cylinders on the floor below, and we carried two, hundred pound containers up the stairs and emptied them into the vat until the lens could revolve again. The next day, when we could see, we gathered the spilled mercury by sweeping it, a little at a time, into dustpans, then we poured it through cheesecloth into containers. When it settled out clean and still it looked like polished silver and we could see the reflection of our faces in it."

By the first of August 1966, Moloka`i Lighthouse no longer required nightly attention, and the last keepers departed. During an inspection of the tower made in January 1985, mercury was found to be leaking from the vat beneath the lens. With the now common knowledge of the dangers of working with mercury, it was decided to replace the entire illuminating apparatus with a rotating beacon. Accordingly, the twenty-six sections of the second-order lens were removed, one by one. Each 264-pound section of the lens was then wrapped in two old mattresses and attached to a cable. The other end of the cable was attached to an old truck, which would slowly back up towards the tower, thus lowering the protected lens section to the ground.

The lens was transported to Maui where it was reassembled for display by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. Roman and Arabic numerals are stamped on the sections of the lens, and the lens was easily put back together by connecting A to A, 1 to 1, etc. Originally, the disassembling of the lens was going to be captured on video to aid the reassembling, but when the inscribed aids were discovered, this was found to be unnecessary.

The remaining members of the leprosy settlement were saddened to see the lens leave the peninsula, as they were fond of walking to the tip of the peninsula and watching the revolving beams of light. One of the simple joys of their lives had been taken away. Richard Marks summed up the feelings of the Kalaupapa residents in an interview with the Maui News.

They talk about the Statue of Liberty, well, this light was the first thing that hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Hawaii saw when they came here. "Every one of our people…can remember this light looking over us. ... Nobody gives a damn about the people here. … Maui is going to set up a building and put money into it. How willing are they going to be to give it back? … Times change. People change. Maybe the next guy won’t want to give it up. … That light has been very special to the people here. … It has been here longer than any living person has. You could always look out and see it sweeping across the cliff. … It is the Kalaupapa Light."

In response to the united cry of the people of Kalaupapa, the lens was dismantled and shipped back to the peninsula. The National Park Service currently has the lens in storage and plans to place it in a future museum, which will interpret the Kalaupapa settlement.