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A cover from the American Sugar Co., Kaunakakai, postmarked with type 281.01 dated June 8, 1900. This company was organized in 1898 to grow cane on much of the former Molokai Ranch property.

MOLOKAI

Molokai has a rugged, well watered and forested eastern end and a low lying, arid western end. Until the twentieth century, there were no permanent settlements on West Molokai. Settlement of foreign residents on East Molokai started in 1832 with the creation of a mission station at Kaluaaha and expanded to the Kaunakakai region with development of Molokai Ranch, a cattle ranching enterprise, in the 1850's. The north coast of East Molokai is marked by high cliffs and deep gulches and was avoided by the foreign settlers who lived along the more gradual sloping south shore. A reef runs along the south shore protecting extensive fish ponds built by the native population. Much of Molokai was owned by the Kamehamehas. In 1866, a leper colony was established on Kalaupapa Peninsula, jutting out from the north coast below the steep, high cliffs of East Molokai.

In 1875, the steamer Kilauea stopped at Kaunakakai once a month. Schooners and other sailing craft made more frequent visits and runs between Lahaina and Molokai were more regular. By 1880, the steamer Mokolii was making weekly stops at Kaunakakai and Pukoo and the routine in 1890 was still weekly steamer stops at all Molokai ports. Mail service on the island consisted of several offices along the south coast of East Molokai and a carrier who traveled between Kaunakakai at the western end of East Molokai and Halawa at the eastern tip. Until about 1884, postmasters on Molokai were appointed and supervised by the postmaster at Lahaina on Maui. As a practical matter, the Kaunakakai postmaster became the leading postal authority on the islands and reported directly to the Postmaster General by about 1880.

Overland carriers were appointed by the postmaster at Kaluaaha until about 1880 and afterward by the postmaster at Kaunakakai. Mail for the leper colony was carried from Kaunakakai to Kalawao on Kaulapapa Peninsula.

Molokai has garnered a high percentage of tentative postmarks. Of the thirteen marks listed here, four are tentative at best.

Honomuni
1881-1882
Postmaster: J. Lima (1879-1882)
Located on the south east coast of Molokai, the exact kind of postal arrangement here is uncertain but it may have been a postal agency under the jurisdiction of J. Lima who was the postmaster at Kaluaaha. No postmarks are known.

Kalaupapa
"flat plain"
1888-1900
Postmaster: uncertain

Located on the south east coast of Molokai, the exact kind of postal arrangement here is uncertain but it may have been a postal agency under the jurisdiction of J. Lima who was the postmaster at Kaluaaha. No postmarks are known.

Kalawao
"announce mountain area" [Pukui]; "mountainside wild wood" [Davey]
1876-1886
Postmaster: ? Straun (1884), A. Hutchison (1886) and Wm. Clarke (1900). No stamp sales were recorded in the years 1884-1885, but the postmaster was allotted a salary of $25 annually.

Located on the Kalaupapa Peninsula and site of the Catholic church erected by Father Damien for the leper colony. No postmarks are known.

Kaluaaha
"the gathering pit" [Pukui]; "the coir-net pit" [Davey]
1856-1882
Postmasters: J. S. Low (1856-1859), S. G. Dwight (1859-1860), W. Burrows (1864-1866), A. O. Forbes (1866-1869), E. H. Rogers (1869-1871), ? Mayer (1871-1875), R. Newton (1875-1877) and J. Lima (1877-1882). The office was closed in 1882 and re-opened as the Kamalo office in 1884.

Site of the first Christian mission station on Molokai, established in 1833 by Rev. Harvey Hitchcock, followed by Lowell Smith, Bethuel Munn, Peter J. Gulick, C. B. Andrews, Samuel G. Dwight and Anderson O. Forbes. A Catholic mission station was built at Kaluaaha by Father Damien in 1874. Later, after the leper colony was opened on the other side of the island at Kalaupapa, Father Damien moved there to serve the lepers. The post office here served the small foreign resident population in the eastern section of Molokai. Mail service connected to Lahaina on Maui or by overland carrier to the harbor at Pukoo.

Kamalo
"dry place"
1884-1900
Postmasters: D. McCorriston (1890-1892), H. McCorriston (1893-1900). Stamp sales in 1884-1885 were unrecorded and no salary was allotted for a postmaster.

Formerly the Kaluaaha office. Daniel McCorriston and his brother Hugh established a sugar plantation at Kamalo, but the mill burned in 1875, and they went into ranching. A harbor, the second on the island after Pukoo, was also here.

Kaunakakai
"beach landing" [Pukui listing for old name of Kauna-kahakai]; "to go along in company of fours" [Davey]
1858-1900
Postmasters: John Burrows (1860-1868), R. W. Meyer (1868-1897), W. C. Meyer (1897-1898) and Mrs. F. W. Carter (1899-1900). In the early years, the office merely designated the letter carrier for Molokai under the jurisdiction of the Lahaina postmaster. Burrows was named postmaster for the port of Kauanakakai in 1860. Burrows was the Molokai letter carrier and he continued as such until 1868. Stamp sales in 1884-1885 were about $55 annually and the postmaster was paid $50 per year.

Kaunakakai was headquarters for Molokai Ranch, owned by the Kamehamehas. Rudolph Meyer, who once lived at Kaluaaha and married a high chiefess, returned to Molokai around 1851 to live at Kalae, several miles upland from Kaunakakai. Meyer was the ranch foreman. Meyer became superintendent of the leper colony at Kalaupapa when it started in 1866. Meyer died in 1897, but management of the vast section of Molokai remained in the family. Kaunakakai was the principle town on Molokai starting about 1880, but it still was a hamlet with a general store and about twenty huts in addition to a royal house formerly used by Kamehameha V on his hunting and fishing trips. In 1899, the American Sugar Co. began operations at Kaunakakai on former land of Molokai Ranch and a small plantation railroad was built in 1899.

Pukoo
"support hill" [Pukui]; "supporting conch shell" [Davey]
1882-1900
Postmasters: C. B. Dwight (1883), R. W. Meyer (1884-1892), S. K. Kupihea (1893), W. A. Kukamana (1894-1895) and J. H. Mahoe (1896-1900). Stamp sales in 1884-1885 were unrecorded but a salary of $25 was allotted for the postmaster.

Site of a small harbor, the first on the island.

LANAI

Mormons made a colony on Lanai in the 1850's but left it. Walter Murray Gibson was a member of the Mormon Colony but in a falling out of some sort, he ended up with the island and the rest of the Colony went elsewhere. Gibson operated a sheep and cattle ranch on Lanai for many years before entering politics under Kalakaua. The ranch meanwhile was left in the hands of his daughter and son-in-law, the Heyseldens. Mail service was entirely private although the ranch headquarters at Keole was a post office. Whatever mail was passed to and from the island was carried by the ranch boat on its trips to Lahaina.

Keomuku
"the shortened sand"
1899-1900
Postmaster: L. M. Vettleson (1899-1900)
Located on the coast facing Lahaina and site of the Maunalei Sugar Co. The plantation wharf and railroad was at nearby Halepalaoa landing. The plantation failed in 1901 and the village was abandoned.

Lanai
"day of conquest" [Pukui]; "day of contention" [Davey]
1866-1900
Postmasters: Walter Murray Gibson (1866-1880), Jesse Moorhead (1881-1892), T. L. Heyselden (1894) and Mrs. T. L. Heyselden (1894-1900). The post office was located in Keole, the ranch headquarters in the center of the island. Stamp sales at Lanai in 1884-1885 were unrecorded but an annual salary of $25 was allotted for the postmaster.

The office served the sheep ranch located on the island.

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