History of Paniolo & Ranching on Hawaii’s Big Island

Hawaii’s Big Island has an unexpected heritage, a rich “cowboy culture” more than a century old, centered in the upcountry ranchlands, populated with colorful characters and endless stories.

But what makes a cowboy culture? Cowboys, horses and well, cows.

The cows actually arrived on the island before cowboys did, in 1798 when Captain George Vancouver, presented King Kamehameha I with 5 black longhorn cattle. The animals were in poor condition after the long sea voyage, and Kamehameha immediately put them under kapu (taboo, “hands off”), and freed them to range the island.

Horses arrived five years afterward in1803. 19th Century historian David Malo in his Moolelo Hawaii, lists among the “imported animals from foreign lands …[t]he horse ( lio ), a large animal. Men sit upon his back and ride; he has no horns on his head.” Although the dictionary gives “lio” as the Hawaiian word for horse, Hawaiian authority George S. Kanahele indicates horses were first called “wa a holo honua” (“canoes that travel on land”).

A few years later, in 1809, 19-year-old sailor John Palmer Parker, jumped ship to stay on the Big Island. He found favor with Kamehameha, and was in fact instrumental in assisting the king’s armies to conquer the Hawaiian Islands. After a final sea voyage to China during the War of 1812, Parker returned to stay, with another “first” for Hawaii, the musket.

In 1816 he married royal granddaughter Kipikane and was awarded two acres of land for $10. He was given permission to use his musket to hunt the maverick cows which had thrived and multiplied, overrunning the range by the thousands. With the help of Hawaiian workers, Parker quickly established a booming beef, tallow and hide business with visiting whalers and sandalwood trading ships. And the cows got their Hawaiian name, “pipi” (beef).

By 1832, Parker was desperate for help. He worked with King Kamehameha III to contract Mexican vaqueros, expert horsemen with plenty of cattle experience. They arrived with boots and saddles, a new language and a flamboyant new lifestyle for the island. Called “paniolo” (Espanol) by Hawaiians, the skilled cowboys trained local men to rope and ride a generation before their American counterparts in the “Wild West.” Their contributions to local culture included the guitar and ukulele, and a lifestyle of hard work, close-knit family ties and wonderful music that thrives to this day.

The beef business boomed and Parker Ranch was born. Over the next century it grew into one of the world’s largest privately-owned cattle ranches: 150,000 acres raising 30,000 head of prime Angus and Charolais beef cattle. (At its peak it spread over half a million acres.)

In 1908, great-grandson of John Palmer Parker and Kipikane, Ikua Purdy, was invited to compete in the Frontier Days World Championship in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He and fellow paniolo Archie Kaaua and Eben Low shocked the rodeo crowd by taking top honors, and became instant cowboy celebrities as “Hawaii Roughriders.” (Look for a series of exciting and fun paniolo events in 2008 as Waimea celebrates the 100th anniversary of “Waiomina,” Wyoming.)

Other ranches began to grow on the Big Island’s cattle-friendly environment. Kahua Ranch began in 1928 when Ronald von Holt and Atherton Richards went together on a large spread in the lush green grasslands of North Kohala, and the two families worked it together for many years. (In 1980 they arranged an amicable split into Kahua and Ponoholo Ranch, although they continue to operate water and other systems together.)

One of Waimea’s most colorful and unique lady ranchers was Anna Leialoha Lindsey Perry-Fiske, who took over the family ranch operation in 1939 and began the transformation from near-bankruptcy to a thriving cattle ranch and social center for the Waimea community. A winning jockey, teacher of horsemanship and master pau rider, “Auntie Anna” would ride and rope alongside cowboys, even help with branding, skinning and slaughtering – then change into a French cocktail dress to host the mayor for dinner.

Of course many other ranching families populated the amenable pasture lands of the Big Island, but it was Parker Ranch who led the way into the history books.

During WWII, Parker Ranch Manager Hartwell Carter signed a lease with Uncle Sam, and 20,000 troops invaded Waimea, pop. 400, to train for the attack on Iwo Jima after heavy losses in Tarawa, Japan. The town was turned upside-down overnight. Parker School became the USO Club, local ladies opened up their homes as hamburger joints and laundries. Soldiers from Montana and Wyoming challenged paniolo to Hawaii’s first rodeo. Today a stone marker outside the entrance to Parker Ranch’s historic homes honors “Camp Tarawa.”