The First President of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club: William Richards Castle Jr.
Painting by Philip de László, 1921
William Richards Castle Jr. is described by historian Robert H. Ferrell as “a handsome, genial man, who … had a way of disarming people. When he fixed his friendly eyes upon a minister or ambassador the envoy often would completely forget diplomacy and pour out his heart.”
To tell the story of the first president of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, one must begin with the story of the Castle family. William’s grandfather, Samuel Northrup Castle, was born in New York in 1808. Twenty eight years later, he left his job as a bank teller and boarded the Mary Frazier in Boston with his new wife, Angeline. They were part of the Eighth Company of American Missionaries sailing from Boston to the Kingdom of Hawai’i, arriving in April 1837. Kamehameha III was King at the time, and Samuel’s job was to manage the financial affairs of the Mission. Fourteen years later, Samuel resigned from the Mission and founded Castle & Cooke with fellow missionary, Amos Starr Cooke. What began as a merchant partnership, grew into a massive agricultural corporation that wielded significant political power in the early 1900s.
Samuel Northrup Castle was married twice to sisters Angeline and Mary. He fathered eleven children, the fifth of whom was William Richards Castle Sr., born in Hawai’i in 1849. William Richards Castle Sr., a lawyer and diplomat, served as King David Kalakaua’s attorney general at one time. He was also the father of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club’s first president: William Richards Castle Jr.
William Richards Castle Jr. was born in Honolulu in June of 1878 when Kalakaua was King. He (William) graduated from Punahou School and Harvard College, remaining at Harvard College as an English instructor and assistant dean from 1904 to 1913. William was thirty one years old when he became the first President of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club in 1910. Because he was still employed by Harvard College at the time, William was absent from Hawai?i for many months during his term as HTMC President. However, despite his East Coast employment, William still managed to play a role in the creation of the network of trails behind Honolulu. The trail work began behind Punchbowl (Pu’u o Waiho Ana or Puowaina) in Pauoa Valley and extended all the way to Mount Olympus and down into Manoa Valley. The exact routes, however, are not mentioned.
What is NOT named for William Richards Castle, Jr., however, is the “Castle Trail” in Punalu’u. Rather, that would be William’s uncle: James Bicknell Castle, 23 years his senior. Uncle James was a sugar baron, leasing and buying large parcels on O’ahu’s windward Ko’olauloa and Ko’olaupoko districts from Kahuku to Kailua. James planted sugarcane in Punalu’u Valley. Wanting to determine how much water the streams in Punalu’u and Hau’ula could supply, James hired an engineer to conduct a stream measurement project. In 1906, after the engineer determined that a flanking route was best, James had a crew begin work building the Castle Trail (sometimes called the Pig God Trail) on the west side of Punalu’u Valley. The trail had seven switchbacks and crossed the Kaluanui Stream above the last major waterfall. It then contoured around Ma?akua Gulch to Kaipapa’u Stream, above Sacred Falls, or Kaliuwa’a. Weirs were installed to measure water flow in four different places. James Castle was also a charter member of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club. (Much of the information in this paragraph can be attributed to a blog post by HTMC club member “Waianae Steve” titled “Partial History of the Castle Trail” and can be found at waianaecrider.com.)
Ray Jerome Baker tells the story of William Richards Castle Jr. as the first club president in “A Brief History of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club”:
“In a bulletin published in July 1910, the Outing Committee announced… Mr. William Castle (Jr.) was to construct a trail, elaborate in plan, on the ridges back of Honolulu.”
“Through the kindness of W. R. Castle a trail was built from (the) back of Punchbowl Hill. An account dated July 12, 1911 states that ‘it winds up a number of miles around the mountains, ascending (Mt.) Olympus and descending to Manoa Valley.” This is probably the trail that Mr. (William Richards) Castle (Jr.’s) men worked on while he was away on a mainland trip. There is a tradition that Mr. (Alexander Hume) Ford kept Mr. Castle’s gang working at trail cutting for months, during the entire time Mr. Castle was away and were still at work when he returned. They had drawn pay at Mr. Castle’s office. Mr. Castle had not anticipated such a long job, but did not protest.”
Although William Richards Castle Jr. was not in Hawai’i much during the year while he was president, as a charter member and the first president of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, he adhered to the Objects of the Club which were expressed in the opening paragraphs of the original club constitution as follows:
“To encourage intimate acquaintance with outdoor Hawaii
- By promoting knowledge of and interest in objects of natural interest in the Territory and the ways and means of getting to them.
- By construction and maintenance of trails and roads leading to the same and rest houses incidental thereto;
- Through promoting interest in travel, more particularly by foot, through the mountains of Hawaii.”
William, an intelligent, busy man, went on to serve as Secretary of State under President Calvin Coolidge and later as ambassador to Japan. He also wrote several books including a history of Hawai’i.
Despite his absences as HTMC president, William had a generous hand in the creation of some of the trails behind Honolulu that are still enjoyed today. Thank you, Mr. Castle!
Please note: Apologies the ‘Olelo Hawaiian words in this article do not have the proper diacritical marks due to website coding difficulties.