1906 Donn Map of Oahu, Hawaiian Islands

This is a 1906 John M. Donn map of Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. It represents the first comprehensive modern mapping of Oahu.

A Closer Look

Published in a U.S. government report 8 years after the U.S. annexation of Hawaii, this map focuses on land use on Oahu. A legend provides an explanation for the colors employed to highlight public lands, sisal plantations, grazing lands, pineapple lands, federal reserves (i.e. military bases), sugar plantations, forest reserves, and wet lands. Honolulu, Diamond Head, and Pearl Harbor appear in detail. Specific companies and plantations are identified as well, among these are the Waimanalo Sugar Company, the Heeia Agricultural Company, and the Kahuku Plantation.

Hawaiian Territorial Survey

The Hawaiian Territorial Survey came into existence in 1901, three years after the United States annexed the archipelago and took the place of the Hawaiian Government Survey. (The Hawaiian Government Survey was created in 1870 to survey the Hawaiian government's land.) In 1901 the Surveyor General of the Hawaiian Government Survey William D. Alexander became the head of the Branch Office of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in the Hawaiian Islands and Walter E. Wall succeeded him as Territorial Surveyor. The Territorial Survey continued its work until 1959 when Hawaii became a state and thus changed to the State Survey.

Publication History and Census

This map was 'compiled from all available data in the office and also from private surveys by John M. Donn' in 1902 and 'specially prepared for Governor's Annual Report, Illustrating Conditions as of June 30, 1906'. We note seven examples cataloged in OCLC: Princeton University, the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Brigham Young University, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Hawaii Manoa, the University of California San Diego, and the University of California Davis. An example is also part of the David Rumsey Map Collection.