One map blows away the land use and desecration claim of the anti TMT protestors, the self-styled Ku Kiai Mauna (KKM), or “protectors”.   A map which has come to light shows that in 1901 there was astronomy going on at the top of Mauna Kea for at least 120 years.  It also shows that the strategically important Mauna Kea access road predates the formation of DHHL by at least 20 years if not much longer.   Therefore the claim that they own that area of land by federal law, unless paid back by the state, is invalid. One need not read a complicated court case to see any of this just see the truth of this map and let it sink in.

Note “Waian Astron Sta”, “Astron” short of astronomy, and “sta” short for station.  It is hard to tell if this is labeling jus this area to the south of the “pond”, Lake Waiau, or the whole summit area.  This meme is derived from (1).  Click above for a link to the full image, click here for the orginal page.

Astronomy Has Been Practiced atop Mauna Kea Long Before The Big Observatories.  That particular road was a public way long before DHHL probably dating all the way back to the Hawaiian Kingdom if not longer.   No one, no group, owns the roads and has a right to block them other than the sovereign state.

Hopefully the map speaks for itself.  If not read on.

Astronomy before observatories.  

All one needs to start is a telescope and not a fully built up “observatory”.     The conditions that make Mauna Kea a good place for astronomy now were just as true then.  Just as true for the  Thirty Meter Telescope now and as valid when someone might cart a 60 millimeter, or 30 centimeter telescope up there on the back of a horse or a mule.  One thing which was done at Waian Astronomy station was a precise geolocation of that summit by way of star sightings.   A search of the literature will still find very old papers which report observations from that astronomy station predating the modern observatories.

This map does not disprove Kanaka Maoli cultural practices may have also been going on.  However, it does show that in 1900’s there was astronomy going on there.  There does not seem to be any conflict between the two. 

Mauna Kea Access Road is on this map before DHHL existed.

In speaking of horses and mules, this map also shows that the area of the actual road where the self-styled “protectors” have set up their protest camp, was never DHHL land.  It was a public way before the law that set up DHHL was established.  Laws that give land to indigenous groups in this country never mean or imply that the roads traversing that land pass out of the hands of the general public.  

The map speaks for itself, the KKM have no factual claim against TMT. 

Astronomy atop Mauna Kea is not new, it wasn’t new when the first big observatory was built, it was probably not new in 1901 when that map was drawn.    Nor is the Mauna Kea access road new, it predates the DHHL and even the motorcar.  It can no more be private property, or even the property of a group held in trust, than Des Plaines River road (a road that was once an American Indian trading route here in Chicagoland), or any other similar American Indian trade route which is now a highway on the mainland.  The same principles apply.  No one, no group truly owns the roads, anywhere, ever…. In any system of government “western” or not.     

In fact the KKM have spread easy to swallow lies as facts.

Those of you who are open to the facts will  see the light of truth in this map.  Astronomy is no more a desecration or innovation on top of Mauna Kea than the previous uses as part of a large ranch, or grazing land in the 1800’s.   In fact building TMT is just a continuation of a long tradition of stargazing from that vantage point. 

The only difference is being able to magnify images much more and see father and better than any of our ancestors.  

 References. 

(1)Hawaii
Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands. Primary triangulation by W.D. Alexander, C.J. Lyons, J.S. Emerson, J.M. Lydgate and E.D. Baldwin. Boundaries and topography by W.D. Alexander, C.J. Lyons, J.S. Emerson, J.M. Lydgate, J.F. Brown, E.D. Baldwin, F.S. Lyman, J.M. Alexander, S.M. Kanakanui and A.B. Loebenstein. Map by John M. Donn. 1901.