Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 5, 1 May 2004 — "Kanaka Bill" Davis San Diego's Hawaiian Founding Father [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

"Kanaka Bill" Davis San Diego's Hawaiian Founding Father

This monīh, Ka Wai Ola hegins a regular eolumn by or about Hawaiians on the U.S. continent. This month's inaugural eolumn recounts the tale of San Diego founding father "Kanaka Bill" Davis. This story was eompileā with information provided by Margaret Sanborn, a Native Hawaiian who has lived in San Diego for 40 years. If you are a Hawaiian on the continent with interesting story to tell, or if you know of one, please contact OHA Outreach Coordinator Aulani Apoliona at 594-1912, or e-mail aulania@oha.org Although modern-day San Diegans will tell you the city of San Diego was founded by Alonzo Horton, Hawaiians who know San Diego's history would say otherwise. California annals show that William Heath Mahi Davis began to develop New San Diego a good 20 years before Horton's arrival. "Kanaka B ill" Davis, as he was affectionately known, was a wealthy trader, shipmaster, rancher, entrepreneur, pioneer, and developer. Born in Hawai'i in 1822, he was one-fourth Hawaiian. His mother was Hannah Holmes, daughter of Mahi. His father was an English seafarer, Captain William H. Davis, who traded sandalwood whh China and Alaska. At the tender age of nine, Davis made his first trip along the California coast and eventually settled whh his unele, Nathan Spear, in the San

Francisco Bay area. With his uncle's guidance, he became a wealthy trader conducting business all over California, including San Diego. In 1850, when Davis was only 28 years old, a San Diego surveyor eonvinced him that the town of San Diego needed to be moved closer to the waterfront. They formed a partnership and bought 160 acres of brush and cactus for $2,304. Davis built

a $60,000 wharf and warehouses close to the shore. He built the first house in San Diego and attracted Army officers who bought lots and built homes. However, his efforts were not without problems. For one thing, the new town lacked good water sources. Then, in 1861, whh the Civil War in full swing, the U.S. Army decided that Davis' wharf wood was a "military necessity." They took his wood, tearing the wharf apart. Because of the war, few ships arrived at San Diego harbor, and his "new town" became known as "Davis' folly."

Today, Davis is honored with a park at the corner of G Street and Columbia Street, part of the original 160 acres he purchased. One of his houses sits at the edge of the park, on Island Street in the Gaslamp Quarter. Before his death, Davis wrote two books, " Sixty Years in California" and "Seventy-five Years in California." From his books it is clear that this son of Hawai'i played a significant part in building California, now the most populous state. ■