Images

The interior of the Hamilton bathhouse in 1939.

Aerial view by the Naval Air Service of the 1933 Mauna Loa eruption from a fissure across the rim and floor of Moku‘āweoweo Crater.

The image on the left shows the road near Koa‘e on April 23, 1924. Motion was in progress as the men tried to touch hands. The image on the right shows the same scene on May 1. The crack had widened and the left side of the roadway had dropped substantially.

On April 23, 1924, scientists from the observatory followed one of the large cracks towards the ocean and rested under a cluster of coconut palms where they refreshed themselves from coconuts that had been shaken to the ground by the earthquakes.

The south edge of Kīlauea caldera after the explosive eruptions, showing a sun-cracked puddle of fine pisolitic ash, with paw prints from Teddy, the pet dog of Thomas Jaggar. These impressions were similar to footprints left by Hawaiians in the cemented ash of the much larger eruption of 1790.

Truman Taylor, a bookkeeper from Pahala sugar plantation, was near the rim of Halemaumau at the time of the 11:15 a.m. explosion on May 18. He was struck by a ballistic block and crawled to this spot, where Ruy Finch and others rescued him. He died later that evening from his injuries.

Thomas A. Jaggar, Jr., long time director of HVO, was on the mainland at the beginning the 1924 eruption and returned to HVO a few days after the explosions ended. Jaggar's absence left only two HVO staff members to monitor this 2 1/2 week long eruption at Kīlauea.

This scene west of Halemaumau looks toward the rim of the caldera, southwest of Uēkahuna Bluff. New ballistic blocks and ash from the 1924 eruption coat the floor of the caldera.

A crowd of visitors from the steamships Haleakalā and Matsonia view the eruption plume from the front of the Volcano House hotel. They were subsequently warned by Ruy H. Finch, acting director of HVO, that it was unwise to remain there.

Steam cloud over Halema‘uma‘u about May 24, 1924. Before May 16, avalanche dust was rising continuously. After that, the pit cleared as shown here between explosions.

Prior to the eruption of 1924, this area was swept clean and used as a landing field for airplanes. This view looking toward the north rim of Halemaumau shows the air field littered with ballistic blocks from explosions in the 1924 eruption.

This block was thrown out during an explosion at Halema‘uma‘u on May 18, 1924, while Acting HVO director Ruy Finch and others were nearby. The block landed about 600 meters (2000 feet) from today's rim of Halemaumau and created a large impact crater.

This was probably the strongest explosion of the eruption. Rocks and debris fell among spectators southeast of Halemaumau, causing one fatality. A torrential downpour and an electrical storm followed.

Acting HVO director Ruy Finch snapped this photograph of spectators running away as large blocks were tossed about 600 meters (2000 feet) onto an airplane landing field. Lorrin A.

The series of explosive eruptions in May 1924 followed the withdrawal of lava from lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u Crater that began in February and the ensuing collapse of its crater floor in late April. Scientists infer that the lava had drained to a depth below the water table at the summit, currently about 500 m (1,640 ft) below the floor of the caldera.

Boles poses on the grounds of the Volcano House hotel with the Halemaumau eruption plume in the background. He fell cutting his hands and a knee while fleeing an explosion the day before. After his close call the superintendent barred all public access within two miles of Halemaumau.

Eight persons, including newspaper and movie men observing the scene at Halema‘uma‘u, were caught in a rain of hot rocks from this explosion. The rocks emitted hissing sounds as hot gas, mainly steam, escaped from them. Park superintendent Thomas Boles was knocked down twice by this bombardment.

On May 11, Ruy Finch and W.O. Clark visited Halemaumau and found a rock fragment weighing about 180 kg (400 pounds) that had been thrown 60 meters (200 feet) from the rim of the crater.

Later scientists at the Observatory listed May 10 as the first day of the eruptive series. Between this date and May 27, they carefully recorded all explosions, ballistic falls, electric storms, and muddy rains as well as earthquakes felt and recorded on seismographs.

After the severe earthquake swarm in lower Puna subsided, seismic tremor became more pronounced at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The floor of the crater of Halemaumau continued to collapse.

Scientists looking into the bright glow of Mauna Loa's 1942 eruptive vent. Eruption occurred during WWII and was not publicized to prevent Japanese war planes from navigating to the island at night.