For two years in succession, 1910 and 1911, it was impossible for any of the professors of geology at the Institute to go to Hawaii, so arrangements were made with Mr. F. A. Perret of Springfield, Mass., and Naples, Italy, to take Professor Jaggar’s place in an expedition to Kilauea for the measurement of temperatures as agreed with the Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory. The sum of $2,100 from the Whitney and other geological research funds of the Institute was expended on this expedition. The Institute is indebted to the Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory for co-operation and for the thermo-element which was used in the final test, and to the Volcanic Research Society of Springfield, Mass., for the loan of the services of Mr. Perret, his salary being continued by that [[201]]society during his Hawaiian journey. Mr. Perret built a wooden camp on the edge of the pit Halemaumau which he called the Technology Station and where he lived.
It will appear from the foregoing that the work bearing on a proposed volcano observatory in Hawaii up to 1912 was instituted and carried forward by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That institution was materially aided in the conduct of this work by voluntary subscription among citizens of Honolulu.
Some $6,100, in addition to salaries, was spent by the Institute of Technology for its officers for work in Hawaii prior to 1912, and after Mr. Perret’s departure in November, 1911, an appropriation of $1,700 for Professor Jaggar’s work in Hawaii in the winter of 1912 was made from Technology funds.
The subscription fund provided for in Honolulu in 1909 was revived on October 5, 1911, at a luncheon at the University Club, given for the organization of a Hawaiian Volcano Research Association.
The net result of this meeting was to establish an association in Honolulu for the subscription of money to volcano research. The committee representative of this association determined to name the organization “Hawaiian Volcano Research Association.” Funds for the [[202]]running expense of an observatory on Hawaii to the amount of $5,000 annually for five years from January 1, 1912, exclusive of the funds furnished by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were subscribed, the full amount in the event of failure on the part of individual subscribers being guaranteed by Mr. Clarence H. Cooke, treasurer, through the generosity of Mr. Cooke and his associates of the estate of C. M. Cooke, Ltd.
The Institute was prepared to co-operate with the Hawaiian Volcano Research Association by becoming its largest subscriber for the five years, through the income of the Whitney fund and the current payment to its Seismological fund.
On January 19 a subscription was started in the town of Hilo to provide funds wherewith to build a laboratory near the Volcano House for the use of the representative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology engaged in volcanic research. This proposal met a most hearty response and within a few days $1,785 was subscribed.
The land for the Observatory, a tract of about three acres, was obtained on a sub-lease for fifteen years to October 1, 1927, from the Volcano House Company with the consent of the trustees of the Bishop Estate, the owners of the land. This tract is on the edge of the cliff directly [[203]]opposite the grounds of the Volcano House on the south side of the Puna-Kau road. The observatory is built of Oregon pine and is equipped with two laboratories, the director’s room, photographic dark room, and storeroom on the main floor. A veranda extending along two sides commands extensive views of the three volcanoes, Kilauea, Mauna Loa, and Mauna Kea. In front there is a concrete post for geodetic and photographic experiments. The furniture includes large cases of drawers, for storage of specimens, maps, or photographs, and there are work and drafting tables.
The Whitney Laboratory of Seismology, eighteen feet square, is a basement room of concrete floored on the solid ledge of basalt. This is the rock of the uppermost layer of the cliff which here borders the greater crater of Kilauea. The cellar was dug through 5½ feet of ash and pumice which make the surface soil. The piers for seismographs were designed for a set of instruments built in Tokyo in 1910 under the direction of Professor Omori and purchased with the income of the Whitney fund.
On January 24, 1912, Mr. F. B. Dodge of Honolulu arrived at the volcano to become assistant to the director and during the ensuing weeks arrangements were completed and trigonometric [[204]]stations installed whereby a daily survey of the active lava pool could be made.