Hawaiians lived along the North Shore of Molokai including Waikolu Valley, cultivating
taro and other food crops. These isolated valleys were visited in the summer months when the weather is calmer; in winter, heavy surf renders the beaches inaccessible by
outrigger canoe, the islanders' chief form of transportation. The Native Hawaiian inhabitants were removed in 1865 and 1866 when the
leper colony was established on the
Kalaupapa Peninsula. Waikolu Valley was where the first leprosy patients were off loaded in 1866. However, the valley was soon abandoned, and the colony was established at
Kalawao nearby. ==References==