Tantalus

Mount Tantalus, is an extinct cinder cone in the southern Koolau Range on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. It also has a summit crater, Tantalus Crater. The cinder cone formed after the demise of Koolau Volcano, during a time of rejuvenated stage volcanism in southeastern Oahu that also formed Punchbowl Crater, Diamond Head and Koko Head. Tantalus overlooks the modern city of Honolulu, which is built on top of Tantalus cinders.HistoryThe six-mile Tantalus Loop was a popular wagon trail from the late 1800s for views and picnic parties. It had "rugged canyons, wooded valleys, aromatic eucalyptus giants, stag-horn fern, pungent guava", monkeypod, shower cassias, and myrtle, with a two-room, corrugated-roofed "Half-Way House", managed by 1900's forester David Haugh, offering a welcome stop for trekkers. Many immigrant families of note settled there "in cool picturesque seclusion", including Waterhouses, Giffords, Wilders, Dickeys, Davies, Isenbergs, Browns, and Alexanders. A 25-foot cliff of pitch-black volcanic sand was an attraction on Tantalus until it was mined for blacktopping paths and yards.As part of the U.S. Army's Coast Artillery defense system a Fire Control Station was built on Tantalus. In conjunction with the Fire Control Station at Diamond Head, the two positions were used to control coast artillery batteries at Fort DeRussey and Fort Ruger. The southern slope of Tantalus was bombed in Operation K, Japan's unsuccessful second attack on Oahu, which took place March 4, 1942.