 In 1902 , the nearby estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop lost a crucial lawsuit brought by the United States to purchase land around Pearl Harbor for below its market value . Although the Bishop estate valued the land at $ 600 per acre , the United States was only willing to pay $ 30 per acre . A jury determined that the land would be sold to the United States at $ 75 per acre . Facing a similar lawsuit and interest in its land on Ford Island , the John Papa ʻĪʻī estate settled with the United States to deed twenty @-@ five acres at no cost . In exchange , the U.S. dropped its suit for the entire island . 
