Daniel Alfred Miranda
Year Inducted: 2007
Kukaiau Ranch | Hawai'i
Born in 1917, “Danny” as he is known, is second generation Portuguese born in Hawai`i. He learned early to live off the land, and to respect it and the animals that fed his family. His father went to Kukaiau Ranch to work when Danny was 10 years old. Thus began Dan’s life as a paniolo, with his dad as his teacher and mentor.
Danny worked on Kukaiau Ranch for 49 years, doing every job there was on the ranch. He rounded up wild cattle in the Maulua Forest, trained horses, drove the cattle truck, rode the fence line and repaired the ranch vehicles. He knew every pasture and nearly every inch of the 56,000 acres of the ranch like it was his own backyard.
He briefly interrupted his ranch work to enlist in the U.S. Army during WWII. He returned to ranch life and raised five children, one of whom has taken up the paniolo lifestyle of his father’s day.
Danny still makes the Hawaiian tree saddle, and does rawhide rope braiding, paniolo arts he learned from his father. His bullwhip has been part of a display that toured the country. Danny still demonstrates his knowledge of these old arts to students at local schools. He also was a mentor to many youngsters as a 4-H Livestock leader for 28 years.
Somewhere back in time on Kukaiau Ranch, there’s the sound of a bullwhip cracking in the early morning hours, and the horses are starting to move down slope to the corral. That would be Danny Miranda, bringing them in for the cowboys, ready to start their day.