Henry A. Silva
Year Inducted: 2001
Haleakala Ranch | Maui
Maui Factors Ranch | Maui
Henry is quoted as saying, “The best life is the cowboy life. You’re out in the mountains, you breathe clean air, put in a hard day’s work, go home, braid rawhide, go to sleep, get up the next morning and do the whole thing over.” After doing that for 22 years at Haleakala Ranch, Henry recently retired. He grew up around cattle and horses on the family homestead in Olinda, Maui, on the slopes of Haleakala. His parents wanted him to study carpentry but young Henry had other ideas. He wanted to be like his cousin, who was a paniolo cowboy for Grove Ranch, so Henry became a paniolo for Maui Factors Ranch. But while he was young, his cousin gave him a hide to braid, when Henry wanted a rawhide rope. This was the start of a hobby which Henry developed over 40 years and raised to the level of folk art. Known today as a talented rawhide braider, the State of Hawaii selected Henry to demonstrate his braiding skills at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. in 1989. When he’s not in the saddle or braiding, Henry can be found shoeing horses. Like he learned to make his own braided ropes, Henry learned the horse-shoeing trade out of necessity. Back 50 years ago, a horse was often his only transportation. But for a paniolo like Henry, that was the best of times.