Location+of+Camps



Location of Internment Camps in the USA

There were ten internment camps in the USA. Gila River, Arizona Granada, Colorado Heart Mountain Jerome, Arkansas Manzanar, California Minidoka, California Poston, Arizona Rohwer, Arkansas Topaz 2, Utah Tule Lake, California

Gila River

Gila River was located 45 miles south of Phoenix in Pinal County, Arizona, near Sacaton. Gila River was 170,000 acres but the center was divided into two different camps called Canal Camp (209.5 acres) and Butte Camp (789.25 acres). The camp was opened in July 20, 1942 and because it was sepearated into two small camps that their names were Canal Camp and Butte Camp it closed on different dates. The Canal camp closed in September 28, 1945 and the Butte Camp closed in November 10, 1945. The climate in the Gila River was extremely hot because it was mostly desert and summer temperatures reached to 125 degress. Duststorms was also a problem in the Gila River but it was not as bad as the other camps. The population was enourmous because there were 10,814 Japanese-Americans here and they were all from different parts of the United States like Los Angeles and California.

Granada

Granada Camp was located 14 miles east of Lamar and 20 miles west of the Arkansas border in the Arkansas River Valley. Granada camp was 10,500 acres. The camp opened in August 27, 1942 and it closed in October 14, 1945. There were 6,285 Japanese-American here and they were mostly from California but from Countys like Sonoma, Yolo, Stanislaus, Sacremento and Merced County. The climate was arid and dusty.

Heart Mountain

Heart Mountain was located Northwest Wyoming, in Park County, 13 miles east of Cody. The size of Heart Mountain was 46,000 acres. The camp opened August 12, 1942 and it closed in November 10, 1945. The orgin of the people who came to this camp was from Los Angeles County (6,448 Japanese-American), Santa Clara County (572Japanese-American), San Francisco County (678Japanese-American) and Yakima/Washington (843Japanese-American). The climate in this camp was real bad with winter low dipping to 30 degress below zero. Like many other camps it was plagued by duststorms and rattlesnakes. This camp did not only had bad things in it also had good things because the camp became one of the most successful camp in terms of agriculture because crops that had never been grown in the are before were introduced. Heart Mountain also had a gargament factory, a cabinet shop and a sawmill that produced goods for internal use or to comsume. In Heart Mountain when the Loyalty Oath appeard 95.5% answered the question 28 and 4.8% were eligible male citizens.

Jerome

Jerome was located southeastern of Arkansas and the size is 10,000 acres. The camp opened in October 6, 1942 and it closed in June 30, 1944. The orgin of the people who came to this camp were from Los Angeles County (3,147 Japanese-Americans), Fresno County (2,013 Japanese-Americans), Sacremento County (993 Japanese-Americans), and Honolulu, Hawaii (445 Japanese-Americans). The climate of this camp was swamp land, green, tropical, and humid. This was the camp that was surrounded by swamps inhabeted and by four species of the most deadly snakes in America. Farming was difficult but when the completition of the canal that drained off excess of water in November 1942 resulted in some agriculture success. When the Loyalty Oath appeared 75% answered it and there were only 0.9% male citizens who were eligible. Jeromer was the highest percentage of people answering negatively or refusing to answer. Jerome had some negative things but it also had some positive things like that it had a sawmill that produced goods.

Manzanar

Manzanar was located in Inyo County, California, in the Owens Valley, 225 miles north of Los Angeles and the size is 6,000 acres. The orgin of the people that came to this camp were mostly from Los Angeles County (8,828 Japanese-Americans). The camp began as a Wartime Civil Control Administration administered "Assembly Center", and opened on March 22, 1942; it came under War Relocation Authority jurisdiction on June 1, 1942 and closed in November 21, 1945. The climate in this camp was really bad because it was surrounded by desert and the winters and summers were extreme. In this camp when the Loyalty Oath appeared 86.9% answered positively and only 2.5% were eligible male citizens. Manzanar had a camouflage net factory which operated from June to December 1942. It also had a garment factory, a cabinet shop, and a mattress factory which produced goods. Manzanar was closely the most guarded of all camps.

MInidoka

MInidoka was located in Jerome County, south central Idaho, 6 mile north of Eden and its size is 33,500 acres. The orgin of the population that came to this camp were from King County, WA (6,098 Japanese-Americans), Mullthomah County, OR (1,927 Japanese-Americans), and Pierce County, WA (1,501 Japanese-Americans). The camp opened in August 10, 1942 and closed in October 28, 1945. The climate on the camp was really bad, plagued by dust storm. When the Loyalty Oath appeard in this camp 98.7% were answered positively and 8.8% were eligible male citizens. Minidoka had a garament factory which produced goods. In MIdidoka the security was a lighter than other camps because it was not in the Western Defense Command in the restricted area.

Poston

Poston was located in Yuma County, Arizona, 17 miles south of Parker and its size is 71,000 acres. The orgin of the population that came to this camp were from Los Angeles County (2,750 Japanese-Americans), Tulare County (1,952 Japanese-Americans), San Diego County(1,883 Japanese-Americans), Orange County (1,636 Japanese-Americans), Fresno County (1,590 Japanese-Americans), Imperial County (1,512 Japanese-Americans), Monterrey County (1,506 Japanese-Americans), and Santa Cruz (1,222 Japanese-Americans). The camp opened in May 8, 1942 and it closed in two different dates because like the Gila River it was separated but this camp was separated into three different units. Unit I closed in November 28, 1945 and Unit II and III closed in September 29, 1945. The camp was the hottest of all camps and it was surrounded by desert. When the Loyalty Oath appeared 93.7% answered positively and only 4.8% were eligible male citizens. A camouflage net factory opened from fall 1942 to May 1943.

Rohwer

Rohwer was located in Desha County, southeastern Arkansas and its size is 10,161 acres. The orgin of the population that came to this camp were from Los Angeles County (4,324 Japanese-Americans) and San Joaquin County (3,516 Japanese-American). The camp opened in September 18, 1942 and it closed in November 30, 1945. The climate was high heat and humidity with sudden rains and the enviroment was wooden swamp land. Because of this weather farming was difficult here despite relatively fertile soil. The climate also led problems with mosquitos and chiggers. When the Loyalty Oath appeared 94.9% answered positively and 4.7% were eligible male citizens.

Topaz

Topaz was located in Millard County, Utah, near Abraham,140 miles south of Salt of Lake City and its size is 19,800 acres. The orgin of the population were mostly of California like Alameda County (3,679 Japanese-Americans), San Francisco County (3,370 Japanese-American), and San Mateo County (722 Japanese-American). The camp opened in September 11, 1942 and it closed in October 31, 1945. The climate in this camp were106 degress in summer to -30 in winter and problems with duststorms. When the Loyalty Oath appeard 89.4% answered positively and 7.3% were eligible male citizens.

Tule Lake

Tule Lake was located just across the road from Lava Beds National Monument and the site of the Modoc War of 1972-73 and its size is 26,000 acres. The orgin of the population were from Sacramento County, CA (4,984 Japanese-American), King County, WA (2,703 Japanese-County), Placer County, WA(1,807 Japanese-American), Pierce County, WA (946 Japanese-American), Yuba County, OR (476 Japanese-American), and Hood River County, OR (425 Japanese-American). The camp opened in May 27, 1942 and it closed in May 20, 1946. The climate in this camp was relatively mild and the land was dry lake bed covered with sagebrush. Tule Lake had a cabinet shop a backery which produced goods. When the Loyalty Oath appeard 84.4% answered positively and 0.5% were eligible male citizens. Tule Lake had the lowest percentage of iligible citizens male inducted into the armed forces.

Resources:

Hayashi, Masumi. __Manzanar Ringo-En__ 1997 15-12-07 .