Cover Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Essay

Brief History

Gila River

Granada

Heart Mountain

Jerome

Manzanar

Minidoka

Poston

Rohwer

Topaz

Tule Lake

Isolation Centers

Add'l Facilities

Assembly Centers

DoJ and US Army Facilities

Prisons

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord

Chapter 4 (continued)
Gila River Relocation Center

Canal Camp was closed on September 28, 1945, and Butte Camp soon followed on November 10, 1945. The last to leave the Gila River Center were 155 Hawaiian Japanese. In December many of the buildings at the relocation center were allocated and moved to educational institutions throughout the state. The City of Mesa bought the Butte high school auditorium (Hansen 1997). The WRA auctioned off the barracks and other property in August 1946, and sealed bids to purchase the remaining buildings and utilities continued until March of 1947 (Weik 1992).

Recent archaeological studies for the Gila Farms expansion have provided additional information on the past history and current condition of some of the features associated with Butte Camp. In 1983 a sample survey of lands surrounding Butte Camp was conducted for the farm expansion. No relocation center remains were encountered in that survey, but the report recommended that the area immediately adjacent to Butte Camp be thoroughly examined before development commenced, because of the potential for significant remains associated with the relocation center (Effland and Green 1983).

In 1987, a 2,230-acre area north of Butte Camp and seven randomly-selected quarter sections (1,280 acres) south of Butte Camp were intensively surveyed. Relocation-center-era remains recorded in the northern survey area included the Butte Camp sewage treatment plant and adjacent sewer farm, the relocation center dairy, a small scatter of medical supplies, and an expansive area adjacent to the north and east edges of Butte Camp encompassing numerous small trash dumps. About 1-1/2 miles west of Butte Camp a small relocation- center-era trash dump surrounded by a light scatter of artifacts covering 7-1/2 acres was recorded. Somewhat surprisingly, none of these sites was considered eligible for the National Register on their own merits or as contributing elements of a larger property that would include other remains of the relocation center. No further consideration of the sites was recommended in the original report (Sullivan et al. 1987). However, subsequent government review of the project resulted in the recommendation that more archeological work would be needed in order to mitigate the effects of the farm expansion.

Figure 4.20. Trash concentration (Locus 35) near Butte Camp. (from Sawer-Lang 1989) (click image for larger size (~70K) )

In 1989 further archeological work was conducted around Butte Camp to define and characterize the trash scatter surrounding Butte Camp. These investigations included surface collection, excavation, and survey of approximately 2,000 acres south of Butte Camp (Sawyer-Lang 1989). Two pet graves and 37 discrete trash loci were identified within the previously-recorded trash scatter. One of the loci (Locus 35) included 56 distinct trash clusters (Figure 4.20). Although not recognized as such at the time, remnants of Zenimura field were recorded just east of the southeast corner of evacuee residential area. Surface collections were made at each of the 37 loci and eight were tested. It was determined that the remains probably dated to the last days of the relocation center when organized trash disposal had ceased.

A 1993 supplemental study included a detailed analysis of the artifacts collected in 1989, as well as archival research and oral history interviews (Tamir et al. 1993). While noting the constraints of the collection (most notably the fact that it dates to the end of the camp occupation), the artifact assemblage was described, oddly enough, as "ordinary." That is, with the exception of Japanese ceramics, the material could have been discarded by any contemporary American community (Russell 1995). However, even a cursory comparison of the Butte Camp collection with other sites demonstrates the dearth of artifacts associated with typical American pastimes such as cars, guns, and alcohol. Most of the features ARS recorded have since been destroyed by agricultural developments, but still remaining are some small trash dumps immediately north of Butte camp and a pet grave left in an orchard to the southeast of Butte Camp.

Continued

Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce4d.htm