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

Butte Camp
Other Areas

Figure 4.91. Sumo wrestling arena, November 1942. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

Between 8th and 9th Street, in the firebreak south of Block 56 there is a low square earthern mound identified by Minoru Isoshita (personal communication, 1998) as the sumo arena built by his father (Figures 4.91 and 4.92).

At the high school location, there are concrete slab foundations from the wings on both sides of the auditorium, footing piers of the auditorium, and footing piers and entry steps for other buildings (Figures 4.93 and 4.94). Two inscriptions in the concrete (initials and a proclamation of love) were noted (see Table 4.2, Figure 4.95). North of the high school, the fire station area includes a large concrete slab (Figure 4.96), which included three different building episodes, and an asphalt driveway.

The camouflage net factory and motor pool, located on the west side of the camp, has been heavily disturbed. Remains at the largest building (60 feet by 400 foot in size) consist of portions of the perimeter foundation, a small intact concrete slab, and piled rubble (Figure 4.97). Linear piles of concrete rubble remain at six of the other building locations (Figure 4.98). Another building location is now marked by a large pit partially filled with rubble.

The Butte Camp sewage treatment plant, basically identical to the one at Canal Camp, includes remains of the digester, clarifier, control room, sludge beds, and sewer farms (Figure 4.99).

The most eminent feature at Butte Camp is the honor roll monument located on a knoll overlooking the camp (Figure 4.100). The memorial was built by the evacuees to honor those Japanese Americans from the Gila River Relocation Center who served in the military during World War II (Figure 4.101) and included a reflecting pool and a ramada with concrete benchs. The ramada, flagpole, and wooden facade of the monument that held the list of names are now gone. A dirt road provides access to the monument and recent trash abounds. Once covered with abundant graffiti, the monument has been recently painted (Figures 4.102 and 4.103). The foundation of the camp water tank is on a higher knoll just west of the monument (Figure 4.104). There is little evidence of the outdoor theater, once located on the slope below the monument.

Photo Album

Continued

Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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