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

Outlying Area

The fields once farmed by the evacuees are still under cultivation and most of the outlying developments of the relocation center, such as the chicken, hog, and dairy farms, were located within what are now irrigated fields and orchards (see Figure 4.21). Some abandoned ditch segments located in areas farmed by the evacuees may be left from the relocation center use (Figure 4.108).

Figure 4.109. Gila River Relocation Center Dairy farm. (adapted from Sullivan, et al. 1987)

Prior to being converted into a farm field the site of the relocation center dairy was documented by Sullivan et al. (1987). They recorded the foundations of three substantial buildings (Figure 4.109). These consisted of a 36-foot-by-105-foot milking barn, a 20-foot-by-100-foot feed warehouse, and a five-room 14-1/2-foot-by-55-foot milk house. The feed warehouse and milking barn were connected by a 20-ft-long walkway. The milking barn had a multi-level floor that was tilted to the north to facilitate washing. It had an inscription made into the wet concrete that read "Sam Okada" or "Sam Okara." The floor of the milk house was noted as broken open to remove underlaying pipes. Other features at the dairy site included a boiler platform, a well platform, and a septic tank. No artifacts beyond construction materials were found during the 1987 recording.

The location of the elaborate baseball field just outside the southeast corner of Butte Camp is now an olive grove. Several features of the ballfield were apparently recorded by Sawyer-Lang (1989; Locus 12), including remains of the dugouts and backstop. None of these features remain today.

At least one of two pet graves identified by Sawyer-Lang (1989) still remains. Located in an orange grove southeast of Butte Camp, from Sawyer-Lang's description it appears to have been refurbished (Figure 4.110). It includes inscriptions written in the wet cement in both Japanese and English. The English text reads: "‘Guard upon/all livings"/Dog, Kookey Yokogama/Died Jan 14th 1945," the Japanese text reads "Guard upon all livings/The Spirit of Kookey." The other pet grave had both English and Japanese inscriptions as well. The English text read "here lies chubby/fujiyama/ oct 19, ‘43"(Sawyer-Lang 1989). It could not be relocated.

As mentioned above, there are substantial remains at both the Canal Camp and Butte Camp sewage treatment plants. At the sewer farm locations there are only faint furrows and desert vegetation today. North of Canal Camp a well and several foundations from the camp water system remain (Figure 4.111).

Figure 4.118. Flattened cans at the Gila River Relocation Center landfill.

The relocation center landfill, located west of Butte Camp, consists of a large open pit and a partially-filled trench (Figure 4.112 and 4.113). Present are abundant ceramics and glass, marbles, glass beads, trash cans, enamelware pitchers, and other items (Figures 4.114 and 4.115). Some digging at the landfill is evident, but none of the excavations appear to be very recent. In 1995 a small collection of artifacts picked up at the landfill 25 years earlier was given to the senior author. It includes 16 complete bottles, a small "Christian Dior" perfume bottle, American and Japanese ceramic fragments, and a glass marble (Figures 4.116 and 4.117). Many similar items remain on the surface at the landfill today. South and east of the landfill there are numerous small trash piles likely similar to those investigated (and now gone) along the east and south sides of Butte Camp. There is also a large pile of flattened tin cans that were apparently processed for recycling but discarded when the relocation center was closed (Figure 4.118).

Photo Album

Continued

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