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 8 (continued)
Manzanar Relocation Center

Within several firebreaks and the cleared area between the evacuee housing and the perimeter security fence there were victory gardens divided off into individual plots of varying sizes (Figure 8.11). Evacuees also coaxed thousands of dollars worth of fruit from the hundreds of apple and pear trees that had been neglected since the town of Manzanar was abandoned. Some Manzanar evacuees conducted experiments supported by the California Institute of Technology on extracting rubber, needed for the war effort, from guayule, a small woody shrub native to the southwestern United States (Figure 8.12). Other rare plants were also cultivated to help offset war-related shortages.

Figure 8.13. Farm fields and irrigation ditches at the Manzanar Relocation Center. (National Archives) (click image for larger size (~100K) )

Figure 8.15. Relocation center farm field. (Dorothea Lange photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

Large-scale farming took place outside the fenced central area (Figures 8.13-8.15). As early as April 1942 evacuees cleared a 120-acre field south of the residential area, reconditioned eight miles of old ditch, and dug two miles of new canal. In 1943, an additional 320 acres were cleared for farming, and a new system of lined ditches and pipelines was constructed. Dams were built on Shepherd and George Creeks and to supplement the stream diversions old wells were reconditioned and used.

An evacuee-constructed chicken farm was completed December 31, 1943. Located just outside the southwest corner of the fenced central area, it included a combination office, egg and feed storage, and slaughter house, 48 hen houses, 16 brooder houses, and an incinerator. The hog farm was not completed until April 30, 1944, because LADWP delayed clearance due to concerns that the daily washing of the hog pens would contaminate the city's water supply. The hog farm, -1/2 mile south of the relocation center, included six pens with concrete feeding floors and a feed storage building. In December 1943, 199 cows were purchased to start a meat herd. However, the high cost of feed prohibited maintaining the herd in peak condition, so the entire cattle project was disbanded within a year.

Photo Album

Continued

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