Interesting/unusual facts
"Minidoka" comes from the Shoshone language and is the name of a town located 50 miles to the east. The site was named "Minidoka" because it was located on the Bureau of Reclamation's Minidoka Reclamation Project. The nickname "Hunt" came from the postal designation of a rural area near the camp.

The camp was composed of over 600 buildings, five miles of barbed wire and eight guard towers.

Two thousand Minidoka residents took "agricultural leave" to work in sugar beet fields in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah during peak harvest and planting seasons. These internees effectively alleviated a labor crisis and saved crops from destruction.

The Fair Play Committee represented the internee organized labor council. The Coal and Hospital workers went on strike, mostly in objection to the low wage scale and the disparity of wages between internees and Caucasian staff.

Nearly 1,000 Nisei from Minidoka served in the military during WWII, as members of the Military Intelligence Language School, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Minidoka had the largest casualty list of the ten relocation centers; 73 Minidoka internees died in military service.

After Minidoka closed, the area was divided into small farms. From 1947-1949, 89 farms were allotted to WWII vets. Each Vet also received two barracks. Fields and canals developed by the internees are still in use today.

Land ownership
Seventy-three acres of public land were designated as Minidoka Internment National Monument on January 17, 2001. Most of the camp's residential area is now privately owned farmland.

Special Designations
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places July 10,1979. Minidoka Interment National Monument was authorized January 17, 2001 (73 acres).

Preservation and Interpretive Efforts
Archeological research is currently underway to determine how to best preserve the remaining structures and rock alignments. An emergency stabilization of the root cellar, constructed in 1943, occurred in 2002-2003.

The National Park Service has begun a public planning process to develop a General Management Plan and Environmental Impact. Statement to serve as a 'blueprint' to guide protection and management of cultural and natural resources, visitor use and services, educational programs, and administrative actions during the next 15 to 20 years. The National Park Service welcomes and encourages public input and participation to guide planning and development of the National Monument. Initial public workshops were scheduled in WA, OR and ID in November of 2002.

A brochure is available at Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument and a Minidoka traveling exhibit is available for loan to interested organizations.

The Jerome County Historical Museum has a small display in Jerome, ID.

The Idaho Farm and Ranch Museum owns a refurbished barrack behind the Days Inn Hotel at the intersection of I-84 and U.S. Hwy 93. Inside there is interpretive material about Minidoka.

Minidoka staff regularly meets with Japanese American organizations, interested groups, and university classes to describe and discuss Minidoka and the interment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Several memorials and interpretive plaques are located near the Monument's parking lot. There is a large state historical marker off State Hwy 25 at the turnoff to the site.

Public access to the site today
Minidoka Internment National Monument is located 19 miles northeast of Twin Falls, ID and 21 miles east of Jerome, ID. From the intersection of Interstate 84 and US Highway 93: travel north on US 93 for 5 miles to the Eden exit, east on Highway 25 for 9.5 miles to the Hunt Road exit, then east on Hunt Road for 2.2 miles. After crossing the Hunt Bridge, a small parking area is on your right. Today, foundations, trails, the lava rock chimney tower, portions of a wall, and a rock garden can be seen.

Local Resources
Minidoka Internment National Monument: P.O. Box 570, Hagerman, ID 83332. Tel: 208-837-4793. E-mail: MIIN_GMP@nps.gov.

Jerome Historical Society and Idaho Farm & Ranch Museum: 222 North Lincoln, P.O. Box 50, Jerome, ID 83338. One barrack building interprets Minidoka.

Jerome County Historical Museum: 220 North Lincoln, Jerome, ID 83338. Contains bound WWII "Northside News" and "Minidoka Irrigator" newspapers, Minidoka Interlude souvenir book.

Friends of Minidoka: Ron James: e-mail: pahaska@northrim.net, Emily Momohara: e-mail: EHMomhara@aol.com.

Selected Books
Burton, Jeffery and Mary Farrell. This Is Minidoka: An Archeological Survey of Minidoka Internment National Monument. Tucson, AZ: Western Archeological and Conservation Center, 2001.

Minidoka Interlude: September, 1942-October, 1943. Hunt, ID: Published by the Residents of Minidoka Relocation Center, 1943.

Nomura, Kenjiro. Kenjiro Normura: the George and Betty Normura Collection. Editor, June Mukai McKivor. Seattle, WA: Wing Luke Museum, 1991.

Takami, David A. Executive Order 9066: 50 years before and 50 years after: a history of Japanese Americans in Seattle. Seattle, WA: Wing Luke Museum, 1992.

Yamaguchi, Jack. This Was Minidoka. Tacoma, WA: H. Yamaguchi, 1992.

Websites
www.nps.gov/miin
Homepage for the 385th unit of the National Park System, Minidoka Internment National Monument. Provides maps, contact information and notification of public planning process.
www.friendsofminidoka.org
Homepage for the non-profit organization working in cooperation with the National Park Service to honor the sacrifice and patriotism of the Japanese Americans interned during WWII. History, events, art & photos.

www.wingluke.org
Visit a Camp Harmony barracks that incorporates sound dramatizations of the hours before families were forced to abandon their homes; digital archive of oral history interviews, historical photographs and related documents, that preserve the experiences of Japanese Americans before, during and after World War II.

www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/harmony
Provides access to the University of Washington Libraries holdings including specific information on Puyallup assembly center, Camp Harmony, Japanese Canadian Internment and access to archival guides and inventories of the UW Libraries Manuscripts and University Archives Division.