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Topaz
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Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord |
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Chapter 12
Topaz Relocation Center
The Topaz or Central Utah Relocation Center was located in west-central Utah, in Millard County near the town of Delta, 140 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The relocation center named after Topaz Mountain, 9 miles northwest. The relocation center was briefly known as the "Abraham Relocation Center," after a nearby settlement (Figure 12.1).
Figure 12.1. Sign at the Great Basin Museum in Delta, Utah.
The extremely flat terrain of the relocation center lies within the Sevier Desert, part of the Basin and Range province that was once covered by Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. An "Old River Bed" depicted on maps less than a mile west of the site drains northward to the Topaz Slough. The most prominent physical landmark in the vicinity is Smelter Knolls, 4 miles west. Elevation at the Topaz Relocation Center is about 4600 feet and the native vegetation consists mainly of high desert brush.
The 19,800-acre relocation center reserve was a mixture of public domain land, farms acquired by the county for non-payment of taxes, and several privately-held parcels purchased for a dollar an acre (Arrington 1962). Construction of the relocation center was begun July 10, 1942, by the California firm Daley Brothers with a crew of 800.
Figure 12.2. Topaz Relocation Center.
(click image for larger size (~64K) )
The relocation center was in operation from September 11, 1942, to October 31, 1945. The maximum population was 8,130; most of the internees were from the San Francisco Bay area. A total of 623 buildings were constructed during the life of the relocation center (Powell 1972). The nucleus of the facility consisted of a one-square-mile area for residents, administrative personnel, and the military police (Figures 12.2-12.5). This "central area" included 42 blocks, eight for administration and 34 for residences. Each residential block had 12 barracks, a mess hall, a recreation hall, and a combination washroom, shower, toilet, and laundry building. The eight administration blocks included office buildings, staff housing, warehouses, a hospital, and a military police compound. Security features at Topaz included a sentry post at the entrance, a perimeter fence, seven watch towers, and a military police compound.
Figure 12.3. Residential and administration area, Topaz Relocation Center.
(National Archives)
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Figure 12.4. Administration area, hospital, and military police compound, Topaz Relocation Center.
(National Archives)
(click image for larger size (~88K) )
 Figure 12.5. Panorama view of the Topaz Relocation Center. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley) |
In addition to the typical relocation center array of buildings and other developments, there were also sports fields and facilities, evacuee-constructed ponds and ornamental gardens, victory gardens to grow food, and trees and other vegetation. Over 7,500 trees and 10,000 shrubs were planted during the first 9 months, however nearly all died due to the heat, wind, and alkaline soil (Arrington 1962).
A cemetery was built to the southeast of the central area, but was never used. The 144 persons who died at Topaz were instead sent to Salt Lake City for cremation and their ashes were held at the relocation center for burial in the San Francisco area after the war (Arrington 1962).
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Last Modified: Fri, Sep 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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