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 12 (continued)
Topaz Relocation Center

Outlying Features

The relocation center landfill is on the west side of the relocation center's residential and administrative area, on federal land currently administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The landfill has suffered extensive vandalism and apparent collecting: there are numerous freshly dug holes, and compared to the other relocation center landfills examined, there are very few Japanese ceramics visible on the surface (Figures 12.26 and 12.27).

Figure 12.26. Topaz Relocation Center landfill.

Figure 12.27. Government-issued ceramics at the Topaz Relocation Center landfill.

Sewage disposal consisted of a large septic system. Besides the remains of a concrete collection box adjacent to Block 22, no tangible remains were observed. From the collection box, sewage was apparently pumped westward to settling ponds.

Many features related to the outlying agricultural facilities, including the chicken, turkey, hog, and cattle farms, the farm kitchen, and an equipment storage area, could be relocated using WRA blueprints (Figure 12.28). The chicken, hog, and cattle farms and possibly the farm kitchen appear to have incorporated structures from pre-re-location center farms. The farm buildings at the hog farm are still in use by the current owner, Mr. Nelson, but the others are abandoned.

Figure 12.28. Outlying farm buildings, Topaz Relocation Center. (National Archives) (click image for larger size (~85K) )

The chicken farm is located 2-1/2 miles east of the residential portion of the relocation center, at the northeast corner of the intersection of 4500 North Street and 7500 West Street. WRA blueprints show a farm house, a bunk house, a generator shed, a feed storage building, a water tank and pump house, eight 22-foot by 45-foot laying houses, and five 22-foot by 100-foot laying houses. The house, bunk house, and some of the laying houses are still standing, although currently not used. The house has a basement and adobe walls with a wire mesh and stucco veneer (Figure 12.29); the bunk house is stucco over wood frame. The laying houses were likely built by the evacuees. Made of adobe block and concrete mortar with wooden roofs, they are in various stages of decay (Figures 12.30-12.32). Located across the road from the chicken farm was an equipment storage area. Currently the area contains some building debris, a possible structure location, and a couple of small trash piles.

The relocation center turkey farm was located on the north side of 2500 North Street, 0.2 mile east of the intersection of 10000 West Street. Remains at the turkey farm include a single low concrete-walled coop 23-1/2 feet by 50 feet in size (Figures 12.33 and 12.34).

The hog farm was located about 2 miles northeast of the residential area, at the northwest corner of 5500 North Street and 8000 West Street. Presently occupied, buildings there include a house (noted as a kitchen and an attached shed on WRA blueprints), a feed bin, and several smaller structures.

The cattle ranch is about 3-1/2 miles northeast of the residential area of the relocation center, at the northwest corner of 7000 North Street and 8000 West Street. Structures remaining at the cattle ranch include a bunkhouse, a feed storage barn, a chicken shed, a well house, and several corrals (Figures 12.35 and 12.36). Three small shacks noted on WRA blueprints are no longer present.

Figure 12.41. Graffiti at the Topaz Farm Kitchen.

At the farm kitchen, located 0.2 mile west of the intersection of 6000 North Street and 7000 West Street, there is a barn, garage, shed, and well (Figure 12.37 and Figure 12.38). The barn and garage, certainly in place during use of the relocation center, may have been constructed by the evacuees. Both are made of the same kind of lumber as was commonly used at the relocation centers, and the barn has numerous names, dates, home towns, and other graffiti written by the evacuees on the interior of the west wall (Figures 12.39-12.41). In amongst the graffiti there are several undecipherable Japanese characters. The barn is similar in size and design to a relocation center mess hall, and may be the "Farm Kitchen" itself.

The plant nursery location, depicted on the WRA blueprints as about one-quarter mile north of the farm kitchen, is now a cultivated field.

Continued

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