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 13 (continued)
Tule Lake Relocation Center

Security Features

Figure 13.45. Watch tower foundation blocks at Tule Lake.

Around the edge of the central area there are pulled foundation blocks of a few of the large watch towers built in 1942 (Figures 13.45 and 13.46). No intact watch tower foundations are present around the central area. However, at least one intact 1943 watch tower foundation is present at the hog farm (see Outlying Areas below). The perimeter patrol road on the north and east sides of the central area is still used. Also along the northern perimeter is one of the most poignant features at the site: standing sections of the six-foot- high "man-proof" fence of chain link and barbed wire (Figures 13.47-13.48). The entrance road on the east end of the central area is still in use, and the concrete foundation slabs of the inner and outer sentry buildings and remnants of rock work near the outer sentry post are still present (Figures 13.49-13.51).

Figure 13.54. World War II-era buildings remaining in the military police compound. (click image for larger size (~84K) )

Thirty-three World War II-era buildings in the military police compound are currently used for homes or outbuildings (Figures 13.52-13.54). Many of the buildings have been modified, but others apparently have had very little work done on them since the 1940s. The original functions of these houses and outbuildings include 13 barracks, five recreation buildings, three officers' quarters, three supply buildings, two mess halls, two classroom buildings, half of the administration building, the cold storage building, the fire station, and the post exchange (Figures 13.55-13.60). There is a concrete slab foundation at the theater/chapel location and one additional standing building to the south in the military police motor pool area. The original paved roads of the military police compound are all still used.

East of the military police compound the jail still stands, abandoned. The jail, within a Caltrans maintenance yard and surrounded by a fence with a locked gate, was documented in 1989 by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS Number CA-2279). No remains of the adjacent stockade are apparent.

The one-story concrete jail is made of steel-reinforced concrete walls and a similar flat concrete roof (Figures 13.61 and 13.62). There are six identical cells in the building, four against the northwest wall and two against the southeast wall. Each cell had six bunks, a toilet and a wash basin (Figure 13.63). There is no evidence of electricity in each cell, but the building was wired. Apparently a single cast-iron coal burning stove in the entrance room heated the entire building (Figure 13.64).

There are numerous pencilled inscriptions on the jail cell walls. Many are simply doodles, but others include names, dates, and political statements. Some are in Japanese and some are in English (Table 13.2; Figures 13.65-13.66, cover art). It is apparent that in some cases the writer was lying on his bunk since the writing is 90 degrees from the horizontal.

Table 13.2. Selected Pencilled Inscriptions on the Walls of the Stockade Jail.

Photo Album

Continued

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