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 4 (continued)
Gila River Relocation Center

In 1935 about 7,000 acres of the relocation center reserve had been leveled, irrigated, and planted with alfalfa for grazing. Water for irrigation was supplied from San Carlos Reservoir upstream on the Gila River. By August 1942, 500 acres of the grazing land were converted into vegetable farms, growing beets, carrots, celery, and other vegetables (Figure 4.13-4.17). Local farmers rented the remaining grazing land until the WRA started their own livestock program (Madden 1969). Partly to provide access to the farm fields, 13 miles of oil-surfaced roads with box culverts and bridges and 10-plus miles of graded roads were constructed.

Figure 4.14. Harvesting cucumbers at the Gila River Relocation Center. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

Figure 4.13. Farm fields at the Gila River Relocation Center. (National Archives) (click image for larger size (~75K) )

At its peak during the 1943-1944 harvest season agricultural production at the Gila Relocation Center employed nearly 1,000 men and women. In the first nine months of operation, 84 train carloads of food were shipped from Gila to the other relocation centers. Twenty percent of the food used at all of the relocation centers across the county was produced at the Gila River Relocation Center. Evacuees also produced 150 acres of flax, cotton, and castor beans as war crop production. To expedite the shipping of crops, a second warehouse was constructed in 1944 at the railroad siding at Serape.

Figure 4.15. Growing experimetnal plants at the Gila River Relocation Center. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)	Figure 4.16. Growing carrot seeds at the Gila River Relocation Center. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)
Figure 4.17. Harvesting daikon at the Gila River Relocation Center. (Francis Stewart photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)	Figure 4.18. Feeding dairy cows at the Gila River Relocation Center. (National Archives photograph)

A seed farm was started due to shortages of seeds, and two nurseries grew seedlings for flowers, shrubs, and trees for landscaping. By 1943 over 1,600 acres north of Canal Camp and east of Butte Camp were under cultivation. The Gila River Relocation Center was the only relocation center to make use of its waste water: there was a 10-acre small "sewer farm" located to the west of each of the two sewage treatment plants, where effluent was used to irrigate grains and livestock feed.

Figure 4.19. Feeding calves at the Gila River Relocation Center dairy farm. (WRA photograph, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley)

In May 1943 a livestock program was started with 36 dairy cows, 720 Mexican steers, 50 young female hogs (gilts) from California, and 2,000 meat and egg chickens. Evacuees built shelters and pens for the hogs and dairy cows (Figure 4.18 and 4.19). The dairy included a 36-foot-by-105-foot milking barn, a 20-foot-by-60-foot milk house, a 20-foot-by-100-foot feed warehouse, and 16 feed lots with concrete troughs. The meat animals were shipped to Phoenix for slaughter and processing until a butchering plant was built at Gila River. By the end of the year there were 1,377 cattle, 1,106 hogs, and 8,584 chickens, and the farm program supplied 60 hogs and 60 cattle a week to the mess hall kitchens (Madden 1969).

Continued

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