War in the Pacific Archelogy and History of Guam

5. Present Occupation Patterns and Land-Use Problems of Guam

In the past 10 years, Guam has undergone Japanese occupation for 2-1/2 years (in connection with which there are several interesting stories or important items — a few of which are mentioned under specific localities and monuments below); U. S. Army Air Force strikes, and devastating naval bombardment in July 1944 almost entirely destroying Agana; assault and recapture by the 3rd Amphibious Corps, made up largely of the U. S. Marines, led by Major General R. S. Geiger, U.S.M.C., July 21-August 10, 1944 (landing beaches, etc., connected with the liberation of Guam, are mentioned below under specific localities and markers), with mopping up yet to be completed in fiscal year 1952, a few Japanese soldiers being still at large on the island in addition to the five who surrendered in the fall of 1951; bulldozing and other cleanup activities by the Navy, completing the razing of Agana, including the remnants of the Guam Museum; construction of several extensive military installations, including large airfields as well as quarters for personnel; a severe typhoon in 1949; and finally planning and, to an extent, reconstruction.

The rest of the Marianas Islands are included with the Carolines and Marshalls in the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by the United States, through the Office of the High Commissioner, as a mandate from the United Nations under a Trusteeship Agreement of 1947 and under Executive order 9875, pursuant thereto, signed by the President on July 18, 1947. Interim administration by the U. S. Navy was replaced by civil government in 1951.

Guam remained under Navy control until July 1, 1950, when the civil government of the island was transferred to civil administration by an Organic Act, Guamanians becoming United States citizens under the same act. The relationship of the Territorial government with the Federal government is handled through the division of Territories, Department of the Interior.

The island of Guam is still dominated, however, largely owned or controlled, by the military — the Navy and the Air Force, all remaining Army ground forces having been recently withdrawn — and is occupied in considerable part by active military installations, new developments under construction, and extensive abandoned military installations (disused airstrips, Quonset huts and other temporary structures, and concrete barracks, etc.). The two large abandoned airfields in the north half could undoubtedly be rehabilitated and readied for use without excessive difficulty, and these must, I suppose, be considered as only temporarily abandoned as of the present. The installations (4 camps) on the east coast of the south half are apparently permanently abandoned and are going to pieces rapidly.

Actual ownership of land is as follows, according to the latest available figures (as of about February 1, 1952, as given to the Guam Congress in a speech by Manuel F. Leon Guerrero, formerly Acting Director of Land Management in the Government of Guam; the figures in parentheses are those as of August 1, 1950, then civil administration replaced naval government on Guam, taken from the mimeographed report by Robert K. Coote, "Land-use conditions and land problems on Guam"):

In addition, the military has around 5,000 acres under leasehold from private owners. Transfer of the entire public domain from direct Interior Department control and Federal ownership to the Government of Guam has been proposed, is currently being worked out, and would seem the logical thing, as pointed out by Mr. Coote in his August 1950 report.* The Federal public domain consists largely of:

(1) interior of the northern half of the island, not at present extensively used for military or other purposes, unpopulated, and probably relatively unusable except perhaps as a Territorial Forest Reserve,** to be gradually reforested for eventual controlled and properly managed timber production (there are no historic or archeological sites known or reported in this area of no running water, and probably no recreational potentialities of importance); (2) much of the northeast coast, from then northeast corner (actually from Tagua Point, at the east end of Tarague Beach, about 2 miles west of Pati Point) to Sassayan or Campanaya Point, on the coast directly east of Mt. Barrigada — an area of interesting scenery and ecology, containing a number of important archeological sites; an area largely undeveloped and not at present easy of access, without good beaches, so far as known, and not well suited, at least in large part, for agriculture of any kind; now occupied apparently only by a few of the Japanese stragglers; probably it should be retained in public ownership for the most part, without specific designation as a whole — simply as Government of Guam public domain, from which archeological reserves and biological reserves (a study by a botanist or ecologist probably should be made) can be withdrawn, other portions of which could perhaps be opened to private ownership through sale or exchange; (3) small scattered tracts, of no special importance so far as I know, in the central portion of the island; (4) an extensive area of the hill country in the southwest and south, extending from Santa Rita around to the vicinity of Inarajan, more or less surrounding (except on the north) the Fena-Talafofo River drainage — very possibly the Government of Guam could, while retaining title to most of this area, lease it at low rates for grazing (or, in valleys, farming), and thus be able to regulate operations according to the capacity and condition of the land; again, known archeological sites or other small areas of special interest could be withdrawn from entry as their exact locations and boundaries are determined by engineering surveys.

The northern plateau of the island is dominated by the Air Force, which owns virtually all the lands between the highway loop encircling the public domain there and the cliffs or beaches; the beaches are largely privately owned (but leased by the Air Force, such as beautiful Tarague). There is, I suppose, no likelihood of imminent Air Force release even of the abandoned installations and unutilized areas, but the good beaches ought to be acquired by the Government of Guam if at all possible, for recreational potentialities as well as for protection of archeological remains (and one historic building, the "Casa Real," on private property below Ritidian point), even with military use continuing.

In the south, various naval commands occupy much of the western portion, around Apra Harbor and in the upper drainage of the Fena (Talafofo) River, from the vicinity of Agana to just below — (just east and north of) the highest mountain peaks. It is not likely that the Navy will withdraw from any sizable part of this entire more or less continuous area, which is mostly occupied by active military installations. At present (February 1952) the Navy is planning to release surplus lands not in use, but surely these will be the small scattered tracts of abandoned installations in the southeast and elsewhere.

The central waist of the island and the southeast are privately owned, with only occasional tracts of government (public domain or military) land. The southwest coast, south of Apra Harbor (and west of the Fena River watershed and the adjoining public domain south from Santa Rita), is also largely privately owned from Agat south. Most of the Guamanian population is concentrated in these areas, mainly near and inland from Agana; and here most of the agriculture is still carried on. The privately-owned beaches about the northwestern and northern end are unoccupied; clear evidences of old farms (coconut plantations, etc.) and house-sites may be occasionally seen. The one tract of private property within the public domain along the east coast in the north is utilized but not regularly inhabited (the area served as a refuge for a group of Guamanians who supported themselves there during the 2-1/2-year Japanese occupation). The entire northern plateau, in fact, is virtually unpopulated north of Dededo except by the Air Force; there is only one straggling little village — Yigo — with an even smaller concentration close by at Santa Rosa, with a number of farms in this vicinity and atop Mt. Santa Rosa. There seem to be only a few other small scattered farms, in the Hilaan vicinity. There is only one seasonally- or temporarily-occupied house on the northern beaches, Juan Castro's place near Ritidian Point. Settlement is almost continuous in the western part of the mid-section of the island, from Asan and Agana (the capital, which was completely destroyed in 1944), and Tumoning through Sinajana and smaller villages to Barrigada and vicinity. On the east, however, the Pago Bay area is unoccupied: the former village of Pago was moved (by the Japanese, I believe) to Sumay, on Orote Peninsula, whence the people were again cleared out, to establish Santa Rita, I understand. Around the southern coast is a series of small towns comparatively undisturbed by the war and the post-war period; from northeast to Southwest these are Yona, Talafofo, Inarajan, Merizo, Umatac. Farms and houses are scattered between these to some degree, and extend inland from them up the valleys; much of the interior, however, is not occupied permanently.

The total population (including the military) of Guam in 1950 was 58,754, including about 28,600 Guamanians. Of the total, 20,700 were concentrated in the municipalities of Sinajana and Barrigada, the former including the Agana vicinity. About half of the total is made up by United States military personnel, who would be largely in the municipalities (districts) of Yigo, Dededo, Asan, Piti, Sumay, and Agat.

Agriculture is generally small-scale and practically on a family subsistence basis. Farm products are not exported or even marketed locally to any extent. Livestock raising is not well developed at all, and grazing lands are in generally poor condition. Livestock, poultry, fruit trees, and farming equipment were extensively lost in the war and in the 1949 typhoon. The forests have been removed and destroyed pretty completely. Fishing is almost entirely neglected, surprisingly. In fine, the natural resources of Guam have been seriously depleted and yet are not being fully exploited at present or systematically rebuilt.

A considerable percentage of Guamanian citizens are working, directly or indirectly, for the military (even so, the Navy or their contractors have found it advisable to import several thousand Filipino laborers). A very high percentage, probably the majority of Guamanians, have changed over completely from a self-supporting basis or subsistence economy to a dollar economy, dependence on cash received by sale of goods or services to, primarily, the military. Actually, the trend to a cash economy, instead of a subsistence basis, began early in the American period, between 1900 and 1911. The traditional attitude toward land ownership and alienation has persisted, however, and Guamanians do not generally sell their lands readily. Toward cash money and other possessions, except land, many or most Guamanians have an understandably careless attitude, after undergoing typhoons, earthquakes, the Japanese occupation, the American reconquest, and finally the less abrupt but heavy impact of post-war military activities and planned reconstruction.

Many complex problems, even further beyond the scope of this report than are topics already discussed, are created by these factors and various others. An important opportunity is offered for a historical and practical study by a social anthropologist interested in culture-change and applied anthropology, to compare and trace developments through (1) the aboriginal culture, as reconstructed from early historical sources and archeological materials, partly done by Laura Thompson in The Native Culture of the Marianas Islands, B. P. Bishop Museum Bulletin 185, 1945; (2) the modified culture of 1700-1870, from travelers' descriptions and sources such as the memoirs of Governor de la Corte; (3) the people of Guamin the early twentieth century, drawing mainly on Safford, 1906; (4) the situation just before World War II, as discussed in the original 1941 edition of Mrs. Thompson's book Guam and Its People, and other sources; and (5) post-war and present-day Guam and its problems. Studies are needed for Guam such as the paper by Alexander Spoehr, "The Tinian Chamorros," Human Organization 10:16-20, No. 4, Winter 1951, and the book by Alice Joseph and V. Murray, Chamorros and Carolinians of Saipan, 1951.