The Camps

The 10 internment camps resembled prisons with poor food, cramped quarters and communal facilities. The housing provided was tarpaper covered barracks without plumbing or cooking facilities. Older Japanese immigrants, known as the Issei, were deprived of traditional status and respect when their American-born children, the Nisei, were permitted positions of authority within the camps. When internees were given an opportunity to leave the camps by joining the U.S. Army, approximately 1,200 Japanese-Americans did this.

Manzanar : This camp was located in California and covered and area of 555 acres. It was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and had eight guard towers. It was officially opened on March 21, 1942 and closed on November 21, 1945. Many people considered Manzanar a place of woe and sadness because they felt like they were criminals being carted off to prison.

Manzanar Camp

Minidoka : This camp was located in Idaho and was 35,000 acres. This camp was particularly plagued by dust storms, which could be painful for the inhabitants of the camp. However, Minidoka was regarded as the "best" of the camps. The positive atmosphere of the camp came from its relatively homogeneous population and its relatively friendly administration. Additionally, as a camp not in the Western Defense Command restricted area, security was lighter there than at other camps. This camp opened on August 10, 1942 and closed on October 28, 1945.

Minidoka Camp

Topaz : This camp was located in Utah and was 19,300 acres. This land was a mix of domain and privately owned land. Constant wind resulted in frequent duststorms. An internee was killed at Topaz due to guards once believing that the internees were engaging inappropriate behavior and were going to revolt. But once they realized this wasn't the case, security and survelliance surrounding the camp became minimal and Topaz was made more of a community, as much as it could. This camp opened on September 11, 1942 and closed on October 31, 1945.

Topaz Camp

Granada : This camp was located in Colorado and officially was opened on August 27, 1942 and closed on October 15, 1945. This camp was also called the Amache Camp. Though located in a farming area, the agricultural development of the camp was unimpressive. Granada was at one point plagued by a polio problem that caused the administration to cancel some activities and to stopped issuing passes to the outside.

Granada Camp

Poston : This camp was located in Arizona and was established on May 8, 1942 and closed November 28, 1945. Poston had extensive agricultural fields and the barracks had double roofs for insulation from the terrible desert heat. Internees made adobe bricks for school buildings at this camp, as well as the others because lumber was scarce. The elementary school auditorium that was built at Poston Camp was listed on the Arizona Preservation Foundation's Most Endangered Property List in 2001 and following that, it was destroyed in a fire. Twenty four Japanese-Americans who were residents at Poston, died.

Poston Camp

Gila River : This camp was also located in Arizona and on the Gila River Indian Reservation, hence the name. This camp was opened on July 20, 1942 and closed on November 10, 1945. This camp was so big that it made up two separate camps. These two camps were Butte Camp and Canal Camp. The average summer temperature was 104 degrees and could reach a high of 125 degrees.

Gila River Camp

Rohwer : This camp was located in Arkansas in Desha County in Southeastern Arkansas and was mainly farmland comprising of 10,161 acres of wooded swamp area. The irregular weather caused farming of any sort to be difficult even though the soil was relatively fertile. The climate also caused mosquitos to become a problem. This camp opened on September 18, 1942 and closed on November 30, 1945.

Rohwer Camp

Jerome : This camp was also located in Arkansas. It encompassed some 10,000 acreas of tax-delinquent lands. While most of the other relocation camps were built on barren, windswept lands, Jerome Relocation Center was in the middle of heavily wooded swampland, 18 miles south of McGehee and 120 miles southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas. The region was extremely humid and received nearly sixty inches of rain a year. Mud was a constant problem, and the moist environment allowed mosquitos to live abundantly about the barracks, which in turn caused malaria and other diseases to spread. The surrounding swamps were also full with some of the most deadly snake species in North America, a real fear among the internees.The camp was named after the town of Jerome, which was located a half-mile south.This camp was opened on October 6, 1942 and closed on June 30, 1944.

Jerome Camp

Tule Lake : This camp was located in California and encompassed 7,400 acres of land. The farms at Tule Lake produced crops that it shared with all the internees of that particular camp, as well as the other relocation centers. Turnips and potatos were a big crop within Tule Lake. Food stands were expanding businesses within the camp and programs in music and theatre were started. This camp even had a branch of Bank of America within it. This camp opened on May 27, 1942 and closed on March 20, 1946.

Tule Lake Camp

Heart Mountain : This camp was located in Wyoming and ecompassed 46,000 acres of land. It was located in a sagebrush-like desert and had the highest rate of resistance by Japanese-Americans. The camp was divided by function into district regions such as the hospital complex, administration area, warehouses and barracks. At its peak population of over 11,000, Heart Mountain was the state's third largest community. This camp was opened on August 12, 1942 and closed on November 10, 1942.

Heart Mountain Camp

*Below is an offical map of the places where these camps were located.