Heart Mountain Relocation Camp

Buffaloes with thick smoke
from distant wildfires behind them

On Thursday, August 30th, we drove out of Grand Teton National Park and back through Yellowstone. Following the east side of the park road, we passed the gigantic Yellowstone Lake, though, like much of what we saw nearby, it was cloaked in smoke from distant wildfires. We did manage to see some silly buffaloes snacking at the lake's edge right next to the road, so we slowed down to chat with them briefly.

As we made our way out the east entrance of the park, the landscape changed. The canyons deepened, the cliff walls straightened and the trees thinned. Just outside of Yellowstone begins the Shoshone National Forest, an extension of the east Rockies with their high peaks and erratic hoodoos.

Shoshone National Forest

We continued to Cody, a town built by, and on the reputation of, one William F. Cody, aka Buffalo Bill. All things Buffalo Bill can be found here, including the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, a five museum complex whose centerpiece is the life, legacy and fame of its namesake.

Shoshone National Forest

After stopping at the visitor center, we selected the Absaroka Bay Campground. (The word Absaroka can be found attached to a river, a mountain range, a campground, a bay, and lots of businesses, but is pronounced ab-ZOR-ka by locals, despite the spelling. Hmm.) In any case, we checked in, set up and rode out northward to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.

The Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, like nine others in similar remote areas of the country, was used to temporarily house (or 'concentrate') the Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese heritage during WWII. In conflict with the progress associated with Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration (New Deal programs like the CCC and WPA), he believed those of Japanese descent living in America were automatically suspect based on their heritage alone. Beginning in August 1942 the U.S. military, under orders from the president, began posting notices to Japanese Americans that they would be moved 'for their protection' away from the west coast where the largest numbers of them had settled.

Museum complex built in the style of the original
barracks buildings, covered with tar paper and lath

The Heart Mountain Relocation Camp was one of the first to open and Japanese American folks were sent en masse via railroad to the remote and desolate location. As a condition of accepting the construction of the camp and the housing of domestic 'enemies', the Wyoming governor insisted that barbed wire be installed, armed guards be posted and that the internees be removed immediately following the end of the war.

Boosting the local economy and employing 2500 men to build the site, the 450 barracks were built in only 2 months. Construction crews boasted they could build one in a just under an hour. Quality was of no concern. On move in day, families were greeted by an empty room offering only an Army cot, a mattress, a broom, a pail, a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, and a wood stove. Constructed of green lumber and without insulation or wallboard, the wood quickly shrank in the dry climate and gaps developed, allowing in the dust and cold of northern Wyoming to families previously accustomed to, and dressed for, California's weather.

Of the 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans detained, over 14,000 were sent to Heart Mountain between September of 1942 and November of 1945. At its peak, the camp held 10,767 internees, making it the third largest city in Wyoming. Almost immediately after the camp opened problems arose. With the U.S. fighting World War II on two fronts, men were drafted from the internment camps which led to the obvious questions about drafting soldiers from what was essentially a prison. In the school at Heart Mountain, teachers struggled with how to teach the concepts of democracy to students behind barbed wire, imprisoned by their own government.

Inside the Heart Mountain Museum

We watched a film titled 'All We Could Carry' about the experiences of 12 internees who lived at Heart Mountain as children or young adults. Their stories told of the splintering of family dynamics as families no longer ate dinner together, or the indignity of sharing a communal bathroom with rows of toilets and showers but no walls or dividers. Some mentioned the substandard food, such as a meal of only canned tomatoes.

One particularly hypocritical move on the U.S. government's part was to segregate its own citizens into remote camps while it simultaneously liberated Jews from concentration camps in Europe. And while the explanation given was that the camps were for 'their protection', some Japanese Americans wondered why the guns and searchlights were pointed into the camp instead of out.

Heart Mountain Relocation Camp
reconstructed guard tower

The interviewees mentioned the strain on their parents and the other adults at the camp. All the detainees were expected to sell, give away or abandon everything they owned, including their homes, businesses, and even pets. They were permitted to bring only what they could carry. One video clip in the museum showed an interview of a detainee who left his dog with a neighbor. The dog was so heartbroken at his owner's leaving that he simply paced around the house, refusing to eat or drink. He died of starvation within days. Given between 2 days and 2 weeks to pack up and ship out, other clips told of businesses and possessions given away or sold for pennies on the dollar so that families could uproot themselves at the government's behest and move to the relocation camps.

Part of the original Heart Mountain hospital

Despite their treatment and the withholding of their constitutional rights, 750 men were drafted from Heart Mountain and served in Europe, sustaining heavy casualties. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, comprised entirely of second generation Japanese Americans, was the most decorated unit in the history of American warfare, though soldiers on leave had to visit their families in an internment camp at home. Additionally, the detainees helped local farmers during the labor shortage caused by the war by helping harvest sugar beets in Lovell and digging an irrigation canal from the Shoshone River. Two highly educated soil scientists interned at the camp also developed farming practices that turned the entire area into an agricultural success through their tutelage.

Heart Mountain

The site of the museum is the actual site of the camp. At the war's end the detainees were released with $25 and a train ticket each. Many struggled for years to regain the success they enjoyed before the three year detention, having lost everything over the years. The 20' x 120' barracks were sold to local farmers for $5 each. Today all that remains of the original 46,000 acre camp beyond the museum buildings is a portion of the hospital building, including its boiler chimney, a small administrative building, and a memorial to the people that lived there.

After going through the museum, we drove up to the flat acreage where the vast camp once stood. Now a giant field of green crops, the physical reminder of the injustice to these people has been largely erased. What a shame.

Oddly, while we toured a temporary exhibit of pictures and interviews of Muslim Americans by Todd Drake, the museum clerk came rushing over to alert us that we were looking at a controversial display in hopes that we wouldn't be offended. Evidently (despite the obvious parallels between the Japanese Americans treatment in WWII and Muslim Americans treatment recently) there have been numerous angry letters to the editor by local folks upset that such a display would be housed here. We couldn't think where else such a poignant display about perceptions of Muslim Americans would be better suited or more relevant.

We drove back to Cody for dinner at the Wyoming Rib and Chop House, the same company whose food we so enjoyed in Livingston, Montana. We were thrilled to find the quality of the food and service closely matched the other restaurant. After happy hour and dinner, we retired to the RV for the rest of the evening. What a fascinating day.