Minidoka Internment National Monument
Encyclopedia
Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site
that commemorates the Minidoka War Relocation Center of the Second World War. It is located in Jerome County, Idaho
, 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Twin Falls
and just north of Eden
, in an area known as Hunt
, in the remote high desert area north of the Snake River
. The site is administered by the National Park Service
of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The Minidoka War Relocation Center was in operation from 1942–45 and one of ten camps at which Japanese American
s, both citizens and resident aliens, were interned
during World War II.Under provisions of President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066
, all persons of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the West Coast of the United States. Minidoka housed more than 9,000 Japanese Americans, predominantly from Oregon
, Washington, and Alaska
.
The Minidoka irrigation project
shares its name with Minidoka County
. The Minidoka name was applied to the Idaho relocation center in Jerome County to avoid confusion with the Jerome War Relocation Center
in Jerome, Arkansas
. Construction by the Morrison-Knudsen Company began in 1942 on the camp, which received 10,000 internees by years' end. Many of the internees worked on the irrigation project or as farm labor. Population declined to 8500 at the end of 1943, and to 6950 by the end of 1944. On February 10, 1946 the now-vacant camp was turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which used the facilities to house returning war veterans.
on July 10, 1979. The site was established in 2001, and as one of the newest units of the National Park System, it does not yet have any visitor facilities or services available on location. However, a temporary exhibit and information about the monument is on display at the visitor center of the nearby Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
. Currently, visitors see the remains of the entry guard station, waiting room, and rock garden and can visit the Relocation Center display at the Jerome County Museum in nearby Jerome
and the restored barracks building at the Idaho Farm and Ranch Museum southeast of town. There is a small marker adjacent to the remains of the guard station, and a larger sign at the intersection of Highway 25 and Hunt Road, which gives some of the history of the camp.
The National Park Service began a three-year public planning process in the fall of 2002 to develop a General Management Plan (GMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The General Management Plan sets forth the basic management philosophy for the Monument and provides the strategies for addressing issues and achieving identified management objectives that will guide management of the site for the next 15–20 years.
On December 21, 2006, President Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law guaranteeing $38,000,000 in federal money to restore the Minidoka relocation center along with nine other former Japanese internment camps.
On May 8, 2008, President George W. Bush
signed the Wild Sky Wilderness Act into law, which changed the status of the former U.S. National Monument
to National Historic Site
and added the Nidoto Nai Yoni (Let It Not Happen Again) Memorial on Bainbridge Island, Washington to the monument.
National Historic Sites (United States)
National Historic Sites are protected areas of national historic significance in the United States. A National Historic Site usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject...
that commemorates the Minidoka War Relocation Center of the Second World War. It is located in Jerome County, Idaho
Jerome County, Idaho
Jerome County is a county in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2000 Census the county had a population of 18,342 . The county seat and largest city is Jerome....
, 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Twin Falls
Twin Falls, Idaho
Twin Falls is the county seat and largest city of Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The population was 44,125 at the 2010 censusTwin Falls is the largest city of Idaho's Magic Valley region...
and just north of Eden
Eden, Idaho
Eden is a city in Jerome County, Idaho, United States. The population was 405 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Twin Falls, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Eden is located at ....
, in an area known as Hunt
Hunt, Idaho
Hunt is an unincorporated rural area north of Eden in Jerome County, Idaho, United States. The area was named after Frank W. Hunt, a former Governor of Idaho. It was the home to a Japanese Interment Camp now marked by the Minidoka National Historic Site. MIT graduate, Dr. Gary A...
, in the remote high desert area north of the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
. The site is administered by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The Minidoka War Relocation Center
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
s, both citizens and resident aliens, were interned
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during World War II.Under provisions of President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066
United States Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 authorizing the Secretary of War to prescribe certain areas as military zones...
, all persons of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the West Coast of the United States. Minidoka housed more than 9,000 Japanese Americans, predominantly from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, Washington, and Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
.
The Minidoka irrigation project
Minidoka Project
The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho...
shares its name with Minidoka County
Minidoka County, Idaho
Minidoka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. The county seat and largest city is Rupert. As of the 2000 Census the county had a population of 20,174 ....
. The Minidoka name was applied to the Idaho relocation center in Jerome County to avoid confusion with the Jerome War Relocation Center
Jerome War Relocation Center
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944, it was the last relocation camp to open and the first to close; at one point it contained as many as 8,497 inhabitants. After...
in Jerome, Arkansas
Jerome, Arkansas
Jerome is a city in Drew County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 46 at the 2000 census. During World War II, Jerome was home to a Japanese American internment camp , Jerome War Relocation Center , later converted into a prison camp for captured German soldiers.-Geography:Jerome is...
. Construction by the Morrison-Knudsen Company began in 1942 on the camp, which received 10,000 internees by years' end. Many of the internees worked on the irrigation project or as farm labor. Population declined to 8500 at the end of 1943, and to 6950 by the end of 1944. On February 10, 1946 the now-vacant camp was turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which used the facilities to house returning war veterans.
National Historic Site
The internment camp site was listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on July 10, 1979. The site was established in 2001, and as one of the newest units of the National Park System, it does not yet have any visitor facilities or services available on location. However, a temporary exhibit and information about the monument is on display at the visitor center of the nearby Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument near Hagerman, Idaho, contains the largest concentration of Hagerman Horse fossils in North America. The fossil horses for which the Monument is famous have been found in only one locale in the northern portion of the Monument called the Hagerman Horse Quarry...
. Currently, visitors see the remains of the entry guard station, waiting room, and rock garden and can visit the Relocation Center display at the Jerome County Museum in nearby Jerome
Jerome, Idaho
Jerome is a city in Jerome County, Idaho, U.S.A. The population was 10,890 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Jerome County, and sits at an elevation of 3763 feet above sea level. It is part of the Twin Falls, Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Jerome is located at ...
and the restored barracks building at the Idaho Farm and Ranch Museum southeast of town. There is a small marker adjacent to the remains of the guard station, and a larger sign at the intersection of Highway 25 and Hunt Road, which gives some of the history of the camp.
The National Park Service began a three-year public planning process in the fall of 2002 to develop a General Management Plan (GMP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The General Management Plan sets forth the basic management philosophy for the Monument and provides the strategies for addressing issues and achieving identified management objectives that will guide management of the site for the next 15–20 years.
On December 21, 2006, President Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law guaranteeing $38,000,000 in federal money to restore the Minidoka relocation center along with nine other former Japanese internment camps.
On May 8, 2008, President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
signed the Wild Sky Wilderness Act into law, which changed the status of the former U.S. National Monument
U.S. National Monument
A National Monument in the United States is a protected area that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and...
to National Historic Site
National Historic Sites (United States)
National Historic Sites are protected areas of national historic significance in the United States. A National Historic Site usually contains a single historical feature directly associated with its subject...
and added the Nidoto Nai Yoni (Let It Not Happen Again) Memorial on Bainbridge Island, Washington to the monument.
Notable Minidoka internees
- Paul ChiharaPaul ChiharaPaul Seiko Chihara is an American composer.Chihara was born in Seattle, Washington in 1938. A Japanese American, he spent several years of his childhood with his family in an internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho....
(born 1938), an American composer. - Ken EtoKen EtoKen Eto , also known as Tokyo Joe and "The Jap", was a Japanese-American mobster with the Chicago Outfit and eventually an FBI informant who ran Asian gambling operations for the organization...
(1919–2004), a Japanese-American mobster with the Chicago Outfit and eventually an FBI informant - Fujitaro KubotaFujitaro KubotaFujitaro Kubota was a Japanese born, American gardener and philanthropist.Kubota was among the Issei emigrants from Japan who made new lives for themselves in the United States. When he first arrived, he worked on the railroad. By 1922, he was able to start his own gardening business in Seattle...
(1879–1973), an American gardener and philanthropist. - Shig MuraoShig MuraoShigeyoshi "Shig" Murao is mainly remembered as the City Lights clerk who was arrested on June 3, 1957, for selling Allen Ginsberg's Howl to an undercover San Francisco police officer. In the trial that followed, Murao was charged with selling the book and Lawrence Ferlinghetti with publishing it...
(1926–1999), a San Francisco clerk who played a prominent role in the San Francisco Beat scene. - William K. NakamuraWilliam K. NakamuraWilliam Kenzo Nakamura was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.-Biography:...
(1922–1944), a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of HonorMedal of HonorThe Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. - George NakashimaGeorge NakashimaGeorge Katsutoshi NakashimaGeorge Katsutoshi NakashimaGeorge Katsutoshi Nakashima( was a Japanese-American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker who was one of the leading innovators of 20th century furniture design and a father of the American craft movement...
(1905–1990), a Japanese American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker. - John OkadaJohn OkadaJohn Okada was a Japanese-American writer. Born in Seattle, Washington, he was a student at the University of Washington when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Okada and his family were interned at Minidoka in 1942...
(1923–1971), a Japanese American writer. - Roger ShimomuraRoger ShimomuraRoger Shimomura is an American artist and a retired professor at the University of Kansas. His works, showcased across the United States, address Asian American sociopolitical issues by the use of racist imagery.-Life:...
(born 1939), an American artist and a retired professor. - Monica SoneMonica SoneMonica Sone was a Japanese American writer, best known for her 1953 autobiographical memoir Nisei Daughter, which tells of the Japanese American experience in Seattle during the 1920s and 30s, and in the World War II internment camps and which is an important text in Asian American and Women's...
(1919–2011), a Japanese American novelist. - Gary A. Tanaka (born 1943), a Japanese-American businessman.
- Newton K. WesleyNewton K. WesleyNewton K. Wesley was an optometrist and an early pioneer of the contact lens. Wesley was a partner with George Jessen in the development and advancement of contact lens. Together they founded the Wesley-Jessen Corporation as well as the National Eye Research Foundation...
(1917–2011), an optometrist and an early pioneer of the contact lens - Mitsuye YamadaMitsuye YamadaMitsuye Yamada is a Japanese American activist, feminist, essayist, poet, story writer, editor, and former professor of English.-Early and personal life:Mitsuye Yamada was born as Mitsuye Yasutake in Fukuoka, Japan...
(born 1923), a Japanese American writer. - Takuji YamashitaTakuji YamashitaTakuji Yamashita , born in Yawatahama on Ehime, Shikoku, Japan, was a civil-rights campaigner. In spite of social and legal barriers, he directly challenged three major barriers against Asians in the United States: citizenship, joining a profession, and owning land.-Biography:Yamashita emigrated to...
(1874–1959), an early 20th century civil rights pioneer. Also interned at Tule LakeTule Lake War Relocation CenterTule Lake Segregation Center National Monument was an internment camp in the northern California town of Newell near Tule Lake. It was used in the Japanese American internment during World War II. It was the largest and most controversial of the camps, and did not close until after the war, in...
and ManzanarManzanarManzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
. - Minoru YasuiMinoru YasuiMinoru "Min" Yasui was a Japanese American lawyer from Oregon. Born in Hood River, Oregon, he earned both an undergraduate degree and his law degree at the University of Oregon. He was one of the few Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor who fought laws that directly targeted...
(1916–1986), a Japanese American lawyer who challenged the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II in Yasui v. United StatesYasui v. United StatesYasui v. United States, 320 U.S. 115 was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II when they were applied to citizens of the United States. The case arose out of the implementation of Executive Order 9066 by the U.S...
. - Chiaki Yoshihara (born 1921), college football player. He helped lead the 1941 Oregon State Beavers to the 1942 Rose Bowl1942 Rose BowlThe 1942 Rose Bowl was the 28th Rose Bowl game. Originally scheduled to be played in the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, it was moved to Durham, North Carolina, due to fears about an attack by the Japanese on the West Coast of the United States following the attack on Pearl Harbor...
but was unable to travel to the game because it was more than 35 miles away.
See also
- ManzanarManzanarManzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...
National Historic Site - War Relocation AuthorityWar Relocation AuthorityThe War Relocation Authority was a United States government agency established to handle internment of Japanese-, German-, and Italian-Americans during World War II...
- Paintings of Minidoka by Ed Tsutakawa
External links
- Official Park Service site
- Minidoka Relocation Center historical photographs at the University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
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