Land: Federal reclamation project land
Size: 46,000 acres
Climate: Severe, even by WRA standards, with winter lows dipping to -30 degrees. Elevation: 4,600 feet.
Origin of camp population: Mostly from Los Angeles
(6,448), Santa Clara (2,572), San Francisco (678) and Yakima, Washington (843) Counties
Via "assembly centers": Most came from Pomona (5,270) and Santa Anita (4,700) "Assembly Centers"
Rural/Urban: Mostly urban Peak population: 10,767 Date of peak: January 1, 1943 Opening date: August 12, 1942
Closing date: November 10, 1945
Project director(s): Christopher E. Rachford and Guy Robertson
Community analysts: Asael T. Hansen and Forrest La Violette
JERS fieldworkers: None
Newspaper: Heart Mountain Sentinel (October 24, 1942July 28, 1945)
Percent who answered question 28 of the loyalty questionnaire positively: 95.9
Number and percentage of eligible male citizens inducted directly into armed forces: 385 (4.8%)
Industry: Heart Mountain had a garment factory, a cabinet shop and a sawmill that produced goods for internal consumption. A silk-screen shop produced posters for the other camps and for the navy
Miscellaneous characteristics: The weather, along with the shoddy construction of the barracks and a population mostly from Southern California unaccustomed to thc cold, contributed to a great many illnesses that resulted in hospital overcrowding in the winter of 1942-43. In addition to the severe climate, Heart Mountain, like many other camps, was also plagued by duststorms and rattlesnakes.
Image credit: Gift of Sally R. Nishiyama, Japanese American National Museum (93.165.9A)
Camp Related Materials from the Japanese American National Museum
America's Concentration Concentration Camps sites on the Internet
Bibliography of Japanese Americans and America's Concentration Camps