The Minidoka irrigation project shares its name with Minidoka County. The Minidoka name was applied to the Idaho relocation center in Hunt of Jerome County, probably to avoid confusion with the Jerome War Relocation Center in Jerome, Arkansas.[citation needed] 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 as farm labor, and later on the irrigation project and the construction of Anderson Ranch Dam, northeast of Mountain Home. The Reclamation Act of 1902 had racial exclusions on labor which were strictly adhered to until Congress changed the law in 1943.[6]
Population at the Minidoka camp declined to 8,500 at the end of 1943, and to 6,950 by the end of 1944. The camp formally closed on October 28, 1945.[7] On February 10, 1946, the vacated camp was turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which used the facilities to house returning war veterans.[8]
The Minidoka War Relocation Center consisted of 44 blocks of housing. Each block contained 12 barracks (which themselves were divided into 6 separate living areas), laundry facilities, bathrooms, and a mess hall. Recreation Halls in each block were multi-use facilities that served as both worship and education centers. Minidoka had a high school, a junior high school and two elementary schools - Huntsville and Stafford.[9] The Minidoka War Relocation Center also included two dry cleaners, four general stores, a beauty shop, two barber shops, radio and watch repair stores as well as two fire stations.[10]
In June 1942, the War Department authorized the formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion consisting of 1,432 men of Japanese descent in the Hawaii National Guard and sent them to Camps McCoy and Shelby for advanced training.[11] Because of its superior training record, FDR authorized the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) in January 1943 when 10,000 men from Hawaii signed up with eventually 2,686 being chosen along with 1,500 from the mainland.[12] The Minidoka Internees created an Honor Roll display to acknowledge the service of their fellow Japanese-Americans.[9] According to Echoes of Silence,[13] 844 men from this camp volunteered or were drafted for military service.[14] Although the original was lost after the war, the Honor Roll was recreated by the Friends of Minidoka group in 2011 following a grant from the National Park Service.[15]
Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Minidoka, and the other camps in which Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents, were incarcerated by the United States Government during the war.[16][17][18] Minidoka has been referred to as a "War Relocation Center", "relocation camp", "relocation center", "internment camp", and "concentration camp", and the controversy over which term is the most accurate and appropriate continues to the present day.[19][20][21]
National Historic Site
Japanese-American internees in Idaho at the Minidoka War Relocation Center
The internment camp site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1979. A national monument was established in 2001 at the site by President Bill Clinton on January 17, as he invoked his authority under the Antiquities Act.[2] As one of the newer units of the National Park System, it currently has temporary visitor facilities and services available on location. A new visitor contact station is being built and will open in 2020. 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).[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
In 2006, President George W. Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law on December 21, guaranteeing $38 million in federal money to restore the Minidoka relocation center along with nine other former Japanese internment camps.[22]
The Lava Ridge Wind Project has been proposed to be in the vicinity of the Minidoka site;[25] the Bureau of Land Management's preferred siting alternative reduced the project area by 50% to ensure all wind turbines would be at least 9 miles from Minidoka National Historic Site.[26]
Notable Minidoka incarcerees
Minidoka Relocation Center, watch repair shop. Sokichi Hoshide, head watch-maker
Minoru Yasui (1916–1986), a Japanese American lawyer who challenged the constitutionality of curfews used during World War II in Yasui v. United States.
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