Editing Manzanar (section)

== Camp conditions and facilities ==

=== Climate and location ===
[[File:Barrack Row.jpg|thumb|right|Barrack row looking west to the desert and mountains beyond (July 2, 1942)]]
The Manzanar facility was located between [[Lone Pine, California|Lone Pine]] and [[Independence, California|Independence]].<ref name="hansen 52"/> The weather at Manzanar caused suffering for the inmates, few of whom were accustomed to the extremes of the area's climate.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/> While the majority of people were from the Los Angeles area, some were from places with much different climates (such as [[Bainbridge Island]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington]]).<ref name="heitz 2019">Heitz (2019).</ref> The temporary buildings were inadequate to shield people from the weather. The Owens Valley lies at an elevation of about {{convert|4000|ft|m}}.<ref name="ManzanarWeather">{{cite web | title=Manzanar National Historic Site – Weather (U.S. National Park Service) | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=http://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/weather.htm | date=July 26, 2006 | access-date=August 4, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071109065434/http://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/weather.htm | archive-date=November 9, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref>

Summers on the desert floor of the Owens Valley are generally hot, with temperatures often exceeding {{convert|100|°F|°C}}.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/><ref name="ManzanarWeather" /> Winters bring occasional snowfall and daytime temperatures that often drop into the {{convert|40|°F|°C}} range.<ref name="ManzanarWeather" /> At night, temperatures are generally {{convert|30|to|40|F|C}} lower than the daytime highs, and high winds are common day or night.<ref name="CAE162" /><ref name="ManzanarWeather" />

The area's mean annual precipitation is barely {{convert|5|in|cm|spell=in}}. The ever-present dust was a continual problem due to the frequent high winds; so much so that people usually woke up in the morning covered from head to toe with a fine layer of dust, and they constantly had to sweep dirt out of the barracks.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life"/><ref name="Reflections8">Embrey (1998), p. 8.</ref>

"In the summer, the heat was unbearable," said former Manzanar inmate [[Ralph Lazo]]. "In the winter, the sparsely rationed oil didn't adequately heat the tar paper-covered pine barracks with knotholes in the floor. The wind would blow so hard, it would toss rocks around."<ref name="latimes 20070527">{{cite news | last=Rasmussen | first=Cecilia | title=Following His Beliefs Led Him To Manzanar | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date=May 27, 2007 | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-may-27-me-then27-story.html | access-date=September 16, 2008 | page=B2 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323033715/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/may/27/local/me-then27 | archive-date=March 23, 2009 | url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Camp layout and facilities ===
[[File:Manzanar Relocation Center, Manzanar, California. A typical interior scene in one of the barrack ap . . . - NARA - 538136.jpg|thumb|right|Typical barrack apartments with cloth partitions between units (June 30, 1942)]]

The camp site was situated on {{convert|6200|acre|ha}} at Manzanar, leased from the City of Los Angeles,<ref name="NPSHistoryCulture" /> with the developed portion covering approximately {{convert|540|acre|ha}}.<ref name="CAE163">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 163.</ref> Eight guard towers equipped with machine guns were located at intervals around the perimeter fence, which was topped by barbed wire.<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007">Colborn-Roxworthy (2007).</ref> The grid layout used in the camp was standard, and a similar layout was used in all of the relocation centers.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

The residential area was about one square mile (2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), and consisted of 36 blocks of hastily constructed,<ref name="JAsAtManzanar">{{cite web | work=Manzanar National Historic Site |title= Japanese Americans at Manzanar | publisher=National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior | url=http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm | access-date=November 18, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110420132241/http://www.nps.gov/manz/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm | archive-date=April 20, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref> {{convert|20|by|100|ft|m|adj=on}} tarpaper barracks, with each family (up to eight people) living in a single {{convert|20|by|25|ft|m|adj=on}} "apartment" in the barracks.<ref name="nps manzanar camp life">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/campLife.html |title=Camp Life |access-date=June 2, 2020 |work=Manzanar National Historic Site |publisher= National Park Service |archive-date=March 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311095423/https://www.nps.gov/museum/exhibits/manz/campLife.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, a Manzanar survivor, described the living conditions in her book: "After dinner we were taken to Block 16, a cluster of fifteen barracks that had just been finished a day or so earlier—although finished was hardly a word for it. The shacks were built of pine planking covered with tarpaper. They sat on concrete footings, with about two feet of open space between the floorboards and the ground. Gaps showed between the planks, and as the weeks passed and the green wood dried out, the gaps widened. Knotholes gaped in the uncovered floor."<ref name="WakatsukiHouston">Wakatsuki Houston & Houston (1983) [1973.</ref>{{rp|page=18}} In the book, she goes on to explain the size and layout of the barracks. They were divided into six units that were sixteen long by twenty feet wide, and a single light bulb hung from the ceiling. They had an oil stove for heat as well as two army blankets each, some mattress covers and steel army cots.<ref name="WakatsukiHouston" />

These apartments consisted of partitions with no ceilings, eliminating any chance of privacy.<ref name="Reflections16">Embrey (1998), p. 16.</ref><ref name="CAE167">Burton ''et al.'' (1999), p. 167.</ref> Lack of privacy was a major problem, especially since the camp had communal men's and women's latrines.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="CAE167" /> Former Manzanar inmate Rosie Kakuuchi said that the communal facilities were "[o]ne of the hardest things to endure", adding that neither the latrines nor showers had partitions or stalls.<ref name="JAsAtManzanar" />

Each residential block also had a communal mess hall (large enough to serve 300 people at one time),<ref name="caam kim food 20170213"/><ref name="kikuchi memories 2007 npr"/> a laundry room, a recreation hall, an ironing room, and a heating oil storage tank, although Block&nbsp;33 lacked a recreation hall.<ref name="CAE167" /> In addition to the residential blocks, Manzanar had 34 blocks that had staff housing, camp administration offices, two warehouses, a garage, a camp hospital, and 24 firebreaks.<ref name="CAE163" />

The camp had school facilities, a high-school auditorium (that was also used as a theatre),<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> staff housing, chicken and hog farms, churches, a cemetery, a post office, a hospital, an orphanage, two community latrines, an outdoor theater, and other necessary amenities that one would expect to find in most American cities.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="Reflections16" /> Some of the facilities{{which|date=January 2024}} were not built until after the camp had been operating for a while.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> The camp perimeter had eight watchtowers manned by armed [[military police]], and it was enclosed by five-strand barbed wire. There were sentry posts at the main entrance.<ref name="CAE163" /><ref name="Reflections16" /> Many of the camp administration staff lived inside the fence at the camp, though the military police lived outside the fence.<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

=== Commercial facilities ===
{{see also|Manzanar Guayule Project}}

Typical businesses such as a cooperative store and other shops and a camp newspaper were operated by the internees.<ref name="Reflections16" /> A camouflage net factory, to provide the nets to various military units, was operated on the site.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar"/> An experimental plantation for producing [[natural rubber]] from the [[Guayule]] plant was built and operated.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar"/>

Before a hospital was built, doctors in the camp faced many difficulties, including treating internees for diseases such as measles, chickenpox, whooping cough, and diarrhea.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> Treatment facilities were often the barracks, which did not include running water or heating.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> Once the Manzanar Hospital was built, it included a kitchen, operating rooms, treatment wards, laboratories, and other facilities.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/> All medical treatment in Manzanar was provided at no charge.<ref name="nps manzanar work"/>

[[Manzanar Children's Village]], an orphanage housing 101 Japanese-American orphans from June 1942 to September 1945, operated within the camp.<ref name="Reflections16" /><ref name="DenshoManzanar">{{cite web | title=Sites of Shame: Manzanar | publisher=Densho | url=http://www.densho.org/sitesofshame/facilities.xml | access-date=April 23, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070405213033/http://www.densho.org/sitesofshame/facilities.xml | archive-date=April 5, 2007 | url-status=live }}</ref> Children incarcerated there were from multiple orphanages in the Los Angeles area as well as locations in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.<ref name="Densho-MCV">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Manzanar%20Children's%20Village/|title=Manzanar Children's Village|first=Catherine |last=Irwin |encyclopedia=Densho Encyclopedia |access-date=February 19, 2014}}</ref> Infants born to unmarried mothers in other [[War Relocation Authority|WRA]] camps were also sent to Children's Village over the next three years.<ref name="Tawa">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-03-11-mn-37002-story.html|title=Childhood Lost: The Orphans of Manzanar|first=Renee |last=Tawa |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date= March 11, 1997}}</ref>

The 61 remaining children in Maryknoll, Shonien and the Salvation Army Home were slated for removal. On June 23, 1942, they were bused, under armed guard, with several adult caretakers, from Los Angeles to Manzanar.<ref name='Densho-MCV'/> Over the next few months, approximately thirty more children from Washington, Oregon and Alaska, mostly orphans who had been living with non-Japanese foster families, would arrive in Manzanar.