Amache Sign
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by LILY HAVEY
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This was the original little sign posted at the road leading to the camp. It has been replaced by a newer one.
New Amache Sign
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by LILY HAVEY
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New Amache Relocation Center sign.
The Long Road to the Amache Camp.
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by LILY HAVEY
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This begins at the sign and continues into the camp proper.
Map
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by LILY HAVEY
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This map was drawn by a high school student named Eddie Kubota while he was interned.
Mess Hall Foundation
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by LILY HAVEY
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This is all that is left of one of the mess halls. In my book, "Gasa Gasa Girl Goes to Camp: A Nisei Youth Behind a World War II Fence," there is a photograph by Jack Muro of a mess hall decorated for Christmas.
Gate East of Block 9L
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by LILY HAVEY
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9L was where I lived. I used to stand by this gate and gaze toward Kansas and wish I could go there. The gate was about a city block away through sagebrush, cacti, and rattlesnakes.
Shower Room Foundations, Block 9L
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by LILY HAVEY
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The smaller squares are receptacles for a foul-smelling antiseptic. We were supposed to dip our feet
into it before showering, but we always jumped over them.
Rec Hall, Block 11F
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by LILY HAVEY
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We used to call it a Rec Hall (Recreation), but it was really an empty space north of the laundry facilities. Ours at Block 9L used to have a couple of tables and chairs and used mostly by men who sat and read the newspapers or played Go or shogi. There was a bulletin board with "outside" job opportunities posted. This building in the photo is of a Rec Hall of Block 11F, southwest of my block; it was taken to the town of Granada a mile away. It was probably used for a while for storage, then abandoned. When I visited Amache/Granada in 2011 it was no longer there.
Rec Hall, Block 11F
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by LILY HAVEY
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The Rec Hall numbers were stenciled onto the corners of the buildings.
Bridge Over A "Pond"
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by LILY HAVEY
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Several internees built small ponds. This one had a small bridge. I don’t know whether they actually held water. The archeological work led by Bonnie Clark of the University of Denver has unearthed several. She leads a group of students and any interested people in a dig at Amache each July.
Fence Post
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by LILY HAVEY
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Barbed wire fences surrounded the entire camp.
Bricks
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by LILY HAVEY
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These bricks are probably remnants of the flooring in the barracks.
Doorway
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by LILY HAVEY
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These cacti are growing in the center of what used to be the doorway to our "apartment" in the barrack.
Water Tower Landscape
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by LILY HAVEY
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The original water tower at Amache was found close by in the town of Granada and reconstructed on site in 2014 at the south end of the camp. Because I saw it only from a distance, I was surprised at the actual size when I returned for a pilgrimage in the spring.
Water Tower Close-Up
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by LILY HAVEY
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We parked the car at the base of the water tower and had my granddaughter Autumn and her boyfriend Jason perched themselves on the base to render the scale and size of the structure. This tank held the water pumped up from the Arkansas River.
Jail
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by LILY HAVEY
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This is the jail located within the camp. I don’t know that anyone was ever confined there. It has no windows. I had never seen it while incarcerated at Amache. The woman taking a photo is from Japan.
Reconstructed Guard Tower
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by LILY HAVEY
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A grant from the National Park Service in a program titled, "Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program" has enabled the Amache Preservation Society under the leadership of John Hopper, to restore one guard tower and the water tower at the camp site. The guard tower does not yet have a search light, but the society is searching for one to install.
Amache Ghost Painting