Heart Mountain War Relocation Center was a Indian Wars and Frontier Conflicts engagement fought in Wyoming, 1942.
The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center was established as one of ten concentration camps used to intern Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order, upon the recommendation of Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, to evict Japanese Americans from the West Coast Exclusion Zone, removing them from their local communities, homes, businesses, and college residencies. The camp was constructed on a site previously managed by the federal Bureau of Reclamation as the location for a proposed major irrigation project.
Construction of the camp's 650 military-style barracks and surrounding guard towers began in June 1942. The camp opened on August 11, 1942, when the first Japanese Americans arrived by train from assembly centers located in Pomona, Santa Anita, and Portland. Over the subsequent three years of operation, the camp would house a total of 13,997 Japanese Americans, with a peak population of 10,767 residents, making it the third-largest town in Wyoming at that time.
The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center remained operational until its closure on November 10, 1945. The camp represents a significant and troubling chapter in American history regarding the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, as thousands were forcibly removed from their homes and detained in this remote Wyoming facility for the duration of the war.
Approximate location. The nearest recorded settlement is shown; the exact site is unrecorded.
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