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Convicting the Innocent: Japanese American Youth at Topaz: Topaz: Utah’s Fifth-Largest City

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Topaz: Utah’s Fifth-Largest City

“You are now in Topaz, Utah. Here we say Dining Hall not Mess Hall; Safety Council, not Internal Police; Residents, not Evacuees; and last but not least, Mental Climate, not Morale.” —from the first issue of the Topaz Times[1]

In September of 1942, Japanese Americans began arriving in Topaz via crowded trains. During its operation, the Central Utah Relocation Center was Utah’s fifth-largest city with a peak population of 8,100 people living within a square mile.[2]

The Guidebook of the Center describes to incoming residents the layout, facilities, and services of the Topaz Relocation Center.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Historical Archives, LJAHA COLL 1, Series XII, Box 146, Fd. 7)

“Dealing with Japanese Americans,” a letter to the staff of the War Relocation Authority. This letter describes the cultural background of Japanese Americans as well as the government’s reasons for Japanese American relocation.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Topaz Internment Camp Documents, MSS 170, Box 1, Fd. 8)

Evacuation of the West Coast by M. Yubuki. Included on the map are eight relocation centers as well as major cities in the western United States.

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(Courtesy of the Topaz Museum)

A map of the Central Utah Relocation Center Project Area.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 33)

Photograph of Topaz from above.

(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 16B)

Why Central Utah?

Delta, located just east of Topaz, was the only community that expressed interest in hosting a relocation center. Other city governments and councils were opposed to the idea of “Japanese enemy aliens” being held near their cities, fearing that Japanese Americans would harm civilians.[3] After the Depression of the 1930s, the Millard County government believed creating and maintaining a relocation center would boost their local economy.[4]

Views About Japanese Americans in Utah

This is a letter from N. H. Smith, a Californian, to Utah Governor Herbert B. Maw concerning Japanese American relocation. Smith uses strong anti-Japanese language and suggests that Governor Maw “change the constitution to deport every single one of them.”

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, LJAHA, Series 12, Box 146, Box 6, Fd. 6, Item 54)

This is the meeting minutes from Utah’s county commissioners on the subject of Japanese American relocation, held in the state capitol on March 16, 1942. The manuscript has a list of responses from various counties as to whether or not they would accept Japanese Americans into their communities.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, LJAHA, Series 12, Box 146, Box 6, Fd. 6, Item 7)

This is a letter from O. J. Jensen to Governor Herbert B. Maw discussing Japanese American relocation. Jensen discusses how his fear of what people will think of him if he hired a Japanese American man to work on his farm, but he explains to Governor Maw that he thinks it would be better to employ Japanese Americans than to put them in an internment camp.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, LJAHA, Series 12, Box 146, Box 6, Fd. 6, Item 30.)

This is a letter from the Midvale City Council to Utah Governor Herbert B. Maw, dated April 8, 1942. The letter describes a “colony of Japanese” in the Salt Lake area whom the council deemed to be a “definite hazard” to the community. This letter is a good example of some of the anti-Japanese sentiment that existed in Utah during World War II.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, LJAHA, Series 12, Box 146, Box 6, Fd. 6, Item 11)

Illustration from Mine Okubo’s Citizen 13660 depicting Japanese American arrival at Topaz.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Citizen 13660, Book Coll 58 no. 15, pg. 123)

A replica of the barracks at the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah. The WRA only gave beds and mattresses to the Japanese American “residents,” the rest of the furniture in this image was handmade by those living in the camps.

(Photo credit: Alyson Griggs)

Living Conditions at Topaz

Like Tanforan, living conditions at Topaz were poor in the beginning. Many of the barracks were incomplete, lacking roofs and windows. Temperatures at Topaz were extreme, sometimes dropping below zero degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and rising above a hundred degrees in the summer. The barracks were not well insulated and the only source of heat they had in the winter was a potbelly stove delivered to each room.

Life at Topaz

Photograph of Topaz “residents” arriving at Topaz. Luggage is piled high next to barracks.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 14A)

Japanese American youth and adults browsing at the Topaz Co-op Store.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 24)

Photograph of workers clearing fields for agricultural use. Some of the workers appear to be teenagers.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 18B)

USHS _Crowd_of_Japanese_American_Internees.jpg

Crowd gathered in a recreation hall or dining hall.

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(Photograph courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society)

Illustration from Mine Okubo’s Citizen 13660 showing the first Christmas at Topaz.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Citizen 13660, Book Coll 58 no. 15, pg. 156)

Japanese American girl standing in front of drying laundry hanging outside of barrack.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 3)

Japanese American boy standing in front of barracks at Topaz.

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(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Leonard J. Arrington Photograph Collection, P0316, Box 3, Fd. 27, image 1)

Youth dressed up for a retelling of the Christmas nativity story.

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(Photograph from the Emil and Eleanor Sekerak Gerard Collection of the Topaz Museum, Delta, Utah)

[1] “Words,” Topaz Times, September 17, 1942, pg. 2.

[2] Central Utah Relocation Center, “Welcome to Topaz,” September 1943, in Leonard J. Arrington papers, LJAHA Coll 1, Series XII, Box 146, Fd. 7.

[3] Leonard J. Arrington papers, Coll 1. Series XII, Box 146, Fd. 8.

[4] Leonard J. Arrington papers, Coll 1. Series XII, Box 146, Fd. 8.