Kooskia Internment Camp

Former internment camp in Idaho, U.S.

Kooskia Internment Camp

Idaho County, Idaho
Site information
Type| Japanese incarceration work camp
Owner| U.S. Department of Justice
Operator| Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) 1943–1945
Federal Bureau of Prisons
1935–1943
Location

Kooskia Internment Camp

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Kooskia Internment Camp

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Coordinates| 46°12′36″N 115°32′35″W﻿ / ﻿46.21°N 115.543°W﻿ / 46.21; -115.543
Site history
Built| 1933
Built by| Civilian Conservation Corps
Clearwater River drainage
in north central Idaho

The Kooskia Internment Camp (/ˈkuːskiː/ KOO-skee) is a former internment camp in the northwest United States, located in north central Idaho, about thirty miles (50 km) northeast of Kooskia in northern Idaho County. It operated during the final two years of World War II.[1][2]

Originally a remote highway work camp (F-38) of the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933,[3][4][5][6] it became Federal Prison Camp No. 11 in 1935, run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.[4][7][8][9][10]

## World War II

[edit]

During World War II in 1943, it was converted to house more than 250 interned Japanese men, most of whom were longtime U.S. residents, but not citizen, branded "enemy aliens."[1][11] Because the camp was so remote in the western Bitterroot Mountains, fences and guard towers were unnecessary.[1] It was run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) of the Department of Justice.[12]

The government put the internees to labor work to construct the Lewis and Clark highway, where they were paid about fifty to sixty dollars per month.[13] Most had volunteered from other camps to earn some money.[14]

### Location

[edit]

An archaeological project of the University of Idaho in Moscow,[15][16] the site is six miles (10 km) northeast of Lowell on U.S. Route 12, just above the north bank of the Lochsa River along Canyon Creek,[17][18] at an approximate elevation of 1,600 feet (490 m) above sea level. The mouth of Canyon Creek is just below milepost 104 of US 12.[19]

### Notable internees

[edit]

* Toraichi Kono

## After the war

[edit]

The two-lane highway was completed seventeen years later in 1962,[20] connecting to Montana at Lolo Pass at 5,233 feet (1,595 m) and eastward to Lolo and Missoula.[21][22][23][24]

Originally labeled State Route 9, it was approved as US 12 in Idaho in June 1962.[25] Its extension westward from Lewiston through Washington to Aberdeen was approved in 1967, taking over much of US 410, which was decommissioned.

## See also

[edit]

* Minidoka War Relocation Center, in south central Idaho

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Erb, Tish (September 26, 1943). "Jap internees work hard, well treated, at Kooskia road camp". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1-section 2.
2. ^ (Washington) (May 11, 1943). "250 Japs start road jobs soon". Spokane Daily Chronicle. Washington. p. 3.
3. ^ "Fawn saved from rapids by C.C.C. men". Schenectady Gazette. (New York). (Special). September 5, 1933. p. 3.
4. ^ a b "Kooskia Internment Camp Archaeological Project". University of Idaho. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
5. ^ "4,261 now total". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). July 3, 1933. p. 3.
6. ^ "Sell goods fast". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). July 4, 1933. p. 2.
7. ^ "Prison labor camps to rise". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. August 18, 1935. p. 12.
8. ^ "It's the sane view of prison labor". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). (editorial). September 7, 1935. p. 4.
9. ^ "Costs go higher at prison camp". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. February 16, 1942. p. 6.
10. ^ "Priscilla Wegars". Idaho Humanities Council. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
11. ^ Wegars, Priscilla. "Kooskia, "Densho Encyclopedia"(accessed 28 Apr 2014).
12. ^ Emert, Donna (February 14, 2011). "Imprisoned in Paradise: Digging into Kooskia's Past Unearths a Timeless Lesson". University of Idaho. UI News. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
13. ^ "US Internment Camp Discovered In The Mountains Of Northern Idaho". International Business Times. 2013-07-26. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
14. ^ Geranios, Nicholas K. (July 23, 2013). "In Idaho mountains, researchers dig into a painful past of Kooskia Internment Camp". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Retrieved November 12, 2018.
15. ^ Wegars, Priscilla. "Asian American Comparative Collection: The Kooskia Internment Camp Project". University of Idaho. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
16. ^ "Kooskia Internment Camp Scrapbook". University of Idaho. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
17. ^ Geranios, Nicholas K. (July 27, 2013). "Researchers uncover little-known internment camp". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
18. ^ Banse, Tom (August 5, 2010). "Archaeologists resurrect nearly forgotten WWII internment camp". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
19. ^ "Milepoint log: U.S. 12" (PDF). Idaho Transportation Department. January 25, 2016. p. 5.
20. ^ Forbes, Bob (November 29, 1953). "Hiking the Wash-ho-tana link in Lochsa wilds". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (Empire Magazine). p. 9.
21. ^ "Leaders arrive for L-C Highway dedication". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). August 19, 1962. p. 1.
22. ^ Campbell, Thomas W.; Hamilton, Laddd (August 20, 1962). "Thousands witness L-C Highway dedication". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). p. 1.
23. ^ "Dedication festivity opens Idaho-Montana road link". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). August 20, 1962. p. 1.
24. ^ Wakeley, Daniel A. (August 20, 1962). "New route opens rugged land". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 1.
25. ^ "Highway 12 label approved by Idaho highway board". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. June 26, 1962. p. 7.

## External links

[edit]

* University of Idaho Library – The Kooskia, Idaho, Japanese Internment Camp, 1943–1945
* Scrapbook – digital images
* Federal Highway Administration – U.S. 12: Michigan to Washington

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Internment of Japanese Americans

Key topics|

* Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
* Executive Order 9066
* Executive Order 9102
* Yasui
* Hirabayashi
* Korematsu
* Ex parte Endo
* Lordsburg killings
* War Relocation Authority
* History
* Life before World War II
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Concentration camps|

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Assembly centers|

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* Woodland Civil Control Station

Citizen Isolation centers|

* Leupp Isolation Center
* Moab Isolation Center
* Old Raton Ranch Camp
* Camp Tulelake

Detention facilities|

* Catalina Federal Honor Camp
* Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Fort Lincoln Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Fort Missoula Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Fort Stanton Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Kenedy Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Kooskia Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Santa Fe Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Seagoville Alien Enemy Detention Facility
* Sharp Park Detention Station
* Tuna Canyon Detention Station

Army facilities|

* Camp Blanding
* Camp Forrest
* Camp Livingston
* Camp McCoy
* Camp Florence
* Fort Bliss Internment Camp
* Fort Howard Internment Camp
* Fort McDowell Internment Camp
* Fort Meade Internment Camp
* Fort Lewis Internment Camp
* Fort Richardson Internment Camp
* Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp
* Fort Sill Internment Camp
* Griffith Park Detention Camp
* Haiku Internment Camp
* Honouliuli Internment Camp
* Kalaheo Stockade
* Kilauea Military Camp
* Lordsburg Internment Camp
* Sand Island Internment Camp
* Stringtown Internment Camp

Notable incarcerees|

* See: Category:Japanese-American internees
* List of inmates of Manzanar
* List of inmates of Topaz War Relocation Center
* Estelle Peck Ishigo
* Ralph Lazo
* Isamu Shibayama
* Elaine Black Yoneda

Literature
and arts|

* Allegiance
* Born Free and Equal
* Farewell to Manzanar
* Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
* Judgment Without Trial
* No-No Boy
* Snow Falling on Cedars
* The Buddha in the Attic
* The Invisible Thread
* The Moved-Outers
* Under the Blood Red Sun
* Weedflower
* When the Emperor was Divine
* List of films
* Go for Broke!

Legacy|

* Redress and court cases
* Evacuation Claims Act
* Civil Liberties Act of 1988
* Renunciation Act of 1944
* Day of Remembrance
* Fred Korematsu Day
* Empty Chair Memorial
* Go for Broke Monument
* Japanese American National Museum
* Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II
* Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
* Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study
* The Long Journey Home
* Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial
* Japanese American Internment Museum
* Sakura Square
* Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education

Category

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX

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