Manzanar
United States. Army. Western Defense Command and Fourth Army. Final Report, Japanese Evacuation from the West Coast, 1942. Washington 1943, p. 259
Manzanar Relocation Center (U.S. government name) is located 220 miles north of Los Angeles on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Initially the Owens Valley Reception Center, it was converted to use as a concentration camp for the duration of the War despite the fact that it was located within the military exclusion zone. Construction began in March 1942, and Japanese Americans arrived as early as March 21, some driving in vehicles they owned. The land for this site was acquired from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). Prior to its acquisition by the LADWP, the Manzanar site was an apple farming community, a cattle ranch, and, previous to American settlement, home of the Owens Valley Paiute. Following the U.S. military’s schematic grid, it was comprised of 540 acres with 36 residential blocks of 300 people each laid out on a U.S. military standard plot plan for a capacity of 10,000 inhabitants. Manzanar reached a maximum capacity of 9,730 and closed on November 21, 1945.