Copies of this panoramic photo of Manzanar can be obtained by contacting
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Before Los Angeles siphoned off all of the water in Owens Valley, before the Carson & Colorado Railroad, before the internment of our own Japanese American citizens, before the mining, sheep, cattle and agricultural pioneers, the area of Manzanar was used for centuries by the native Shoshone and Paiute indians. It wasn't until the early 20th century (around 1910) that the area of Manzanar developed into a thriving agricultural community. Remnants of these orchards are stil visible today.
Two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 President Roosevelt signed the order to intern all people of Japanese ancestry. By March of the next year construction had begun on the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar located between Lone Pine and Independence in Owens Valley. Manzanar interned approximately 10,000 people (most of them American citizens) on some 6,000 acres of arid desert land. The facility consisted of the internment camp, agricultural use areas, a reservoir, airport, cemetery, and sewage treatment plant. Approximately 550 acres of this area was surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers containing the living area for the internees and various administrative facilities.
All that remains of the camp are rock foundations, tumbleweeds, dead orchards and the forever-changed lives of those surviving 10,000 internees. The monolithic marker in the cemetery is an ever-present reminder of the final price that some Japanese Americans were required to pay just because of their cultural heritage.
 The cemetary monument. The Japanese Kanji (I, Rei, Toh) reads: "To Console the Spirits" |
 Site of the Hospital Complex. |
 Looking south from the entrance to the cemetary. |
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 Site of the nurses quarters. |
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 Site of the Hospital Complex. |
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 Site of the Hospital Complex. |
 What once was "home," if it could be called that at all, is now but ruins and placards. (Dorthea Lange photo) |
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Charlie Mulcahy of Wilmington, CA writes:
| Ray, When I was growing up, I had a neighbor who was like a father to me. His name was Saburo Seko. His parents were fishermen on Terminal Island. He told me how the US Army soldiers met him at the ferry boat terminal one day after attending a movie in San Pedro. He taught me about the pain his family went through. How the Jews came into their village and paid them pennies on the dollar for their home furnishings. How some of the families were lucky enough to have white families who stored their property in their homes. He took me camping at Manzanar. I got a week long tour of where his family lived. He showed me the rock formation in front of where his home stood that to this day says "SEKO". His words made the water gardens and the fruit trees come alive. We went swimming in the water reserve pond. We caught fish in George's creek. He told me what it was like to graduate from high school at the "camp". Every time my family drives U.S. Highway 395, we stop and look around. The last few times, I have lost where his home was. My friend Sab is gone now, died of a heart attack. I am glad he shared  his
experiences with me.Charlie Mulcahy (August 2001) This is a map of the site of Manzanar as it appears today. |
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 Roy Takeno - Editor of the Manzanar "Free Press" |
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 Roy Takeno, and group, reading the paper in front of the Free Press. (Ansel Adams photo) |
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Simply type in the word Manzanar and let the search begin. |
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Dry ditch at the site of Manzanar
 369 East First Street, Los Angeles, California 90012 phone: (213) 625-0414, fax: (213) 625-1770 |
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20 Mule Team Days | |
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More Manzanar Internment Camp Portraits & History | |
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Manzanar High School Portraits & History | |
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More Manzanar Portraits & History |
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Manzanar Town, Owens Valley |
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Owens Valley Aqueduct Portraits & History |
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Mt. Whitney Pack Trains Historic Brochure |
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The Bessie Brady Steamer |
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 Sign Guest Book |
 The Pigmy Packer |
 View Guest Book |
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This page was last updated on
06 April 2003