A ride out to the Japanese Relocation Camps

While riding out the Japanese relocation camps, my mind wondered (still riding safely, just thinking) about the turmoils that our country is currently facing and some of the huge mistakes our country and it's people have made in the past. I hope by educating myself on such issues, I can be prepared and will recognize such mistakes in the future.

You aren't likely to find mention of these camps in any history book. At least I never learned about them in my public schooling experience. You could drive past Delta or Topaz Mountain and never even know what happened there and in fact, I asked a gas station employee for direction to the camp from Delta and she had no idea what I was even talking about. It's obvious the most people would like to pretend it never even happened.

On Septemeber 11th 1942 Topaz Camp opened in Millard county, about 150 miles from Salt Lake City. At the time, it was one of the largest cities in the state, housing about 8150 prisoners. For these thousands of Americans, their crime was being of Japanese decent. While American soldiers were fighting to liberate Jews from concentration camps in Europe, the American government was busy running several of their own concentration camps.

To our disappointment, there isn't really much to see at the Japanese concentration camps, just a vandalized monument. In Delta, a non-profit museum has been opened, but with little to no donations or funding, it too was lacking.

The ride out to Delta is full of desert and a few small towns. Except for one small canyon, the ride was rather bland. We made a quick stop in Eureka to make a phone call and to give our saddles a break and then continued home.

Jared M. Gant