Heart Mountain Japanese Internment Camp 1942-1945

It was snowing today so I made a large chicken soup.  I invited the next door couple to have lunch with us.  They are new California full timers and have spent the winter in Mesa, AZ. They did not own a windshield scraper so John let them borrow ours. In the afternoon we went to Heart Mountain Internment Camp.  It has remnants of a camp from WWII.  The Government thought west coast Japanese could create problems after Pearl Harbor so they were "relocated" to camps throughout the US, mostly west.  Fourteen miles north of Cody, WY was one of them.  Most of the camp is gone except a chimney of the hospital and a few cement footings but the Interpretive Center is new and nicely done.  It looks like three barracks of the old camp.  Inside is great stuff explaining life behind barbed wire.  There are pictures and recordings of people (now adults) who were living in this camp as children during the war.  I love oral history so I was captivated by the recollections.  Many of the camp which held 10,000 people were Americans (2/3).  Our history is not all glory but sad decisions by the government also.  We will learn more as we learn about Devils Tower. I know the Sioux say they never signed over the Black Hills. They refused payment and say they never signed away the land.   The government of the time just took it - gold was discovered in them there hills!!!!!  We enjoyed our time at Heart Mountain.  It was so windy and cold it was easy to imagine what the Japanese endured during the years they were in Wyoming.