Museum acquires internment camp land

Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.

Sixty years after federal officials closed it, Utah's dusty desert site of the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans is almost whole again.

The Topaz Museum said this week that it has successfully acquired 92 acres of what was the Topaz camp, where almost 10,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans were forcefully relocated during World War II.

Residents of the nearby town of Delta and supporters nationwide partnered with the Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit group, to put together a total of 614 acres that were the site of the barracks housing the families.

Jane Beckwith, president of the Topaz Museum board, said the next step is to acquire 26 acres remaining from the original camp site and to do an archeological study of the land, especially the 92 acres purchased in November.

"We're working hard to become a national landmark, so we're working with the National Park Service on that," Beckwith said.

Two houses built on the grounds of the internment camp have to be moved off the land, she said.

Jena Thompson, a Conservation Fund spokeswoman, said her organization and the Topaz Museum board jointly raised $172,000 for the land acquisition. Each group contributed half of the needed funds.

The property was directly conveyed to the Topaz Museum, Thompson said.

"We're working to acquire the few left-over pieces, but this was absolutely the largest remaining piece of the puzzle," she said.

The Conservation Fund is working with other groups around the country, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to preserve the memory of the 120,000 people of Japanese heritage who were relocated to the archipelago of internment camps during World War II, Thompson said.

Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at lrake@lasvegassun.com.