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Utah, Our Pioneer HeritageOur Pioneer HeritageVolume 14Mining and Railroad Ghost TownsTwo TownsWyoming In one sweep, as in the early days of drouths, people were leaving their farms, only this time most of them moved their houses into neighboring communities. As soon as the government had secured all the property needed, U. S. Army officials from Fort Douglas, Utah, were appointed to oversee the building of this project. Captain Dryer, who had charge of getting this work started, was sent to Delta.The first thing was to decide where would be the best location to build the main part of Topaz, as it was later named. A site was finally selected which was three and one-half miles to the northwestof the Abraham townsite. Six hundred and forty acres were selected from the site, part of which were once owned by E. J. Biehler, Maurice Fuchs, and Dalton Reid; but owing to water conditions hadn't been farmed for some time. Weeds and brush were growing abundantly, so the land had to be brushrailed and leveled. June 28th Captain Dryer directed John Nutsch to bring in his equipment and start railing. Herald S. Peterson, who had been working for the Nutsch brothers, and Raymond Nutsch started at once to rail and level the land. J. Clifford Peterson, an Abraham farmer, was contracted by Captain Dryer to drill a well on the project. When finished, this well flowed about 30 gallons per minute. Two other wells were drilled 500 feet deep, which flowed 20 to 25 gallons per minute. With the erection of the 500,000-gallon storage tanks, the water supply, which came from the three wells, was plentiful at all times. This was saidto be the largest wooden construction for storage of water in the world. Darley Brothers of San Francisco, who had just completed a Japanese relocation camp at Tule Lake, California, were given the building contract. They brought many of their own workmen and contractors,and the surveying was done. Topaz was to be built in 42 blocks, 34 of which were to be used as living quarters. Each of the 34 residental blocks were built with 12 barracks to a block, also a community dining hall, laundry room, block manager's office, two sets of outdoor clotheslines and a latrine to serve each block. In the eight blocks on the north side of the camp, houses, apartments, and offices for the white personnel were built. There was also a large hospital and warehouse. In the northeast corner were twenty acres which were used for military police headquarters. The whole town-site was fenced with a four-wire fence except where the military police lived. Fence lines were put around 19,800 acres of land for the project. September 8, 1942, the army quarters were partially completed—enough so that 96 military police escort guards were sent here with Lieutenant Nail in charge. A week later 100 more men joined them. These men came from camp 336. Later, these soldiers were sent to other places and camp number 322 moved in. This company of soldiers stayed at the camp and helped with relocation of Japanese in 1946. Shortly after this the San Francisco bus company was given the contract to transport the Japanese to their new homes in Topaz. Ten buses arrived a day ahead of the Japanese in order to pick up the Japanese as soon as they arrived by train, and one day in September six bus loads of Millard County's new inhabitants arrived. Up to this time no name had been given the camp, so an article was published in the Millard County Chronicle asking for someone to suggest a name. Several were sent in, but none seemed as appropriate as "Topaz," which was sent in by June W. Black, Delta Postmaster, who suggested the camp be named after Topaz Mountain located 20 or 25 miles to the north and west of the camp. Some of the Japanese were uncontrollable in this camp so they were shipped to Tule Lake, California, and the population of Topaz was reduced to a maximum of 8,778, making it the fifth largest city inUtah. Five-eighths of the population were American citizens. The Japanese people and all who worked there were given passes to travel outside the camp, and had to be checked on leaving and returning.Guard houses were built at every entrance and it was the duty of the military police to check everyone. Many soldiers were put on duty inside the city and all through the Topaz area. Also, all along the fence surrounding this area, tower guard houses were built a quarter of a mile apart. The soldiers were given orders to shoot if one of these Japanese refused to stop when ordered. In only one or two instances was this necessary. The government was in a hurry to move the Japanese from the coast to Topaz, which was not finished when they arrived. The hospital and warehouses had to be built, as well as apartment houses for the personnel. Roads had to be graded, graveled, and oiled. The camp was completed December 31, 1942. A private power line was built for use at the camp, also a private telephone line for military and personnel use. The schools consisted of three preschool nurseries, two elementary schools named Desert View and Mountain View, a high school, and an adult education center. Important to community life were the schools of art, music and sewing, and classes in Americanization. There were five churches in this section, and for recreation, basketball and baseball games were played. Recreation halls were provided for tournament bridge, shoge, goh, and ping-pong. Hunting arrowheads, constructing rock gardens, making artificial flowers, and wood carving were favorite pastimes of the Japanese. They also had a theatre, public library with both English and Japanese sections. They had a record concert once a week. A meteorite was found in 1942 by two Japanese who were on an exploring trip in the hills about 20 miles north and west of Topaz, which was the ninth largest foundin the United States. It weighed 1164 pounds and was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Topaz had its own post office, stores and a modern hospital of 128 beds, a dental and eye clinic in its out-patient wing; their own fire department, press, community government, administration buildings, and recreation halls. On August 14, 1945, the war ended, and Topaz was gradually broken up. The Japanese were sent to different parts of the United States where they desired to settle and make newhomes. Eventually individuals purchased the barracks and other buildings. Various hospitals purchased the hospital equipment and supplies such as X-ray machines, etc. Several companies purchased themachinery. Now, most of the Topaz area is being farmed again and the farmers are building homes. Today, Topaz is just a memory. —Milestones of Millard
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