Heart Mountain

The photo was taken in 1943, but I recognize the landscape I was raised in; I would recognize it anywhere and often think that I do: a single glimpse of sagebrush, or silos, or low, dusty mountains, and I’m home again. The place where I grew up is still mostly farmland, and the mountain on the horizon is, of course, still there. It has a name—Heart Mountain, a little peak beloved by locals. Occasionally people hike it, but it’s a steep, difficult hike, so mostly we look at it, name our businesses after it, and print its silhouette on our merchandise. Heart Mountain Realty, Heart Mountain Eye Care, Heart Mountain Cattle Company. Home is where the Heart is, my mom always says.

People outside of Powell, Wyoming know Heart Mountain for something else. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the Secretary of War to designate parts of the country as “military areas.” Heart Mountain was one of seventeen designated military areas. It held over 14,000 of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forced by the newly formed War Relocation Authority to abandon their homes after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I’ve heard it called many things: a relocation center, an internment camp, a confinement site, a concentration camp, a prison. Whatever we call it, the fact remains that these people were told to report with their belongings, or else.

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