Moab, Utah
In 1943, a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp outside Moab was used to confine Japanese American internees labeled "troublemakers" by authorities in the War Relocation Authority. The Moab Isolation Center for "noncompliant" Japanese Americans was created in response to growing resistance to WRA policies within the camps. A December 1942 clash between guards and inmates known as the "Manzanar Riot," in which two were killed and ten injured, was the final push. On January 11, 1943, the sixteen men who had initiated the two-day protests were transferred to Moab from the town jails where they had been locked up (without charges or access to hearings) after the Riot. Having closed just fifteen months prior, all 18 military-style structures of the CCC camp were in good condition. The site was converted to its new use with minimal renovation. 150 military police guarded the camp, and director Raymond Best and head of security Francis Frederick presided over the administration. On February 18, thirteen transfers from Gila River, Arizona were brought to Moab, and six days later, ten more arrived from Manzanar. An additional fifteen Tule Lake inmates were transferred on April 2. Most of these new arrivals were removed from the general camp population because of their resisting internment policies. The Moab Isolation Center remained open until April 27, when most of its inmates were taken by bus to the larger and more secure Leupp Isolation Center. In 1994, the "Dalton Wells CCC Camp/Moab Relocation Center" was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Even though no historical marker exists on the site, an information plaque at the current site entrance and a photograph on display at the Dan O'Laurie Museum in Moab mention the former isolation center.