On June 29, 1942 construction work
on Amache began. Progress on the new camp was slow. Labor
strikes by a number of independent companies contracted to build
the camp only created further delays. "Army officials and
members of the WRA did not always work well together" (Lurie
1990: 41). The internment camp was only half complete when
the first evacuees began arriving from the assembly centers.
When completed the camp area covered one square mile and
consisted of twenty-nine "blocks"
of barracks, administration buildings, and storage areas (see map). Each block consisted
of twelve 120' x 20' tarpaper-roofed, Army style barracks (see block map). The barracks were
divided into six apartments varying in size from 16' x 20' to
24' x 20'. Each individual apartment was equipped with a coal-burning
stove, Army cots, one light bulb in the center of each room,
and a pad or blanket. Families of seven people or less were only
given one room while families of more than seven people were
given two rooms. The barracks were arranged so that six of them
were situated on either side of a community mess hall, public
laundry, and bath building. Each block also had its own recreation
hall, a 20' x 100' rectangular building.
Amache
further had a multi-wing hospital and a twenty-four classroom
high school. The WRA Administration occupied several buildings
and there were many warehouses and service buildings. The camps
additionally maintained a post office, a fire department, a
police department, and facilities for water and electricity.
"Camp construction was not completed until early November
1942 with a total cost of approximately 4.2 million dollars"
(Schwartz
1979: 22).
