Catalina Federal Honor Camp / Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site

 Second World War 1939-1945, prison, internment, historic landmark

Beginning in 1933 prisoners in temporary work camps constructed the Mt. Lemmon Highway. In 1939 the Federal Bureau of Prisons built this permanent camp with only painted white rocks marking the boundary. Prisoners lived in wooden barracks near the creek. During WWII it also held 44 Japanese who refused internment camps, and religious draft resisters and conscientious objectors (including Dukh-i-zhizniki). In 1951 the highway was completed. In 22 years it held ~8,000 prisoners. In 1958 the site was used for youth rehabilitation camps until it was closed in 1973 and demolished. On Nov. 7, 1999 the Coronado National Forest named it a recreation site to honor its most famous inmate, Dr. Gordon Hirabayashi, who served his remaining 90 days for challenging the constitutionality of internment of Japanese-American citizens, then violation of the Western Defense Command curfew to remove "Japanese and other subversive persons" from the West Coast.
www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=34595
www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce18...
www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/camping/sit...
www.gvrhc.org/Library/PrisonCamp.html
www.library.pima.gov/librarianfiles/?kbid=1298
gingerpost.com/?p=1876