Camouflage Buildings (site)

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Roughly 500 internees wove camouflage nets here for the U.S. military. By law, only those Manzanar inmates who were U.S. citizens could engage in defense work, and producing war matériel paid pretty good money. A sense of comraderie developed among the crews privilaged to work in this defense plant, as they turned out an average of 6,000 nets per month, often to the sound of big band music blaring from loudspeakers. This disparity between work assignments and wages was a source of much friction between the Japanese-American citizens and the Japanese nationals. The work was hazardous, too, with workers enduring longhours of breathing fine lint and being in contact with harsh chemical dye stuffs.
The net factorie was closed after the Manaznar Riot (6 December 1942) and the sheds converted to other uses.
The eastern shed became a mattress factory which produced 4,020 matttresses for the camp before it was destroyed by a fire in 1943.

From the Manzanar Free Press of 11 June 1942 (Vol. I, No. 22)
"CAMOUFLAGE NET WORKERS BEGIN WAR PRODUCTION"
"Four buildings on the south side of the center will be the scene of intense activity the ensuing months as garnishing of camouflage netting swung into full motion yesterday. Over four hundred citizens of both sexes above the age of sixteen have been recruited and possibly another two hundred will be added within a few days. Twenty persons who have been trained during the past week by the U.S. Engineering Department will help supervise the workers. Since certain provisions of the Geneva Conference stipulate that enemy aliens cannot be be conscripted for war industries, approximately one third of the available man power of the community has been frozen. If this legal technicality can be surmounted, production would be accelerated because many of the residents have been fisherfolks and are familiar with the handling of nets.
In conformity with the desire of the Block Leaders, the Project Director has set the hours of labor on the camouflage net project at 44 hours a week; eight hours a day for five days and four hours on Saturday."

Five buildings were constructed here by the Q.R.S. Neon Corporation of Los Angeles for "garnishing or camouflaging" net manufacture, for U.S military use. Three of these buildings were of uniform size and construction: 300 feet x 24 feet with an overall height of 18 feet from the floor to the plate line. Two buildings had additions that served as offices: 12 feet x 20 feet with shed roofs.
The camouflage buildings exhibited "heavy-duty" construction. Posts measuring 6 inches x 12 inches on 10-foot centers supported a double set of 2 inch x 6 inch rafters bolted to each side of the post. The rafters were tied together with a 2 inch x 6 inch cord and 2 inch x 6 inch knee braces, extending from approximately 2 feet below the plate line forming a modified form of scissors truss. Intermediate 12 inch x 6 inch rafters with 2 inch x 6 inch cords and spaced 2 feet on centers completed the roof framing. The roof was covered with 1-inch random-width sheeting laid diagonally and covered with 90-pound roll roofing.
The walls were constructed with two horizontal 2 inch x 6 inch nailing girts and 2 inch x 6 inch verticals spaced on 2-foot centers. The sides were covered with 10-inch drop siding from the floor to 10 feet above. The ends were covered from the floor to the ridge. The walls were braced with 2 inch x 6 inch bracing. Cement floors were constructed throughout the buildings.
Another building in this group, typical in construction detail except for size, was 24 feet x 100 feet with an adjoining open shed for storage 60 feet x 100 feet. This shed had 8-foot walls open on one side, and was covered on one side and one end with 10-inch drop siding. Two-by-six rafters spaced on 4-foot centers were sheeted with 1-inch random-width sheeting and roofed with roll roofing. A wood floor of 1 inch x 6 inch sheeting was installed in this addition.
A fifth structure in the camouflage buildings group was a cutting shed, "150 feet x 24 feet 6 inches. All the materials necessary for the fabrication of the nets were processed in this building. It was constructed of 2 inch x 4 inch floor joists with 1 inch x 6 inch shiplap flooring, 2 inch x 6 inch studding 8 feet long, spaced on 4-foot centers, 2 inch x 6 inch knee braces at every forth set of rafters. The rafters were 2 inches x 6 inches, spaced 3 feet 4 inches on centers. One side was left open while the other side was sheeted from the floor to the plate line with 10-inch drop siding. Both ends were sheeted from the floor to the ridge with the same material.