After the war these camps were demolished so that today there
is very little remaining to remind us of this shameful episode.
The Japanese American National Museum (JANM), located in Los
Angeles, has been building a collection of artifacts from this
period, as well as personal histories from the survivors of
the camps.
One of the largest and most symbolic of the artifacts is the
last surviving barracks from the Heart Mountain Wyoming Internment
Camp.
This wooden structure was used to house several families. It
measures 20 x 120 feet. At Heart Mountain the Barracks was dismantled
by volunteers, board-by-board – each carefully numbered,
inventoried, and shipped to Los Angeles. JANM contracted with
Cookes Crating to reassemble the entire barracks as an exhibit
on the museum parking lot -- to raise money for a new museum
building.
After the exhibit, Cookes Crating dismantled and stored the
structure for several years. JANM and the National Park Service
decided to display the barracks at Ellis Island in New York
Harbor. Ellis Island is the historic entry portal where millions
of emigrants from Europe were processed into the United States
during the early 1900’s.
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The logistics of the Ellis Island barracks display were very
difficult. Three flat bed trailers were loaded with the barracks
components and sent 2900 miles across the United States. Ellis
Island does not allow trucks and arrangements had to be made
for a barge with a crane on board, and tug boat to complete
the delivery. The dismantled barracks were loaded onto the barge
and transported to the island. Installers from Cookes Crating
hand carried hundreds of boards and roof trusses several hundred
yards to the installation site in front of the main building.
This was a grassy area with soft ground and foundations had
to be poured to support the weight of the structure. Board by
board the barracks was built into place. During the 10 days
this work took place it rained and snowed – making the
job even more difficult.
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The barracks were on display for 12 months and afterwards Cookes
Crating dismantled and returned it to Los Angeles. After
several more years in storage the beautiful new Japanese American
National Museum building was completed. Cookes was hired to
design a modification of the Barracks so we could install it
into the museum galleries as a permanent exhibit.
Bryan Cooke
Cookes Crating
