The Kooskia Internment Camp ( ) is a former internment camp in the northwest United States, located in north central Idaho, about northeast of Kooskia in northern Idaho County. It operated during the final two years of World War II.
Originally a remote highway work camp (F-38) of the Civilian Conservation Corps it became Federal Prison Camp No. 11 in 1935, run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
World War II During World War II in 1943, it was converted to house more than 250 interned Japanese men, most of whom were longtime U.S. residents, but not citizens, branded "enemy aliens."Wegars, Priscilla. "Kooskia, "Densho Encyclopedia"(accessed 28 Apr 2014). Because the camp was so remote in the western Bitterroot Mountains, fences and guard towers were unnecessary. It was run by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) of the Department of Justice.
The government put the internees to labor work to construct the Lewis and Clark highway, where they were paid about fifty to sixty dollars per month. Most had volunteered from other camps to earn some money.
Location An archaeological project of the University of Idaho in Moscow, the site is northeast of Lowell just above the north bank of the along Canyon Creek, at an approximate elevation of above sea level. The mouth of Canyon Creek is just below milepost 104 of US 12.
Notable internees Toraichi Kono
After the war The two-lane highway was completed seventeen years later in 1962, connecting to Montana at Lolo Pass at and eastward to Lolo and Missoula.
Originally labeled State Route 9, it was approved as US 12 in Idaho in June 1962. Its extension westward from Lewiston through Washington to Aberdeen was approved in 1967, taking over much of US 410, which was decommissioned.
See also Minidoka War Relocation Center, in south central Idaho
References
External links University of Idaho Library – The Kooskia, Idaho, Japanese Internment Camp, 1943–1945 Scrapbook – digital images Federal Highway Administration – U.S. 12: Michigan to Washington