Granada Pioneer Volume A, #1-5
Volume A, #1: Oct. 14, 1942
Page 1: Block leaders will be chosen soon, and plans for a farm project are underway.
The masthead and opening of the first issue. The first papers are designated as Volume A; regular numbering will start later.
Page 2: They are running a contest to name the newspaper. Granada farmers who are working property bordering the camp will be moved out. Schools will start. Some people will be coming in to advise the camp on self-government.
Residents of the camp can't shop in the town. I am assuming the town was not very big and did not have massive stores, and was not capable of handling the shopping traffic from the camp.
Page 3: Someone is going to give legal council to residents. Fire engines and alarms will be used to lower the fire hazard. College credit will be given in a child-care class. There's an article about what to do with burned-out bulbs and fuses. There's an article about employment outside the camp. Wallboard installation has begun in 66 apartments.
Page 4: Sports activities are being planned, but there will be no high school football team. Some students are leaving for colleges. A postmaster has been chosen, and a lot of mail has come in.
Volume A, #2: Oct. 17, 1942
Page 1: The newspaper naming contest will end soon. A mail order branch has opened in the post office. There's also an article on medical case regulations.
Page 2: A list of church services; a wedding; grass will be planted; a section in Japanese will be added to the bulletin, and a short takes column with a bunch of very short articles.
Page 3: There was a sixteen year old boy that tried to run away but was caught. School libraries will open to the public. Two people, both over sixty, died of heart ailments. The post office was named Amache. The population of the camp had gotten as high as 6997, but has dropped since over 1000 have left to pick sugar beets and potatoes.
Page 4: An article on a marriage and on the school system. The Lil Neebo cartoon strip will soon be re-appearing (it had been run in the Santa Anita Pacemaker.) The centers will be designated as military areas. A baby has been born, and there will be a night school. Football scores will be broadcast over the radio.
Page 5: A list of administrators of the center.
Page 6: The list continues.
Volume A, #2, Election Special: Oct. 17, 1942
Page 1: Voting results for the block representatives. The Lamar Chamber of Commerce will have a dinner for the block representatives, and will talk with them about the relationship of the city to the center.
The second page is in Japanese.
There were times when there seemed to be more than one issue on the same day in these newsletters, both from this camp and others.
Volume A, #3: Oct. 21, 1942
Page 1: The camp's staff will have WRA information. Mess workers and butchers will take medical exams.
Apparently there was a major problem at the camp over the issue of employment.
Page 2: Product plants that will be grown include vegetables, alfalfa, oats, barley, sugar beets and something called pyretheum which was used to make fly spray. The senior high library is open to people in the camp. Schools will close for a few days so the white teachers can attend a convention. Two babies were born. Another Short Takes column.
Page 3: Absentee voting regulations. Over 1700 Poston residents left to harvest sugar beets. Wages would be $6.50 per day (which was really good considering that, in the camps, top pay was around $19 per month.) One resident returned to California for a few days to arrange a funeral for his father who had died at Merced.
Page 4: A murder was rumored to have taken place at the hospital, but there actually was no murder. The junior high will operate on a full-day schedule. A day nursery will be started. Checks from time at Santa Anita will be available. The Colorado State College of Education has offered to hold three college-level classes at the center if there is enough interest. There have been no major crimes in the camp. (This was probably run on the same page as the murder rumor on purpose.)
Page 5: A barber shop has opened. Two people have died, one only 25. The sister of the paper's staff artist has died. A couple from Santa Anita has married. The Lamar Chamber of Commerce banquet will be that night. Empty milk bottles need to be returned. (This type of thing seemed to be a problem at numerous camps; unreturned milk bottles and unreturned coke bottles.)
I had read about this incident in a couple of the books on internment. It's interesting, then, to actually see it referred to in one of the contemporary camp newsletters.
The post office for the camp has been moved, and there will be a meeting of block representatives.
The sixth page is in Japanese.
Pages 7 and 8 are a list of people who need to pick up letters that had no addresses on them.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
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