Families' escape from Japanese internment camp began historic resettlement saga
February will mark the 81st anniversary of a presidential order that changed the life trajectory of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, as well as for a small group of Bay Area families who escaped the camps and resettled in Utah.
It is an untold story that very few people know about -- it is also a personal story for this reporter because my family was there.
In 1942, after the United States had entered World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were rounded up and incarcerated into one of ten camps across the country. Their crime: they looked like the enemy.
However, 130 of them managed to escape the barbed wire and wooden shacks and live free.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19th, 1942, sealing the fate of Japanese Americans, a savvy and stubborn Oakland produce owner named Fred Wada refused to allow his family to enter the camps.
"He said he wasn't going to be a ward of the state," said Wada's daughter Mary Wada-Roath, whose Benicia home is full of archival material about her father.
Instead, Wada convinced the Governor of Utah to allow him to bring a colony of Japanese American to the state, where they would farm the land and grow crops.
"He told Governor [Herbert] Maw, 'If there is anyone in the group who does anything disloyal or breaks the law you can put me in front of a shooting squad and shoot me," said Wada-Roath with a smile.
Wada and his colony of Japanese Americans were allowed to settle in an old mining town in an area called Keetley Valley, which sits near Park City about 40 miles outside of Salt Lake City. The land was leased to them by a man named George Fisher who owned 3,000 acres and saw an opportunity to turn the land into fertile ground.
But while free, they lived in fear.
This reporter's father, Howard Yamamoto, was four years old when his family became part of the Keetley Colony.
"You have to remember, all of a sudden the Japanese were no longer Japanese to people," said Yamamoto. "We were now Japs, that was in the newspaper, the new reel, radio - Japs, Japs, Japs."
In fact, upon their arrival, they were greeted by someone who threw a stick of dynamite at the colony.
The fear was soon replaced by hard work. The colony arrived in April, and it was still covered in snow, and when the snow melted it was not farmland.
"When we got to Utah, they had this great big place with nothing but just sagebrush," remembered 95-year-old May Yamada Kong, the oldest surviving member of the colony. "So, everyone had to get together and we pulled rocks out of the area, and we survived by planting vegetables and fruits.:
Eventually, they were able to live off the land. They sold crops to nearby communities and Salt Lake City. They even provided food to a nearby Army base, and ironically to one of the internment camps in Topaz, Utah.
Wada also made sure his neighbors knew they were loyal Americans by erecting signs that read "Food for Freedom."
"It was important for my father," said Wada-Roath. "He wanted people to know they were Americans making food for Americans.
And the story of the Keetley Valley Colony nearly disappeared forever when in 1987 the state of Utah built a dam, flooding the entire valley and creating the Jordanelle Reservoir.
But a few years ago, the nearby city of Hideout wanted to bring the Keetley story back to life.
"It's a unique part of history and it happened right here in our backyard," said local councilwoman Chris Baier. "We wanted everyone to know what actually happened in World War II, that American citizens were rounded up and forced to give up their homes."
Today, visitors of the reservoir are greeted by two signs and photos telling them about the history of Keetley Valley, which also includes all the names of the members of the colony.
And the history will literally guide hikers and bikers. Two trails have also been named for the colony including "Wada Way West" and "Keetley West".
In August of 2022, the last nine remaining survivors of the colony and their families gathered for one last reunion to celebrate and recognize what they went through during the war. Most were children at the time and have very little memory of living in Keetley, however, there is one iconic photo that features 16 of the children of the colony.
"It is an iconic photo, and one of the only photos," said Wada-Roath.
"Some people say it was a propaganda photo, others say it was arranged by the Fisher family to show people how he was helping the Japanese-Americans," said Yamamoto. "But there are very few photos because during the war Japanese Americans were not allowed to have cameras."
For those looking to visit the historical signs and trail, they are erected on the northwest side of the lake near the Ross Creek Trailhead along North Perspective Drive.