After a very restless night and little sleep we all had breakfast and then headed out for the day. We only had 2 things on our list for the day. Minidoka National Historic Site, and City of Rocks National Reserve. The two different parks are totally different in their purpose and goals.
Minidoka National Historic Site preserves the location and remains of one of the Japanese internment camps from WWII. On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which instantly branded anyone in the country of Japanese ancestry, as criminals and a threat to the country. Two-thirds of those incarcerated were American citizens. The government kicked them from their homes, shuttered their businesses, and forced them to abandon their farms. Most of them remained in these various prison camps on the West Coast for the duration of the war.
Those imprisoned at Minidoka did their best to build a sense of community by organizing churches, sports, swimming, and planting gardens. They were crammed into tarpaper & wood shacks. It was brutal cold in the winter, and scorching heat in the summer. At its peak, Minidoka held 9,397 individuals in March of 1943, with a total of 13,000 persons imprisoned during the camp's operation.
This park site is still in the developing stages. When we visited, the brand new Visitor Center wasn't open, so we were limited to a paper flyer of information. However anyone can find information in books on the other camps scattered across the West. They provide lots of detailed information on this black eye in American history.
After finishing up at Minidoka, we headed to the Southeast to visit City of Rocks National Reserve, near Almo, ID.
City of Rocks got its name due to the California trail passing through. One of the emigrants, James F. Wilkins described it: "...women and children wandered off the enjoy the sights of the city. We were...spellbound with the beauty and strangeness of it all..." The used this area to rest and lighten their wagon loads. Many of them left their signatures inscribed onto the rocks (many of which can be seen today).
Sadly, we didn't do much beyond driving the dirt road that traverses the park. The granite rocks scattered around are absolutely stunning, and multiple trails and camping could be enjoyed. I want to return someday and actually spend some time exploring the area. On this trip, we were all so tired (and Amber and I were sick), and the weather was too hot to motivate us to do anything besides drive.
I have yet to read a Christian geologist's perspective on the City of Rocks, sadly, so I do not currently have any insight into their formation. I'm sure it happened during the tectonic uplift at the end of Noah's Flood, however.
Needless to say, City of Rocks is a beautiful area in a gorgeous remote section of Idaho that deserves a lot more attention someday. But for us, that was the end of our adventure as we headed back to Twin Falls to try and get some sleep, keep cool, and get ready for our much bigger adventures the next day at Craters of the Moon National Monument.
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