Step into a barrack to experience the cramped quarters and challenging living conditions of life at Amache.
Stop 7 Audio
Transcript
When we arrived at Amache, each family was assigned a one room unit in the barracks that we called an apartment. There were six apartments in each barrack. The smallest apartments at each end of the barracks were only 16 by 20 feet and usually held couples or single people. A family of four or five shared one of the middle apartments that was only 20 by 20 feet, and the largest families lived in apartments that were 20 feet by 24 feet.
Squeezing entire families into such small spaces was no easy feat. We found many creative ways to try and make the space more livable. The only items provided for us in our barracks were a coal burning potbelly stove, sleeping cots, a light bulb, and one electric outlet. We used scrap wood to make bunk beds, tables, chairs, and other furniture.
We sewed curtains to cover the windows and hung blankets or sheets across the room for a little bit of privacy. Not only was it difficult to get used to our cramped living spaces, but we also had to deal with the cold, the heat, and especially the dust that would blow right through the cracks in the barracks walls.
As soon as dust was swept up from the floor or windowsill, a good gust of wind could blow a new layer of dust all over the room. There was no privacy in the barracks. The thin partition walls were horrible at keeping out noise. We could hear everything that went on in our neighbors’ families and they could hear everything that went on in our family. Privacy was definitely something that was hard to come by in camp.
DRIVING DIRECTIONS: Continue driving about 400 feet east on this road and make a left at the next street. On the southwest corner of Block 12K, on the right side of the road you will see a wayside panel about the Water Tank. This is Stop #8.