On Our Honor: Exploring Washington State’s Historical Use of Honor Camps in the Yacolt State Forest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Following a series of catastrophic forest fires in Washington’s Yacolt State Forest and the Gilford Pinchot National Forest between 1902 and 1952, the Washington Division of Forestry partnered with the Washington Department of Institutions to use inmate labor in remote locations to perform forest and fire management duties. Called Honor Camps, these labor camps were established by the Washington State Legislature in 1943, and modeled the example set by the CCC, to cheaply accomplish Washington conservation goals and to reduce rates of recidivism among inmates. Between 1956 and 1972, selected inmates were housed at the Larch Mountain and Washougal Honor Camps in the Yacolt State Forest to conduct road and trail building, tree planting, snag cutting, and firefighting. Amidst this effort, 18 glulam-girder bridges were built using Honor Camp labor.

Between 2020 and 2022, four of these bridges were recorded by Washington Department of Natural Resources archaeologists as part of routine compliance projects. Using these bridges as a stepping stone to examine social issues surrounding the Honor Camps, this presentation uses a critical lens to explore the racial make-up of Honor Camp inmates, the use of interned labor for state projects, and the lasting impacts of Washington’s Honor Camps.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37544.0