Title: "King County Jap Farmers Ordered Out," Seattle Times, 5/5/1942, (ddr-densho-56-785)
Densho ID: ddr-densho-56-785

KING COUNTY JAP FARMERS ORDERED OUT

Japanese in another large section of Seattle and a huge portion of King County south and east of the city, including the areas adjacent to the Boeing Airplane Company properties, the Cedar River watershed and a number of King County towns, cities and farm communities, were ordered evacuated by the Army today.

Many Farmers Are Removed

The removal of south and east King County Japanese will be the first from important farm lands near Seattle. It includes many farmers in the White, Green and Snoqualmie River Valleys.

The orders were two of five issued by Lieut. Gen. John L. DeWitt, commanding general of the Western Defense Command and Fourth Army.

The evacuation will begin Friday and be completed by Monday.

The Seattle order affects all Japanese living within the area bounded by Fifth Avenue, Yesler Way, 15th Avenue and Madison Street.

Wide Area Included

The King County order includes Renton, Issaquah, North Bend, Snoqualmie Pass, Kent, Des Moines, Seahurst, Three Tree Point and White Center. It does not include Auburn.

The three other orders will evacuate Japanese from areas in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and will bring the removal of Japanese from West Coast military areas near the half-way mark. About 5,570 Japanese are affected by today's orders, 2,200 of them in Seattle and King County.

The Japanese in the Seattle area -- about 1,150 of them -- will be taken to the assembly center on the Western Washington Fair Grounds at Puyallup. The 1,050 from the remaining King County area will be taken to a new assembly center

opened today at Pinedale, near Fresno, Calif.

Officials of the Farm Security Administration said about 150 farms in the King County area are operated by Japanese, and from a third to a half of these have been transferred to white or Filipino operators already.

Field agents are making a survey today and probably will arrange for transfer of the others before the evacuation begins.

Officials said experience has shown a speed-up in the transfers as soon as evacuation is ordered, and the situation in King County is considered "good." There should be little loss of produce as a result of the evacuation, the officials said.

As defined by General De Witt, the boundaries are "an area in King County bounded by the southern city limits or Seattle, along the city limits to the Lake Washington Pontoon Bridge, U.S. Highway No. 10 to the point it crosses the Snoqualmie River near Snoqualmie Falls, up the river to the junction of the North and Middle Forks of the Snoqualmie, along the Middle Fork to the Kittitas County line, along the Kittitas County line to the Green River, the Green River to State Highway 5A, Highways 5A and 1K to Des Moines, west to Puget Sound, and the shoreline to southern Seattle limits."

Seattle Japanese will register tomorrow and Thursday from 8 to 5 o'clock at Washington Hall, 14th Avenue and East Fir Street. Those in King County will register the same days at Lonely Acres Skating Rink, at Renton Junction on the old Seattle-Tacoma Highway.

The new orders bring the total of evacuated Japanese to 55,000.

Japanese were urged by Col. Karl Bendetsen, assistant chief of staff, to arrange for private sale or storage of their automobiles before evacuation.

"These cars will not be made available to Japanese after they are evacuated and if left for outdoor storage will rapidly turn to scrap metal," Colonel Bendetsen warned.

The Wartime Civil Control Administration has arranged through the Federal Reserve Bank for storage sites near the assembly centers, but these are out-of-doors, and not recommended. Serviceable automobiles disposed of in this manner will become useless as units of transportation within a few months, Colonel Bendetsen said.

Existing regulations permit a Japanese to store or sell his car privately, store it in one of the outdoor areas, turn it over to the bank for sale, or, under certain circumstances, the Army will buy it on an appraised-value accounting for condition of tires.

King County Jap Farmers Are Ordered Evacuated

[Photo caption]: NEW EVACUATION AREA DEFINED BY ARMY TODAY. Japanese must move from Kent; not yet from Auburn.