Many of these photos were impounded by the Army and some were not released until years after the war had ended. Few were shown publicly until the book and exhibit Executive Order 9066 were put together after her death. Owens Valley is the ancestral home of the Paiute people and was once the site of Owens Lake, fed by Owens River. Ever since that time, when the winds blow across the dry lakebed, they turn into raging dust storms. The sky darkens with a near-blinding billow of dust clouds.
People cough and wheeze uncontrollably.
One of Lange's photos captures a dust storm blowing through the barracks at Manzanar. Two small figures run for cover, dwarfed by Mt. Manzanar looming above, and a gigantic American flag. Now only a few building foundations and fruit orchards are left where the camp used to be, and a single stone obelisk with plaque marking the spot.