Situated on terraces of the Shoshone River, the relocation center lies at 4700 ft elevation, within open sagebrush desert. Heart Mountain, a detached limestone fault block rising to 8123 ft elevation 8 miles to the west, forms a dramatic backdrop to the relocation center. With a maximum population of 10,767, the center was the third largest city in Wyoming.
Local residents recall that it was one of only a few communities in the state to have electricity.
Heart Mountain Relocation Center. Oblique aerial view of the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. The Heart Mountain Relocation Center was a major part of the largest single draft resistence movement in U.S. history. Heart Mountain had the highest rate of resistance, with a total of 85 men imprisoned for draft law violations. The Heart Mountain total included seven leaders of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee who were convicted for conspiring to violate the Selective Service Act and for counseling other draft-age Nisei to resist military induction.