People uprooted from Canyon (7)

Canyon was established by non-Indigenous settlers in 1908. A small fruit-growing and farming community, Canyon formed around the Canyon City Lumber Company sawmill and pole yard, which operated from the early 1900s until 1923.

The Kamo family—Denzo, Kiku, and their five sons—were the only Japanese Canadian residents in Canyon and the greater Creston Valley. The family owned almost ten acres with 170 fruit trees, five buildings, and more than four acres of farmland, where they grew raspberries, strawberries, and alfalfa. The land was leased out when the family briefly moved to Wardner for six years before returning in the 1930s. Despite a petition by Canyon residents asking that they be allowed to remain in the community, the Kamo family was forcibly uprooted on 9 February 1943.