Roger Naylor

Special for The Republic

Bellemont stretches along the railroad tracks and Interstate 40 just 10 miles west of Flagstaff. Driving past, there’s not a lot to capture the casual traveler’s attention. Yet this wisp of a town once was the economic engine for northern Arizona.

The community was founded as a water stop along the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad in the 1880s. Although nearby Flagstaff experienced slow but steady growth, Bellemont never mustered much more than a few scattered businesses and a handful of residents. That changed abruptly in the summer of 1942 when it became the site of an enormous construction project, employing a larger labor force than the one that built Hoover Dam.

The surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, sent the War Department scrambling to prepare for an extended campaign in the Pacific. It needed to quickly build military bases, training camps and ammunition depots. Amid the ponderosa pines and meadows of Bellemont, they found the perfect spot for the latter.

“Most existing depots were on the East Coast due to World War I, which was fought across the Atlantic Ocean,” says John Westerlund, a retired Army officer and historian.

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“At Bellemont, they found reasonably flat terrain for 800 ammunition-storage bunkers and 250 other buildings, water at Volunteer Spring, the double-track Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and U.S. Highway 66 for shipment of munitions, and a small, nice town about 10 miles away (Flagstaff). The Army wanted the depot to be at least 600 miles from the West Coast to keep it out of reach of the Japanese Imperial Army should Japan invade the West Coast.”

The Army contracted 33 construction companies to work on the sprawling depot. Because it would be spread across 44 square miles, a network of access roads was built. Then came the 800 steel-reinforced concrete ammo bunkers, known as igloos, along with loading platforms and docks and the support buildings. Once finished, each igloo was covered with earth.

Crews worked round the clock through the summer of ’42. Workers streamed into the area, quadrupling Flagstaff’s population to 20,000 from 5,000. New buildings were added, a temporary town sprang up at the construction site and many workers and families simply camped in the woods. While many who first arrived were itinerant laborers, Native Americans were a crucial component of the workforce.

“Native Americans from many tribes found work at the depot,” Westerlund said. “The majority, however, were Navajo and Hopi — about 2,700 Navajo and 1,000 Hopi. Native Americans helped build the depot in 1942 and then many stayed on to help operate the depot throughout the war. The majority lived in Indian Village, which was constructed in the summer and fall of 1942 in the northwest corner of the depot.”

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Hogans were built, and Army tents were added later. A school was established for the many children living at the depot. The importance of the work being done by local tribes was quickly recognized and even prompted a new identity for the base. Very early on, what had been designated Flagstaff Ordnance Depot was officially changed to Navajo Ordnance Depot.

When some Native Americans struggled with the language barrier and frustration at not being able to purchase traditional foods and goods, the commanding officer invited traders from the Navajo Reservation to build a trading post on the grounds. Richardson’s Trading Post opened in the fall of 1943, and Native American employment numbers quickly stabilized.

The depot was activated even as construction continued and began receiving enormous shipments of munitions of all types from plants across the country. Once finished, Navajo Ordnance Depot was capable of storing nearly 3.5 million square feet of munitions. Some forklifts were used, but most of the loading and unloading was done by hand. The first carload of munitions arrived Nov. 5, 1942. Shipments were sent to Los Angeles and San Francisco to supply military units in the Pacific Theater; occasionally, some were sent east. Forty percent of the depot’s munitions were shipped in the weeks leading up to the D-Day invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944.

Besides an influx of people, commerce and jobs, Flagstaff reaped other benefits from the new depot. As young men were drafted or volunteered, college enrollment plummeted. That devastated the small Flagstaff campus then known as Arizona State Teachers College. The struggling school was ready to close when it qualified for the Navy College Training Program, designated the V-12 program. The program was designed to supplement the number of commissioned officers in the Navy during the war. Having the Navajo Ordnance Depot practically on its doorstep strengthened the college’s prospects, and Westerlund credits the initiative with keeping the college solvent.

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“The Navy’s V-12 program brought in much-needed dollars to the campus,” he said. “The Navy paid for the use of dorms, classrooms and administrative buildings, as well as for food, building renovations and new professors. During the war, over 1,000 apprentice seamen and Marines were trained at ASTC.”

Arizona State Teachers College became Northern Arizona University in 1966.

Finding enough workers to keep the depot operating was an ongoing problem, even with women filling many positions. Some unlikely help arrived in March 1945 when the first of 250 prisoners of war arrived from Camp Florence — Austrians who had been drafted into the German army. The Navajo Ordnance Depot became the only prisoner-of-war camp in northern Arizona.

Although POWs at other camps often worked on nearby farms, the Austrians were confined to the depot. They handled maintenance duties and had no contact with munitions. They left just once, to help fight a fire on Schultz Pass. Yet many Flagstaff citizens were angry about having POWs in the area and felt they should receive harsher treatment.

The materials stored in the bunkers weren’t the only volatile mix. An unprecedented blending of cultures took place in the pine forest of Bellemont. Navajos, Hopis, Hispanics, Blacks, women and POWs worked side by side, and worked effectively. Through the war, 1.3 million tons of munitions were moved with astonishing efficiency.

“As some who lived in Flagstaff during that period said, the depot construction and money brought the town into the 20th century,” Westerlund said. “The depot was determined to be the most efficient ordnance depot in the nation and was kept open after the war.”

Navajo Ordnance Depot supported conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. Today, Camp Navajo is a training complex. The igloos provide storage for more than 1,000 intercontinental ballistic missile motors and other materials. After 9/11, Camp Navajo closed for public visits.

John Westerlund served for 26 years as an Army field-artillery officer. He retired as a lieutenant colonel and went on teach at NAU. His book, “Arizona’s War Town: Flagstaff, Navajo Ordnance Depot and World War II,” was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2003. It’s available online through UA Press and Amazon.

Find the reporter at www.rogernaylor.com. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RogerNaylorinAZ or Twitter @AZRogerNaylor.

Arizona’s Military History

Conflict has shaped the Southwest since colonizers arrived in the late 1600s. From the earliest presidios to a modern-day Army base, fighting near and far has caused communities to thrive and fall.

Each month this year in Explore Arizona, Roger Naylor will feature a destination or episode in which military events shaped the state.

In October: Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista.

Bellemont

Bellemont is 19 miles west of Flagstaff at Exit 184 on Interstate 40.

Camp Navajo is not open to the public. But another small piece of history is visible. A scene from “Easy Rider” was filmed here. As Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper pulled up in front of the Pine Breeze Motel, the door cracked open and the proprietor peered out to see motorcycles. Immediately the neon “NO” next to the “VACANCY” flickered to life. Today, the closed Pine Breeze (an old Richfield Gas Station) offers free camping for bikers. And the “NO VACANCY” sign is proudly displayed at the nearby Route 66 Roadhouse Bar & Grill, a bike-friendly saloon. Revenge is a dish best served with a cold beer.

Details: Route 66 Roadhouse: 11840 W. Route 66, 928-774-5080, or find the restaurant on Facebook.