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Ball players at an invitational game at Lucerne on July 4, 1942. Teams from Yellowhead, Red Pass, Moose River and Rainbow came to Lucerne.
George Funamoto, who was interned at Fitzwilliam and Red Pass, recalls that the Japanese were quite taken with baseball. The Canadian Japanese ball team 'Asahis' (morning sun) of Vancouver were immensely popular.

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The Project Ends
On 27 July 1942, the Edmonton Journal reported on the termination of work on the Yellowhead-Blue River Highway. By November 1942, all but three of the camps were abandoned. Three camps near Blue River with 200 men stayed open, and men remained there until the end of the war - 1946 - when they were either dispersed into Canada or deported to Japan.
At the peak of the Yellowhead-Blue River project, 1400 men were detained. At the end of the project, the Japanese had worked 290,238 man/days. Their achievements during this short time included clearing and grading 18.5 miles of abandoned railway grade, constructing 35 miles of pioneer road, constructing 1.5 miles of standard highway grade, building one 3-span King Truss bridge, two single span King Truss bridges, four permanent stringer bridges and 12 temporary stringer bridges.

Unrest in the Camps
The division of families was the main reason of unrest in the camps. The men missed and worried about their loved ones, but communication was limited, especially as letters were censored. After a series of strikes and conflicts, as well as mounting tension, the government finally allowed married men to return to their families, who had been relocated to interior towns of B.C.