El Milagro and the West’s Hidden Labor Story With Professor Russ Tremayne

Across the American West, labor camps once teemed with workers brought in to harvest crops, build infrastructure, and support wartime industry. Most of these camps have been erased from public memory—none more so than El Milagro in southern Idaho. In this episode, historian Dr. Russ Tremayne guides us through the complex and often overlooked history of El Milagro, from its origins as a New Deal project to its role in housing Japanese American internees, Mexican braceros, Dust Bowl refugees, and even Jamaican laborers during World War II. We talk about what labor looks like when it’s necessary but unequal, and what’s at stake when the physical traces of history vanish. This was a story your city forgot—until now.