PARTNER

OBJECT ID

ddr-densho-2-60 (Legacy UID: denshopd-p2-00060)

PARENT COLLECTION

Bain Collection

DESCRIPTION

Jimmie Yorita (right) digs for shells used by people in camp to make jewelry. His sister, Patsy (left), and Neal Frost, son of one of the camp's teachers, sift the dirt. Tule Lake was drained in the early 1900s. The camp was located on the old lake bed, where camp inmates found shells for making jewelry to sell to camp personnel. Shells were scarce, and digging became competitive. To beat the rush, some Japanese Americans got up at sunrise and dug waist-deep holes in order to find the shells. Some had homemade wire sieves for sifting the sand.

CONTRIBUTOR

Densho

PREFERRED CITATION

Courtesy of the Bain Family Collection

RIGHTS