<Begin Segment 40>

TI: Okay, so let's go to the train ride. What was that like?

HH: Well, finally after we boarded the train and everything, found our seats and everything, then the train started moving. And the Tacoma area, any trains that leave the station or come in, has to go north to Point Defiance park area, because the tracks were along the shores north. So it wasn't surprising for us to see that it was going north, especially myself, but others knew, too, if you were going to Portland area or something, you have to go that way, up north and then around Point Defiance and then head south. And then you go by the Narrows Bridge, and this is the bridge that in a big wind, it collapsed and everything, and we saw what was left of the "Galloping Gertie," I guess they called it.

TI: Right, so it's a famous bridge that in a windstorm just broke apart.

HH: Yes, I saw a little videotape of that, in the papers and also in the radio.

TI: Okay, so you're, so the train goes by, so at that point you know you're going south, you're going towards Portland.

HH: Yes, by that time, we knew that we must be going south, not to Puyallup, because of the train station. It does leave from there, because we had Interurban going through, near Puyallup and such, but we knew that the people from Seattle were all bussed. And those who were from the Fife area, they were able to drive, some people could drive their trucks and everything else. But we knew that by going north, that we were not going to the Interurban to go north. So it wasn't surprising, but we didn't know what the destination will be. And so I think it took us maybe two full days, or maybe two-thirds, anyway, that night, they asked us to pull our shades down and keep it down. And then sometime along the way, they would have to go into side rail, and then we'll wonder why, and then stopped. And we wondered why, and then all of a sudden we see that a cattle train, freighter would come with cattle. And says, "My, they have, cattle has a preference, priority over us." [Laughs]

TI: Because usually on the train rails, the train with the higher priority would go through, the lower priority would have to go on the side rails.

HH: Yes. Well, the passenger type of trains over the freight. But this is one of the things that I think many people kind of made some comments about it in our car.

TI: And so as the train went further and further south, I mean, you went past Portland...

HH: Yes. Well, it was gradually getting warmer and warmer, and well, gee, we must be getting into... but we didn't know, but we knew we were going south and it got warmer and warmer. And then finally, I think it maybe took us two days. Anyway, we finally stopped on the side of the railroad, and then we found out that we were parked on the outskirts of I think it was grapes, vineyard, and we found out it was near Fresno. And we found out that that place was called Pinedale, which was, the barracks were built, and it was very hot. And we were kind of held there for a while until they could get the train closer to the Pinedale Assembly Center.

<End Segment 40> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.