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DM: So can you describe the living conditions in Minidoka?

AM: Well, I remember when we first got there, the only thing I could remember was the dust. And I remember we came by train to a stop, and then we got into army buses and army trucks, not buses, army trucks I think it was, and taken to our, taken to Minidoka. And today, Eden must be about, maybe about ten miles, I think it's about ten miles. So we went by army truck and got there, and when we got dumped there, then we were, there were other evacuees -- call 'em "evacuees," a euphemism -- evacuees who then directed us to our quarters.

DM: And what were those quarters like?

AM: Pretty barren. The only thing that were there was, again, four camp cots. But this time we had mattresses, cotton mattresses, so it was a little better. But there was a potbellied stove in the middle of it, because my, it was my mother and my sister and my brother and I, the four of us, we got a room rather than have to share with... there were people who were, smaller families like families of three, had to share space with somebody else, like another bachelor or usually another woman. Not too many single women, but they would -- but because there were four of us, we had four camp cots and we had a, I remember thinking we got one of the smaller rooms, but at least it was a room that we had of our own. And with a potbellied stove. The potbellied stove implied that we had to have fuel for it, had no idea where it was coming from until we were told that if you go by the railroad siding, and this is when I'm wondering why we went from Eden by bus, army trucks to the camp when there were railroad siding. Because that's where the coal was dumped, and that's where we went to scrounge coal for our potbellied stove. In September it wasn't too bad, but by October and November it was clear that we needed to go, so we would rush out to go get the coal. When it arrived, we would be notified that the coal had arrived and we all rushed down with our boxes and bags to go get the coal so we would be able to heat our rooms. The interesting thing was that the coal piles became places where rattlesnakes would crawl up, so you had to be careful. I remember, I remember seeing it only once, though. But I would help my mother go get the coal, so I remember that.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.