<Begin Segment 14>

MA: So in Fort Lupton then, you lived there on your aunt and uncle's farm for five years you said. And you said you worked on the farm every day. Did you have, like, migrant workers who helped you and who maybe lived on the farm during harvest season?

NM: No, they lived in a house and then they were trucked in, mostly Hispanics. But we did a lot of our work too, picking, pickles and tomatoes and beans and sugar beets, of course, was the latest, the last thing of the season. But in the spring, we had to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning to harvest the lettuce and spinach, because you don't want them to wilt in the sun. And have to take it to market early in the morning. Yeah, I remember getting up 3 o'clock in the morning.

MA: And so your uncle, or whoever, would take the vegetables to the market. What was the market like? Was it a public market in Fort Lupton?

NM: No, I think he had to take it to Denver. He had to travel to Denver from Fort Lupton, which is, how many miles is it? Thirty miles or something like that?

MA: So would he do this every day? He would drive the vegetables?

NM: Oh, we had, yeah, whenever we picked our products. But going back, I remember when my grandfather first came out here, and I guess to make a living they had to start out with whatever they can. And he used to raise vegetables and he would take it in a cart to the market. And some of these people would turn his cart over and scatter all the vegetables and fruit. And my grandfather, he didn't say a word and just picked it up and salvaged what he could. This is even before the war.

MA: Do you think they did that because he was Japanese?

NM: Yes.

MA: Did you, when you were living in Fort Lupton, did you travel to Denver ever with your uncle?

NM: Just for doctor's appointments.

MA: So you wouldn't go with him to the market.

NM: No, no.

MA: But you would occasionally go to Denver?

NM: Yeah, and at that time, my grandparents moved to Denver from my aunt's farm. 'Cause when they came out to Colorado, they all stayed at my aunt's farm. And they had a little house behind their house. So they were able to all stay there, all the relatives.

MA: So they all stayed on this one farm. And when did they move to Denver?

NM: I think shortly after that. Because they never farmed. They just stayed there, so eventually, well, at first they moved to the town of Fort Lupton. And my brother went along to there, and I stayed behind. And, supposedly they were supposed to adopt me but something happened.

MA: Your aunt and uncle were supposed to adopt you?

NM: Right. That's what I heard, but that's all heresay.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.