<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So we talked about now delivering groceries to Hooverville. That's interesting. You also mentioned canneries. At one point, did you go to Alaska and work in the canneries?

TK: Yeah, yeah.

TI: So was this when you were in high school or college? Or when was this?

TK: Well, I went through, let's see, first time I went was 1927, so, I think it was '27, it was '28.

TI: So you're about fifteen or sixteen years old?

TK: Yeah, and then I was high school, I think.

TI: So that's interesting to me. So describe going to Alaska and working the canneries. What kind of things did you do in Alaska?

TK: Well we worked with the canning section. I mean, we don't have anything to do with the live fish. I mean, after the fish gets off the boat, it's usually done by Caucasians or Filipinos did it. But we worked in a canning area, where they can the fish. The fish is canned raw and then all the machines do the work, you know as far as that goes. We have to make sure the cans aren't overfilled or underfilled. There's a machine that weighs the cans, and we have to make sure that they all go through with at least one pound of canned salmon in there, and then it's cooked. And it's, practically the whole thing is done by machine. We mostly monitor the thing, that's all. But it takes quite a few people to monitor it.

TI: So how many weeks did you work at the canneries? Like this is summertime...

TK: Yeah, we usually went in June. This was perfect for us school students, because some of us went right after, the day after school ended. And then came back just before school started, so it was perfect for us. But sometimes some of the later group went in July. Sometime they would ask older, if the season got too busy, they would ask for more people, and then they send more people up there. But it took, there was no airplanes then, so it's all boat. Takes almost three days, a day and a half to Ketchikan, but that's the first stop. Then most of us went farther than that. So it took us about a day and a half, maybe two days to get to where -- but if you have to go across the Gulf, that's another day. And sometimes it took, one group took ten days to get up there, ten days to get back. They get paid for all that. So, the working time is actually about a month, but you get paid for two months.

TI: And was the pay pretty good when you worked in the canneries?

TK: Well, it's regular men's wages, adult wages. So, considering the time, it was, I think, lowest paid time was about thirty dollars a month. But at one time, we were getting about seventy-five dollars a month. But as the Depression hit farther and farther, they got cheaper and cheaper. Then I quit going to cannery, I went to logging camp. Logging camp wasn't any better.

TI: So before we go to logging camp, I want to ask, when you worked at the canneries and you made say thirty dollars a month or more, like seventy-five dollars a month, what would you do with this money? You're a teenager...

TK: Oh, I'd give it to my folks, they'd take care of it. And I have to go to school, so I figure they can take care of it better than I can. Some of the fellows I know, I think they used it for other purposes, but mine was basically I wanted to go to college.

TI: Okay, so you would come home and give your wages, or your money, to your parents. Now, did you ever participate, I've talked to some guys who went to the canneries and they would do things like play cards or gamble. Did you ever do that?

TK: No, I didn't care for gambling at all. I'm a tightwad.

TI: Now, did you see some other men, though, gamble their earnings?

TK: Oh yeah. I saw one guy selling his shoes. He lost all his money, poor guy. Of course, I thought, depending on the cannery, we don't get all our money when we quit, we get our money after we come home. That's the best thing for them. I know one guy was trying to sell his shoes because he said, "I haven't got any money left." Gambling on the boat.

TI: Oh, good.

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