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TI: And so when did you get back into the oyster farming business?

EY: Well, we were doing that, buying from other people, we bought a piece of property out in Dabob Bay that had lots of oysters. And we also had the property that my father was leasing, you know, the Isseis were not able to lease. So Tom made arrangements so that, to form a corporation to get some people, Niseis involved in the corporation. And by doing that, he was able to... and then by that time, I was of age that I could buy and own property. And so then we were able to lease or buy the tideland that the Larabees had, which my father was leasing prior to the war, and I also was able to buy some tideland that was owned by a man by the, civil engineer by the name of Lee Berry. And Cliff Cassad, who was a chief of the water department of the city of Bremerton, they owned jointly, oh, gosh, maybe a mile of tideland and had about several hundred acres of upland. And so we didn't have money, but we managed to buy that.

TI: So if you didn't have money, how did you buy that land?

EY: Oh, I went to, my father went to Main Fish, Kiharas, and he said we've got the chance to buy a lot of oysters. And so we delivered the oysters, shucked oysters, then you can deduct it from, if you can arrange that. And they were happy to do it.

TI: Oh, so they loaned you the money to buy the land?

EY: Yeah.

TI: And you paid them back with oysters?

EY: Yeah. You know, it was good fortune, our good fortune that that year, 1941, we had a good set of seed. Somebody was looking out for us.

TI: And so it was just wild, it just spread.

EY: It was wild oysters. Just like what I...

TI: That you showed me before. And coming back, your old neighbors, how did they welcome you back? Do you remember how your old neighbors treated you when you got back?

EY: I can't...

TI: Yeah, so how did your old neighbors treat you when you came back?

EY: Oh, they were happy to see us. You know, if we were competitors or something, maybe it'd be a different thing. But we helped them, and they in turn helped us. There could have been nothing any better than that.

TI: And then ever since then, you stayed in the oyster business?

EY: Yes.

TI: And so tell me about the oyster business. Has it grown, is it a good business to be in, or what do you think?

EY: You find maybe it's difficult to really believe, but the people in our industry, they help each other. Because we found that without a strong organization, and we're sharing our problems and our benefits, we are dependent on each other. And I think that's been the nature of our business. Everybody when they have a problem, when they need help, everybody needs help. Yeah, so it's been a good industry, and we're all friends, no enemies.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.