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TM: Well, then we struggle and the war is over. So right away I went back to Bellevue and see, what like. And I ask a Caucasian, old friend, like Mrs. Godsey, Mrs. Baumsgard and those people I met and talk. And, of course, I talked to my lawyer, Williams, but they said I have no house because my house was burned up during the wartime.

AI: It was burned?

TM: Yeah, burned up. And my farm we lease to the Filipino boy. Then according to those people I ask, "You know, is pretty hard to build a house right now. Everything is short and everything is ration. You may have to wait a long time and you have a bunch of family and you have to wait long time. And if you have place to stay, maybe good idea to stay in there." Well, I don't know. But we talked. Somebody have to go back to the Bellevue because there's three place. Tok, his own place, and my place and greenhouse. That used to be Kusumi's greenhouse. That's Tok and Sumi both have greenhouse, too. That's three different places. Somebody have to go back there. Well, Lundeen is owner. He found out, look like we aren't going back. War is over. We aren't going back. He came in and said, "How about buy my place. Stay this place." Well, so Tok and I talked and somebody have to go back because we have three different place there. So finally end up Tok said that he is going back, so I stayed. Then, oh, Lundeen insisted, want whoever stay, want to buy that place. Finally then Tok, I told Tok and, "You buy my place. Then I get that for down payment and I pay, I buy this Lundeen's farm."

[Interruption]

TM: Ito's place, bought first place because Tok is moved to your place.

TI: Yeah, yeah, that's right.

TM: First house, yeah.

TI: Yeah, he was there.

TM: So that work out all right because Tok, he can wait house, someplace to stay.

TI: Yeah, because he didn't have a house at your place.

TM: Yeah.

RT: Oh, that's where they stayed.

TM: So, anyway, I stayed and Tok moved to the Bellevue. And after that, there was ourself and the kids, no more kids, only big one kids is Ty, only one. Rae, Tats is gone and...

AI: And who is still at home? Ty was still at home?

RT: Ty and Rulee and Ted.

TM: Rulee, yeah. Rulee was, but she still was in high school yet.

RT: Probably less than that.

TM: And so I hired most of the Mexican and springtime when thinning and hoeing, all that Mexican labor I used to use. And harvesting time, machine start to come in and all kind of harvesting machine came. Well, so first machine I bought didn't work in the farm and I lost a big chunk of money on that machine. Didn't work. The next machine was International machine. It work all right, but need a couple of labor to pick 'em up beet and those chunk of dirt. They have to separate them behind the machine. That's what Kaz and Dorothy, they used to do that. Well, then if no picking job, why, much busy -- I mean, much easy because just one man working, then truck driver, then we can harvest all of them. So I change the machine again and this machine was not very good. Meantime, with the sugar factory closed in Chinook and the factory said they are going to move to Moses Lake, Washington. By gosh, they close the Chinook factory and they took everything, everything. Only thing left is a big concrete cement smokestack. And they move to the Moses Lake.

AI: When was that? About when was that that they closed?

TM: 1920... no, 1954 or something like that. That's first sugar company was Utah Idaho Sugar Company. Then they moved to the Moses Lake. And Great Western Sugar Company, he is from Billings, and they took 'em over, and they harvest, ship the sugar beet to Billings and process you. Well, so I still grow sugar beets and work for that Great Western, contracted, and until about 1967. But sugar beets is summertime. You have to irrigate and nowadays all that irrigation is sprinkling system, but those day when I growing the sugar beet, all have to boots and shovel and irrigate those. Oh, big acreage, and sugar beets, one man pretty hard. Hired people, they don't last too long. They don't like that shovel and boots. And summertime is small pickup job, is pretty easy to find, see. By gosh. What I was doing until that is grow the sugar beets and fall come, and I used to take about 2,000 lamb to contracted to fattening, fattening lamb. And so pretty good income. Year around, year around. Because summertime sugar beet, wintertime is fattening lamb, but work is pretty, not so easy work.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.