<Begin Segment 11>

SF: So Eddie and you decided to work on the railroad, or how did you get into the railroad?

TS: I really don't know. Somehow we decided -- I don't know. I can't -- we went to that hiring place (the Issei contract office on 6th & Main), and we signed up. And like I say, they gave us pass, and we took a train -- the first train trip in our lives, I think -- and went from Seattle all the way to, eastern Montana.

SF: Those hiring places you mentioned, now this was a Japanese...

TS: Contractor.

SF: ...employer?

TS: Employment hall.

SF: And he handled lots of different kinds of jobs, or just railroad kinds of jobs?

TS: I think he did other kinda jobs but all, all I know is the railroad job. And I think we had to pay -- out of our pay -- a dollar a month for medical insurance or something.

SF: So you got -- you and Eddie got hired on and, for which railroad...?

TS: Mil -- Milwaukee.

SF: And you went out to which area?

TS: Well, eastern Montana. Close to, well, Three Forks, in that area.

SF: Was this job mostly Japanese, with a Japanese gang, or [Inaudible]...?

TS: Yeah, it was a Japanese foreman, and all the people that were running the gangs, supervisory capacities, why they were all Japanese. There were three Issei, and then one was a Nisei, older Nisei.

SF: So the Issei, how old were they? I mean, that's kinda tough work, working on a railroad gang.

TS: The Isseis -- the ones that were bosses -- it wasn't tough work. One was a foreman, and he told everybody, basically. And then there was assistant foreman, that was another Issei, and he's another one that all he had to do is tell people what to do. And then there was a machine operator, and all he sat by the machine there and tinkered with it.

SF: And these guys were approximately what age?

TS: God, they were old then. And they -- we had some older ones working on the gang, too. And God...

SF: Could they sort of do the work, or did...?

TS: Well, they, yeah. They could do it, but not like the Nisei. There were a lotta Nisei there, and it was a race. I mean, how Nisei -- they were very competitive, so you're running from this, from -- you're working, why, you're moving fast. But that's the way -- I don't know why that is, but Nisei tend to be competitive, and...

SF: You think the Issei guys were actually doing the track-laying that, I mean -- did they feel bad about not being able to really put out, or did...?

TS: You mean the older ones?

SF: Yeah.

TS: Well, they did their best, but I think the foreman kinda watched out for 'em and made sure they didn't get too tough a job. That's why they had us young guys there. Which was all right with us.

SF: So you guys had sort of a, kind of a, what you might call kind of a positive, paternalistic attitude toward these guys? These guys were old, older, and sort of protective attitude toward them as a...

TS: Well, I don't know if we ever discussed it, but we, we knew what the situation was. Guys, hardly walking, so you can't expect them to, but then those days, there's no retirement or anything. So I don't know.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.