<Begin Segment 14>

SY: So how did you, I know you started working. Do you remember when you actually started your first job there?

YY: No. Well, the only thing I can remember is that I got a job driving a panel truck. And then they wanted somebody to go in to clean the screens on the reservoir, so we started doing that. And I had two other persons that, we went together, three of us would go, and we'd go twenty-four hours, then they'd give us three days off. But I didn't last very long.

SY: So there are three of you, and you were the driver of the panel truck?

YY: Uh-huh.

SY: And the truck, so you, the other two would come, and then would you stay up for twenty-four hours, all three of you?

YY: No, we'd take turns. [Laughs]

SY: Do you know why they did it that way?

YY: I don't know.

SY: Because you just had to keep it clean constantly, the filters?

YY: Yeah.

SY: So that, what did that involve?

YY: Well, we just, we just took down the screens at the end there and cleaned that, leaves and stuff like that.

SY: So you had to take them down, clean them and then put them back, and then keep doing that over and over? Or were there quite a few? How many filters were there?

YY: No, it took a while before they would really get bad, so we just cleaned it off.

SY: And how many were there?

YY: I can't remember.

SY: Like roughly. Were there a lot?

YY: Yeah, there was quite a few, 'cause it was a pretty good size reservoir.

SY: So the water was coming through the reservoir and the leaves would block off the water.

YY: See, it's all creek water, it's coming down the creek and it goes into the reservoir.

SY: And where, where exactly was this, this reservoir?

YY: Well, I can't remember the name of the creek, but it was on the mountain side of the camp.

SY: So when you drove, you had to drive out the front gate?

YY: No, back, through the back.

SY: So there was a guard gate that you had to go through to go to the reservoir. And all you needed was, did you have to show any kind of special...

YY: No, not that I remember.

SY: And how far did you have to drive, how many minutes? Was it like half an hour, twenty minutes?

YY: No, it was, it was close.

SY: So where was the truck parked when you would go, you had to go to a certain place?

YY: Well, right by the, right by, park it right by the reservoir.

SY: And then you would just all get out and clean the screens and then get back in?

YY: Right. We'd take turns doing that, and then somebody would take a walk up the creek and see, see if they could get any trout. [Laughs]

SY: So you brought equipment to fish?

YY: No, I didn't have anything. I remember we tried to put rocks and stop the water, see if you could make a little dam there for it, but we never did get anything. [Laughs]

SY: Could you see the fish, though? Were they, were there a lot of fish?

YY: If I remember correctly, yeah. The further you went up there, up the creek, there were more fish.

SY: So the reservoir, the things that you were cleaning were in one part of this creek?

YY: Well, it was at the end where it went into the reservoir.

SY: Yeah, so you could go above it.

YY: Yeah, we could walk all the way up.

SY: Walk up and see, and it was where, was that usually where people would go fishing?

YY: I think they went further up north, I mean further toward the mountain. I think there, as you go further up, there were more places where you could fish. 'Cause by the time you're coming downhill, I think the creek got smaller and smaller.

SY: And was it, I mean, did you think twice about the fact that you were going outside of the, of the area, fenced area? Or did, I mean, did that, was that something that wasn't...

YY: No, we never, I never did think about it.

SY: 'Cause you, did you, you didn't need any kind of special permission?

YY: No, not that I remember. We just went out.

SY: And how did they hire you to do this?

YY: That, I can't remember.

SY: You might have volunteered?

YY: Might've, but I can't remember.

SY: Can't remember how that you got that job. Remember how much you got paid?

YY: We were getting sixteen dollars, I think sixteen dollars a month.

SY: So it was kind of the middle, middle pay. And did you know the two other people that you were working with?

YY: Yeah. They were from West L.A. and one had just got, graduated from UCLA in chemistry, I think it was.

SY: So they were your age or a little older. And they, and you stayed with them the whole time that you worked this shift or whatever?

YY: Yeah, the three of us. We took turns sleeping in the panel truck.

SY: And when you say you didn't last that long, do you know roughly how long you did this?

YY: I think I only did it for about a month or so, month or two. Then I went to work for the hospital.

SY: So when you left this job, you would go out three, twenty-four hours every three days, so you would do that, you did it maybe twice a week for a month.

YY: Uh-huh.

SY: And then when you came back you would catch up with sleep? Those three days you were off, what did you do?

YY: That, I can't remember. [Laughs]

SY: 'Cause you had three days where you didn't have to do anything.

YY: Right, right.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.