<Begin Segment 18>

WH: Did you take a trip?

ES: Yes. The administration gave us an opportunity to go to Yellowstone, and this is the road through Shoshone National Forest to Yellowstone. Here are the Girls Scouts, Campfire Girls and Cub Scouts. Here's Akiya, trumpet call. There was a little camp building there called Nez Perce Creek, which was used by the CCC boys, and then before the war. So these Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls were able to get out there in the open and enjoy a wonderful, outdoor life. So they had to chop wood for the fireplace. I think these girls are going to take a bath. There was a hot spring, that hot spring flows into another pool and makes a very nice bathtub. This is one of the ladies from Wyoming. She just volunteered to help out on arts and craft, so they're making clothes hangers in wood.

This is the Nez Perce River. The barrack is no longer there, but this river's still here, and I think some of the evacuees going to Yellowstone, they visited this area. I think they're coming back after they had a nice, warm bath.

WH: Did you have warm baths in camp?

ES: Yes, we did, but temperature's so cold, we come out of the bath, we got our wet towels, and the towel, we can crack it open, or break it on our knees before we get to the door. The doorknobs were just frozen. Water we take from the laundry room to our room in a bucket, top was all frozen time we get to our unit.

Some of these scout leaders, I think this is evening bugle, lowering the American flag.

This is a picture of the group.

WH: Did you use this opportunity to buy film?

ES: Yes, very much so, because Yellowstone National Park at that particular time, due to gas rationing and everything, there were no tourist. So you visit these stores, and there are just oodles of Eastman Kodak films. And here I'm only earning top wages of eighteen dollars plus $3.75 a month, and the film cost, I forgot how much, but can't buy 'em, because I haven't got enough money. So I borrowed money from my brothers and family and my friends to get the film, and I'm still itching to get some more film.

This is Mr. Jones, who took us on the truck. These are some of the geysers in Yellowstone National Park, you can see the steam blowing. Now they got the fence all around it so you can't fall in. These were open, in other words, you can fall in. But without the fence around, it's a beautiful scene. This is hot water streaming down the hill, cascade. This is Yellowstone Falls. In order to get to the bottom of it, you had four hundred and some odd steps to climb down. Climbing down is all right, but climbing up was a terrific job for me.

This one afternoon, this coyote was so hungry, wanted to have some food, so we tried to tame the coyote, but no luck. It was autumn already, the trees began to turn color.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Film Preservation Project. All Rights Reserved.