<Begin Segment 12>

MU: Mitzi, you stayed in Topaz, the internment camp Topaz for how many...

MM: About a year.

MU: About a year? Can you describe the living condition there briefly?

MM: Oh, it wasn't the most desirable. It was out in the Sevier Desert, with all the dust storms, you name it, cold in winter... the road was impassable, you get mud all over your feet and that sort of thing. When the wind blew, it blew the gravel so you had to -- and you were outside -- you had to hide behind the barracks or someplace. That's how it was. But the welcome mat when we arrived was this: you know, we got to a station called Delta, and of course there were buses there to transport us to our final internment camp. And as we went along we said, "This is plush, look at all the farmland." It looked real good to us. But all of a sudden what do we find? This area that they had opened up was Sevier Desert, I guess that's what they call it. Most of the sagebrushes were gone which loosened all the sand there. So when we got off the bus, guess what? We were welcomed with this terrible dust storm, just terrible. And besides, the barracks weren't quite finished either. There was no sheet rock in the interior, so that all the sand seeped through the roof wherever there's an opening. And my goodness, you'd wipe that one time and the next minute you had to do it again and that's how it was.

MU: You swept the floor and you had to sweep it again.

MM: That's right, exactly. Of course with us -- how many -- there're three of us and my parents, there were five of us in all.

MU: In one room?

MM: Yeah, one room and we had to partition it off with the sheet or blanket, whatever you have. I don't know whether the potbellied stoves was already in or not, but they did have a potbellied stove there to keep warm.

MU: The family of five was in a room, in one room?

MM: Yeah, one room.

MU: And how big a room was that?

MM: I was trying to figure out. Did you hear how big? It was an end unit, end unit, I don't know if it was twenty by whatever, but it was just an end unit.

MU: We can get the measurement, I guess. And so you had to partition that one little room into...

MM: Into whatever.

MU: Whatever you...

MM: For privacy.

MU: Yeah. And how thick was the partition with the next unit? Could you hear what --

MM: Oh, you could hear. Yeah, it was not soundproof, if that's what you're asking. [Laughs]

MU: Tell us a little bit about your bathing facilities.

MM: Well, these barracks were set up in blocks, and the bathing and toilet facilities were in the center.

MU: Of the block.

MM: Of the block, you might say. So it wasn't very private either. People complained about the toilet facilities, which were quite wide open, if you wanna call it that.

MU: It was kind of embarrassing for young women, especially.

MM: That's right, exactly. Of course, with the dust storm and all when you went to rinse off, you really had to rinse out your mouth all the time. As (for) the administration building, it was quite a ways to walk for me, but I managed somehow.

MU: You did some work there at the administration?

MM: Oh, I did, yeah, yeah. You had to be doing something.

MU: Yes. How was your laundry facilities?

MM: Well, I'm trying to recall. They did have laundry facilities in that bathing area, I'm sure. But I've forgotten now all the details.

MU: Did you use washboards?

MM: That's about only thing we had, yeah, washboard.

MU: No washing machines?

MM: No washing machine whatsoever, that was quite primitive, you see. Maybe a little better than primitive. [Laughs]

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.