<Begin Segment 6>

MA: So then after the six months in Tanforan, then you were sent on to Topaz.

TN: Right. We were put in Tanforan while Topaz and the other ten camps were being built. And so after six months they put us onto a train and told us to keep the blinds down. I think the government didn't want people to know that the Japanese were being transported. But we arrived in Delta and were put into army trucks and taken out sixteen miles straight out into the desert. And that was our first glimpse of Topaz, our home for the next three years.

MA: What were you thinking at that point when you saw Topaz in the desert?

TN: The best way to describe Topaz is it was very barren. It was just flat, and there was sagebrush, and there was high winds and there were dust all over. And temperature was very hot, near a hundred degrees. And we actually didn't see Topaz because the dust was so thick. All we could see out there was just a cloud of dust. As we got closer, we could see the barracks emerge, and there were no nearby mountains, although Topaz was named after Topaz Mountain, but that was about ten miles away. And everybody didn't know what to expect, trying to find out which apartment they should go to. And part of the labor force from Tanforan was put there first to finish the barracks, 'cause they were not finished when we got there. But eventually, everybody got settled.

MA: So what were your living conditions like?

TN: Well, we, the barrack was made out of pine board with tarpaper on the outside and one sheet of sheetrock on the inside. And with temperatures at a hundred degrees in the summer and below zero in the winter, it wasn't much insulation. And for heat we had one potbellied stove in each unit, and I must say, each unit was different size. We had units for families of six and units for families of three, and we even had units for bachelors, for a single occupant. So each block was about the size of Salt Lake City's blocks, they were quite large. There were twelve barracks in each block. The entire block housed about 250 people, and each block had a latrine, a shower and a laundry and a coal pile. And one barrack was reserved for recreation, although it was hardly ever used. And in the middle of the camp there was a block manager's office, and we'd often go in there and play chess and play other card games. And then on that same block manager's office was the mess hall, and in one of those photos, I have a picture of a mess hall that was used on a farm, and you can see the distinct shape of it. And many buildings in Delta are being used as homes and farm storage areas, even today.

MA: That used to be the barracks.

TN: That used to be the barracks, uh-huh. And in fact, some of the barracks went to the University of Utah, and I actually had classes in some of them. All of the buildings were sold or taken, used by somebody, and there are no barracks on the site now, completely flat.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.