Coast Jap Evacuees Tell Of New Life in Own Paper

The Minidoka Irrigator, six-page weekly newspaper of 10,000 Japanese residents recently transplanted from the cities and fertile fields of Washington and Oregon to the arid lands of Southern Idaho, has begun to roll off the mimeograph machines.

Numbers 1 and 2, Volume I., recently reaching Seattle, give a poignant picture of the determined struggle of these Niseis (American-born Japanese) and Iseis (Japanese-born) to carve a new life for themselves out of their strange new surroundings. They are a record of the civic, business and social organizations, work projects and recreational activities of the group.

Editors are Dick Takeuchi, formerly one of the editors of The Great Northern Daily News, erstwhile Japanese daily; Dyke Miyagawa and Rube Hosokawa. Reporting are Daiki Miyagawa, Taka Oka, Makiko Takahashi, Tadako Tamura, Jackson Sonoda and Sumie Itami, Tak Hirai and Karl Fujimoto are staff artists; Thomas Yamauchi, circulation manager; and Shizuko Kawamura, Takako Matsumoto and Gertrude Takayama, typists.

New Town Serves Colony

Minidoka, 68,000 acres of land accommodating duration activities of the 10,000, is centered about Hunt, new town-site with 35 blocks of barracks and additional areas for a 16-wing hospital, administration building, warehouses, fire and police stations, stores, schools and sewage disposal.

Rich sedimentary loam covers the project, and plans for extensive plantings of sugar beets, beans, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, alfalfa and grain are planned as soon as water can be brought to the area by irrigation canals. Drinking water now comes from a 400-foot well. Three other wells are being drilled.

Boom spot of the project is the community store, managed by Yoshitaka Takayoshi and a staff of nine Niseis, where on September 5 records were broken when sales receipts totaled $1,012. There is "an ever-increasing demand for ice cream, fruit juices, popcorn and potato chips ... the daily supply of 350 dozen 'creamsicles' and other frozen stick novelties is exhausted long before the day is over, children consuming most of the iced sweets."

New Stores Planned

Plans for three new stores to accommodate all sections are being drafted by Frank Toribara, architect.

All retail establishments and services, such as barber, beauty and shoe-repair shops, soon are to be run by a community cooperative association. Profits, in proportion to purchases, will be returned to consumers as soon as the organization is completed and incorporated. T. Sakahara, formerly of Fife, near Tacoma, is directing organization of the cooperative, in which shares now may be purchased for $10.

"The rude awakening for vacation-groggy students," says The Irrigator, came on September 21 when nursery, grade and high school students began their studies under Caucasian teachers and Nisei assistant-teachers.

A library "for those who like their literary diversion, either Steinbeck or Superman," has been established temporarily in the high school building, under the supervision of William Makino, Library assistants are Tamako Inouye, Alice Togo, Haruko Inamura, Sanro Murayama, Tomiko Sato, Miyo Yamagishi and Mrs. Janet Tanaka, former University of Washington students.

Romance Goes On

Weddings -- Dan Kita and Mary Fujii were the first newlyweds -- deaths, births, notes about Niseis serving in the United States Army, instructions and editorials, serve to complete the record of pulsing, vibrant life in a city-in-the-making.

"Eyes on Tomorrow" is the heading for the editorial in the first issue. The spirit of Minidoka residents best can be told by quoting this editorial in part:

"Minidoka, as we know it now, is a vast stretch of sagebrush, stubble and shifting, swirling sand -- a dreary, forbidding, flat expanse of arid wilderness. Minidoka, in September of 1942, is the sort of place people normally would traverse only to get through to another destination.

Ten Thousand Pioneers

"But we, the Ten Thousand, from the climatically temperate cities and lush, verdant valleys of coastal Washington and Oregon, are not passing through to a ready-made civilization. With minor exceptions, we are here to stay until 20th Century tyranny is routed from its seats of power in the Axis capitals. ...

"Our goal is the creation of an oasis. Our great adventure is a 'repetition of the frontier struggle of pioneers against the land and elements.' Our future will be what we make it, and there is no reason to despair. The Irrigator is conceived and launched with a determined eye focused upon the Minidoka of tomorrow. It is and will be a partisan of progress."