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SF: When you started to leave, or get prepared to leave, do you remember how people felt or did you see anybody show any kind of emotion?

LH: I think they were concerned because there was the talk of going to camp and that was a new experience. It's the unknown, and for us too, 'cause we were gonna move and that's another unknown, so I know that there was a lot of confusion. And then we left, so I really don't know, but what people tell me what they had to do, get rid of things and then they went to assembly centers and then they went to the different camps. From what, my husband was from San Jose and he went to Santa Anita Assembly Center then from there they went to Heart Mountain, so I remember a few things that he told me about his experience.

SF: So when people decided to move, did they know that they were going to camp or was it just kinda like rumored?

LH: I don't know. I know that it was confusion because a lot of it was probably rumors until a definite, definite understanding of what was gonna happen to them was told to them, so it must've been confusing. For us, we knew that we had to move so we had to gather our things together and prepare for that, and we did move. And I think it was about April, and I remember leaving and I sat by the window on, on the right side of the car, and I was always glad 'cause I thought I could see more from that side than the other side. I was always comparing things. Anyway, so I know we stayed in Colfax at a motel, and I remember there was another family and I think they went to Denver or in Colorado, and I think their last name was, I think was Hiratsuka, because I knew the daughter, but they never came back to California, so I don't know what happened to them. Anyway, and so we stayed there the first night and then going through Reno. We never, none of us have ever, well, at least we hadn't, I hadn't gone through the Sierras before, and then going through Reno and I definitely remember that Reno sign on Virginia Street. And in those days I think I wrote that all the main interstates went through all the towns, so we went through Reno from Virginia Street, which started on the interstate, and now the freeway bypasses it, but we went under the arch and then went out, it went into the desert. And I remember the town of Lovelock because I thought, oh my gosh, "Love-lock." It's the middle of the desert; it's just, I called it a shanty town because that's what it looked like. It was just a few buildings and yet it had the name of Lovelock, and then as we left town, here's these three ramshackle outhouses. That really stuck in my mind. That's, and I remembered it because I think it was for the travelers, but it's right in the sagebrush, right off the road. And then going through all the other little towns, and I remember Winnemucca 'cause it was a bigger town. There was, then going, there was the Battle Mountain. I remembered that because of the name of the mountain. And then other little towns until we got to Wendover.

TI: Do you recall any encounters with the townspeople or anything, in terms of going to stores or talking with anyone?

LH: I don't because I never, if we got off the car it was probably to go to the bathroom, but then I didn't connect with any of the people. The driver probably would've, but nobody said anything, so I think everybody was in a shock yet. And people that are prejudiced would let you know right away. I feel that.

SF: You never had a problem of getting gas or anything like that?

LH: No, I don't remember that. And Wendover was kind of getting old and ramshackle, too, at that time, and then we crossed the border and I thought there was a wooden platform where we could see the Great Salt Lake, and that was a sight for all of us because we'd never seen miles of just white salt. And I think they still have a observation platform there. And then the other thing that I remember was when we were going towards Salt Lake City, along the road were these crystals of salt. Have you ever seen that? Because it's not there anymore. It's, the Salt Lake was much bigger and for some reason the water laps and then it forms these crystals, so they look like diamonds and you can't help but seeing them along the road, and it seemed like we stopped and gathered some, but I know that in Salt Lake City and those, the towns they used to sell 'em in those little Bull Durham like sacks for souvenirs 'cause where you'd, where the souvenirs were you could find these salt crystals. (Narr. note: A Bull Durham sack was a cloth drawstring bag about 2 1/2" x 4" which held loose tobacco.) And I have a friend that I talked to last week, and she's from Salt Lake, and so she says, "You know, they still have them, but you have to go inland more for crystals." You just can't see them because there's no water. It's all solidified now. But anyway, that was...

TI: But it sounds like for you it was kind of an interesting trip.

LH: It was.

TI: You were seeing, you were seeing the Sierras, the salt flats, the Great Salt Lake.

LH: Right. And sagebrush we'd never seen before and all these mountains. It's one range after the other. That's what Nevada is.

TI: On the trip, how would you talk about the mood of the people in the car? What, would you guys talk a lot? Would there be singing? How would you pass the time?

LH: The adults probably talked. I just, I didn't have, I don't remember talking to anybody. I just observed. If I, if I said anything, I know that when we got to Salt Lake and going through, by Bountiful, Farmington, Layton on this side, all these little towns, I remember the cottonwood trees 'cause there'd be a clump and then you'd see a house. Over here you'd see cottonwood trees and homes and farms. It's not like that anymore. And I, and then the farms, there were these tractors, they're Ferguson tractors and they're the ones with the two big wheels and two little ones and we, I used to see 'em here, but then not that many 'cause most of the farms, the orchardists had Caterpillar tractors. But over there they had these glass enclosures for the driver, but if you look now they're all like that, 'cause I went to -- well this weekend, anyway, I'd seen them -- they're enclosed. Like I said, looking back it's cold in Utah and in the, in the summer they have these huge dust storms. I mean, we'd be working and we could see it coming from the north; it's usually from the north, but this massive dust coming towards us, and I think that was for protection, too. That, and then all the towns are nestled along the Wasatch Range and the, Brigham City had all the fruit and farms and then it kind of levels off because it's the end of the Salt, the north end of the Salt Lake, so there's more level ground and you see more farms. And then I knew that there were some Japanese living in, native Japanese living along there. After a while we found out that they were born and raised there; the parents were there from a long time ago.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.