<Begin Segment 24>

JS: How -- well, so you started in one month to this agricultural product, and you had seedlings in the ground that first year that you...

ES: Yeah.

JS: Which was a matter of a few months, right? Because you got there in... what month did you arrive there? What month did the camp open up, Heart Mountain?

ES: Camp opened up in September of '40... what was that?

JS: '42?

ES: '43? '42?

JS: '43?

ES: I have information exactly, but... see, '42, I think, late in '42.

JS: Okay. So actually, you started working on the project for maybe, after January of '43, and you're getting the first crop in around April?

ES: Yes, that's right.

JS: April of '43? And you're, that first year that you're there, how successful was the crop?

ES: Well, I would say the, we were very successful outside of few varieties. That is not fault of the seed on the ground, it's just fault of the farmer who took care of that area. I hate to say this, but that's what happened. So the second year, he quit, he says, "I'm not gonna farm, farm it no more. I'm not gonna be foreman of that area no more." So another person took over and grew the same type of crop, and it turned out beautiful. We had 60 acres of corn for canning, and it was just beautiful corn. Not a single worm. Worm doesn't know what corn tastes like. Here in California or West Coast, every corn has a worm in it. If it didn't have a worm in it, the corn won't taste good. [Laughs] And the peas we grew there, we had more peas, so we had to process 'em for canning, which we did.

JS: Who did the canning?

ES: Nearby canning plant.

JS: So you had some sort of arrangement with them?

ES: Yeah, had arrangement.

JS: And then these were shipped to the other camps and so you couldn't compete with the general, I mean, you couldn't compete with the local people?

ES: No, no. We had no right to compete with the commercial... they were used from one camp to the other, for camp purposes.

JS: Did anyone outside the camp hear about the success of the agricultural production?

ES: Oh, yes.

JS: And what kind of comments did you hear about that?

ES: Well, comments I had was surprise that these Caucasian farm superintendent and assistant superintendent were surprised at what we can do. But three years after camp closed, I went back to camp and stopped at Cody after driving all the mileage from Salt Lake City. I was kind of tired, and first thing, I wanted to rest at the motel. A lady comes up here and say, "Hey, I wanted to see you." And I thought, "Hey, I did something wrong, parked in the wrong place or something." "No," says, "You guys opened our eyes to us, what you can grow."

JS: And did they, did they take off of when you guys left off, or not?

ES: Well, that, after we quit, I mean, the camp closed, the land was open to veterans on a lottery basis. And veterans took over some part, but a lot of 'em didn't continue. They had given up farming. I don't think they had any knowledge of farming, outside of growing corn or grain or sugar beets. But even if you grow all those vegetables, which we did grow, except Carter's peanuts, there's no market for that quantity, 'cause we're the, I think we're the largest city in Wyoming, second-largest city

JS: How was the harvest handled? Who did that?

ES: Harvesting was done first by high school students, because it was difficult to get anybody to help, because they were going to school, continue their education, and next group is either going out for employment east of the Rocky Mountains, and another group would be serving in the United States Army, selective service. So who was left? All the disabled and all the Issei are left.

JS: So you depended upon the local, like, Cody, Wyoming, high school students?

ES: No, no. Local. Our own.

JS: Oh, okay, high school students within the camp?

ES: Right.

JS: Okay. And did you have storage facilities for the harvested crop?

ES: Yes. We had a root cellar, which is a big hole in the ground, and it has a roof with a lot of excelsior and things. I think it was around six hundred feet, I don't know how wide. I think it was sixty feet wide, and made out of our own native logs. And I was farm superintendent, so during the winter months, after daikon and rutabaga and potato was stored there, the mess hall would take out so many bushels, and I would have to go in there every day and see how many bushels, take inventory. And that was really, thirty below zero, twelve below zero, it was really cold.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.