<Begin Segment 7>

RP: Tell us how your, your father acquired this twenty-acre farm, actually, it was in 1936 at the height of the Depression which is totally amazing.

BF: That's right.

BF: So somehow or another, he's, on top of raising kids, he was able to set some money aside and then bought this piece of land in, in Yuba City.

RP: How did he circumvent the, the alien land law in that regard?

BF: Well, he, he put that in the name of two oldest brothers who had just, they were, let's see, George had just graduated high school in '36, I think. Bill was what, two years younger. So he probably bought it in the name of George. But that's what was done in those days.

RP: And how successful was he on that farm?

BF: Well, he planted peaches and walnuts. And then while those trees were young, he planted vegetables in between the rows. So, he was continuing to be a, a vegetable farmer, hoping that... you know, it takes about at least five years to get a good, good crop in peaches. In the fourth year, 'course we had some peaches, but the fifth year was supposed to be the start of a good crop and the war came along. Someone else got the fruits of our labor.

RP: Literally and figuratively.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.