<Begin Segment 7>

MR: So after Santa Anita, what camp did you go to?

MY: Santa Anita was the assembly center to which we went, and then we went to Heart Mountain, Wyoming, and that was in the month of September.

MR: And you used your boots?

MY: Yes, we did. In fact, that was one of the coldest winters that they had in Wyoming. And on my birthday, which was September 18th, it snowed for the first time there, and it was knee deep, so we were properly equipped with our boots.

MR: Had you ever seen snow before?

MY: I haven't, not up close, you know. My sisters did. They used to take trips up to Bear Mountain and places like that, but I was always too young. I was supposed to wait a year or two, but that never happened. But when we went to Heart Mountain, there was plenty of snow, every winter.

MR: Did you go to school in Heart Mountain?

MY: Yes. I went to high school, and I graduated. I was a junior when I left, and then I finished in Heart Mountain. By the time I graduated, they had built a new school there. At first, it was just in a barrack and all the kids were crammed into this little building. But then, after a year there, they built a high school for all the kids, and it was very nice.

MR: How well was it supplied; textbooks, papers, utensils?

MY: With the new school, it improved. In the beginning, there was a shortage of books and manuals, so the teacher had to write everything on a blackboard which was just a piece of board painted black, and there were maybe three kids sharing two seats. It was very crowded. But at the new high school, there was plenty of room, and I believe the materials increased also. When the new high school had a library too, and after I finished high school, I got a job there.

MR: What kind of books were in the collection at that library?

MY: Oh, we had everything. We had fiction, nonfiction, magazines, some newspapers, and all kinds of reference books.

MR: Was it well used, the library?

MY: Oh, yes, all the time. It was one of the larger gathering places in the school building, so it was very popular. Like all librarians, we had to encourage people to keep their voices down, and then but it was very well used. It was a nice place to be.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.