<Begin Segment 10>

AC: Yeah, I was just thinking, you said that your brothers had loaded up two trucks and they moved from Banks to Ontario, the tractors on the trucks, or did they drive the tractors?

NH: Well, we had some Caucasian neighbors over there that they used their equipment to haul some of the things that we couldn't manage in the two trucks. And then I think my brother went back for another load. Because he was the only one who was licensed to drive then, 'cause the two younger brothers weren't, they were too young to drive at that time.

AC: And still, your older brother was still the head of the household at this time?

NH: Yes. I don't know how me managed through high school, 'cause he'd missed school half a day at a time, in high school, 'cause he had to go there in the morning market. And what day he had left he went to high school, yet he graduated with his class he started from. So he made quite a sacrifice, because high school education was hard for him due to his time that he had to spend there. But I admire him for the responsibility he took over in trying to keep the family going.

AC: Tell me about the morning market. What was that like?

NH: We had to be there around 2:30 and 3 o'clock in the morning, 'cause all the other farmers are there with their produce, and all the grocery buyers who had grocery stores, their buyers would be there early, too, to get the first choice of everything. So I went along with my brother a few times to see what it was like, what he was doing, and I thought it was amazing to have to get there 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning. But it was an experience.

AC: So who did he sell to?

NH: Pardon?

AC: Who did he sell the crops to?

NH: Well, there'd be the people who owned the grocery stores, they would be there, the produce was there, grocery store. So it was a quite large market, because for this town of Portland there was a lot of grocery stores. So that's how the farmers were able to get rid of the produce.

AC: Where was the market?

NH: It was on east side. I can't recall... is there a Yam Hill on east side there? Yeah, that's where the market was then, 'cause I kind of remember the name Yam Hill.

AC: And so you'd load up the produce in the truck and take it over there?

NH: Yes, uh-huh. So you'd have to start out about... oh, in those days, about one o'clock in the morning to get there in time for the market.

AC: And the market would be finished whenever he finished selling the last of the produce?

NH: That's right.

AC: And then drive back?

NH: Back. Then he'd drive back to Hillsboro where he went to high school and salvaged what day he had there. So it was a struggle for him to take care of the family and then trying to finish his high school education, too. Then like I say, he made it with the class he started with. Of course, he had to do a lot of extra studying, too.

AC: Was the market seven days a week, every day?

NH: Oh, I think it was Monday through Saturday, I believe. I don't think it was open on Sunday. It may have been, I'm not sure.

AC: So moving from Portland over here to Ontario, who did you sell your crops to out here?

NH: Oh, well, they didn't have any of that fresh produce, it was just potatoes. So they had different produce sheds here that they would buy all the crops, you know. So they were able to unload it there, because his potatoes and onions is not perishable like your fresh produce.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.