Densho Digital Archive - Ted Hachiya Interview (denshovh-hted

<Begin Segment 15>

MP: Tell... we'll get back to this and then tell me about that train ride there to Minidoka. What was that like?

TH: Well, I wasn't sleeping. I was gambling all the time. But you couldn't sleep in the darn thing because it was a rickety old car just made eerie sounds, you know. It isn't like those trains these days. Trains are pretty quiet except you could hear where the rails were welded.

MP: It had windows though. You could look out and --

TH: You couldn't look out. They wouldn't let you open, you know, raise the blinds.

MP: So there were blinds drawn?

TH: You couldn't see inside or outside. That's the way it was.

MP: Just like cattle.

TH: And they had two soldiers to each coach, you know, one in front and one in the other entryway. They wouldn't let you go except to go to the restroom.

MP: And the soldiers were armed?

TH: Yes, with rifles.

MP: Were they like army?

TH: Yeah, they were regular army.

MP: And you couldn't go to the bathroom?

TH: No. They would allow you to go to the bathroom, but they went with you.

MP: Was it pretty dirty on the train or what was it, crowded?

TH: Well, it was clean, I guess, as well as it could be. God, they had these rattan seats. I don't know whether you remember the old streetcars used to have those. But I remember there was the rattan on the seats, and they all, they face one way, I guess.

MP: Was it a long ride?

TH: Yeah. Well, I don't remember exactly how long it took because I was gambling all the time, you know, rolling dice on the floor. Gosh, I don't remember exactly, but it took at least, well, if you drive the darn thing, it's around six or seven hours easy, eight hours I think it would take.

MP: So it was a day, a day ride?

TH: The train ride was more than one day. They left here in the afternoon. We didn't get there until late in the afternoon the next day.

MP: And so when you got to Minidoka, there was a wind storm and dust and so on. And then what kind, what kind of process did you have to go through then at Minidoka?

TH: You were assigned right away by what, they had block managers already arranged, and a block, I forgot how many barracks there was to a block, but I think there was four on each side with a mess hall in the center. It was like an army camp. Anyway, all they had was wood and tarpaper outside, and I don't know about the roof. It leaked probably. But everybody had, was assigned according to size of family.

MP: But families got to stay together?

TH: They were, yes allowed. Each unit, if you were just two people, you got the end one. It only allowed room for two people. You couldn't cook in there. You had to go to the mess hall to eat. All they had was cots in there to sleep in. But a lot of people improvised, you know. They made writing desks and bookcases. It's funny how some of those people were very creative.