Remembering Minidoka

By Paul Morita

There was a canal by the main gate; isseis were so hard up for sashimi they used carp for it, the ones they caught in the canal. I heard that rumor!!

The bridge over the Snake River neaar Twin Falls has a beautiful view. It is a minature Grand Canyon.

From Claude Morita, Dec. 11, 2000:

I would not go so far as to say that they were hard up. There are so many carp in this world that if you were not a fish scientist, icthy something or other, you would not know that there is a difference between those caught in Japan and those in the Snake River. In Idaho and Oregon, we equated them with suckers, bottomfeeders and scavengers. In Japan, they are legitimately good eating fish. I can't get over my American hangovers so I don't eat them.


I mailed a photo showing Flora,Jr.,Claude and Dad and Grandpa Nii out in a sugar beet field next to a beet truck to Stirling. He'll probably put it on the Web Page. Betty , they were topping sugar beets. That was hard work for those kids, especially Flora.

Ol' man Nii was really a good storyteller, probably because he used to exaggerate. He used to tell stories in Japanese and I used to get a kick out of them. It could have been a beet field on the island in the Snake River where Nii's used to farm. Snake River Canyon around Twin Falls is a minature Grand Canyon. I've seen it many times going to Jackpot, Nevada. I usually go once while I am in Logan, Utah.

Although evacuation was a degrading experience, I believe it was a fortunate turn of events for me. If there were no evacuation, I would have ended  up as an apple farmer. City life is far superior!! I enjoyed the social life the camps created!!  I had never seen so many nisei gals. You could go to a dance for a dime, and you didn't need a car. I owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Hirakawa (mom's relative) for getting me a job in Vale, Ore., working for the Wadas. I met Miyo through Shingo Wada.

The Camps: Tule Lake, Minidoka

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