Spanish speaking peoples in Utah, oral histories: book 1, numbers 1 through 10

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INTERVIEW: Senor Santos Cabrerra Page 6 SC: the airplanes. The railroad companies have lost now almost all their passenger traffic. VM: Mr. Cabrerra, when did numbers of Mexicans start to come to Salt Lake City? SC: Well, I really can't tell you when they began coming in because when I came in, in 1928, there were already a number here. There was even a big railroad camp of Mexicans there. Their foreman was a Japanese named George Sonora. Your father, Vicente, will remember. He worked with him. There were about thirty or thirty-five Mexicans in that gang. There were quite a few here when I came. VM: And where do they come from, Mr. Cabrerra? SC: A lot of them came down from the mines, when the mining work began to slow down, a lot of them came down and began to work on the railroad. At that time we were replacing all the smaller rail in the yard with newer and larger rail. When the war began in 1941-42, then is when we saw a real great immigration of Mexicans here in Salt Lake City. It was at that time when lots of government work opened up and lots of people came. Lots of women, too for the munitions factories, and other work of the government. VM: Mr. Cabrerra, when you were working in Texas and California and Arizona, did you know many or any men who had taken part in the revolution in Mexico. SC: No, I didn't know of any, or if any did take part in the revolution,