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Show Keetley Farms 343 When winter came, those who had been farming elsewhere returned to Keetley for the winter. But idleness meant no income, so some took odd jobs and some went to work in the mines. Wada persuaded the army to permit the employment of Keetley Japanese in defense jobs in Salt Lake City. They also got fingerling trout from Sen. Abe Murdock, which they raised. 46 The children, meanwhile, enjoyed playing in the snow, ice skating, and skiing-new sports for the former Californians. Others played basketball, joining the Salt Lake J ACL. All the children attended school, some in Heber City, some in Park City. Tsujimoto noted that "here in Wasatch County the Nisei kids get along and associate a lot with their white classmates." However, he noted that the group in Sandy had not been so well received. A Nisei high school basketball player there was asked to leave the team ((due to public sentiment." Tsujimoto commented, ((I'm sure that no such incidents will ever happen at Wasatch High School here." As winter passed, Tsujimoto looked forward to spring and another season of raising "Food for Freedom. "47 Keetley's agricultural enterprises met with mixed success. They could raise lettuce and other truck vegetables, but the cost of transporting them to Salt Lake was high. The second year they raised rutabagas, potatoes, and onions, but the cost of bags was more than the price paid by the army for these crops. An attempt to raise hogs failed when the animals all died of disease. The residents were able to provide for their own needs, except for meat and staples, but the community had its greatest success as a way-station, a stopping point for people in transit from their West Coast homes or the camps to other destinations. 48 Keetley provided a sharp contrast to the camp at Topaz, 135 miles to the southwest, where several thousand less fortunate people of Japanese ancestry spent the war years. 49 Although Wada disparaged the lack of initiative of the Topaz internees, internment was hard on incentive. Many did leave for work elsewhere, but others feared the hostility of the white community. The residents of Keetley were entrepreneurs who were able to profit from their adversity. They rose above local racism, established themselves in rural Utah, an9. at 46 Oral History, Fred Isamu Wada, pp. 64-66; Tsujimoto, " Letter to Ophelia." 47 Tsujimoto, " Letter to Ophelia." 48 Oral History, Fred Isamu Wada, pp. 73-75. 49 On Topaz, see Leonard j. Arrington, The Price of Prejudice (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1962). |
