Ann’s Letter

We arrived safely here in Utah which was a passing of nothing but sagebrush country & eateries when we neared Utah (Ogden) we started to get bloody noses & headaches due to the high altitude of these parts. We reached Delta which is the nearest station to here (almost 15 miles away) on Oct. 3rd. — noon & were driven here on a bus. It was so hot & so dusty I thought I’d collapse. We got here so filthy & dirty & tired & the places were not finished. One contingent of 500 & the ones that arrived the day before had to sleep in the mess hall on the floor — the nights & mornings here are awfully cold — even in October — at least in the mess hall they had coal stoves & so babies, old folks,& the young slept there. We were fortunate in knowing some people who knew of this vacant apt. & got us in here right away — but for those remaining 500 I felt terribly bad. There were newborn babies & sick mothers & invalids — & many tears. The Christian thing for us to have done was to share the misery with them or try to house some of them with us — but LoVerne — we were so tired & Diane so hungry & sleepy — & Joanne cross – & we had to collect our baggage & carry them blocks to this apt. — that we just wonder how we managed to do this much. You must wonder how people couldn’t have helped us. To tell you the truth I don’t think I saw 10 men that day that weren’t working — there were only the aged & the women & you couldn’t hardly ask them. It was a terrible reception for human beings. We were lucky all the hardships we encountered that first day when you consider what the rest went through — because there were no mattresses, no beds, no blankets, & most of all — no roofs. They had to sleep on the floor — hundreds — in the mess halls — 

That, too, is over with — like Tanforan, like the beginning here. It’s like turning pages of a book.

We had a difficult time getting used to this place, our whole family’s had so many bleeding noses — the first 2 or 3 times Joanne had them, she cried & cried because she got scared.

The room we have is 24’ x 24’ — the only things in here were the army cots & mattresses — not one piece of furniture — no shelves — no nothing. Wood is scarce & we are forbidden to pick up lumber to make things with– but we pick them up anyway because we’ve just got to have a table & some benches & shelves.

Right now, our room is all cluttered up with crates & baggage — hardly any room for us to walk in. It’s a very depressing sight, more like a warehouse — certainly does not look “homey.”