(Fresnans arrive)
(Excerpts from the Daily Log of the WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Central Utah Relocation Project, Project Reports Division, Historical Section. Topaz, Utah)
OCTOBER 7 (1942)
STUDENTS LEAVE — The first students to leave Topaz for further study were Cromwell D. Mukai, Mitsuo Yamamoto and George Hirose who left this afternoon. The three students have been accepted by the midwestem universities.
BEET WORKERS — Nine sugar beet workers left for work in Malheur County, Oregon. The third sugar beet furlough group, comprising 53 residents, boarded the busses for the sugar beet fields of Idaho and Oregon.
FRESNANS ARRIVE — A party of five from the Fresno Assembly Center arrived this morning to rejoin relatives. They were Mr. and Mrs. T. H|tomi*, Mr. and Mrs. Yamashita and their son.
OCTOBER 8
BARBER SHOP — The barber service opened this morning at Recreation Hall 12, across the road from the canteen. A 10-chair shop was maintained with prices as follows: haircuts for adults, 25 cents; and for children, 20 cents.
NEW ARRIVALS — 550 former San Franciscans from the Santa Anita Assembly Center in Arcadia arrived today. The first bus from the Delta depot reached Topaz a little after 1 p.m. They were settled in Blocks 33, 34, and part of 40, increasing the City’s population to 7,856.
OCTOBER 9
4-TON ROCK — A four-ton monumental rock was secured for the Topaz hospital through the efforts of the Community Activities Division. The rock-hunting party, including George Lewis, dramatic teacher, journeyed 21 miles west to the mountains.
OBITUARY — Kozo Baba, 21, pioneer San Franciscan, passed away at 5:15 p.m. at the Topaz hospital. He suffered a heart attack. The body was cremated in Salt Lake City.
*The Hitomis’ daughter, Suzanne, a poet in Alameda, CA, pays tribute to her parents’ old pre-War neighborhood in “Bank Alley.” You can read it on our website (see the link in our bio).
Previous “Daily Log” entries:
October 3-5: Tar
September 29-October 1: Community Council
September 27-28: Dust, new arrivals
September 23-26: Outside workers, lost and found
September 22: First baby
September 18-21: First frost
September 17: First group arrives
September 15: Topaz Times launched
September 11: Welcome to Topaz
The Topaz Stories Team
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City before it closes on December 31, 2022.
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)