My dad’s work involved irrigation canals, and he began noticing the catfish that were thriving in these canals. That was where he got the idea for the fish pond.
He asked the residents of Block 20, where we lived, if they wanted a pond. They must have said “Yes” because the next thing we knew, the pond was under construction. My dad got a few other guys to help. I have no idea where they got the concrete and other materials to build it. It was right outside the Block 20 mess hall. Water undoubtedly had to be carried in buckets to fill it. Then my dad caught some catfish from the irrigation canals and relocated them (just as we had been “relocated”) to Topaz. There was even a spindly tree–a rare sight in Topaz. And so my father created a little oasis in the middle of the Utah desert.
We didn’t fish in the pond, or eat the fish. The pond was just something for us to enjoy, to give us some relief from the unrelenting desert.
Tears well up as I read your story, Jun-san. I’ve just returned from Topaz, where I went with the Wakasa Memorial Committee to mark the one year since the local museum board dug up and dragged away the Memorial Stone our Issei ancestors had to hide. I, too, seek closure. I think our history being treated with dignity will help.
Thank you, Masako, for your kind words. I did not know there was a Topaz Stories group, but Yae Yedlosky and her family, the Kami’s and we were neighbors in Topaz; Yae told Ann Dion/Ruth Sasaki about my dad’s fish pond. And that’s this story got told.
I really would like to visit Salt Lake and the Topaz exhibit being shown in their State Capitol — but with Covid…….