History: The Japanese Invade Bluewater Valley
Posted: Friday, June 29, 2012 By Paul Milan, Historical Society - for the Beacon
In 1941-42, when my family moved to the Milan Ranch, there was no school bus service for grade school. My brother and I walked to the highway and the high school bus picked us up. This day, the bus was full and, as we stood in the aisle looking at all these huge older students, a beautiful Japanese girl grabbed me by the hand and sat me on her lap. I gasped because I had seen newsreels of Japanese-Americans being interned in camps.
We had just moved from Gallup, and the only Japanese person that we had ever seen was Hershey Miyamura. Hershey was a very popular among his peers and was the center of attraction of teenagers gathering at the drugstore. Hershey joined the U.S. Service and became a hero during World War II. A memorial, a street, and a school are dedicated to Hershey in Gallup.
The Japanese girl that I just met was Marie Togami. Marie and her family lived on a farm in the Bluewater Valley. I also found out that the Yonomoto family and Mr. and Mrs. S. Lee lived in the valley. The story was that Captain W.C. Reid was responsible for bringing these families to Bluewater to help establish the vegetable farms. George Rowley from Bluewater had proven that high-quality vegetables could be farmed. Captain Reid was well connected and convinced the government to allow these families to move here to avoid internment since they could be easily watched. I met one of the Yonomotos in San Rafael driving around picking up workers for the farm; he rejected us eight-year-olds. In 1943, the high school yearbook had Tazue Yonomoto, as a senior, and Marie Togami and another female student named Yonomoto as juniors.
After the war the Yonomotos moved to Albuquerque and established Yonomoto’s Nursery and Appliance Store. Every year my family would buy plants from them, and they treated us like relatives.
The Togami sisters were Marie and Rose. The brothers were Henry, Arthur, Jim, Paul, and Joe. They graduated from Grants High School. Henry earned the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his valor and earned a BS in mechanical engineering. He worked at Sandia Laboratories for 28 years. Arthur was very visible to everyone that was farming. My father converted the sheep ranch to a farm, and Arthur was always available for advice. I remember him coming over on a Tennessee walking horse. The horse was so big, I never could figure out how he got on the horse, or how he saddled it. Arthur moved to Los Lunas and established the famous Togami Farms.
Jim and Paul Togami were my classmates in high school and college; they were all around athletes, held student offices, and were outstanding scholars. Joe was the youngest and was an outstanding student. Jim served in the Armed Forces in Korea and graduated in electrical engineering. Paul graduated with a BS and a MS in mechanical engineering. Joe was a freshman studying agricultural engineering when I was a senior at NMSU.
Mr. Lee told me that he came to the U.S. where he earned a master’s degree in mining. He had a goldmine in Mexico, and, during the expropriation of all mining interests, he was expelled and moved to California to become a racecar mechanic. Captain Reid brought him to the valley to take care of farm machinery. Mr. Lee bought farm equipment and did custom work for others. After the war, Mr. Lee approached my father who had begun farming with a Japanese contractor from California and other partners from Arizona. Mr. Lee told my father that, since my father owned the land, water and equipment and had the farming knowhow, he would farm and my father would handle the finance and marketing. Thus, Milan and Lee Farms originated. Milan and Lee sold carrots to the buyers from Atlanta, Georgia and were told that it was pleasure to deal with growers with good old Southern names like “Milan & Lee”. I was supposed to work for Mr. Lee, and after a week of being escorted around the farm, he finally said that under his custom he could not tell his partner’s son what to do. Therefore, arrangements were made for me to work for Stanley and Card Farms. They had no trouble giving me work with the ditch crew and every other dirty job.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee became part of our family, lived next door to us, and when my parents were gone they fed me Japanese food fit for a king. Mr. Lee died in 1953, and my father and I followed his notes, and with the foreman that Mr. Lee trained, we were able to farm until 1956. Mrs. Lee moved in with us, for a year, since she wanted to return to Japan only after she received American citizenship, because she was going back only because she had a son in Japan and she might want to return. She wrote homesick letters to us thru her niece in San Francisco who would translate them into English. The lesson that I learned from these relationships is that you cannot judge an American by their looks or where their ancestors came from.
In the realm of coincident, when I was living in Mexico City, a young Japanese-American girl from Chicago stayed at the same boarding house as mine. She asked me where I was from and, since I was used to people not knowing where Grants was, I answered, “ from New Mexico near Albuquerque.” She queried me more, and I answered Grants. She said, “I know where that is, we used to visit Mr. and Mrs. S. Lee at a farm near Grants”. She also told me that her family was interned during the war. Although it was hard on her parents, it was like going to summer camp for the kids, “They even gave us script to buy candy.”
This and other stories by the Cibola Historical Society can be found on their website: www.cibolahistory.org
We had just moved from Gallup, and the only Japanese person that we had ever seen was Hershey Miyamura. Hershey was a very popular among his peers and was the center of attraction of teenagers gathering at the drugstore. Hershey joined the U.S. Service and became a hero during World War II. A memorial, a street, and a school are dedicated to Hershey in Gallup.
The Japanese girl that I just met was Marie Togami. Marie and her family lived on a farm in the Bluewater Valley. I also found out that the Yonomoto family and Mr. and Mrs. S. Lee lived in the valley. The story was that Captain W.C. Reid was responsible for bringing these families to Bluewater to help establish the vegetable farms. George Rowley from Bluewater had proven that high-quality vegetables could be farmed. Captain Reid was well connected and convinced the government to allow these families to move here to avoid internment since they could be easily watched. I met one of the Yonomotos in San Rafael driving around picking up workers for the farm; he rejected us eight-year-olds. In 1943, the high school yearbook had Tazue Yonomoto, as a senior, and Marie Togami and another female student named Yonomoto as juniors.
After the war the Yonomotos moved to Albuquerque and established Yonomoto’s Nursery and Appliance Store. Every year my family would buy plants from them, and they treated us like relatives.
The Togami sisters were Marie and Rose. The brothers were Henry, Arthur, Jim, Paul, and Joe. They graduated from Grants High School. Henry earned the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his valor and earned a BS in mechanical engineering. He worked at Sandia Laboratories for 28 years. Arthur was very visible to everyone that was farming. My father converted the sheep ranch to a farm, and Arthur was always available for advice. I remember him coming over on a Tennessee walking horse. The horse was so big, I never could figure out how he got on the horse, or how he saddled it. Arthur moved to Los Lunas and established the famous Togami Farms.
Jim and Paul Togami were my classmates in high school and college; they were all around athletes, held student offices, and were outstanding scholars. Joe was the youngest and was an outstanding student. Jim served in the Armed Forces in Korea and graduated in electrical engineering. Paul graduated with a BS and a MS in mechanical engineering. Joe was a freshman studying agricultural engineering when I was a senior at NMSU.
Mr. Lee told me that he came to the U.S. where he earned a master’s degree in mining. He had a goldmine in Mexico, and, during the expropriation of all mining interests, he was expelled and moved to California to become a racecar mechanic. Captain Reid brought him to the valley to take care of farm machinery. Mr. Lee bought farm equipment and did custom work for others. After the war, Mr. Lee approached my father who had begun farming with a Japanese contractor from California and other partners from Arizona. Mr. Lee told my father that, since my father owned the land, water and equipment and had the farming knowhow, he would farm and my father would handle the finance and marketing. Thus, Milan and Lee Farms originated. Milan and Lee sold carrots to the buyers from Atlanta, Georgia and were told that it was pleasure to deal with growers with good old Southern names like “Milan & Lee”. I was supposed to work for Mr. Lee, and after a week of being escorted around the farm, he finally said that under his custom he could not tell his partner’s son what to do. Therefore, arrangements were made for me to work for Stanley and Card Farms. They had no trouble giving me work with the ditch crew and every other dirty job.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee became part of our family, lived next door to us, and when my parents were gone they fed me Japanese food fit for a king. Mr. Lee died in 1953, and my father and I followed his notes, and with the foreman that Mr. Lee trained, we were able to farm until 1956. Mrs. Lee moved in with us, for a year, since she wanted to return to Japan only after she received American citizenship, because she was going back only because she had a son in Japan and she might want to return. She wrote homesick letters to us thru her niece in San Francisco who would translate them into English. The lesson that I learned from these relationships is that you cannot judge an American by their looks or where their ancestors came from.
In the realm of coincident, when I was living in Mexico City, a young Japanese-American girl from Chicago stayed at the same boarding house as mine. She asked me where I was from and, since I was used to people not knowing where Grants was, I answered, “ from New Mexico near Albuquerque.” She queried me more, and I answered Grants. She said, “I know where that is, we used to visit Mr. and Mrs. S. Lee at a farm near Grants”. She also told me that her family was interned during the war. Although it was hard on her parents, it was like going to summer camp for the kids, “They even gave us script to buy candy.”
This and other stories by the Cibola Historical Society can be found on their website: www.cibolahistory.org