In September of 1942, Tanforan internees began to be transferred to Topaz Relocation Center in the Utah desert. They wrote from ancient trains carrying them to an unknown and unknowable future, drawing comfort from the kindness of Pullman dining car waiters:

 

September 21, 1942
To my mother, Bldg. 80 – Apt. 3, Tanforan Assembly Center, San Bruno, Calif.
From a friend, en route from Tanforan to Topaz, Utah

What a night on this antique pullman…

The colored waiters are so nice & thoughtful…  

Enjoying the luxury of our first civilized meal (breakfast) in 4 months: tomato juice, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, pork sausages, milk or coffee…

Nothing but miles of sage & desert now. They’re going to let us off for 30 minutes about 9:30…

They wrote from hastily constructed Topaz barracks coated inside and out with dust:

 

September 22, 1942
To my mother, Bldg. 80, Apt. 3, Tanforan
From a friend, 23-4B, Topaz, Utah

What a hot bed of extra fine dust, the kind that flies up like a smoke screen & takes forever to settle. It’s just like powder of a dirty white color. Right now the streets aren’t made yet so the road is terrific, about 1/2 ft. in dust. No use polishing shoes…

It’s so hot don’t feel like doing anything. We’ve been sweeping & mopping but still the dust won’t go away…

 

Topaz Relocation Center, photographed by Tom Parker. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.


September 20, 1942
To my mother, Bldg. 80 – Apt. 3, Tanforan Assembly Center, San Bruno, Calif.
From a friend, Block 5, Bldg. 2, Apt. 3, Central Utah Relocation Project, Topaz, Utah

How are things in Tanforan now?  I have been here a little over a week and I feel as if I have been here for months…

 

Continue to A Telegram to Topaz

 

Topaz Concentration Camp. In the public domain. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.