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Japanese at Cisco [Column_Cisco Range]

census_1900.jpg: the 1900 Census of Cisco

As we can read on the hood of UP locomotives, the word “build” seems more suitable than “find” for the American continent. According to the Trains News Wire, Chinese railroad workers who worked for building Central Pacific Railroad were inducted into the Labor Hall of Honor in 2014[1]. Here, in Cisco, we can also find the footprints of immigrant workers who helped build America.

According to the Topaz Museum Revised Interpretive Text, some 275000 Japanese immigrants arrived in the United States between 1885 and 1924. The 1910 Census recorded 2110 Japanese living in Utah, mostly in Salt Lake City and Ogden, working as farmers, miners, and on the railroad[2]. The 1900 Census, the first complete Census available for Cisco, recorded 89 people in the town. Among them, 27 immigrated males from Japan are listed as RR section hands. The youngest among them was fifteen years old at that time. The names listed are;

K. Hatanaka (畠中[presumed family name in kanji]、born in Japan, Jan 1875),
F. Inowya (probably Inoue. 井上、Japan, Nov 1870),
T. Inowya (probably Inoue. 井上、Japan, May 1865),
Sam Kajiyamma (probably Kajiyama. 梶山、Japan, May 1876),
Joe Kakita (柿田、Japan, Mar 1874)
J. Kubo (久保、Japan, Jan 1882),
H. Matsui (松井、Japan, Jan 1882),
J. Matsumito (probably Matsumoto. 松本、Japan, Mar 1879),
Kom Maeda (前田、Japan, May 1875),
T. Murikami (probably Murakami. 村上、Japan, Sep 1881),
G. Nakagawa (中川、Japan, Nov 1860),
Y. Nakagawa (中川、Japan, Nov 1868),
Otto Nakagawa (中川、Japan, Aug 1884),
T. Nakanishi (中西、Japan, Jun 1879),
B. Nakayama (中山、Japan, Mar 1882),
F. Nakayama (中山、Japan, Aug 1881),
B. Oda (小田、Japan, Apr 1882),
O. Oka (岡、Japan, Aug 1866),
T. Oka (岡、Japan, Sep 1877),
G. Tagire (田切、Japan, Aug 1881),
K. Tamaki (玉置、Japan, Jun 1874),
Ku Tamaki (玉置、Japan, Aug 1875),
Set Tamaki (玉置、Japan, Mar 1884),
Tanigucci (probably Taniguchi. 谷口、Japan, May 1878),
Tom Yabu (藪、Japan, May 1874),
V. Yada (矢田、Japan, Aug 1878),
K Yamaga (山家、Japan, May 1875).

Accompanied are four immigrant Section Foremen:
John Irondale (born in England, Jan 1856).
J. B. McDonald (Ireland, Jun 1840),
Frank Roff (Italy, May 1875),
Clyde Shaw (Ireland, Oct 1865).

playback-fm_colorize-photo_48e4f40b6a35d8fedc41130f0940e81f.jpeg: section gang photographed at Price, Utah. Courtesy, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University


Yozo Hashimoto(橋本養蔵, 1851 – 1914), a Japanese immigrant, established a labor agency in Salt Lake City in the 1870s, later followed by his nephew Edward Daigoro Hashimoto(橋本大五郎, 1875 – 1936) of E.D. Hashimoto Company founded in 1902[3, 4]. Hashimotos recruited Japanese immigrants to provide section hands for the Rio Grande and Western Pacific[5, 7]. Accordingly, these Japanese immigrants recorded at Cisco must have been sent to the section by Hashimotos.

Notice that everyone in the colorized photo above wears blue jeans: Levi Strauss began selling denim with suspender buttons in the 1870s. Hashimotos provided them Japanese food, rice, and clothes and sent their wages to Japan[5]. Though daily necessities were provided, the section gangs might have been forced to live in boxcars or tents, as the Census shows no marks of them owning or renting a home.


The railroad construction through Grand County was begun in 1881. According to the book Grand Memories, by then, most of the track gangs were Japanese and Chinese[6]. However, the construction was completed in 1883. Also, the relocating and standardizing of the mainline through Cisco was completed in 1890. Accordingly, the Japanese section gangs recorded in the 1900 Census might rather be maintained or constructed additional facilities than built the way.

1910 Census of Cisco records none of these section gangs. They might have been moved to another section. I’m moved as not only am I Japanese but there is the same family name with me on the list.


Newspaper clips below show the activities of Japanese immigrants:
Advertisement of E.D. Hashimoto recruiting D&RG gang on May 22, 1905 The Japanese American
Advertisement of the Oriental Construction Co. recruiting D&RG gang at Grand Junction on Nov. 29, 1912 The Colo-Shinbun
Season's Greetings message by the Japanese D&RG gang at Helper and Soldier Summit on Jan. 1, 1920 The Utah Nippo

nichibei-shinbun_19050522_01.jpg: May 22, 1905 The Japanese American
the-colo-shinbun_19121129.jpg: Nov. 29, 1912 The Colo-Shinbun
the-utah-nippo_19200101.jpg: Jan. 1, 1920 The Utah Nippo


Here is another story of the Japanese at Cisco.

On January 11, 1943, sixteen Japanese-American males were pulled into the by-then abandoned Dalton Wells Civilian Conservation Corps camp, located about 27 miles southwest of Cisco[8].

In total, more than 50 Japanese-American males were incarcerated here called Moab Isolation Center. But they were transferred to Leupp, Arizona on April 27 of the same year, due to the camp’s harsh environments[9].

The first sixteen Japanese-American males left signatures in Japanese on a sheet dated April 14, 1943, as listed below[10]:

Ichiji Ted Akaboshi (signature in Japanese・赤星一次)
Geiji Yamaguchi (山口源二)
Shigetoshi Sam Tateishi (立石茂敏)
Yoshisuke Joseph(Gil) Kurihara (栗原好助)
Kozo Fred Ogura (小倉幸三)
Kinji Kurozumi (黒住謹示?)
Keizo Arataka (荒崇敬三)
Sokichi Harry Hashimoto (橋本宗吉)
Tadao Nakagawa (中川忠雄)
Toshikazu Ben Kishi (貴志敏一)
Tamotsu Tommy Kono (河野保)
Hiroshi Raynard Hirai (ヒライヒロシ)
Kazuo Suzukawa (鈴川一男)
Kinzo Wakayama (若山金藏)
Shigeishi ? (?)
Yoshio Harry Ueno (上野義雄)

The rest are listed below[11];

Kumiharu Frank Ego
Masakazu Frank Fukuichi
Kameichi Fukumoto
Teruyoshi Harada
Tsutomu Higashi
Hiroshi Engaku
Nobuo Hiraoka
Masao Henry Imahara
Shigeyoshi Victor Inouye
Mitsuo Kaida
Yoshiro Kazu
Seio Kamamori
Hiroshi Kamiya
Masuo Kanno
Masao Kawate
Ichiji Kimura
Kinoe Kiyama
Masaharu Dick Kodani
Naoji Bill Kuga
Wataru Jack Makihara
Saburo Frank Marubashi
Kazuto Masumoto
Tatsuo Bob Matsuda
Kameichi Matsumoto
Kazume Tom Mizuno
Mamoru Yoshi Morishige
Kiyoji Nakamura
Nimashi Oishi
Minoru Otsuka
Yoshio Saika
Ichiro Roy Sato
Yoshiichi Shibanaka
Kentaro Takatsui
Kenji Bill Tanabe
Masataka Tanabe
Masaaki Tanaka
Masashi Mike Tanimoto
Koichi Bill Tsuji
Minoru Tsuji
Tsutomu Umezu
Yoshimasa Uno
Jyoji Geroge Yamashiro
Hoshio Yamato
Yukio Roy Yokome
revised, May 27, 2022
revised, Apr. 28, 2023
revised, Jan. 12, 2024

[1] May 9, 2014 Trains News Wire;
[2] Topaz Museum Revised Interpretive Text;
[3] Papanikolas, Helen Z., Kasai, Alice, (1976) Japanese Life in Utah, Utah History to Go
[4] Taniguchi, Nancy J., (1994) Japanese Immigrants in Utah, Utah History Encyclopedia
[5] Bradley, Martha S., (2000) The Changing Face of Faith, Heterotopolis, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture;
[6] Daughters of Utah pioneers, (1972) Grand Memories, Utah Publishing Company
[7] Crouse, Lorraine, (2016) Building Tracks to New Beginnings: Japanese Railroad Workers in the West, J. Willard Marriott Library Blog, The University of Utah;
[8] Firmage, Richard A., (1996) A History of Grand County, Utah State Historical Society
[9] Utah Division of State History web page
[10] Louthan, Bruce D., (1993) "Moab Japanese-American Isolation Center", Vol. 19, Canyon Legacy, Dan O'Laurie Museum of Moab
[11] Moab Museum Insatagram;

daltonwells_signatures.jpg: Harry Y. Ueno Papers, JARP, UCLA
 
 
ユニオン・パシフィック鉄道のディーゼル機関車には「Building America」と記されているものがある。確かに、アメリカ合衆国には「設立」より「建設」が相応しい。先頃、大陸横断鉄道の建設に従事した中国人労働者がアジア系として初めて「Labor Hall of Honor」に殿堂入りしたという記事が「Trains News Wire」に出ていた。ここ、Ciscoにもそのようなアジア系移民労働者の足跡が遺されている。

Cisco の町ができて最初の国勢調査にあたる1900年のCensusでは、89名の人々がCisco の町に登録されている。そのうち27名は日本生まれの鉄道工夫である。一番の若手はまだ15歳だ。和歌山県東牟婁郡串本町出身の橋本養蔵(1851 – 1914)や、その甥で同じく東牟婁郡出身の橋本大五郎(1875 – 1936)らがSalt Lake Cityで口入れ屋を営み、Rio GrandeやWestern Pacificに日本人を工夫として派遣していたらしい。そういえば和歌山県にはアメリカ村と呼ばれる地区がある。

和食材や米・衣服は、その口入れ屋が提供していた。しかし、国勢調査に彼ら日本人工夫の住まいについての記録はない。この頃まだMOW sleeperなどはRio Grandeの車両リストに見当たらない。どうやら貨車を寝床にしていたようだ。

10年後の1910年に実施された国勢調査に、彼ら日本人工夫の名前はひとりも見当たらない。どこか他の現場に移動したのだろう。リストに筆者と同姓の人がいる。筆者の親族に該当者こそいないものの感慨深い。

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