The Pitfalls and Profits of Researching Fiction--and a Giveaway

As an author, some stories are easy to write. They flow from my mind out onto the computer screen like a rushing waterfall. Others…not so much. My newest release, Lady and the Tramps, part of the Courting Calamity novella collection, falls in the second category—and one of the main reasons this one became so difficult is because of a little line on a map.

The novella focuses, in part, on a train robbery. So I needed to set the story close to a railroad track. I scoured California maps from 1874 to find the exact right location to set my story, and I thought I’d found it in San Luis Obispo. There was a line on various maps, clearly marked “Southern Pacific Branch Line,” indicating a train ran close enough to that town to fit my needs. In the northern portions of the map, that line had hash marks across it, but further south, the hash marks stopped, and it was a simple straight line. However, it was clearly marked as a branch line, so I started writing with that in mind.

Weeks later, with three-quarters of the story written and only fourteen days until my deadline, I did a quick Google search for another minor detail. That’s when the bottom dropped out. In researching that other little factoid, I read a single sentence that stated the railroad finally made it to the area I’d set my story in—twelve years after my story took place! The “branch line” on the 1874 map was a proposed location for the railroad—not the actual railroad line. That explained why the hash marks stopped further north. They’d only built the line to the point where the hash marks ran out--Soledad, California. MAJOR PITFALL!

So…did I simply move the story timeline forward by twelve years? Not without throwing a wrench in other historical details. Did I address the timeline error with an author’s note stating I knew the train didn’t reach that area until more than a decade later? If it had been a matter of a few months, I would have…but I could not, in good conscience, choose that solution when the time discrepancy was so large! So my only option was to reset the story further to the north—and revamp the plot to fit the new locale. Let me tell you, it took work and a very gracious extension to my deadline from my publisher. 

But here’s where things turn around. In researching new locations for the story, I discovered the very interesting town of Salinas, California. It fit my needs perfectly, and it was a joy to read up on the area in the process. So here’s a bit about this fascinating place.

Just eighteen miles east of Monterey, California, the area was originally settled by Native Americans, then became part of the Mission system under Spanish control. When California shifted into Mexico’s hands, the area was divided into smaller “ranchos.” Then California was ceded to the United States in 1848.  

At this point, Rancho Las Salinas became a crossroads where two prominent stagecoach lines passed. One traveled between Monterey and San Juan Bautista, and the other between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But in 1854, six years after California became part of the United States, some local American settlers decided to put a post office at the crossroads. Two years after that, the Half Way House—an inn for weary travelers—was built. The inn was quickly expanded into a full hotel, and it wasn’t long after that a mercantile, stable, and blacksmith shop were added. Thus, the town of Salinas was born.

During the 1850s and 1860s, the greater area around Salinas was used for running cattle, but by the late l860s, the focus shifted to planting. Everything from mustard and potatoes to grain crops like wheat and barley grew well in the area. When the county courthouse was moved from Monterey to Salinas, and the Southern Pacific Railroad agreed to route their upcoming branch line through the growing city, they put themselves on the map—literally and figuratively. 

Salinas grew from there, becoming one of the most modern cities of its size in California by the mid-1880s. It boasted a water company, a gas company, three newspapers, and electric lighting—all in addition to the multiple churches, shops, schools, hotels, and residences.

Here are a few interesting facts about Salinas, California, that I learned in my research:

·      In those early days, Salinas had the second largest “Chinatown” in California, only eclipsed by San Francisco.

·      Chinese Immigrants were largely responsible for the success of the crops in Salinas in the early days since they drained the marshes in the area and built the irrigation systems that allowed the crops to thrive.

·      Because of the great growing conditions—and the entrepreneurial mindset of Claus Spreckles—a sugar beet processing factory was built near Salinas and helped to form the industry for that crop nationwide.

·       By 1898, Spreckles brought two hundred Japanese men to the area to work in his sugar beet processing plant, developing quite a large and prosperous immigrant community in the thriving town.

·      The Japanese workers introduced celery, broccoli, and other crops into the repertoire of the area farmers, adding to the grains, root vegetables, grapes, and beet crops already grown there.

·      On February 27, 1902, author John Steinbeck was born in Salinas, California. Steinbeck went on to write many American classics such a The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Salinas is the setting for his novel, East of Eden. 

·      The California Rodeo began in 1911 in Salinas—and still continues today as one of the premier rodeo events in the nation.

·      During World War I, the Salinas Valley produced many crops to feed the Allied Armies in Europe.

·      During the 1920s, Salinas moved away from sugar beet crops to lettuce and artichokes, which are the mainstays of the farming industry of the area today. Salinas is now affectionately known as the "Salad Bowl of the World." 

·      In 1924, Salinas, California was one of the wealthiest cities in America, per capita.

·      During World War II, the California Rodeo grounds in Salinas became one of the temporary intake areas for the Japanese-Americans who were sent to internment camps due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. (If you’re unfamiliar with this piece of American history, I invite you to read some excellent HHH posts by Kiersti Giron here and Nancy J. Farrier here and here).

An example of the posters hung in western communities explaining FDR's Executive Order 9066.

That line on the map caused me quite a headache for a while…but in the long run, I’m glad it did. The history geek in me is glad to have been forced to research Salinas and learn just what an impact this town had on so many things.

It’s Your Turn: What pitfall have you experienced in your life or job that ended up being a profit to you in the end? And/or…what part of the history of Salinas that I presented here did you find most interesting? Leave your answer with your email address, and you’ll be entered in the drawing for a signed paperback copy of Courting Calamity, which includes my story, Lady and the Tramps. (US residents only).

COURTING CALAMITY—Available Now 

Heroes Needed for Four Damsels in Distress
Despite the determination to be strong and independent, four women of bygone days are in need of a hero.

Lady and the Tramps by Jennifer Uhlarik
California, 1874
When outlaws steal a deed from Mattie Welling, her dreams for her eight orphan charges from New York City are dashed. Can Wells Fargo detective Jake Hicken be trusted to pick up the pieces?

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list several times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers, Women Writing the West, and is a lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

Japanese Internment Camps: Americans Imprisoned in Their Homeland

By Kiersti Giron

Japanese-American detainees arrive for processing in Arcadia, CA
Originally uploaded by Shep182, English Wikipedia
File:SanPedro to SantaAnita.gif, Public Domain.

When we think of people confined in camps during World War II, we tend to think of Nazi concentration camps in Germany or Poland. Sadly, though, America also initiated internment camps within its borders during World War II, confining thousands of Japanese-Americans on suspicion that they might be traitorous to the United States, though such mistrust proved groundless.

While a close friend of my family was born as a premature baby in one of these internment camps, and though I frequently pass a racetrack where the stables formed a holding site for Japanese-American families before their transfer to the camps, I haven’t known much about this part of American history. Last fall, however, I read the memoir Farewell to Manzanar with my 9^th grade English Honors students, and this book, telling Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s personal story of her childhood experience in an internment camp, sparked my interest to learn more.

NPS Map of U.S. Japanese Internment Camps
 http://www.nps.gov, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

HHH blogger Nancy J. Farrier already did a great job several years ago in giving an overview of the Japanese internment program; I encourage you to read her posts here and here. Today, I thought I’d share some of the specific details that stand out most to me in what I’ve learned so far.

  1.      Most of those interned were American citizens born in the U.S.

About 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcibly relocated to camps during World War II. 70,000-80,000 of these were Nisei, or second-generation immigrants, United States citizens who considered themselves American.

  2.      Japanese-Americans were pressured to take an oath renouncing any loyalty to Japan

According to Farewell to Manzanar, people were required to check “yes” or “no” and sign an oath contained these two questions:

-          Are you willing to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?

-          Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?

For many Japanese-Americans, while they had no desire to work against their adopted country, the thought of taking up arms against the country of their heritage made choosing how to sign this document a divisive and heart-wrenching decision. It was like being asked to choose between your father or your mother.

Japanese-Americans transplanting celery at the Tule Lake Relocation Center
By (believed to be) Russel Lee, Library of Congress on Flickr, Public Domain.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13390546

  3.      German and Italian immigrants were not widely relocated or detained

Sadly, thanks to racism in America, only Japanese-American families were widely targeted for relocation and detention, despite the fact that America was also fighting Germany and Italy. In general, European immigrants were only targeted and detained if there were actual evidence against individuals.

  4.      The government created a special military combat team composed of Japanese-Americans

The 422^nd Regimental Combat Team was assembled to fight in the European Theater. This group of loyal Japanese-Americans, with their families largely imprisoned in internment camps, became the most highly decorated unit of World War II.

  5.      Residents in the camps developed their own social communities, like small towns

To preserve some sense of normalcy, families in the internment camps developed schools, churches, and social clubs. In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes her school yearbook from Manzanar, an isolated camp in northeastern California. Her memories included high school bands, a school play, and dance lessons. She also learned to twirl the baton.

Reconstructed barracks and dining hall at the Manzanar Camp
By inkknife_2000  https://www.flickr.com/photos, Wikimedia Commons

Those who survived the camps found the experience difficult to speak about afterwards, often for many years. One of my students shared that in her California neighborhood today, there reside a number of elderly Japanese-Americans who lived through the internment camps. “They don’t want to talk about it, though,” she said. 

While detainees in the camps did not experience the horror, torture, and killing of the Nazi concentration camps, the trauma of having their lives uprooted, their belongings confiscated, their families often separated, being crowded together in difficult conditions, and most of all, being treated as enemies by the country they loved, took a heavy toll.

The United States government formally apologized for the Japanese Internment Camps in 1988 and issued reparations, but the episode remains a painful reminder of what can happen when a group of people is targeted and vilified simply because of their heritage. More and more today, these stories are being shared, and we have the chance to listen to these Americans and learn from our past.

What do you know about the Japanese internment camps? What has stood out to you most about them, whether something you learned here or somewhere else? Please comment and share!

Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazines and won the 2013 ACFW Genesis Award - Historical for her manuscript Beneath a Turquoise Sky. A high school teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her wonderful husband, Anthony.

WWII Japanese Internment Camps - Part 2

With Nancy J. Farrier

In October, I shared with you the story of the Japanese Internment Camps. You can look back here to read about the Japanese people, most of them American citizens, being taken away from their homes and forced to live in concentration style camps. I said that this month I would share some personal thoughts from people who were kept in these camps.

Baggage of Japanese Heading to Camps

One of the books I recommended was written by Miné Okuba. She was at the Topaz Camp and taught art to the children. In her book, she has drawings she did while in the camps, along with her commentary about what life was like. You can view some of her pictures here. The book, Citizen 13660, is a quick read, and I was very impressed with Ms. Okuba’s positive outlook in the face of many difficulties. However, sometimes, you see her discouragement. Of the train trip from the holding camp at Tanforan to the Topaz camp, she says, “The trip was a nightmare that lasted two nights and a day. The train creaked with age. It was covered with dust, and as the gaslight failed to function properly we traveled in complete darkness most of the night…All shades were drawn and we were not allowed to look out the windows.”

Children at Jerome Camp

A newspaper staff person, interred at Minidoka, wrote to a friend, “[T]his life behind a fence is not a pleasant one, but nothing can be pleasant in these times, could it? I can now understand how an eagle feels when his wings are clipped and caged. Beyond the bars of his prison lies the wide expanse of the boundless skies, flocked with soft clouds, the wide, wide, fields of brush and woods—limitless space for the pursuit of Life itself.”

Not all messages were put into words. Henry Sugimoto was interred in Camp Jerome in Arkansas. The paintings he did of camp life are very moving. Here is a link to a page of his artwork. I was very touched by his Easter painting. 

The online collection of Estelle Ishigo's drawings depicts camp life in Heart Mountain, Wyoming and the detention center she was sent to first. Here is the page link to her artwork at the Japanese American National Museum. You can see the crowding in the mess hall and some of the dreariness of daily life.

Approximately 50 years after their interment, many of the Japanese returned to

Artifacts from Gila Camp

the sites where they were held. Nao Takasugi commented to a reporter, "I was just a 19-year-old kid, full of idealism and hope...and overnight to be brought to some place like this in the middle of the desert was just crushing." He goes on to talk about the difficulty of losing his civil rights as a citizen, something that is just as tough to live with today as it was then.

Many have good memories along with the hard memories. They formed lasting friendships in their community. My uncle, Toshio Odano, loved people and held no grudges. To the many, like Toshio, who were held in the camps, I would say, "I am blessed by your courage and honor."

Have you ever suffered an injustice, or a time of great difficulty? Share some blessing God has given you to be entered in a giveaway. I am giving away a surprise book and a handmade book thong.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and one grandson. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Karen Ball of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.