Voices from This Long Brown Land: Oral Recollections of Owens Valley Lives and Manzanar Pasts (Palgrave Studies in Oral History)

In this engaging oral history, residents of California's scenic, sparsely-populated Owens Valley reflect on their varied experiences with the region's turbulent past. Contested themes of Native American removal, water transfers, and wartime internment are interwoven with remembrances of the valley's multicultural communities, its cattle ranching and agriculture, and its Western filmmaking, railroad, and mining enterprises. Together, author and narrators create an accessible and richly textured work of history, memory, and place. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 1-26 Nettie Roeper Fausel (1874–1968) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 29-35 W.C. “Stub” Lydston (1870–1957) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 37-42 Truman Buff (1906–1996) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 43-57 Vic Taylor (1910–2001) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 59-77 Emily Roddy (b. 1911) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 79-93 Concha Lozano Salas (1915–2003) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 95-107 Owen Cooper (b. 1916) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 109-121 LaVerne Reynolds Zediker (1919–1996) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 123-136 Ritsuko Eder (b. 1917), Doris Semura (1912–2005), Dawn Kashitani (b. 1910) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 137-147 Nancy Connor Zischank (1907–2000) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 149-167 Mary Kageyama Nomura (b. 1925) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 169-185 Keith Bright (b. 1915) (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 187-204 Afterword (Jane Wehrey)....Pages 205-206 Back Matter ....Pages 207-238 1. I Raised Some Coyotes Once / Nettie Roeper Fausel -- 2. The Valley Is Nothin' Like It Was In The Old Days / W.c. Stub Lydston -- 3. That's How I Spent Most Of My Time, Among The White People / Truman Buff -- 4. Water Is Everything / Vic Taylor -- 5. It Was A Railroad Hotel, Made Of Box Cars -- Everything Was Box Cars / Emily Roddy -- 6. We Were A Close Bunch Of People, A Lot Of Good People / Concha Lozano Salas -- 7. We Maintained The Individuality Of The Towns And The Newspapers / Owen Cooper -- 8. I Was What They Called A Real Good Cowgirl / Laverne Reynolds Zediker -- 9. On That Day, The Sand Blew And It Got Into Our Eyes And Oh, It Made Us Weep / Ritsuko Eder, Doris Semura And Dawn Kashitani. [edited By] Jane Wehrey. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [215]-227) And Index. Collects the stories of fourteen individuals from Owens Valley, California, which discuss the areas' history as a former Paite Indian and pioneer community, the relocation of 110,000 Japanese Americans to the Manzanar War Relocation Center during World War II, and the conflicts over the transfer of water from the valley to Los Angeles