Oral Histories

Willie Daniels came to Hanford from Texas by way of Oklahoma, where he worked at a naval air station. He was one of thousands of African Americans who left low paying jobs at home for high pay at wartime Hanford. Like many others, he came for the good pay. He and his brother made $19.20 on their first day of work, more than his brother made in one month on the railroad. Daniels worked mostly pouring concrete and performing manual labor; he poured concrete for all the reactors in the 100 area. In this interview, Daniels recalls Hanford social life, working conditions, and race relations.

Robley “Rob” Johnson arrived in Hanford May 2, 1943, at the age of 35, one of the first DuPont people on the scene. He came from Gopher Ordnance Works, a powder plant near St. Paul. At Hanford, Johnson supervised DuPont’s photo crew. The War Department photographs of Hanford released after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were his, although he did not receive direct credit.

Margaret Hoffarth was born in Colorado and moved west with her parents, traveling to Idaho in a wagon train. She was a forty-three year-old widow with three sons when she came to work in the Hanford Mess Hall in 1943. She recalls work, social life, and secrecy at Hanford, as well as the sudden emptiness of the site after the war. One of Hoffarth’s sons was killed in action during World War II.