potbelly stove

While the Kumasaka family was incarcerated in Minidoka, a fire caused by an overheated potbelly stove burned down the Green Lake Community Center and vandals extensively damaged the farm’s greenhouses.

The loft, which rented for $40 a month, had no electricity — power was wired in from a light fixture in the hall — and was heated with a potbelly stove.

Once we were seated and Mrs. Brenner had put a kettle of tea on the small potbelly stove in the corner, she turned to me.

“We were crowded into one 20-by-20-foot room. There were ten of us all together! We had a single light bulb and a potbelly stove. No running water!”

It was raining and 44 degrees by the time everyone arrived, so the group retreated inside the cabin and huddled around its potbelly stove.