"Written by iVlATAKUSKA DAY- May 30, 1S45
Ruth Havener & Edna Garberc Read bv r.hnrlo.rir. Sr.nt.h
In the early months of Springtime
In the year of thirty-five
Cane the colonists to the Valley
To the.fertile Mat’anuska
Cane they witfi. their bags and .bundle
Came they with their \yives and
children
Till the families numbered three
and two hundred.
Came they filled with hope and >
,t Courage
Came they filled with strength and
vigor
To this nev; land,
To this Northland,
To this 2,and of brighter promise.
By the railroad tracks they’halted.
There they pitched■their first tent
'city.
Wide before thejn lay the Valley
Circled round with mountains tall,
ith the rivers winding through it
ireads of water through the sand,
in the distance lay:.the glacier
As it had for ages past.. "
v i. < ■
Trpe the soil was rich and black,
True the climate not too rugged
But the trees wore -there in -numbers
Spruce and birch had been there
And the rains,they fell in plenty'/
To say nothing of the winds. - >
CHICKAL00N3, the Indians cnllb'd then
Not to be confused, dqar people f
With the soft and gentle CHINOOK.
Not to be compared, dear people
'•/ith any wind you ever heard of.
Fierce they were, '
And‘most confounding
31 ow they dust up from the river, y.
■Blow they tent flaps wide assundar,
‘‘/hipped the clothes from the clothes
lines ,
Till the brave colonists wondered,
Could they beat the odds,* against
them
Could they fight the trees and winds
and muskeg,
The "nosccums" and mosquitoes.
"at to mention MUD.
. lick and sticky clinging mud-..
Work was there and work in plenty
•For. the trees possessed the Valley
And the trees fought back the
; '" clearing-.,
•Grudged the men each inch tiroy gave 1
, them,
Till the bull dozers won the battle
And pushed them into piles for i.
burning.., .
While the men folks fought the
forest
Women had their griefs and woes,
Keeping house in makeshift quarters
t&'ptching children, helping husbands.
WLL1 the daily tasks seemed harder
In this land so new and strange.
Then a sickness came upon them,
Bringing sorrow, grief and pain,
But the strongest stood the burden
While the weak ones went away.
Long day light hours the summer
brought thorn
Days that scarcely darkened into • j
night.
So they labored all tliat summer
Clearing land, and building houses,
Setting up their camps to'live in,
Till their homes they had completed.
Still the ■ early snow of Autumn
Came before some homos were finished,
And the icy fingers of th_ North
wind
Reached down into the Valley
Warning of the coming winter.
Then the nights began to lengthen
And the Northern lights to show.'
Still they workpd■throughout the
•. .. • • V:inter
So the Spring might find them ready
Ready then. t6 plow the soil and
plant it"
Beady then to till and .weed, and'
hoc,
"To guard field's until the harvest,
Till the harvest:time sh’uld come.
So that first hard year was ppont
here*
So have other seasons come and gone.
Growing. ip the Valley and its people
Gaining that for which they Came
hero*
Y/ork to do and homos to keep
Hope.for the coming generation
Good new hones, a school and
splendid children,
Laughing, learning, growing,
‘thriving,
In this rich and fertile valley,
In this Valley, Matanuska.
Several people have expressed
the desiro to have a copy "of this
poem which wa-s road so well by
Charlene Smith on Colony Day. By
permission of the authors of
"Matanuska Day" it is printed so
thst others may enjoy it also. It
is so trhc to what actually happen
ed that ohc would' think they were
(here at. the tine.
i