FAII.HR, ALASKA
Dorothy M. Bell, Editor
Published every week at Palmer, A1. ska for the Matanuska Valley Farriers1 Cooperating
Association for‘the purpose of giving news of the Associations Nork, Froblons and
Accomplishments, as Sell as news of general interest to the Valley,
SUBSCRIPTION HATE $1. 75 per year 10{* a copy.
HELLO FOLKS.
Iiv scite of all rumors to the contrary,‘the Editor of the Valley Settler did return
to tbfe Valley—a little late to be sure, but she is here. The Editor never had any
intention of not returning at this tine. In tho first place, her apartment was left
intact and ready for inmeditte'occupancy upon her return. Nothing was packed for
shipment. In the second place, the Editor bought a round trip to Minneapolis and back
before leaving the Territory on July 15th, But knowing Palmer as well as she does
after 12 years of residaice, the story did not surprise her.
After a two week's delay in my'plans for a trip tc vhe States, I managed to lea^ve
Anchorage on lUesday afternoon, July 15th and arrived in Seattle near midnight. As is
so often the ease in big cities during'summer norths', the hotels were filled With
delegates to some kind of a convention# About 2 a,re. however, I did find a room and
had a few winks of sleep'before boarding a plane at 8 a.m. for llinneetoolis. . I arrived
in Idinneapolis at 5:15 p#n. that same day( the, 16th') and found the Aquitsnnial in full
swing. Fortunately I didn’t need an hotel r6om there as I could take a bus home or
remain with relatives or friends in the city.—It was too hot to sleep any..'ay.
The following week was really nice as the weather moderated to tdnperatufes more like
those of Alaska than what I encountered upon arrival. After that,however, the Weather
man showed no mercy. Along with a high humidity the temperature soared to 90°, 100
and 105d. There had been ho rain for five weeks and you can well imagine what this
did to the gardens and crops. Sometimes hot rinds accompanied the soaring temper
atures.
On the 5th of August we sought the cooler temperatures of Duluth and the north shdre
of Lake Superior. It was a cool 70° degrees there, but before we left on the 7th,
the temperature want up to 85°. People in Duluth think that is terribly hot.
From the 9th to the 18th we visited in TaterLoc, Cedar Falls, and Jesup, Iowa where
the temperatures were a little.higher than in Minnesota. Ono would expect that Iowa
would not be suffering from drought so soo" after the heavy rains, but it was extron
ly dry and the ground was baked and dry. -he corn ‘was curling up'from the heat, and'
farmers are talcing a heavy loss in corn production. Reports were, when I left there,
that meat would be a vary scarce item in another year..
~e returned to Minnesota before starting ■'rest and attended the opening day of the
Minnesota State Fair, This was the first State Fair for several years. On the
opening day there was an estimated 45,000 attBhdance before the evening*s'count was
taken. Of course we could not begin to cover the Fair Grounds in one day, but we
did enjoy ■diat we could in suite of the intense'heat. During the evening ten High
School bands competed for a first prise of $500.00. Following that the usual grand
display of fireworks ended the days entertainment at the Grand Stand.
The following day, August 24th, we boarded the train for Kansas City vihere we trans
ferred to'the Grand Canyon Limited on the Santa Fe for Los Angeles. Te arrived at
11:30 a.m. on Tuesday the 26th. Te visited in Carlsbad (out of Oceanside),Arlington
(near Riverside) and then boarded the Southern Pacific for San Francisco. Ve visited
at Sebastopol until we’were able to get transportation on to Seattle. It was ’ed
nerday morning 12:25 a.m. before we could get a plane out of San Francisco. From
then on we made excellent time as we were in Anchorage at 12:30 noon that same day.
California weather was much more comfortable than the mid-west weather. Temperatures
did go up to 101®- on Labor Day, but this was dry heat which makes a lot of difference.
At Sebastopol it was very cool just as soon as the -sun went down.
I have always admired Alaskan mountains and a trip to the States makes me appreciate
them'much more. They are hard to equal—in fact I did not find their equal on this
trip, but 1 know I missed -mai*y' scenic views, because I had'to travel too fast and
couldn’t stop for tho side trips I would have liked to make. Summer time is a very
poor time to visit California because it is so very dry and everything that, is not
irrigated is dried up.