VALLEY SElTLER
Published once a week in Palmer,
Alaska for the Matanuska Valley
Farmers* Cooperating Association,
for the purpose of giving news of
the Association's work, problems
and accomplishments.
By... Lucille Lc Due
$1*75. Pcr year
10^.per copy
CONGRAi ULAl IONS
MATANUSKA V ALL EY I
The December 15th issue of the
Alaska Market News, gave some in
teresting figures .on the value of
farm products in Alaska for the
past year. While the writers, on
whom Commissioner of Agriculture
for Alaska, Clyde Sherman, depend
ed to ;et the figures that were
given; do not claim that they are
the exact figures, they do seem to
be reasonably close.
The total value for all farm
products is given as §2,186,235.53
of which the Matanuska Valley pro
duced over one-half of the total,
or the sum of §1,27^*803»53• These
figures included fresh vegetables,
potatoes, milk, beef, pork and
ergs.
These figures indicate the steady
growth of^agriculture in the Mat
anuska Valley'- during the last ten
years. This shows that production
has increased over four hundred
per cent during this space of time.
In 19UTj there were only a few
poorly equiped, .producing farms;
cleared land was scarce and most
of the government’!s clearing pro
gram was completed, so since that
time most of the clearing has been
done at the farmers' expense.
Many farmers and most of the bus
iness men in the Valley did not
have much confidence in the devel
opment of agriculture at that time.
It seemed that the best bet would
be to use the farm for a subsis
tance homestead and for the farmer
to work out to get enough money to
live on, However, there were a
few farmers who made their living
on their farms.during this time.
Markets were limited for Anchor
age had less than four thousand
- people, and it is doubtful if there
were more than twenty thousand peo
ple along the whole railbelt in
me government was stai-txng
to build the defense installations
at Fort Richardson and Elmondorf
Air Base, but the work was being
done pretty slowly because labor
was scarce, as well as materials,
and plans for construction were not
always forthcoming. This was also
a pretty poor year for the Valley
because markets had not yet been
established. The Army and Air
Force were still making San Fran
cisco the marketing center for bids
on supplies. No allowance was made
for freight to Alaska. It took
over a year to get a favorable rul
ing on this matter. Finally, the
Army decided that the local farm
products v/ould bo accepted on bids
if they were not more than high
er than the California prices.
! In the winter of T1;. 1— 1J4-2 most of
'the male population of the Valley
Iwere working for the Army; even dur
ing the summer of fI4.2 most of the
ifarms were operated by the women and
children while their husbands and
fathers were working for Uncle Sam
on defense installations, '/ages
were good, and most men worked a
lot of overtime so there were a lot
of good large checks. Much credit
must' be rtiven to most of the men
who worked on the Air Base in those
years. It was used to improve their
farms in the Valley, or to build
and furnish homes in Anchorage.
New tractors and other needed e
quipment became available to the
farmers who had struggled for a liv
ing on their farms without too much
'success during the few succeeding
years. By 1943> the Co-op had con
tracted with the Army for everything
that could be raised in the Valley,
at good prices. The farmers had be
come more proficient in raising
crops that were of a suitable kind
and quality to be used by the Army,
so a couple of prosperous years were
en .i oved.
When the fimhtiny war ended in
19U5, the Army became confused on
their buildiny program, Congress wa?
unable to make up its mind ns to
whether extra defenses were necess
ary in Alaska, and there was a de
cline in the demand for farm pro
ducts. This had an adverse effect
on agriculture in the Valley for a
couple of years, but, by lbli-S the
new program was started and since
then conditions have improved con
siderably.
Any assurance of peace for oven a
few years now, would present new
problems for the farmers in the Val
ley, but most of them arc better
prepared now and it should not be
too difficult to make the necessary
a d j us tmen ts. C.R,R,