PALMER, AL'SICA
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Dorothy M. Bell, Editor
Published every Friday at Palmer, Alaskaka, for. the Matanuslca Valley Fanners*
^otmerdtlng- Association for the purpose of giving news of the Associations Hork,
jhroplerts,'anfl| Acoojrapli6hments» ' ;/ ’ ■ f , •\ < '*_ /
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"THE SCENERY OVER THERE IS JUST LIKE IT IS HERE?". Adakian
FT. RICHARDSON, LASKA—The above JLine is the caption of a cartoon. drawn by a member
of the Adakian (Adak'S Array Newspaper) staff, which portrayed an. old-timer ia1 the
kieutians showing a newcomer around the island. . ■ . r
’ - ' • / • | y.
The Aleutians are all the same. They all have ghostly vol’canpes, black lava soil and
rock, boggy tufidra that resbmbles'a weed patdh in any back yard, plenty of rocks,
olenty of rain, wind; sleet, hail, snow, fog* and monotony,..The Aleutians could very
easily have been the inspiration for the Gershwin "Porgy e?nd Bess" melody, "I Got
plenty of Nothin’."
There are t;mes though in the Aleutians, bfief .and separated as they may be, when each
spot along this two-thdusand mild stretch of volcanic islands has an almost ethereal
fascination. Trappers, tourists, and soldiers who have not.become too cynical be
cause of their prolonged'stay in the islands,-will tell you that on those rare summer
days when the sun shines, the tundra blossoms forth into a garden of yd ldrflowers,
the shimmering streams flowing down the hillsides lose thoir appearance’of coldness
nd become warm and friendly, and the beautiful snow-capped peaks of the Volcanoes
stand out clear and sharp in the vanishing fog. Just now, of course, those GI’s who
have spent the past year or two guarding this ’’Northern Highway to Victory" can hardly
be expected to carry home with them any^such picture of • the-Aleutians-.- 3ut in years
to.come, when time softens the rough edges of their perspective, memory'will no doubt
pres nt a revised panorama just as in the" case of one soldier-, who said, after being
away from thej-slands for more than a year, "The most beautiful sunset I over Witnessed
occurred one evening in 194S over Captain’s Bay at Hitek Harbor."
Soldiers, eligible for discharge under the :.rmy’s .point system, arc drifting into the
Intransit Company-at Ft. Richardson almost daily, non that tnc jheols of demobilization
arc running at top spaed. The trip frpm the Aleutians to the mainland has been proba
bly the most enjoyable journey theso men will ever make for regardless of how anxious
they are to get home....they wore just as anxious to get out of the Aleutians.
-Many of them have served for two years or more on those desolate "rocks" vrhich divide
the Forth Pacific from the Bering Sea. They have seen none of the Alaskan grandeur
that has been written about by countless authors and photographed in black and white,
and color, by thousands of camera-minded nature lovers... residents and to-wrists.
In order to prevent these men from returning home to condemn "laska by what they have
seen in the Aleutians,-Lt. Col. willlajm E. Austin, Alaskan Department Chaplain, and
Filliam J. McGinnis, Assistant Red Cross Field Director for Recreation, arc *xtilizing
the*short periods"which these men must await transportation to afford them an oppor
tunity to visit a typical Alaskan community—to see and photograph Alaskan scones.
Trips arc made almost daily to the town of Palmer, Alaska and the surrounding farm
district in the ?!atanuska Valley. Here the soldiers are surprised to find paoplc
>•' living a life very similar to that of the farmers in many parts of the United States,
•They -find chicken farms, dairy farms, and vegetable farms. Their eyes pop at the
right of cabbages.'weighing up to fifty pounds;, turnips, the size of a man’s head; and
jns of delicious, spJLid* Arctic Bliss potatoes. There arc rows of goldon wheat
_shocks drying in the valley fields before a backdrop of gorgeous snow-covered mountains
itiich/fthahao polfcrs with the setting sun as the snow reflects mrples, blues, pinks,
greens; qna^slmopt all colors of the spectrum,^ ^ j < v /
There arc conifers lining the road that winds -it's- nay throtfgfe the mounts ipstidoV be
twebn Anchorage and Palmor; and now, at the Fall of the .year, millions of poplars
•stahd among theso evergreens,rtheir lcavOg rich in the full beauty of autumn hues.
Mining camps and prospector's cabins can be seen high oh the slopos. Snowbound
streams'arc running blue-white beneath small bridges along the paljnor-Richardson
Highway, and ice cakes float beneath the longest bridge in Alaska,'which spans tho
Knik Arm of Cook inlet a few miles out side of Palmer. A glacier cah be observed in
the distance, h«d bbfpjpe the. journey i$' comDlpto.,: a lucky group may get-their first
do so-up nor. a black boar or moo so, both of rhi-Oh hrb'plentiful in'the vall'cyx ;
Tho Northern lights arc beginning',to;make appearance Cj the sky as tho days arc
quickly growing shorter, end the return 3'ournoy of thcbfc soldiers in the. early
evening is filled with excited discussion about Alaska’s vast potentialities and
rugged beauty. They will now make the journey homo with_a_