VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
Published each Thursday
Palmer, Alaska
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office
at Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates ...50c month, $5 a year
Viola Daniels .Editor
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may be
reproduced except by permission of the editor.
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
DANIELS -- In The Lion's Den
The problem of the inadequately-housed and improperly-fed
homesteader and his family of this area, appears to have been met
temporarily, investigation revealed this week. The opening of the
gold mines in the near-by mountains, and the beginning of the
summer construction season in Anchorage, has given work to all
employable men, it was estimated.
However the work is a temporary stop-gap, and follows what
was admittedly an extremely “rugged” spring, according to one
Wasilla resident. Homesteaders who are lucky may make enough
money during the summer to lay in a winter’s provisions, if they
elect to stay another year. Or they may make enough money to
take them back to their point of origin, if that is their choice.
There would be few who would criticize, if the second solution
were chosen by many now living in the newly-opened homestead
area. A winter huddled in a chilly, half-completed log cabin with
meals becoming scantier and less nourishing as the cold grows
deeper, is not calculated to present the most attractive side of
Alaskan living to our newest pioneers.
There are those who say, however, that the sorry plight of the
homesteader is only his own fault. We deny that accusation ab
solutely. We say that the sorry plight of the homesteader is the
fault of his government, which dangles the lure of free land before
the dazzled eyes of the young and adventurous. We say that this
government only can blame itself, if its program of populating
Alaska as rapidly as possible, is undermined by the back-home re
ports of those who accepted the offer to live in a reported land of
milk and honey.
It is not the homesteader’s fault that so many of his kind ar
rived short on cash and long on hope. It is not the homesteader’s
fault that so many of his kind are totally unfitted to the business
of wrestling a livelihood from Alaska’s unfriendly soil. Govern
ment bulleting and more popular published reports alike presented
the north as a paradise of rich earth, where seed pushed beneath
the surface in virgin soil would return crops of giant, edible vege
tables almost overnight.
Nor is it the homesteader’s fault that the land-clearing costs
of $200. an acre make his position almost impossible from the very
beginning. Most of these homesteaders were unaware of the cost of
such clearing, or even that it was necessary. They came with the
expectation of hewing their fields from the forest with axe and
hand-saw.
We are certain that it is only the government that can help to
avert more of the tragedies and heartbreak experienced by the new
settlers of the past two years.
The soils classification surveys now going on are a step in the
right direction. They won’t help those already with us, but they
will assure new settlers that the land they .want is suitable for crop
ping. The proposed marketing surveys, to get under way this sum
mer, have long been felt a “must” by agricultural heads of the ter
ritory. Once their results are analyzed, only the government can
help in spreading the vital information they contain concerning the
practicability of selling the products of the land.
We think the government should go even farther in its efforts
to keep the new settler on the land. That effort should start before
he gets here. Why not a weeding-out process, so that the untrained
and unsuited individual, can be induced to stay at home? Or why
not a training school for would-be homesteaders, back in the states,
similar to the farm training program now being sponsored by the
Veterans’ Administration?
And why not some definite government assistance in land
clearing? And an iron-clad requirement of a fixed amount of ready
cash in the pockets of each homesteader before he starts north?
And finally, why not a program of improvement of access roads
to the homestead areas, before the settlers arrive? Several Knik
homesteaders lost an opportunity to work this spring, when their
road became impassable at the time promised spring employment
developed.
We’re not trying to say that we don’t want the homesteader
here, nor that we don’t recognize the very real problem of getting
more people to settle in Alaska. It’s just that we’d like to keep
, them here, once they get here.
Community
Calendar
Saturday
CHRISTIAN Endeavor confer
ence opens at King’s Lake.
LUTHERAN Aid food sale at the
Trading Post.
QUEEN’S dance at Palmer Gym
at 9 p. m.
Monday
FAMILY picnic at Wasilla play
ground at 11 a. m.
Wednesday
CHAMBER of Commerce lunch
eon in former library at Rec
4-H CLUB Council at Extension
Office at 7:30 p. m.
MATANUSKA Valley Sportsmen
at range at 8 p. m.
Thursday
AMERICAN Legion at Carpen
ter’s Hall at 8 p. m.
AMERICAN Legion Auxiliary at
Carpenter’s Hall at 8 p. m.
MIXING BOWL 4-H Club at 2
p. m.
It’s Too Cold
All tentative plans for base
ball games for the Palmer team
during the coming Fourth of
July holiday weekend have been
cancelled, it was announced this
week by Bob Johns. Mr. Johns
said no more games would be
booked until warmer weather
makes regular team practices
possible. It’s just too cold for
baseball in the Matanuska Val
ley this summer.
X-Ray Ready Today
The new x-ray machine, re
cently installed at the Valley
Hospital, is expected to be in
operation by today, at the latest,
Mrs. Ruth Callison, hospital
manager, said Monday. In the
meantime, the former machine
is set up in a Quonset hut annex
of the hospital, to take care of
all emergency needs.
Visits Daughter
Mrs. Leroy Kellogg of Pasa
dena, Calif., arrived in the Val
ley last week to visit her daugh
ter, Miss Louise Kellogg, owner
of a local dairy ranch. Mrs. Kel
logg expects to spend some time
in the Valley, and already is en
joying Alaskan life, according to
her daughter.
COFFEY INSURES EVERY
THING— REMEMBER/'
Dairymen Plan
Fair Exhibit
Pictures, movies, still shots in
color and black and white, and
a complete display of dairy farm
products are to be included in
the exhibition planned by the
Matanuska Valley dairymen for
the coming fair, it was decided
at a recent meeting. Although
plans were laid at the recent
Breeder’s Association meeting, it
is planned to make the display
industry-wide and to include
every aspect of dairy farming.
Miss Louise Kellogg has been
asked to head the planning com
mittee. She will be assisted by
Ernest Harrington and Jack
Cope.
A better cattle display than
ever before exhibited at the
fair is promised by dairymen for
this year. The exhibition will
feature young dairy stock, prin
cipally. William Sweetman, head
of the Valley’s dairy breeding
experiment, and Lloyd Morley,
district sanitarian, are to coop
erate in the organization of the
exhibit.
Richard E. Demming
Registered Land Surveyor
Box 675 — Palmer, Alaska
M. D. SNODGRASS
Real Estate
Dairy and Vegetable Farms
City Lots — Acreage
GREEN'S
FLYING SERVICE
STUDENT INSTRUCTION
CHARTER FLIGHTS
Acreage-Houses
Dairy Farms
•
Pioneer Insurance &
Realty
Wright Bldg. — Palmer
— To end picnicking breakage problems —
Plastic Spoons, Cups and Glasses—Plastic Bowls for Packing
Picnic Foods — Also Plastic Baby Dishes
Clarets Variety & Palmer Surplus
Window Frames
Door Frames
We make 'em any size you want in our shop!
Severns Cabinet Shor^_