Vol. 1, No. 88
Palmer, Alaska, August 17, 1948
Ten Cents
Legion Starts
Excavation
For New Hall
The American Legion took its
first step toward a permanent
hall of its own last Sunday
morning. At that time a dozer
scooped a 30x50 foot basement
on the lot just directly across
from the Matanuska Hotel.
Legion plans don’t go much
farther than the basement exca
vation right now, according to
Commander Jack Maze. The or
ganization hopes to be able to
erect some sort of temporary
structure of cement blocks in
the very near future. However,
the group is still far short of the
S35U0 building fund needed for
that purpose.
* At present, the Post has about
SHOD in its building fund. It is
sponsoring the Michael Cain ma
gician show at the Palmer gym
nasium next Saturday evening,
as one means of augmenting
that meager amount. Mr. Maze
said plans at this time do not go
beyond that shown and the rental
of a concession at the fair. How
ever other projects will be at
tempted if these two do not bring
the necessary revenue to com
plete the nuilding.
The Legion head said the ad
vance sale of tickets for the
Michael Cain show was going
v ell. He hopes to have a capacity
' audience of 500 in the gymnas-;
ium next Saturday. Tickets will
be sold at the door that evening,
or they may be purchased at lo
cjl stores or from Legion mem
bers.
Valley Nimrods
Toe The Mark
The first hunting of the 1948
season will begin next Friday.
On that date, seasons will open
for caribou, mountain goat and
mountain sheep. Some Valley
hunting parties were beginning
to trickle out to their selected j
hunting camps as early as last
Sunday. The majority of them I
are expected to be on their way'
by tomorrow at the latest.
Hunters have six weeks in
which to bag their caribou. The
caribou season closes on Sept. 30.
Bag limit this year is one animal.
A Sheep hunters, who also get
started on Friday, must have
their ram by Aug.#31. They may
not hunt in the Girdwood, Sheep
Mountain or Eklutna areas.
The season on goats will ex
tend through Nov. 15. Resident
hunters are allowed a bag limit
of two. Again hunters may not
S'-jgk a goat in the Cooper Land
ing. Sheep Mountain, Eklutna
Lake, Kenai Peninsula area No.
2, nor Girdwood areas.
DOC's GONE AGAIN
Dr. F. R. Sims, local dentist,
left for Fairbanks last weekend.
He expects to be gone for the
Remainder of the month.
CHAMBER TO MEET
* There will be a regular meet
ing of the Valley Chamber of
Commerce tomorrow. Luncheon
will be served in the basement
of St. John's Lutheran Church
at noon.
A dripping slump is hauled away from the Alaska Railroad
trestle against which it had been lodged by the recent over
flow of Lake George. Stumps, trees and debris floating down
the swollen Knik River kept a railroad crew busy on a clean
up detail for a week. This year's work was easy, in comparison
to jobs of former years. On occasion, the flooding Knik has
washed out trestles and track, lying up rail traffic during the
annual mid-summer overflow.—(Photo by courtesy of The
Alaska Railroad)
Chamber Committee Is
Still Evaluating
Another evaluation meeting of
the Chamber’s incorporation
study committee was held last
Friday afternoon, chairman W.
C. Mau reported today. Still an
other session will be needed how
ever, for study of the property
holdings of the Matanuska Val
ley Farmers Co-operative Asso
ciation and the Alaska Rural Re
habilitation Corporation.
Date of this next meeting is
still uncertain. Both Don Irwin
and C. W. Peters, committee
members, have been called to
Fairbanks on business. They ex
pect to be gone for several days.
It was the decision of the com
mittee to take no further action
until they return, since the ad
vice of the two men will be
needed in the work just ahead.
ANS Hospital
Has No Site
The proposed Alaska Native
Service hospital is homeless
again. A proffered 20-acre site
in Palmer recently was rejected
in favor of a two-block location
near the water tower in Anchor
age. However ANS officials have
reconsidered and have an
nounced that the hospital “may
not” be located on that site. Un
official word has it that a loca
tion near Goose Lake now is un
der consideration.
No announcement has been
made as to whether the Palmer
site again may be considered.
Don Foster, ANS chief, has de
clined to comment on the matter.
The reason for the switch in
plans, with reference to the wa
ter tower site, has not been made
public.
Playful Lake
Is A Headache
For ARR Workmen
Special lo The Frontiersman
When Lake George delivered
its annual flood down the Knik
River recently, it inundated the
area between The Alaska Rail
road’s bridges over the Knik and
Matanuska Rivers. Happily, the
water did not rise to the height
it has reached in former years
and damage was negligible.
A five-man ARR crew, under
Jack Scanlon, stood 24-hour duty
for a week in the flooded area.
They were quartered on a troop
sleeper pulled up on a siding
near the Matanuska bridge. The
crewmen were equipped with an
“orange peel,” operated by Less
Sollee, ex-bomber pilot.
The big mechanical scoop
picked up trees and flood de
bris which had lodged on the
bridges and trestles. If flood flot
som is allowed to pile up against
the railroad’s underpinnings, the
pent waters can form a dam
which may even wash out the
construction.
The flood waters wreaked hav
oc with the homes and feeding
grounds of Alaska’s wild life, as
well as threatening man-made
structures.
Rabbits were flushed from
their burrows. A cow moose and
her calf sought dry refuge on
the Palmer Highway one after
noon, too the delight of passing
camera-equipped motorists.
Self-dumping Lake George is
at the headwaters of the Knik
River. Break-up time is usually
the last week in July or on the
first week in August. This year
the lake was as prompt as ever.
Anchorage Clean-Up
Whitewashes Palmer
The Anchorage crack-down on
gambling, in that city’s current
clean-up drive, reached clear to
Palmer this weekend. News that
pinball machines in local estab
lishments would be blacklisted
was quickly spread. By Saturday
evening all machines had been
taken out of operation.
Several pinball machines re
cently were installed in Valley
restaurants and cafes under a
plan which proposed to benefit
the hospital building fund.
Valley Goes Begging for 200 Years
There comes a time in every
Valley farmers life—when the
crops don’t grow, when the cut
worms come, when an early
freeze nips the life from a win
ter’s cash income—that he won
ders what he ever saw in the
Matanuska Valley. And he has
good cause to wonder, for it took
the white man nearly 200 years
to come to the belief that this
Valley might be good for some
thing.
Apparently Captain Cook was
the first white man to discover
the Matanuska Valley. He sailed
up the channels of the Inlet that
bears his name and travelled on
for a glimpse of the Valley in
1778. Later Captain Vancouver
verified the discovery with a
subsequent historical recording.
Right there the white men let
the matter rest until the early
1900s.
Evan the Indians stayed
away from the Matanuska Val
ley in large numbers. A few
natives of the Athabascan In
dian tribe lived here in pre
while days, but their descend
ants are largely scattered and
gone. White man and Indian
alike went around the Mala
nuska Valley, or through it,
but he didn't tarry long In the
early days of Alaska's history.
Historians feel the reason prob
ably was due partly to the Val
ley’s remoteness and also partly
due to fur traders’ interest in
richer fur-bearing areas farther
south and east. Fur competition
was keen in the earlier years of
Alaskan history, Russian traders
who might have fostered some
development in the Valley could
not exist so far from their coast
built bases. However they effec
tively blocked the way for any
other nation’s settlement here.
The first record of a white
man’s residence in the Valley oc
curs in 1880. At that time a white
trader, who may have been
George Palmer, after whom Pal
mer is named, was living in the
Indian village at Knik. This vil
lage, plus two Indian trails, one
of which led to Moose Creek
from Knik and the other to Ek
lutna, were the only develop
ments noted in the Valley until
the early 1900’s.
However with the discovery
of lode gold in the Talkeetna
mountains, there came the first
sustained interest in the Val
ley. White men came to the
Indian village of Knik, in this
first wave of migration, and
it soon grew to a populous
town. Later gold discoveries
in the Talkeetnas moved the
population's center to the vil
lage of Wasilla. It was not un
" (Continued on beck page)
Field Day
Is Planned
At Station
A field day at the Valley’s Ex
periment Station, scheduled for
Aug. 25, was planned at last
Wednesday’s meeting of the agri
cultural committee. The group at
first had decided to sponsor a
farm tour this year, but it was
felt that because of the busy sum
mer and the lateness of the sea
son, it would be better to post
pone tour plans until next year.
It was felt that farmers would
receive great practical benefit
from a day’s observation of agri
cultural practices now in effect
at the station.
Uhe day’s program, not yet
completely outlined, will include
a review of the dairy improve
ment program recently inaugu
rated by the Matanuska Valley
dairymen, as well as a study of
the latest poultry feeding and
management practices.
Recent developments in the
treatment of soils and fertilizers
also will be reviewed for the
farmers.
It is expected to make this
field day at the station, combined
with a farm tour and a vegetable
grading school, annual events to
be conducted under the sponsor
ship of the agricultural commit
tee. This year’s program is being
planned by the committee, in co
operation with Parker Lester of
the Extension Service and Don
(Continued on Back Page;
WE’RE OUT OF
PRINT AGAIN
With this issue of the Valley
Frontiersman, publication will
be suspended. It is hoped that
the move is temporary, but we
have no knowledge, at this
writing, of when the next edi
tion will get into print.
The Anchorage Times will
no longer print the paper. No
tice was given the Frontiers
man at 10:30 Monday morn
ing, with the statement that
the action would be effective
immediately. However print
ers have consented to this
final edition in order that Val
ley folks may be notified.
Tentative arrangements are
pending, which may lead to
the establishment of the Fron
tiersman's own shop. Definite
knowledge of the result of ne
gotiations for a shop will be
available at the end of the
week. Should it be impossible
to secure a shop at this time, a
second printer has agreed, ten
tatively, to take the Frontiers
man work on a job basis. He
cannot, however, make time
for the work before early next
month.
Subscribers who have made
long-term payments for the
Frontiersman may obtain a re
fund at the paper office next
week, should they desire it. If
our readers are willing to
wait, for the few weeks that it
may be before we again reach
print, all subscription ac
counts will be credited with
the elapsed time.
We regret the action, but we
have no solution to the prob
lem at this time.