valley Frontiersman
VOLUME II.
PALMER, ALASKA, APRIL 15, 1949
No. 19
Palmer Fights for Office Building
STOCK NAMED
HEAD MAN
FOR COLONY DAY
Clare Stock was appointed
general chairman of the Valley’s
coming Colony Day celebration
at last Monday’s board meeting
of the Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Stock will select his own
committee members.
It was suggested that the
most successful plan for con
ducting the event would be to
secure active cooperation from
every service and social organi
zation in the Valley. It is ex
pected a representative will be
selected from each group to
serve on the central Colony Day
committee.
Mr. Stock later announced
that Colony Day now is tenta
tively scheduled for May 28.
That date falls on Saturday
preceding Memorial Day on
Monday.
It was voted to send Jack
Maze as Chamber representative
to Juneau to push the Valley’s
hopes for location of a territori
al office building. If available
funds prove inadequate, it was
decided to assess each Chamber
member a very small fee to make
up the deficit. It is not expected
to exceed $1.50 per member.
The meeting closed with a
general discussion of public
land bills now pending before
Congress.
Moose Plan Pinoehle Party
Members of the Moose Lodge
are planning a pinochle party
for the evening of April 20. Play,
which is open to the public, will
start at 8 o'clock in the Moose
Kut.
Sewing Shop
Opened Here
Latest new business to open
its doors in Palmer is Mrs.
Mielke’s Sewing Service. Mrs.
Mielke is greeting her friends
and customers from behind
shared counters at Ken’s Elec
tric Supply in North Palmer.
She’s on duty there from 3 a. m.
to 5 p. m., Monday through Sat
urday.
Mrs. Mielke, whose sewing and
dressmaking ability is not new
to Valley women, plans to do
mending, alterations, remodel
ling, household sewing and also
dressmaking.
A little later, she expects to
have a button-making machine
and will cover buttons to order.
She also has tentative plans for
expanding the service of her
shop during the summer months
but definite announcement of
those plans must await a future
date.
P-TA to Install
New Officers
There will be a formal instal
lation of officers at the April
19th meeting of the Parent
Teacher’s Association, with Mrs.
Hugh Dougherty of the Anchor
age P-TA acting as installing of
ficer. Entertainment for the eve
ning will be supplied by the first
grade students of Miss Vernice
Selim an and Mrs. Pearl Harder.
Capt. Salvatore Pelle of the Post
Information Office will conclude
the session, as special guest for
the occasion.
All parents and other inter
ested Valley residents are invited
to attend.
The Veteran’s sacrifice meant
security to you. Wear his poppy.
Ministers Tell Of
Holy Week Plans
Holy Week services begin in
the Valley with a special com
munion service at the United
Protestant Church at 8 o’clock
Thursday evening, it was an
nounced today by Rev. Victor
Alfsen. At that time there will
be the ordination of Lucius Ross
and Vernon Fridley, elders-elect,
and the ceremony of adult bap
tism will be performed.
A special communion service is
planned for Good Friday at St.
John’s Lutheran Church. The
service, to be conducted by Rev.
Joseph Frenz of Anchorage, will
begin at 3 p. m.
Easter morning ceremonies
begin with a community sun
rise service to be held in the
United Protestant Church at 6
a. m. on April 17. The speaker
will be Rev. Ray Adams of the
Church of Christ. All members
of the Valley Ministerial Asso
ciation will participate in the
service.
Special music for this sunrise
ceremony will be by Charlotte
Krueger, Trudy Vandemeer and
Marian Trackwell of the Lazy
Mountain Trio.
Regularly scheduled morning
services will follow for the Val
ley’s churches.
Easter services end at the
United Protestant Church on
Sunday evening, when the choir,
under the direction of Harry
Wimmcr, presents the cantata,
“Memories of Easter Morn.”
That service begins at 7:30 p. m.
Members of the Ministerial
Association invite everyone in
the Valley to attend some church
service on Easter Sunday.
Old Glory’s greatest glory was
preserved by the Veteran of
America.
C OF C ASKS
OTHER CITIES
FOR SUPPORT
Palmer’s businessmen, under
the sponsorship of the Valley
C h a m b er of Commerce, this
week moved to make a final bid
for location of the territorial
office building here. Informed
that the board of administra
tion. in whose hands the decision
now rests, would meet in Juneau
soon, businessmen met in spe
cial session last Friday to plan a
course of action.
At that meeting, it was point
ed out that location of the
building in the Valley would
greatly facilitate government of
the territory. Chamber members
brought out the fact that only a
part of the offices now located
at Juneau need be moved. It
was suggested that the Alaska
Road Commission, territorial
highway engineer. Bureau of
Mines, department of agricul
ture, department of taxation and
department of public health
would do a much more efficient
job if located near the center of
population in the Third Divi
sion.
It was decided that the only
action open to the group at this
time was to address a barrage of
wires to members of the terri
torial board of administration,
and to presidents of Chambers
of Commerce and by local mer
chants, went out over the week
end. At press-time responses
had been received from the may
or of Valdez, the mayor of Sew
ard, Clarence Keating of Sew
ard, the mayor of Seldovia, and
William Baker, editor of the
Ketchikan Chronicle. All re
(Continued on Page 8)
HERE IS HOW A HIGHWAY IS CONSTRUCTED
PRA (Public Roads Adminis
tration!—Birch, Lytel & Son
Stock & Grove—M. K. Confus
ing, isn’t it?
There’s one thing they have in
common, though, and that is
they’re all directly concerned
with the hard-surfacing of Pal
mer highway to Anchorage. It
being a somewhat bigger chore
than any one individual cared
to undertake, the work’s been
sliced up in bits and pieces.
PRA is the brain center which
keeps the road-builders each
doing his chore at the given mo
ment and time, according to the
explanation given by J. E. Haap
ala, resident engineer (he’s the
chief brain cell*.
PRA’s crewmen are engineers,
who lay out and survey the
work to be accomplished by the
contractors. Their office head
quarters are in the Rec Hall.
Two parties are in the field now,
but the full staff of engineers,
some 30 or 35 strong, isn’t all in
Palmer yet. PRA’s men come
from the States, so there will be
no local employment.
Once the work is surveyed and
laid out, the crews of Stock &
Grove, sub-contractor, takes
over. Their duty is to take care
of ditching, drainage and road
bed preparation. Stock & Grove
road-building equipment is now
on display at the fair grounds,
where office headquarters also
are located.
Workmen for the sub-contrac
tor will be either laborers or
heavy equipment operators.
There will be some hiring locally
for this work, and when em
ployment reaches its peak this
summer, it is expected there will
be 70 men on the payroll. The
Stock & Grove messhall opened
last week, and some crews al
ready are at work. The firm ex
pects to get its rock-crusher into
operation about April 20.
M-K and Birch, Lytel & Son
are joint contractors who will
engage in actual surfacing op
erations. They put the finish
over the groundwork prepared
by Stock & Grove.
First work to get under way
on the surfacing job is a stretch
from Eklutna flats almost to
Miller Creek, according to Mr.
Haapala. It was planned to go
to work first at the Knik bridge
area, but deep snow there has
forced a change in plans.
Work will progress from this
end toward Anchorage, in order
to permit the Fort Richardson
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