Vol. 1, No. 73
Palmer, Alaska, June 15, 1948
Ten Cente
Valdez Plane
Flies Weekly
To Local Port
BULLETIN
* The five-place Siinson air
plane of fhe Valdez Air Serv
ice, referred fo in the follow
ing story, crashed and burned
at Mineral Creek near Valdez
last Saturday. Pilot Lucky
Francis escaped with injuries,
but three passengers, one of
them Mrs. Francis, died in the
crack-up. Roy Dieringer, Val
1 dez canneryman, and Mrs.
May Steel, also were killed.
Another passenger, John Kel
sey, escaped with minor in
juries. It was not known at
press-time whether the Val
dez Air Service has another
ship to put into operation on
the Palmer run.
The first air service to regular
ly use the facilities of Palmer
airport is the Valdez Air Service,
it was announced this week.
Flights leave Valdez for Palmer
once or twice each week, carry
ing both freight and passengers.
The Valdez Air Service, which
has been in existence for about
a year, uses a five-place Stinson
for these Palmer trips. Al King
of Palmer Automotive Service
and Storage is the local agent
for the plane company.
In addition to his connection
with the Valdez firm, Mr. King
has announced plans of his own
for inauguration of a “flying
taxicab” service from the Palm
er port. Pilot Bob Totten takes
care of the aerial end of the taxi
cab service.
At present, it is possible to
charter a plane from the airport
only, but Mr. King said he ex
pected to have a second ship,
•operating with floats, in the air
in the very near future.
Mr. King will take care of any
type of charter hops, and will
arrange trips for hunting and
fishing parties as well. The
planes will carry both freight
and passengers.
Alaska Airlines of Anchorage
has advertised flights to Palmer,
but to date the company has not
made any regular trips to the
local field.
7 Valley Scouts
Get Diplomas
At Encampment
Seven boys from Palmer and
Wasilla were among the 91 Alas
kan Air Scouts who received dip
lomas at Elmendorf Field last
Saturday morning. The seven,
Jack Elmore, Harvey Cooper,
Edison Thuma and Edward Cope
of Palmer and Dave Smith,
James Carson and Verrill Teague
Sf Wasilla, had attended a seven
day session of lessons and fun
given at the second Alaskan Air
Scout encampment.
Scouts came from Nome, Point
Barrow, Fort Yukon, Ketchikan,
Fairbanks, Juneau, Sitka, An
chorage, Cordova, Palmer and
Wasilla for the encampment,
which began on June 6. They
were guests of the Fifty-Seventh
Fighter Group.
Scouts were enrolled in one
week courses in radio, radar, air
craft engines, jets, weather, sheet
metal work, instruments, land
sea rescue, navigation, Link
training and ground control ap
proach.
1
Statistics Show Valley s Past
Modern Valley settlers, who
may think they’ve had it rough
on the way to Matanuska, when
spring floods washed out high
way bridges this year, should
talk to M. D. Snodgrass. Mr.
Snodgrass, formerly coloniza
tion agent for The Alaska Rail
road and now a local realtor,
would tell them a bit about how
the first settlers came.
The occasion of the Valley’s
recently celebrated thirteenth
anniversary of Colony Day set
Mr. Snodgrass to thinking of the
faces that have come and gone
through the years he’s known
this Valley. He decided it might
be interesting to find out just
how many of the present-day
settlers could be traced back to
the days of the real pioneers.
So Mr. Snodgrass set to work
with notes, maps and farm own
ership records of the Alaska Rur
al Rehabilitation Corporation
He found the first group of
what he terms the original
settlers, who came here be
tween 1912 and 1917, were pio
neers in the truest sense of the
word. Of that original group
which settled here in a five
year span more than 30 years
ago, Mr. Snodgrass catalogued
17 still living in the Valley.
The first two of the 17 to
reach the Valley came by row
boat from Knik. They were E. J.
Tomlinson and A. A. Cobb, who
Bert’s Hustles
Stopgap Store
The temporary building which
will house Bert’s Drug Store, un
til the new concrete structure
is ready, is nearing completion.
A small building, a former dwell
ing house, has been moved to
the lot at the rear of the store’s
former location and is being con
verted to store quarters.
Delbert Anderson and A. W.
Pierson are rushing the remod
elling with all possible speed. By
late Saturday afternoon parti
tions had been torn away, a part
of the flooring had been laid and
most of the building’s inner
Cellotex walls were in place.
The store will contain one
large room with a small inner
section partially partitioned off
to form a prescription counter.
It is expected that the store
will be doing business in its tem
porary quarters by mid-week at
the latest, Mr. Anderson said.
The only major job remaining is
the installation of shelves.
It is planned to re-open with
a selection of stock very similar
to that destroyed in the former
building. All drugs, cosmetics,
gift items and daily necessities
will be restocked.
The liquor store will not be re
opened in the temporary build
ing.
Fair Board
Meets Tonight
Members of the board of di
rectors of the Matanuska Val
ley Fair Association are remind
ed of the very important special
1 meeting to be held in the Ex
tension Office tonight. All ma
terial to be included in the pre
mium book must be ready to
go to the publisher by the end
of this meeting.
arrived in 1917. They were fol
lowed, within the next five
years, by these folks:
Gust Haller, J. J. Bugge, J.
E. Edlund, G. Gustafson, Carl
Engstrom, S. Fleckinstein. and
wife, C. Thorpe and wife, Ash
ley Egtvet, Roy Cornelius and
wife. Ben Marino, Charles Ma
rino. P. N. Johnson (R. Ander
son), Jens Hansen, Gus Swan
son and Mr. and Mrs. Adam
Werner and family.
In the years between 1917 and
1929, when no active coloniza
tion plans had yet stirred nation
al interest in the Matanuska Val
ley, Mr. Snodgrass records 11
more early residents who are
still living in the Valley; some of
them came to live at the old
town of Matanuska and others
went on to Wasilla. Since there
were neither roads nor planes
yet, the going still was tough for
the homesteader who chose the
Matanuska Valley. These are the
11 who glimpsed a bright future
in this untried agricultural cen
ter of the north:
Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Tryk
and family of Wasilla, Fred
Nelson of Wasilla, Peie Nel
son of Wasilla, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Cadwalader and fam
ily of Wasilla, Mr. and Mrs.
Gerritt Synder and family*,
Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Kepler.
Ed Ueeck, Jacob Berg, Glen
Cope, Mr. and Mrs. Emil La
Co-op Growers
Plan To Make
Produce Crates
Crates for produce marketed
by members of the Co-Op Vege
table Growers will be manufac
tured here in Palmer, it was
decided at last Friday’s meeting
of the group. Members voted to
purchase materials from local
sources. The sawing and finish
ing work will be done with Co
op machinery in the cabinet
shop.
It was decided that a receiv
ing clerk for the produce de
Walter and Mr. and Mrs. M.
D. Snodgrass and family, all
of Maianu.ska.
From 1929, The Alaska Rail
road became interested in de
veloping the Matanuska Valley
and made some effort toward
bringing farm families from the
states to settle here. Mr. Snod
grass recalls that there were 55
of these families, of whom there
remain 46 still in the Valley.
However some of the 46 settlers
have forsaken their farms in
favor of Palmer businesses. Their
names include:
Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Cook,
Mrs. Lamp (Johansen), Mr. and
Mrs. J. R. Monoghan and
family, Mr. and Mrs. B. J.
Lossing and family, Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Thuma and fam
ily, Mr. and Mrs. Harold W.
Moore and family, Mr. and
Mrs. C. V. King and family of
Wasilla, Mr. and Mrs. F. N.
Hurd of Wasilla, Mr. and Mrs.
Ty Wilson and family of Wa
silla, Earl McHenry, Bill Ed
lund, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gag
non, H. L. Granlram and
daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Jack
Cope, Mr. and Mrs. William
Hoskins, C. C. Brix, Mr. and
Mrs. Frank Clark, Horace Du
Four, Mr. and Mrs. L. O.
Hayes.
Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Childers,
Mr. and Mrs. V. J. Falk, Sr.,
“ (Continued on back page)
partment will be hired soon. Al
so ticketed for action in the near
future is a survey of growers’
fields, so that the probable pro
duction for the year may be de
termined.
Farmers reported that cut
worms are prevalent in certain
sections of the Valley. It is ex
pected that this planned survey
will be able to estimate the ex
tent of damage to early crops.
Other matters relating to the
sale and processing of vegetables
were discussed at the Friday
meeting. About 25 of the farm
ers who have turned in crop es
timates to the Co-op Vegetable
Growers were present.
Ahead of The Valley Farmer, I See —
Chamber Touts
Valley As ANS
Hospital Site
A total of 28 delegates froi.i
the Valley Chamber of Com
merce went to Anchorage yester
day to push the Valley’s ad
vantages for the Alaska Native
Service hospital before the An
chorage Chamber. President
Jack Maze was the Valley
spokesman at the meeting.
Mr. Maze emphasized the fact
that Anchorage businessmen
would in no way be injuring
themselves by sponsoring the
plan to locate the hospital in
Palmer. “We know that 75 cents
of every dollar of hospital mon
ey spent in Palmer would reach
Anchorage within a week,” he
said. “Of the remaining 25 cents,
we believe that only 15 percent
would remain in Palmer, with
the rest clearing to Anchorage.”
He pointed out that the Val
ley depends almost exclusive
ly on Anchorage to supply its
day-to-day needs. Repair parts
for Valley vehicles and farm
equipment, clothing for Val
ley residents and most of the
necessities of life come to the
Valley from Anchorage, he
said.
The speaker spent time in de
veloping Palmer’s scenic and out
door advantages for a hospital
of this kind. He said the Valley's
quieter rural life would be bet
ter adapted to meeting the needs
of hospital patients than would
the busier Anchorage area*
Twelve specific advantages
which Palmer holds over the
Anchorage area were outlined
as follows:
(1) Palmer already has a
site with sufficient acreage,
which will meet the needs of
the Alaska Native Service. It
has been inspected, and has the
i tentative approval of ANS of
ficials.
(2) Electric power for the
hospital will be provided by
the Malanuska Electric Asso
ciation through funds from the
(Continued on back page)
Don’t Shoot --
Not In Palmer,
Nor Anywhere
Firecrackers are just as il
legal in rural areas as they are
in cities which impose ordi
nances against them, it was an
nounced by a Forest Service
spokesman in Anchorage last
week. There is a territorial law
against fireworks, he said.
This law stales specifically
that "During the fire season
no person shall throw away
any lighted tobacco, cigars,
cigarettes, matches, firecrack
ers or any other inflammable
materials in any area of the
Territory containing limber,
brush, grass or greenland."
The Forest Service representa
tive said that violation of this
law brings both heavy fines and
imprisonment.
Some firecrackers have made
their appearance in Palmer re
cently. Purchasers are reminded
that in this, an unincorporated
city, they, rather than the sell
er, are punishable by the law
above quoted.