valley Frontiersman
VOL. II.
PALMER, ALASKA MAY 19, 1949
NO. 24
Shamrock Bakery
Invites Valley
To Open House
After months of waiting for
new machinery and materials to
arrive, all installations are now
complete at the Shamrock Bak
ery, and owners Harry Rice and
Matt Perkins have invited every
one in the Valley to drop in for
an inspection trip this Saturday,
between the hours of 10 a. m.
and 4 p. m.
Cake and coffee will be served
to all visitors, who then will be
invited to tour the working
quarters of the bakery to watch
its modern machinery in actual
production.
The Shamrock owners say that
their Saturday guests will see
more modern innovations, in
cluding several “firsts for Alas
ka,” than might be glimpsed in
many a large city plant.
The work that culminates in
Saturday’s open house began
more than two years ago, when
the Shamrock Bakery first mov
ed from its former quarters in
the Palmer Cold Storage Build
ing, to the plant in which it now
operates.
A year ago last December,
Shamrock partners were able to
announce that a large share of
their new equipment had arrived
(Continued on Page 6)
Pair to Film
Valley Child Life
A child’s life in the Matanus
ka Valley is the film topic being
recorded by the first writer
photographer tourists to visit the
Valley this season. Zell Mabbee
and Glen Sessons, the former a
professor of journalism at the
University of Colorado at Boul
der and the latter a professional
photographer, already have in
terviewed young Kit Johnson,
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Victor
Johnson of Palmer.
They have been supplied with
the names of several other fami
lies with children, whom they
expect to contact this week.
They hope to talk with several
families in order to obtain an
accurate cross section of life on
a Valley farm.
The visiting team is trying to
make its picture record, which is
being done in both color and
black and white movies, as au
thentic as possible, with the
hope that the film may be used
in educational circles in the
states.
In addition to Valley life, the
Coloradans are seeking outdoor
pictures of Alaskan fish and
Four Soils Men
To Survey Kenai
Four specialists of the Soil
Conservation Service, who will,
under the direction of Thomas
Day, continue the soils classifi
cation on the Kenai Peninsula
this season, arrived in Palmer
last Sunday. The four men are
William Badarina of Portland,
Ore., A. A. Oakley of Imperial,
Calif., Vernon Miller of Lancas
ter, Wash., and Carl J. McMur
phy of Chehalis, Wash.
The men expect to spend the
next few days in Palmer. Their
forces will be augmented next
week by the arrival of four stu
dents from the ' University of
Alaska, who will complete the
Kenai survey party. The stu
dents are expected in Palmer by
May 23.
The field work is not expected
to begin before June 1. Mr. Day
and James Hurley, who recently
completed a preliminary inspec
tion trip in the Kenai area,
found there was still snow in the
timbered areas. Roadways and
cleared areas are free of snow,
but the work party is expected
to be hampered by wet and mud
dy roads during the first -week or
two of their work. Roads were
almost impassable when Day
and Hurley visited the area.
Judge Has School Petition
Petitions for the incorporation
of the Palmer school district now
have been placed in the hands
of district judge Anthony Di
mond, it was learned this week
from attorney Ed Davis. A mat
ter of payment of a $21 filing
fee will now pave the way to
ward the hearing and eventual
election.
BEST WISHES AND GOOD LUCK
The sincere congratulations and best wishes
of the Valley Frontiersman, as well as of the
whole Valley, go to the newest alumni of Pal
mer High School, who received their diplomas
in commencement exercises last evening.
These members of the class of 1949 con
cluded their high school careers last night:
Wayne Bouwens
Gayle Eckert
Lewis Geiwitz
George Hermon
Esther Kerttula
Norma Jean Loyer
Vivian Meier
Margrye Mielke
Dick Rempel
Gloria Smith
Lucille Buswell
(Molly Klem)
James Gleason
Don Hutchinson
Henry Kircher
Richard McAllister
Mary Ann Michalek
Dorothy Plumley
Lynn Sandvik
Leann Wade
AHS COPS MEET, FIGHTS;
PHS IS SOFTBALL CHAMP
Badly mismatched in point of
experience, and in several cases
outweighed, Palmer high school
fighters made up in scrappiness
what they lacked in technique
and training in last Saturday’s
eight event fight card, which
culminated the track and field
day.
Only six of the bouts matched
Palmer and Anchorage fighters,
for there were not enough local
scrappers to round out the card
in all weights. To fill in the
gaps, Benny Ross of Palmer
subbed for Anchorage’s Daw
kins, spiked in the afternoon’s
track meet. Benny and class
mate Pete Bouwens battled
evenly for three rounds, but
scrapped as heartily as though
title honors were at stake. The
judges called the match a draw.
Oren Peterson and Jerry Rupe,
both of Palmer, fighting in the
135-pound class, sparred for
three rounds with the decision
going to Peterson who landed
oftenest.
The fight opened with a fly
weight bout between Woodford
of Anchorage and Charles De
Witt of Palmer. Because Wood
ford was ineligible for competi
tion under Anchorage rules, this
bout was classed an exhibition.
Woodford won a decision with
ease.
In the evening’s third match,
the featherweight division,
Johnny Alex of Palmer was
soundly drubbed by Anchorage’s
Brady, but he hung on gamely
to lose by a decision. Johnny
fought almost on even terms for
the first round, but stopped a
hard blow early in the second,
(Continued on Page 6)
Three meet records tumbled
last Saturday, as Palmer and
Anchorage renewed their rival
ry in a traditional track and
field day. The new records, all in
field events, were snatched by
three Anchorage contestants.
The meet was won by Anchor
age, whose men rolled up a point
total of 63 to Palmer’s 35. Wasil
la was not represented in the
tri-school contest.
The new record holders in
clude Fowles (A) in the Shot put
with a toss of 3 feet, 8V2 inches.
Marquis (A) in the pole vault
who cleared 8 feet, 9 Vi inches,
and Simmons (A) in the running
broad jump, with a leap of 17
feet, 9% inches.
Individual high scorers in the
meet included Smith (A) with
17*4 points, Rempel (P> with 10
points, and Simmons (A) with
9% points.
The top three notches in each
of the day’s events went to the
following contestants:
standing broad jump—Hutch
inson (P>, 8 feet, 9 inches, Rem
pel (P) and D. Caulkins (P).
Shot put—Fowles (A), 37 feet,
8V2 inches, Hyland (P>, Rem
pel (P).
220-yard dash—Smith (A) 25.3,
D. Caulkins (P), Simmons (A).
440-yard run — Walker f A»
60.0, D. Caulkins (P) Fritz (A).
Pole vault—Marquis (A) 8 feet
9V4 inches, Sandvik (P), Daw
kins (A).
High jump—Brown (A) 4 feet,
HV2 inches, Rempel (P), Sim
mons (At.
100-yard dash—Smith <A 1.
13.2, Akey (At, Simmons (A).
Baseball throw—Smith (A>,
251 feet, tie between H. Ander
son (Pt and Cooper (Pt.
Discus throw—Leonard (At,
93 feet, 7 inches, Rempel (P>,
Fowles (At.
Running broad jump—Sim
mons (At, 17 feet, 934 inches.
Brown (A), Smith (At.
Half-mile relay — Anchorage
1:51 »/2.
The cup, offered as trophy in
this annual meet, returned to
Anchorage with the victors. Blue
ribbon awards to individual win
ners of events are to be mailed
to the athletes, it was an
nounced.
Palmer consoled itself for a
track and field loss by soundly
licking its Anchorage rivals on
the softball field by a score of
11 to 6. Victor Loyer was catcher
and Lynn Sandvik and Duane
Goodrich were pitchers for the
winners. Batteries for the losers
were Walker and Sutherland,
catchers, and Fritz, Smith and
Leonard, pitchers.
Harvey Cooper of Palmer ac
counted for the lone homer tal
lied in the free-scoring event.