Palmer, Alaska, July 16, 1936
No. 48
SPEAKING OF PROGRESS!2
Anyone looking at the Civic Center
would hardly guess that Palmer is
little better than one year old.
Teat, nainted buildings, graveled
streets and the general effect of
completeness sneak well for the ef
forts of all who have particinated
tn building un the community.
Work has been started on a play
ground behind the school building,
there will be three churches con
structed in €he lot east of the
ncsoital. The steel watertank just
north of the oowrerhouse looks down
upon a scene which would most cer
tainly have amazed-even the imagin
ative creator of-the Arabian Nights
- a small, comnact city rinped
overnight from the Wilderness- a
community lacking little of the ad
denda which makes for completeness.
Palmer boasts a hosoital fit to
compete with any in the Territory.
The school is modern - up.to snuff
in every way. Mudholes in' the mid
dle of the street are a thing of
the cast, and soon there will be
concrete sidewalks leading from the
roads into the various buildings.
Not only has the ARRC end of town
doomed forward, The road west of
JTio track is lined with business
establishments all in a rush of op
eration. The jumble of unpainted
ohacks back of the stores and rest
aurants will one day in the near
future give way to more ordered
ranks of homes as the population
;fecomes more stable and established,
and what now looks like a boom-town
artex to a new mining camp will be
come a city with flower-gardened
houses back of wide' lawns.
A warehouse to replace one done
in by fire a month or so ago is be
ing built on permanent lines. The
railroad has pul a house-track at
she station, The new Ane ho rage-I.Iat a
:ium Highway, while still uncom
pleted, has been making it possible
for cars to come up from Anchorage,
and attempts are being made to main
tain a bus service, no matter if
somewhat u nr re dic t able,
Quite soon Palmer will’-be a sister
city of Anchorage indeed, and it will
be but a short time before regular
truck-and-bus service will be main
tained betroon the two communities*
It is net hard to "visualthe the
palmer of a couple-years hence as a
progressive, well-ordered farming
and commercial community embodying
produce-packing sheds, wholesale
warehouses and a creamery; boast
ing a bank, courthouse, and regul
ar motion picture theater....
As more permanent structures re
place the present hurly-burly of
unpainted business-places and liv
ing quarters - when the tent city
has completely disappeared - then
will the real and lasting Palmer
come into view - The Palmer which
will endure throughout the years
as a monument to the Matanuska Ex
periment of 1935.
THE URGE IS ON
Just about this time of the yeai
orosoectors begin thinking of some
creek they have visited in years
oast.... and off they go for another
look at it.
For the oast two weeks now there
have been whisoers of stampedes in
the making, and many of the boys
have quit the AR.R0 and hiked for
the hills.
Vic Norgan and Julius Ednundson
have flown.in back of Knik Glacier
to a field that Vic cleared off
last year. They will orosoect for
both quartz and olacer.in a big
country over which no white men
have travelled.
On today1 s train no rth were
TStanoede RedV Robertson and Sam
Tansey, heading for a on nrosoect
of Sam*s uo near mile 2S9. J, °.
Hannon,, KH'D announcer ..will join
them on the Sunday train*
Charley Soaelding Is back in
the Chickaloon hills with a mack
horse locking for a oay creek and
the hi - is j_ookiog down over Vi How
are ducted with men chasing uo the
origin of rich float found all ov
er that country,
vuth more men in the hills than
there has been at any time since
the war, Alaska has a good chance
of seeing a real stamoede again
before the summer is over.
notice:
Deputy marshal Jack TT'ermon an
nounces that any dogs running
loose after Iwuilay the 20 ih will
be shot because of .the distemper
orevalent in the Valley*