Ten Cents
Vol. 1, No. 38
Palmer, Alaska, February 4, 1948
Icy Highway
Stops Traffic
Over Weekend
The worst driving weather of
the winter season snarled bus
schedules and tied up weekend
visitors in the Valley last Satur
day and Sunday.
For the third weekend in suc
cession, a warm chinook wind,
accompanied Sunday night by
rain squalls and rising to an oc
casional 60-mile velocity, glazed
the Palmer-Anchorage highway
with a sheet of slippery ice.
Buses from Anchorage slipped
through on schedule on Satur
day, but failed to reach Palmer
all day Sunday.
One late bus from Anchorage,
due here at 8 o’clock Sunday
evening, arrived in the early
morning hours on Monday, after
sliding into the ditch twice be
tween Palmer and Anchorage. It
left the road once more before
reaching Wasilla.
Five cars sent for help, during
a four-hour period of ditch-wait
ing near Knik, all left the road
also. No one was injured in any
of the mishaps.
Schedules still were disrupted
on Monday, with the scheduled
9 o’clock bus not leaving Palmer
until after 2 o’clock that day.
Clyde King, Alaska Road Com
mission foreman, said weekend
roads were “slick as they’d ever
been.” He issued his regular
warning to motorists, saying,
“Don’t travel unless you have
to.”
Questioned concerning the
lossibility of the official closing
o„f the Palmer-Anchorage high
way, Mr. King replied that of
ficial action is not taken by ARC
(Continued on back page)
SCHOOL ASSEMBLIES
PLANNED FOR SEMESTER
A complete program of school
asssemblies, held each Friday
afternoon between 2:45 and 3:30
p. m., was announced from the
offfice of Palmer high school
this week. These weekly pro
grams, sponsored by various de
partments and organizations of
the school, are planned to show
phases of the work accomplished
in the Palmer school.
Assemblies are held in the
school gymnasium. Friends and
relatives of students are always
welcomed guests, according to
Carl Snelling, school superin
tendent.
Assemblies scheduled for the
spring semester were announc
ed as follows:
Feb. 6, sponsored by the
English department with Miss
Jean Dickson, adviser.
Feb. 13, sponsored by the
junior class with Mrs. Mar
garet Cope, adviser.
Feb. 18, sponsored by the
senior class with James Gray.
Jr., adviser.
Feb. 26. sponsored by the
Music department with Mrs.
J. T. Dunlap, adviser.
March 5, sponsored by the
Shop and Mathematics depart
ments vrtth Harry Wimmer,
adviser.
March 12, sponsored by the
/%,
Student Council with James
Gray, Jr., and Carl Snelllng,
advisers.
March 19, sponsored by the
Junior High School with Jos
eph Dickson, adviser.
March 26, sponsored by the
Commercial department with
Mrs. Margaret Cope, adviser.
April 2, sponsored by the
freshman class with Miss Jean
Dickson, adviser.
April 8, sponsored by the
band with Mrs. J. T. Dunlap,
adviser.
April 16, sponsored by the
Science department with L.
K. Gibson, adviser.
April 23, sponsored by the
freshman class with Mrs. Lois
Winegarner, adviser.
April 30, sponsored by the
athletic department with L.
K. Gibson and James' Gray,
Jr., advisers.
It is planned to have the school
band play a number at each of
these assemblies, Mr. Snelling
said. Each assembly will feature
school music. A Palmer hymn
is now being developed for in
troduction at an assembly in the
near future. Words to the hymn
will be written by students, with
a school contest selecting the
best original contribution.
Here's one of the Valley's biggest natural refrigerators—Knik Glacier, from which cool breezes
can blow almost any day of the year. This view was taken with an aerial camera from a plane
flying near the front of the massive icefield. Height minimizes the deep crevasses in the ice.
The slighlest sound will cause miniature icebergs to peel off the face of the glacier and splash
into the waters of Knik river, which flows from it. Lake George, Alaska s famous self-dump
ing lake which spills out from its ice barriers late each summer, lies far to the right and just out
of view of the photograph above. (Photo by Palmer Photographic Center.)
Fire Association Board
Will Meet Tuesday Night
Members of the board of di
rectors of the Valley Volunteer
Fire Association will meet in the
lobby of the Valley Theatre on
Tuesday, it was announced to
day. Meeting time has been call
ed for 8 o’clock. The group plans
to discuss further details of the
Fireman’s Bingo party to be held
on Saturday, as well as an over
all fire protection program for
the entire Valley.
Several Wasilla residents are
expected to be present at the
meeting, to discuss Wasilla’s part
in such a fire protection plan.
Ricky’s Gone
Has anybody seen Ricky?
He’s a chartreuse-feathered
wolf-whistling parakeet with
the manners of a lovebird. In
fact it was his affectionate
disposition which led to his
probable un-doing.
Ricky was the pet of the
L. Z. Scott household, and
often was privileged to leave
his cage and roam about the
Scott home. Last week, he
was perched on the shoulder
3f Evon DeLand, chittering af
fectionately in her ear as she
went about her work.
Evon forgot that even a
parakeet with a wolf-whistle
might prefer wide open spaces
to life in a pampered cage
with plenty of attention from
the feminine members of the
Scott household. She opened
the door for a moment, and
Ricky immediately made his
exit.
He’s not been seen since,
but there’s faint hope that his
sturdy disposition might have
survived the recent mild
nights. So if you hear a low
wolf-whistle somewhere from
Valley fields or wood-lots,
take another look—maybe it’s
Ricky and not the lad who
lives next door.
Don’t Bum Trash
Beside Tracks
Businessmen no longer maj
burn papers and trash in oper
bonfires in the area along tht
railroad, they were warned this
week. Members of the Highwaj
Patrol and the Railroad special
investigation service both cau
tioned Palmer merchants.
Papers may be burned in spe
cial incinerators, only if permis
sion is obtained from the loca
railroad agent, Charles Nelson
Any violation of this rulini
can result in prosecution, mer
chants were told.
Call 8 to get meeting notice
printed in the Frontiersman.
Chamber Members
To Discuss Rules
On Wednesday
The next regular meeting of
the Valley Chamber of Com
merce will be held at noon
Wednesday in the basement of
the Lutheran church. Ladies of
the Lutheran Ladies Aid will
serve the Chamber luncheon.
Principal item of business at
that meeting will be the consid
eration of recommended changes
in the Chamber by-laws, to be
presented by the Chamber board
of directors.
Membership approval of the
changes is sought in order to fa
cilitate routine business of the
body, all of which must be di
rectly approved by members
themselves, according to the
present by-laws.
Miner Injured
John Danielson, Jonesville
miner, was hospitalized this
week by injuries sustained in a
rock slide at the mine. Dr. R. E.
Garrett, physician at the Valley
hospital, said the miner was not
critically injured, but suffered
multiple bruises and cuts, in ad
dition to several broken ribs.
Photo Contest Entries
Are Slow In Coming
Since Saturday was no day for
photographers, entrants in the
Palmer Photographic Center’s
| contest were conspicuous by
their absence. At 8 o’clock Sat
urday evening, Duane Huntley
was the one lone entrant who
had submitted film to be judged.
However students are remind
l ed that they may still submit
. film. Contest entries may be sub
5 mitted until 5 p.m. on Thursday
- evening. Grade school and junior
high school pupils are eligible
for entry, too.
s One entrant may submit more
than one roll of film, but will be
required to post an additional
50c entry fee for printing and
developing costs. The subject
material is to be the choice of
the contestant.
Seven prizes are offered, as
well as an 8x10 salon mount of
each winning picture. In addi
tion, student pictures which are
judged best will be purchased
for reprint in the Valley Front
iersman. The regular Frontiers-'
man rate of $2 for each print
will be paid for all prize-win
ning pictures.
Judges in the photo contest
will be announced in the next
issue of the Valley Frontiersman.
’lane Sights
Zabin Afire,
Sends Trucks
That Alaska is a land of ex
:remes in every sense of the
word was forcibly proved to resi
dents of the Valley again last
week. Both the old and the new
net in common effort on Tues
day, when fire broke out in the
R. R. Mack cabin near Wasilla.
It was an airplane, more fa
miliar in Valley skies than
trucks are on its highways, which
first discovered smoke rising
from the Mack roof, located three
miles from Wasilla on the Knik
road.
Piloted by Captain R. Brasel
ton of the Army’s Tenth Rescue
Squadron, the plane swooped
low over the cabin and then
darted off in search of help. Cap
tain Braselton pencilled a hur
ried message and dropped it in
the center of Wasilla.
Then, realizing that fire
equipment was unavailable
there, and that Wasilla had no
direct communication with Palm
er that could bring help in time,
Captain Braselton flew on to
Palmer in search of added help.
He buzzed the business center
several times and then dropped
a second note squarely in front
of Bert’s drug store. Onlooker’s
opened the message sack and
read:
“House on fire 10 miles west
of Palmer. Believe they would
like fire fighting equipment—
On Wasilla highway, left side of
road.”
The alarm was sounded at
once, and two Palmer fire
trucks, one belonging to the
Co-Op and the other the new fire
truck of the Valley Fire As
sociation, speeded toward Wa
1 silla with help.
| The trucks, followed by sev
eral cars with more volunteer
firefighters, arrived at their des
tination to find Wasilla high
l school students and townsfolk
already battling the flames with
a bucket brigade.
A hole had been chopped
‘ through the ice of a nearby
. creek, and water was being car*
| ried uphill in tubs, washboilers
and buckets. Latecomers from
the Wasilla area, conditioned to
I the lack of firefighting equip
, ment there, arrived in cars with
(Continued on Back Page)