Valley FRONTIERSMAN
* Published each Tuesday and Friday
Palmer, Alaska
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947 at the post office
at Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription rates .75c month, $8 a year
V&Ia Daniels .Editor
Evon DeLand .Advertising Manager, Palmer
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may be
reproduced except by permission of the editor.
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
Daniels —In the Lion’s Den
Two matters, Europe’s displaced persons and Alaska’s need for
an increased population, are receiving the attention of Congress
recently. It appears more than likely that both subjects will be
merged into a single project, leading to a new colonization plan
f«r Alaska, some time in the near future.
Governmental experiments with colonization have been cost
ly, as those who came to the Matanuska Valley as colonists can
testify. It was costly to the government in dollars and cents and
costly to the farmer-colonists in wasted moments of worry, as they
waded through the binding tangles of red tape and struggled
against a governmental barrage of directives and counter-directives.
Much of the difficulty in that early colonizing period was
due to Alaska’s great distance from Washington, it was later agreed.
Most of us would agree wholeheartedly with that reasoning, but
we fail to see just how Alaska has grown any closer to that
important seat of action in the last decade or two. Furthermore,
there would be a language barrier, as well as that of distance
to bridge, in the case of European displaced persons.
The second and even larger problem of these first colonists,
the one which caused more of them to give up then any other
single reason, was the lack of market for their produce, once
^hey did get their ground under cultivation. That problem is still
the biggest problem of farmers in the Matanuska Valley today.
Farmers simply cannot find a ready market, which is acces
sible, for the produce they can grow. High costs of bringing land
under cultivation in Alaska, plus the high cost of production of
produce and dairy products in the Territory, makes it impractical
at this time to look toward markets beyond Alaska’s immediate
needs. Indeed, farmers find that many state-grown vegetables still
can be grown Outside and shipped to Alaska to retail at a price
considerably lower than that of Valley-grown produce.
Our marketing problem is major and immediate. The steady
influx of homesteaders into the Matanuska Valley area is making
it daily more acute. If we soon cannot find sales for our garden
stuff in order to supply us with the cash money we need, then
it must be considered that the Matanuska Valley, Alaska’s first
colonization project has failed.
Yet even as we study the ways and means to overcome this
serious problem of markets, our government is planning to send
still other colonists to the north to compete with us for the exist
ing markets. In all probability the new projects will not come to
to the Matanuska area — one is lated for the Kenai peninsula and
the other in an area located to the north of Fairbanks.
However the group that goes to the Kenai will be as near An
chorage from the south as we are from the* north, and can only
look to that area, with its nearby military installations, for cus
tomers. If the Anchorage area and its adjacent military camps
cannot, now, buy all of the produce which the Matanuska farmer
can grow, how can new colonists hope to dispose of their vege
tables?
*■ That the colonists will be mainly farmers goes without saying;
Congress is reported considering the requirement that at least
fifty per cent of the people settled in the projects have farming
backgrounds. That figure may go even higher.
Furthermore, it is to be doubted that most of Europe’s dis
placed farmers will have much knowledge of how to clear Alaska’s
lands for farms. From what we read of Europe’s farming meth
ods, they seemingly still are following the agricultural practices of
generations past; how will these farmers fare with bulldozers,
tractors and power-driven farm machinery?
All of this is not be be construed as an argument against
aid for Europe’s needy. It is our opinion that help must be given
immediately to the homeless, jobless persons wandering across
the continent of Europe. However we feel that they have gone
hqngry, cold and homeless long enough. We fail to see how
removing those people to a new land, whose customs, language
and homelife is so vastly different from their own, will help.
Alaska is a harsh, unfriendly land to those who are ill-prepared
to meet her on her own terms.
Starving on a cold Alaskan homestead can be just as un
pleasant as it is in Europe. These people have suffered too long
to be able to take their place at once in a new environment which
will require that they bend every effort, every muscle of their
bodies, toward wresting a bare living from a stubborn land. They
ar^-not ready for Alaska; Alaska has no niche into which they
may fit while they prepare themselves for a normal human
existence.
We must not do Europe’s displaced persons the injustice of
cramming them away into obscure corners in order that our
own consciences may be salved. They suffer, and we must con
tinue to face that brutal reality until we find a real solution to
their problems. Stopgap measures will not do.
VALLEY CLEANERS
For Pick-Up and Delivery Service
Call 6Y3
Open Monday to Friday ONLY
FOR SALE
HYDRAULIC LOADER unit; fits
Ford-Ferguson and McCor
mick-Deering tractors. Hartley
Bros. Motors.
BAZAAR and Pie Social at base
ment of First Church of God.
June 25; from 2 to 9 p.m.
150 BURLAP BAGS, 15c ea. See
Ernest Harrington.
LOT w/2-rm. cabin, finished in
terior, partly furn. for house
keeping; also 2-rm. house on
skids, fully furn. for house
keeping. Both wired for elec
tricity. Terms. See Sue Hill,
Palmer.
TRAILER, 2-wheel, steel body;
good condition. Hartley Broth
ers Motors.
’38 GMC 1-ton pickup; A-l con
dition. Palmer Automotive
Service.
’38 DODGE panel; A-l condition.
Palmer Automotive Service.
COMFORTABLE HOME, by
owner; city water, electricity;
complete except siding; terms.
Also some furniture. Mrs. Sten
son, first st. north on Anchor
age Highway, third house.
TAPP AN gas stoves and regu
lators. Hartley Bros. Motors.
FOR RENT
ONE SLEEPING ROOM, by the
month; for one or two ladies or
married couple. Location of
room makes is unsuitable for
children or pets. See Mrs. Fran
cis Henry behind The Church,
North Palmer.
NOTICE
FOR BREAKER PLOWING, (Rac
ing or general field plowing,
..write or see Wallace Moffitt, •
Box 741, Palmer.
Weather Speeds
Airport Work
Last Friday’s high winds were
just what the airport burning
crew ordered. It enabled the men
to begin burning of the stump i
rows at the extreme northern
end of the field, which they
earlier had decided could be ig
nited only when the wind blew
from the south.
Other stump rows at the port
were fired when the wind sub
sided, and the burning was well
under way today. Several men
have been employed to assist in
the work. Men of the Alaskan
Fire Control Service and the
Valley’s firefighting equipment
are standing by to give help if
fires appear to be getting out of
hand.
A representative from CAA
came from Anchorage last Fri
day morning to advise and assist
in marking off the small plane
runway on the east-west strip,
to be used while the other run
way is under construction.
Dave Bryant and George
Small will do the grading and
seeding work on the north-south
strip. Mr. Bryant estimates that
it will be at least a month before
grass will be rooted firmly
enough to allow planes to land
there again.
Sutton Neighbors
Fete Mrs. McPherson
SUTTON — Mrs. James Mc
Pherson of this community was
honored at a stork shower held
at the home of Mrs. Rodney
Johnson last Tuesday evening.
Ten of her Sutton neighbors
greeted Mrs. McPherson with
gifts at the oJhnson home.
Ladies who attended the show
er included:
Mrs. Philip Danielson, Mrs.
Peter Danielson, Mrs. John Zet
meier, Mrs. Daryl Callison, Mrs.
A1 Bannon, Mrs. Mike O’Neill,
Mrs. Don Boulter, Mrs. James
Carroll, Mrs. Nubel Hamilton,
Mrs. Peggy Nelson and the host
ess, Mrs. Johnson.
Coifey numni CT«rytkiaf—
Riwmhrt —JLdv.
BRYANT & CO.
BULLDOZING CARRYALL WORK
GENERAL LAND CLEARING
Write Box 1848
McCOOL’S BARBER SHOP
(In Rec Hall)
SPECIALIZING IN
HAIRCUTTING. SHAVING, SHAMPOOS AND MASSAGS
Weekday business hours from 10 a.m. to 9 p™
Saturday business hours from 10 a.mu to 10 p ™
W. B. BARNHARDT
Dimension Lumber House Logs
Write Box 682, Palmer
(Mill located on Lower Butte road)
You’ll Find BRUNSWICK’S Finest Pool Tables
as well as good drinks
at the
SOURDOUGH CLUB
It’s the place where you meet ALL your friends.
I
J. VIC BROWN & SONS
“The Live Jewelers”
★
ALASKA RAILROAD WATCH INSPECTORS
Across from City Hall Anchorage
CLEARANCE SALE
SKIRTS AND SWEATERS
Many other high-style bargains priced to go
Sale Continues All This Week
Shop early for best choices
VARIETY VOGUES
When You Repair or Build Use WOODLLFE
Water Repellent Rot Proof
Keeps wood from swelling, shrinking,
checking, warping
Now On Display
CHAMPION Outboard Motors
RELIANCE Conversion Cookstove Burners
GRAHAM SERVICE
Machine Work Welding Repair
Gas Oil
Tired of dry, crumbly flavor
less cake?
Then it isn’t a SHAMROCK cake you’ve been
eating
We make Chocolate Cakes, Angel CaRes, White Cakes
and Cup Cakes, too
All topped with our own delicious frosting
SHAMROCK BAKERY