Vol. 1, No. 49
Anchorage, Alaska, March 17, 1948
Ten Cents
Alaska Willing To Pay For Statehood-Sundborg
Workers Rush
To Meet May 1
Opening Date
Working from the top down
on the interior and from the bot
tom up on the exterior, workers
on the Matanuska hotel are en
gaged in a race against time
these days. They’re hustling to
meet a May 1 opening date,
when it is hoped the hotel will
be ready to open its doors to
Valley visitors.
More carpenters have been
added to the crew already ad
work, and it is expected to in
crease the staff even more in
the next day or two. Work
will not be completely in hand
until 24 carpenters are swing
ing hammers daily at the
structure, according to super
intendent Jack Slump.
Mr. Stump was recently ap
pointed to oversee the comple
tion of the work at the hotel. He
has been in Alaska since the war
years, and is a veteran of many
recent large construction jobs in
the territory.
In the building’s interior, the
plasterboard is already nearly
all in place, and the work of
roughing in the plumbing has
been finished. Flooring men ex
pect to begin the job of putting
down the hardwood floors in the
very near future. After that task
is completed, electricians and
painters will take over to finish
the rooms for occupancy.
Workers and planners alike
are bending every effort to com- I
plete the building by the an-1
nounced date. Tourist travel ,
promises to be a thriving busi
ness in Alaska next summer, and
already travel agents have vis
ited Palmer to check the pro
gress of work on the hotel and to
line up reservations for visiting
tours next summer.
To help push the work, pres
ident Chek Sandvik of the Val
ley local of the Carpenter's
Union has requested that any i
union member who is avail
able for work get in touch
with him immediately.
Mr. Sandvik said employment
preference would be given to
local carpenters, with additional
help coming from Anchorage
only when all members of the
Valley union are at work.
Vegetable Growers
Rian Organization
To build the marketing organ
ization needed for the sale of
Matanuska Valley produce, veg
etable growers met in the
Grange hall last week to discuss
and plan an organized group
through which they may deal.
> The group decided to make
formal organization and a com
mittee was appointed to draw
up by-laws and pave the way for
stich organization. Men named
to that committee included Vir
gil Eckert, M. D. Snodgrass, Irv
ing Newville, Ray Rebarchek,
Martin Olsen and Glen Woods.
/ *
Little Miss Miller "watches the birdie" with deep concentra
tion. and her brother, Glenn, snaps a prize-winning photograph
in the recent contest sponsored by Palmer Photographic Cen
ter. This picture was rated second in the contest for Palmer
students. It's good for a S2 additional prize, if Glenn will slop
at the Frontiersman office and pick it up.
HOSPITAL HOBBY TURNS
INTO VALLEY INDUSTRY
WASILLA — A hobby learned
by a wounded veteran to while
away the tedium of a hospital
bed now promises to develop
into a full-time occupation for
Mr. and Mrs. Chester Rickert oi
Wasilla.
The pair, who are known to
their Wasilla neighbors as
Bobbie and Rick, are develop
ing one of the Valley's first
home industries in the leather
work they do in their home.
They make shoes, bags and
anything in leatherwork, but
at present they're specializing
in individually-styled leather
sports shoes of the loafer type.
The shoes are finished en
tirely by hand, except for the
machine stitching of the leathei
top to the durable compositior
soles. That work is done Outside
by machine, “because it lasts bet
ter that way,” Bobbie explains
She added that quality and fine
craftsmanship are of first im
portance in their work.
The pair have the old coun
try pride of the craftsman. The}
never e^ypect to enlarge then
output to the point where pro
duction must outweigh the qual
ity of workmanship.
They have been at work a
their hobby-industry for the past
two or three months and have
finished four or five dozen pairs
of shoes, in all. Each shoe has
stamped into its sole their trade
mark, “BR Leathercraft of Wa
| silla.” They have lived in Wa
silla since January of 1947 and
have a home on the shores of
Wasilla lake.
The couple met in Alaska,
although they were married in
the states. Theirs was a war
romance. He was an engineer
specialist with Colonel L. V.
Castner's Alaskan Scouts, and
saw duty at many outposts
along the Aleutian chain. She
was a worker with the Ameri
can Red Cross, stationed at
Fort Richardson in 1943.
They met on tneir way to the
‘ states, and were married shortly
1 after their arrival there. Mr.
Rickert was transferred to both
the ETO and CBI war zones. He
! landed on D-Day with invasion
' forces and was in constant com
oat until December, when he
■; was wounded.
The rest of the war he spent
' in an Army hospital, where he
• first learned leatherwork be
■ cause he “had a lot of time on
; rus Hands.” His wife was already
(Continued on back page;
rrs AT LEAST 3 YEARS
AWAY, AT EARLIEST
Add Engineer
To REA Staff
D. L. Lowery, field engineer,
, has been assigned to the Alaskan
headquarters of the Rural Elec
trification Administration from
REA’s Washington headquarters,
it was announced this week by
H. G. Bryan, local head of REA.
Mr. Lowery will assist with the
engineering work of various
Alaska projects during the sea
son’s operations just ahead.
The engineer will be head
quartered in Palmer with Mr.
Bryan, but will work on the
engineering phases of a num
ber of projects. The length of
his slay here is indefinite, de
pendent somewhat upon the
future development of REA
plans this year.
Asked about REA’s plans for
the immediate future, Mr. Bryan
replied that his agency’s plan
ning had been dovetailed with a
number of other Alaskan agen
cies, and that an over-all pro
gram and budget had been re
ferred to headquarters for ap
proval.
Mr. Bryan did say REA’s
plans, which cover a five-year
period of development in the
territory, were small, indeed, in
comparison with the planning of
other agencies. However, if the
proposed budget is approved by
Congress as submitted, it will
make possible the development
of the Eklutna project, he added.
Mr. Bryan, Mr. Lowery and
Victor Rivers, project engineer
for several REA developments,
are in Kodiak this week to in
spect and plan for improvement
of the plant there.
No Returns Yet
For Red Cross
Girl Scout committee heads,
conducting the annual Red Cross
drive in the Valley, began their
work last Saturday, but have
tabulated no official returns yet,
according to Mrs. Harry Ryan,
drive chairman.
Scouts will visit homes in
their assigned districts all this
week. They are working hard to
collect a creditable sum of
money, in this first Red Cross
drive to be conducted by the
Valley chapter.
Later in the week members of
the Scout committee will be
driven to Jonesville by Marshal
Bill Bouwens, who is Red Cross
chairman here. They will make
their first report of money col
lected this weekend.
The next regular meeting of
the Valley Chamber of Com
merce will be held at noon on
Wednesday in the basement of
St. John’s Lutheran church,
j Members of the Ladies Aid of
1 the United Protestant church
|will serve the luncheon.
* George Sundborg, executive
aide to Gov. Ernest Gruening
and consultant to the Alaska De
velopment Board, discussed mat
ters pertinent to the Valley de
velopment in a three-hour ses
sion Monday with the board of
directors of the Chamber of
Commerce.
Mr. Sundborg’s recommenda
tions were essentially those of
Gov. Gruening on the latter’s
recent visit. Gov Gruening told
the Valley then to organize into
a unit and go and work towards
self-help, father than to look to
government for continued sup
port.
The first part of the discus
sion was given over to a dol
lars-and-cents' summation on
the cost of statehood in rela
tion to benefits. Mr. Sund
borg said he believed the
county system of state govern
ment might not be necessary
in Alaska where costs of that
type of state machinery would
be high. However, he pointed
out that all these matters
would be decided by vote of
the people.
A state constitution would be
drawn up by a delegation elected
by the people and the constitu
tion must be ratified by vote of
the people. The very machinery
required to establish statehood
makes it impossible for the terri
tory to begin to function as a
state before 1951 or ’52 at the
earliest, according to Mr. Sund
borg.
Aked what plans had been
made to prepare Alaska for
statehood, he replied “very lit
tle.”
A bill introduced in the last
legislature which asked for
appropriations of $50,000 to
establish a statehood commit
tee was defeated. Hawaii has
such a committee and is con
ducting studies to determine
the best type of legislation.
Don Irwin suggested that
Chambers of Commerce in Alas
ka hold joint meetings in a cen
tral location to set up a commit
tee for Alaska statehood laws.
Asked what should be the cost
of statehood over the present
territorial government, the gov
‘ ernor’s aide estimated it would
probably exceed the present cost
i by about $2,000,000. Several tax
plans were suggested which
would more than return the ad
ded cost of statehood.
| “Everywhere I go, I find peo
ple ready and eager to pay more
j taxes. I think Alaskans are will
• ing to assume the costs of state
hood,” Mr. Sundborg declared.
Referring to local problems.
Mr. Sundborg said that no real
advance would be made in any
town until the people were
ready to assume civic respon
| sibility.
| “In an incorporated city, your
people would make their own
decisions on community matters.
Through incorporation you run
your own affairs and support to
a certain extent services of gov
ernment which you need for
your own advance and progress.”
(Continued on Back Page)