WELCOME TO OUR 13TH COLONY DAY
Vol. 1, No. 69
Palmer, Alaska, May 28, 1948
Ten Cents
Anniversary
Celebration
Is All Set
Palmer’s thirteenth annual ob
servance of Colony Day will
really get under way with a
bang. The first event on the
two-day program, which begins
tomorrow, is the first round of
yie trapshooting contest spon
sored by the Matanuska Valley
Sportsmen. That event begins
promptly at 4 o’clock tomorrow
afternoon.
Following the trapshooting,
the first game in the planned
four-game softball tournament
begins at 6:15, when the Sham
rocks face the Jonesville miners.
The softball series continues on
Sunday, when an Alaska Rail
road squad meets the Valley’s
Butte team at 12:30 that after
noon. At 4 o’clock on Sunday
the losers of the first two games
play. The game to decide Col
ony Day champions will pit the
winners of the first two games
immediately at the close of the
first game.
Softball spectators may sit in
the bleachers for an admission
cbfcrge of 25 cents each, or they
may drive to the diamond in
their automobiles and pay a 25
cent parking charge for the privi
lege of watching the game from
their cars.
George Small and Matt Per
kins will act as umpires in these
games.
Outdoor activity ends Satur
' day evening with the softball
game, but indoor sports com
mence immediately after with
the opening of a Bingo game in
the school lunchroom at 8 o’
clock. A two-hour session of
Bingo will precede Saturday’s
dance. Enthusiasts will be given
a second chance in an open-air
session which will begin at 1:30
Sunday afternoon.
Saturday evening’s dance, to
. be held in the Palmer gymnas
ium, is conducted under the
sponsorship of the Moose lodge.
The Homemakers’ clubs of the
Valley will operate a food con
cession in the school lunchroom
between the hours of 9 and 11:30
that evening. They plan to serve
frankfurters, coffee and dough
nuts.
The Carlson orchestra has
oeen engaged to play for the
evening’s dancing.
Outdoor activities monopolize
Sunday’s program. The trap
shooting on the fair grounds con
inues, as does target shooting
fat the rifle range. Shooting on
he^SO-yard rifle range is open
o both small-bore and large
pore rifles and to pistols. Any
light on any make of rifle will
■,e allowed in the competition.
A rifle is offered as sweep
takes prize for the marksman
egistering the highest score in
ff-hand target shooting over the
wo-day period. The club will
apply .22 ammunition for this
fhooting, but all other ammuni
ion must be furnished by the the
hcAter. Shotgun ammunition
la ay be purchased at the trap
jM shooting range.
Chickens and merchandise
E“ (Continued on back page)
COLONY DAY EVENTS
Saturday
4:00 Trapshooting begins at fair grounds.
6:15 Softball. Jonesville Miners vs. Shamrocks.
8:00 Bingo in school lunchroom.
9:00 Food concession opens in school lunchroom.
10:00 Dance begins in school gymnasium.
11:30 Dance intermission.
Sunday
9:00 Special train leaves Anchorage.
10:00 Memorial services at Palmer cemetery.
12:00 Plane flights start from Palmer airport.
12:30 Softball. ARR vs. Butte.
1:00 Kiddies’ parade forms.
1:30 Kiddies’ parade begins march.
1:30 Rifle range and trapshooting opens at fair
grounds.
1:30 Outdoor Bingo begins near barbecue pit.
2:30 Address of day begins.
2:30 KFQD on-the-spot broadcast begins.
3:00 Barbecue begins.
3:00 Fly-casting an plug-casting contest.begins on
fair grounds.
3:30 Races for children on fair grounds track.
4:00 Softball. Losers of first two games.
4:00 Farmer-miner tug-of-war.
5:15 Softball championship match.
7:30 Drawing for boat and motor and refrigerator
at barbecue pit.
8:00 Special train returns to Anchorage.
Soil Sub-District
Gets Go-Ahead
In Palmer Area
The question of a division lino,
last stumbling block to be hur
dled in the move to form a soil
conservation sub-district in the
Valley, was satisfactorily settled
at a special meeting last Fri
day night. The question of whevo
the boundary line should right
fully be located to mark the ex
tremes of a Palmer district had
been raised at the soil conserva
tion sub-district hearing, called
the previous Friday.
It was decided at the second
meeting that Palmer and Wa
silla will organize two separate
districts. The boundaries of the
Palmer district are to exclude
the Little Susitna river.
Farmers in the Wasilla area
are signing a petition, now being
circulated by Harold Dinkel. to
establish a second sub-district.
The Wasilla area is to include
the area between Knik Arm and
the Willow Creek watershed and
from the Susitna River to a junc
tion with the Palmer boundar
(Continued on back page)
Old Clippings Trace
Colony*s First Days
Plenty of Room
There'll be room for every
Colony Day visitor to find a
seat on the special train be
ing scheduled by The Alaska
Railroad for Sunday. The
train will leave Anchorage at
9:00 Sunday morning, and
will return at 8 o'clock that
evening. Visitors may make
the round-trip at a reduced
cost of $2.55.
An excursion of YMCA vis
itors, numbering about 100
persons in all, is expected to
be aboard the train. The Rail
road softball squad also will
make the trip on this train.
Highway Area
Is Posted
The entire wooded area along
the Anchorage-Palmer highway,
extending from the Plumley
sawmill to the Knik bridge, on
the left side of the road if trav
elling toward Anchorage, has
been closed, it was announced
this week by Paul Olson of the
Alaska Fire Control Service.
Mr. Olson said the area was
considered an extreme fire haz
ard and that no trespassing with
in the area would be tolerated
during the fire season. Picnick
ing, fishing, hunting or hiking
are all barred, and only persons
with business to conduct with
sawmills or residents in the area
may enter.
Any violation of this regula
tion will be fully prosecuted, Mr.
Olson warned. A penalty of not
less than $25 nor more than
$100 may be imposed upon any
person who trespasses within
the closed area.
Jade Cutter Starts Work In Valley
WASILLA—Although he’s not
just sure how many crosses,
hearts and ring settings he can
whack out of a 450-pound jade
nugget. Herbert Boucher of Wu
silla is pretty certain that it will
keep him occupide in his newly
established jade polishing an i
carving business for some time
to come. Mr. Boucher, who has
set up shop in a warehouse be
hind Teeland’s store, found the
jade nugget in Wyoming.
The gem-cutter plans to estab
lish a stone-cutting and mount
ing business which will supply
retail outlets in Anchorage, Pa'
mer and Wasilla with souvenirs
fashioned of jade, agate, petri
fied wood and other semi-pre
cious stones. He already has ar
ranged to have J. Vic Brown,
Anchorage jeweler, market his
products there.
Later it is Mr. Boucher's hope
to do custom cutting of larger j
stones. He has one saw which
can handle blocks of material of
six to seven inches. He believes
he will be the only person in this
area to do custom cutting, and
he will be one of the very few
gem-cutters in the territory who
work with the cutting and pol
ishing of jade.
The necessary equipment for
the work is comparatively sim
ple, with the beauty of the final
product depending upon the pa
tience and skill of the operator.
The lump of jade first is sliced
to the desired thickness by a
small high-speed electric saw.
The rest of the work is done by
rubbing and grinding on an as
sortment of carborundum stones
which fashion a stone to the de
sired shape, round square cor
ners into oval ones and remove
all the tiny mars and scratches
caused by the saw in the first
stone-slicing operation.
The final task of polishing is
done by holding the face of the
stone to the surface of a revolv
ing wheel padded with chamois
skin — an operation somewhat
similar to the buffing of milady’s
fingernails and achieving the
same result.
From original stone-slicing to
the final emergence of, say a
jade cross, Mr. Boucher esti
mates that there’s a good two
hours of work.
Mr. Boucher is no newcomer
| to the territory, having spent
most of the last eight years here.
He is but recently come to Wa
silla however, having filed on a
homestead there about a year
ago. He has had extensive ex
| perience in his work with jade
' before coming to Alaska.
I
History was made 13 years
ago on May 9, when the first
colonists, 298 men, women and
children from Minnesota, arrived
at the tent village of Palmer to
establish a new home. And with
in three short months history
had begun to deal out its repeti
tive pattern of birth, death, mar
riage and day-to-day living to
the settlers in their new home,
just as it had done in the Min
nesota homes they left.
Old newspaer clippings tell
the story in graphic detail. Of
course, the story really began
far back beyond that eventful
May 9. For Mr. and Mrs. Gilford
Lennon of International Falls,
Minn., the colony’s first honey -
mooners, it began in April, 1935.
Mr. Lennon married his sweet
heart of five years, a hometown
schoolteacher, in order that they
might become a part of the col
onist venture.
The Minnesotans set sail in the
transport St. Mihiel from San
Francisco on May 1, arriving in
Seward on May 8. They went by
train to Anchorage, where they
found most of the city at the
station to greet their arrival.
Shops were closed for a half
day as friendly Anchorage-ites
feted their new neighbors at a
banquet and then pressed gifts
of food upon them as they
stepped aboard their train to
continue their journey to Mata
nuska.
Arriving at their destination,
the colonists found tent homes
ready for them and they set
about at once the business of
beginning their new life.
Just a few days later the fam
ilies from Minnesota were joined
by another group of colonists
from Michigan and Wisconsin.
This latter party was more un
fortunate in their first impres
sions, for they crossed paths with
their tent homes en route and
arrived in the Valley on a wet
and rainy day to find no shelter
ready.
However quarters were shared
and press reports datelined Mat
anuska, in those early weeks of
May, reported “happy, contented
colonists are busy about theij
work.”
But colony happiness was as
fleeting as happiness anywhere.
By June 28 newspaper accounts
were hinting at dissatisfaction,
mismanagement and discontent.
One news story reported on that
date that six colony families al
ready had requested they be re
turned to their home. A govern
ment “troubleshooter” was re
ported on his way north to seek
the roots of colonist dissatisfac
tion.
The colonist who first report
ed himself settled under his own
cabin roof was Arther Retallic,
a former Michigan farmer. Mr.
Retallic moved into his Alaskan
home just before July 4, he told
an Anchorage newspaper report
er.
On July 8, tragedy struck the
settlement, when the year-old
son of Mr. and Mrs. George
(Continued on Back Page)