Vol. 1, No. 85
Palmer, Alaska, August 6, 1948
Ten Cents
Soil Men
Start Work
At Dunbar
Members of the force of the
Palmer soil conservation district,
who are working in cooperation
with other branches of the gov
ernment to prepare for new colo
nization projects in Alaska, left
for Dunbar Monday. James Hur
ley, John Thomson, Henry Fox
and Rudy Mayko are at work on
a survey there, which will deter
mine the agricultural fitness of
the land.
The land-use capability study
will be conducted at both Dunbar
and Kenai this summer. It is a
part of the government’s effort
to settle colonists only on land
suited for agricultural produc
tion. A number of auxiliary stu
dies of economic and market fac
tors are under way in the Valley
now, in order that the new colo
nists may avoid some of the pit
falls which have slowed the pro
gress of the Matanuska colony.
The soil scientists oi the Pal
mer soil district work under
Charles Wilson, territorial con
servationist. but have been loan
ed to the Bureau of Land Man
agement to conduct this survey.
They will attempt to conclude
enough of tiheir work in both the
Dunbar and Kenai areas, to fur
nish them with material for
study all winter. It is expected
that a large crew of survey men
will be sent north to complete
the job next summer.
The men expect to be finished
with 10 miles of the Dunbar area
by the middle of the month. Mr.
Wilson said. They then will go
to the Kenai district for the re
mainder of the working season.
The Dunbar area is much the
smaller of the two sites selected
for future colonization. It con
tains only 32,437 acres, while the
Kenai location stretches from a |
point 24 miles east of Kenai to j
a location six miles south of
Kasilof. It contains 160.794 acres.
, Although the Kenai-Kasilof
area has recently been with- \
drawn from homestead filing, j
the claims of earlier homestead
ers already are dotted along the
area through which the new high
way cuts. They cluster thickest
along the road sections which are
oldest, thinning down to almost
none in the areas where the road
has not yet reached.
However, because of the num
ber of homesteaders already in
• the area, it is the conjecture that
any program of government aid
for colonists also would be ex
tended to the earlier settlers. The
failure to do this in the Matanus
ka Valley has been pointed out
as one of the major weak spots
of the first colonization plan
All branches of the govern
ment are cooperating in this la
test venture. Palmer district’s
soil scientists are transported
and supplied by branches of the
Army. The colonization project,
when it is inaugurated, will be
the joint responsibility of the De
partment of Agriculture and the
Department of the Interior.
. To Meet In Fairbanks
The semi-annual meeting of
the Territorial Soil Conservation
Board is tentatively scheduled
Aug. 17, it was announced
this week by Charles Wilson,
territorial conservationist. It is
planned to hold the meeting in
Fairbanks.
Canadian Learns About Alaska
‘ Just some ice. much snow and
small Indian villages is what I
thought Alaska was,” 18-year-old
Guy Renaud from Montreal. Que
bec declared in Palmer last week.
"I had no idea that you had any
such place to dig or to cultivate
as I find here. In Montreal, we
learn nothing of Alaska.”
The French Canadian youth, in
company with Pierre Robert, had
just crossed the width of Canada
and traveled the length of the
Alaska Highway to find out for
himself what Alaska is really
like. When his father expressed
concern over his coming, Guy
reassured him by telling him the
Indians of Alaska were no longer
savages. “I told him I expected
to travel from village to village,
even sleeping and living with
these natives along the way,” he
confessed. “I had no idea it was
like this.”
Guy loves to travel. He has
been doing it since he began long
rambling explorations of his na
tive Montreal at the age of six.
He is no novice at cross-coun
Pupils Asked
To Register
Pre-enrollment of students in
Palmer school will open again
next week. Superintendent Fran
cis Malcolm announced today. He
added that pupils enrolling at
this time must consider their
registration tentative.
However Mr. Malcolm is anx
ious to learn the exact number of
prospective students for the com
ing term and has reopened the
registration period for that pur
pose.
“We will do our best to accom
modate every pupil who wants
to go to school.” he said. “Of
course, we can't promise that,
but we will make every effort
to make room for all.”
Students, both in the elemen
tary and high school, may be
registered at the school office in
the morning between the hours
of 8:30 and noon and from 1 to
4:30 in the afternoon. The new
registration period will last for
one week only.
Students who have been pre
registered earlier do not need
to re-enroll at this time. This
added week of registration is
only to accommodate late stu
dents who have not yet been reg
istered. It is most important that
the registration be filled this
week, if a student plans to attend
Palmer school this fall.
Once all pre-registration en
rollments have been tabulated,
Mr. Malcolm will be able to de
termine whether all students re
questing schooling can be taken
care of in Palmer school this
year.
Present records indicate an
other peak enrollment in the
grades for the coming term. High
school classes do not appear to
be quite so crowded.
School will begin on the morn
ing of September 7, the Tuesday
following Labor Day.
Meets Tuesday
The board of education of Pal
mer school will hold its regular
monthly meeting in the school
office next Tuesday evening at
7:30 o'clock.
try gypsying, but he has never
made so long a trip before. He
i has hiked through New Bruns
wick, Nova Scotia and Maine,
has made several trips to New
York and has travelled through
the Niagara Falls country.
He is led by a curiosity about
the things ahead. “I must see for
myself what there is to see,” he
says. ‘ When someone tells me
there is nothing to see there, then
I must go, to see if there is noth
ing to see.” This is the philoso
phy that has be°n drawing him
to new corners of the northern
United States and Canada for the
past several summers.
His English is self - taught,
learned during his trips into the
United States. He rattles it off in
staccato bursts and supplements
it with eloquent gestures, spicing
it here and there with a bit of
American slang.
Guy and Pierre left Montreal
on June 25. traveled to the west
ern coast of Canada, retraced
their steps to Edmonton, trekked
north to Fairbanks over the
C of C Committee
Is Still At Work
On Evaluation
‘Surprising” results have been
uncovered in the first session of
the incorporation study commit
tee’s attempt at property evalua
tion within the proposed city lim
its, one committee member said
today. He said the committee was
making every attempt to keep
the figure as low as possible, but
even so evaluation totals reached
thus far are revealing.
The committee met in a two
hour session last Tuesday and
I were meeting again today at 3
' o’clock in C. W. Peters’ office. It
Alaska Highway, and then by
way of the Glenn and Richard
son to Anchorage. They averaged
about 300 miles a day, by “tak
ing lifts” from passing motorists.
In Alaska, they did not attempt
much walking, for they were still
a little concerned about bears.
While they wait for their rides,
the boys write in their journals.
The summer’s trip will have
cost Guy $140 by the time he
returns to Montreal again. That,
he feels, is far too much. “We
were careless,” he explains. “Oft
en we slept in hotels when we
need not have done so, and we
spent far more for food than we
needed.” However funds were
growing short when he left Pal
mer, for he had only $9 on which
to travel back to Montreal. It
was ample, he felt. He planned
to stretch it by eating not quite
so often nor so much at a time.
The boys normally sleep out
of doors in the states. They carry
packs which contain food and
bedding, and they sleep where
(Continued Back Page/
was estimated that it will take
three or four such meetings to
evaluate all property within the
proposed city limits.
M. D. Snodgrass, local realtor,
was invited to be a guest at Tues
day’s meeting and all subsequent
meetings. Mr. Snodgrass is well
acquainted with the property
values of Palmer.
Tuesday’s study concerned it
self with only a portion of the
lesidential section. The commit
tee finished evaluating North
Palmer and the Smith sub-divis
ion, and were working on the
Felton sub-division at the time
they recessed.
No attempt has been made to
estimate values on the business
section of Palmer yet.
CHAMBER GUESTS COME
FROM WHOLE TERRITORY
Guests from Juneau, Seward
and Seattle, as well as the ex
pected visitors from Anchorage,
shared in Wednesday’s all-Mata
nuska Valley luncheon served by
the Valley Chamber of Com
merce. There were 64 members
and visitors who sat down to
the luncheon of products grown
exclusively in the Valley.
Chamber president Jack Maze
told the group that everything
but coffee and sugar were pro
duced locally. The menu featured
new potatoes, beets, carrots, let
tuce, tomatoes and cucumbers
from Valley gardens and hot
houses. Valley - grown beef,
served in sour cream, was the
entree and the meal was con
cluded with Valley - manufac
tured ice cream topped with local
strawberries.
President Bob Atwood of the
Anchorage Chamber of Com
merce addressed the group fol
lowing the luncheon. He touched
upon the changes which have
taken place in Palmer in the past
10 years and remarked that he
looked forward to seeing even
more improvement in the 10
years ahead.
He declared that he felt Alaska
had the best opportunities in the
United States, since only the se
lected few left the security of
iheir homes in the stat&s to come
north. “Our background is all
in our favor,” he said. “What we
do with it is up to us. Cities don’t
just grow — they have to be
made.”
Following Mr. Atwood’s ad
dress, Mayor Lanier of Seward
and Ross Mann, president of the
Seward Chamber of Commerce
were introduced. Both invited
the two local groups, Anchorage
and Palmer, to be the guests of
Seward at a future meeting at
the Gateway city.
Bob Graham of Seattle, na
tional vice-president of the Jun
ior Chamber of Commerce, also
was introduced and spoke briefly
of his hope for the establishment
of more young men’s organiza
tions in Alaska. He said he looked
forward to the organization of a
Junior Chamber of Commerce in
Palmer in the future. He com
mended Alaskan Chambers of
Commerce for the work already
accomplished, but reminded that
there was much more to be done.
Other out-of-town guests at the
Wednesday meeting included At
torney-General Ralph Rivers of
Juneau, Howard Hopkins, assist
ant chief of the United States
Forest Service, Frank Heintzle
man, regional forester, and May
or Lanier and Chamber *
dent Mann of Seward
Freight Shed
Soon To Be
Constructed
Bids for the" construction of
Palmer’s long awaited new
freight shed and renovations to
existing warehouse space in the
depot of The Alaska Railroad
were opened last week. They
close at 2 o’clock next Wednes
day and work will begin as soon
as the contract is signed.
The contract requires that the
work be finished 90 days after
its date of signing. A railroad
spokesman estimated that all
construction would be finished
by the first of the year. It is
planned to rush necessary out
door work, while weather still is
fair. Interior work will be left
until the last, so that workmen
may complete it after it is too
cold to work on the exterior.
Plans call for an addition to
the present freight house and for
changes to the interior of the
present office. The office will
be enlarged by 128 square feet,
and a 54-foot addition to the
freight house will expand its
capacity to 3100 square feet.
Five new overhead roll-up
doors will be installed in the
freight house. A truck loading
dock is to be built at the north
end of the structure and public
restrooms will be installed in the
south end of the new addition.
An extension to the exterior plat
form also is planned.
In the renovation of the freight
house, a new warm storage room
will be created, 380 square feet
in size.
AH work will be conducted
without closing the freight house
or office, the railroad spokesman
stated. Business is to continue
“as usual” during the entire re
modelling and new construction.
Complete specifications on the
planned new construction may
be secured from Room 210, Gen
eral Office Building, Anchorage.
Original plans for the construc
tion of a fire hall in which to
' house the railroad-loaned fire
! truck, with an upstairs dormitory
for railroad men stationed in
Palmer, have been abandoned.
No further information is avail
able at this time on the construc
tion of the wye at Palmer. This
work originally was scheduled
to begin early in June, but bids
have not yet been opened on this
job.
Wasilla Fisherman Has
Narrow Drowning Escape
WASILLA—Bill Edlund, whc
has been returning to Bristol
Bay year after year for the sal
mon season, is home from what
he says is his last fishing trip
Mr. Edlund lost his boat during
a storm on the Bay this year
which took his partner’s life.
The Wasilla fisherman man
aged to survive a two-hour im
mersion in the icy waters of tht
Bay. He was hospitalized for i
time followed his rescue.
Fairbanks Is Organizing
Farmers in the Fairbanks arer
now are taking steps to organizt
a soil conservation sub-distric
there, it was learned this week
The first Alaskan sub-d<-'
the Soil Conse*"
was orp'— ‘
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