W'
Vol. 1, No. 9
Palmer, Alaska, October 15, 1947
Ten Cents
Valley Volunteers Build A Home For Nurses
Streamliner
Coming Here
Next Thursday
Valley residents will get a
prevue glimpse of the new
streamliner train just imported
by The Alaska Railroad, it was
announced by W. C. Mau, head
of the Valley Chamber of Com
merce. Two days before the
sleek blue and gold Diesel-pow
ered unit is brought out to per
form for assembled Anchorage
officialdom, the train will be in
Palmer.
Although inaugural ceremon
ies and the christening of the
unit are planned for Saturday,
which is Alaska Day, the stream
liner will be in Palmer late
Thursday afternoon. Cargo on
that first trip will be 300 Anch
orage school children and their
teachers.
The trip, as first announced
was planned for Friday and the
train was scheduled to come only
as far as Matanuska.
When Mr. Mau learned of the
planned schedule, he reached for
the phone and placed a call to
Larry Moore, railroad public re
lations officer. He told Mr.
Moore that Valley residents
were interested in getting a first
hand glimpse of the streamliner
and asked that the train be
brought into Palmer, most cen
tral location for the Valley.
Backs To Malanuska
Mr. Moore promised that the
train would be routed here
Thursday, although the big en
gine will have to back to Mat
anuska in order to switch for
the return trip.
The streamliner is scheduled
to leave Anchorage at 12:45 p.m.
and will arrive in Palmer at
2:30. During the next hour the
train will be on inspection here.
' On the return trip the stream
liner will leave Palmer at 3:30
p.m., arriving in Anchorage at
5 p.m.
Souvenirs of the Valley, in
the form of Dixie cups of ice
cream, will be distributed among
the Anchorage visitors by the
Chamber of Commerce. The ice
cream was sold to the Chamber
at cost by the creamery.
Superintendent of Schools Carl
Snelling has announced that the
Palmer school children will be
released from their classes at
2:15 p.m. in order that they
might greet their Anchorage vis
itors.
Inspection Invited
Valley residents are invited to
be af the Palmer depot on Thurs
day. They will be escorted on an
inspection tour of the seven-cai
train.
The unit has four coaches, a
baggage car, a mail car and a
diner. Each of the passenger
cars will seat 60 persons. Thirty
two diners can be accommodat
ed in the dining car, which is
also a lounge car.
The train’s interior is decorat
ed in blue, gold and rust. Re
clining chairs rotate so that the
passenger may turn to face the
window. Inside, Venetian blinds
reduce glare but permit vision.
The cars are equipped with the
most modern innovations in
lighting and ventilation systems.
10 Hours To Fairbanks
The train has a potential speed
of 98 miles an hour, although
the roadbed must be greatly im
(Continued on page 2)
Gift Issues
Go Begging
There was no one answering
present to the Frontiersman
rollcall at the Valley Theatre
last Friday evening. Ten names
were drawn. Another 10 will be
drawn next Friday evening. On
the final Friday of the month,
names will be drawn until a to
tal of 10 month’s subscriptions
are given away.
132 Buildings
Up For Bid
All the buildings located at
22 camp sites along the Alaska
Highway will go on the block
as surplus property next week,
it was announced today by
Lowell M. Puckett of the Bureau
of Land Management. A total of
132 buildings will be sold, but
bids will be submitted on lot
units only.
Buildings in the ‘For Sale’ list
include barracks, warehouses,
messhalls, fire stations and other
camp equipment. Successful pur
chasers will be required to move
the buildings within a period of
time set by the land office.
Priority bidders, which in
clude federal agencies, the Re
construction Finance Corpora
tion, state and local govern
ments and non-profit institu
tions, will he allowed 10 days
grace before the sale is thrown
open to the public.
These priority bidders must J
submit their bids between Oct.
14 and Oct. 23. The general pub
lic may bid on the structures dur
ing a 20-day period beginning
Oct. 24.
It is the intention of the
Valley Fire Association to
submit a bid on a group of
buildings which includes a fire
station, A1 Hagen, member of
the board of directors, said this
week. One of the listed units
contains a total of 16 buildings,
one of which is a fire station.
Mr. Hagen said local truckers
already had agreed to tear down
the structure and haul it to
Palmer without charge, if the
Fire Association'bid is accepted.
Bid forms and detailed infor
mation concerning listed build
ings may be obtained from Mr.
Puckett’s office in Room 52 of
the Federal building in Anchor
age.
CUTS HIS FOOT
Jimmy Ball of Gakoma this
week was admitted to the Val
ley hospital for treatment of an
injured foot. Mr. Ball gashed
the foot while chopping wood.
TTirar
J
See Dick Tracy Take “Coffyhead’s” Measure on Page 4
Volunteers Build Nurses’ Quarters
Eleven of the crew members working at the Matanuska ho
tel, change jobs for a day to transform an Army Quonset into
quarters for hospital nurses. The 11, three of whom are
working on the hut's interior, installed plumbing and radia
tors, built a dormer and put in flooring during their volunteer
day. Then they made up a purse so that two of their members
might return and finish the work left undone. (Photo by
Palmer Photographic Center.)
Flight to Health
Begins at Palmer
Leslie Green s aerial class
room became a hospital plane
last week, when Mrs. Eva Plum
ley of Palmer was flown to
Anchorage from the Valley. Mrs.
Plumley was sent to Los An
geles for surgical treatment by
Dr. R. E. Garrett.
She had been a patient at the
Valley hospital for only a short
time when Dr. Garrett advised
her to seek the services of a Los
Angeles specialist surgeon.
Mrs. Plumley left the Palm
er airport with Mr. Green late
Tuesday afternoon and was
transferred immediately to the
statesbound Northwest flight
from Anchorage.
She was scheduled to arrive
in Los Angeles a short time later,
and by this time is expected to
have undergone recommended
surgery there.
Mrs. Plumley is due to return
to the Valley within six weeks’
time.
Pup Wants
To Go Home
There’s a friendly little brown
dog at the Alaska Agricultural
Experiment Station who has mis
placed- his owner. The Stanley
Ballouns there are providing the
stray with bed and board at pres
ent, but they’d like to return
the pooch to his proper owner.
Fire Department
Plans Station
Members of the board of di
rectors of the Valley Fire As
sociation will hold an important
planning meeting next Tuesday
evening. The directors will gath
er in the basement of the Valley
Theatre at 8 o’clock.
First on the order of business
to be undertaken Tuesday will
be the discussion of plans for
construction of a fire station ip
Palmer.
Present board members of the
Fire Association include:
Steve Ward, Emil Larsh, Ber
nie Bouwens, A1 Hagen, Buddy
Koslosky and Jack Maze. Mr.
Maze joins the group by invita
tion on Tuesday, to fill the va
cancy left by Mr. Koslosky.
I -
Former Resident Dies
Dan Cunningham, formerly of
Palmer and a long-time Alaskan
resident, died in Providence hos
pital at Anchorage last Thurs
day morning. Mr. Cunningham
was a former gold miner in this
area.
Little, is known of the details
of his illness and death. It is be
lieved that Mr. Cunningham left
no relatives here and that he
will be interred in the Anchorage
cemetery. Funeral arrangements
were unknown at press time.
Buy The Frontiersman
Workmen Give
Time, Money
To Project
Bankers turned plumbers,
skilled union laborers donated
both time and money, and farm
ers exchanged hoes for ham
mers in a co-operative communi
ty effort to complete construc
tion on nurses’ quarters at th£
Valley hospital last weekend.
Begun more than a year ago,
until last week’s work, the Ar
my Quonset hut standing beside
the Valley hospital was just as
base a structure as when it left
the Army for civilian duty.
Chores were legion before the
place could be made the cheery
livable quarters needed to house
the staff of the Valley hospital.
Hospital nurses come and go in
Palmer with monotonous regu
larity, chiefly because they lack
suitable living quarters. Yet the
Hospital board has been unable
to finance the cost of converting
the idle Quonset hut.
Season Is Short
With the summer construction
season rapidly drawing to a
close, Dr. F. R. Sims, chairman
of the hospital board, recently
appealed for help to finish the
building. He told Chamber of
Commerce members two weeks
ago, that the necessary work
must be completed by the end
of October if the Quonset is to
be used this winter.
At that time, he called for
volunteers to give time in com
pleting odd jobs about the build
ing. He fixed Oct. 11 as a date
Eor a community-wide work day
at the hospital. However, he
said it was imperative that
plumbing be installed before
that time.
On Friday, Oct. 10, the
plumbing was still missing from
the Quonset hut. Fixtures and
radiators had been donated by
Meal Wright, but had not been
set in the building.
Give Day's Work
It was then that 11 men now
working on the construction of
the Matanuska hotel decided
that a day’s labor subtracted
from the hotel and added to the
hospital would bring dividends
to the whole Valley.
On Friday morning these II
men reported for work at the
Hospital. By quitting time that
evening, the plumbing was near
ly installed, room partitions in
side the Quonset had been set
up and a dormer window had
been constructed.
But there was still work to
oe done at the end of the day.
5o the 11 men voted to contrib
ute money enough to pay two
(Continued from Page 3)