Vol. 1, No. 13
Palmer, Alaska, October 29, 1947
Ten Cents
7
Dial Phones May Be Installed Here In Spring
Anchorageite
Badly Injured
By Tractor
George Fennimore of Anchor
age was critically injured at
Sheep Mountain last Friday aft
ernoon, when he fell beneath a
tractor which rolled completely i
over his body. ,
Mr. Fennimore was bulldozing
a site for a private landing strip
when the accident occurred. Ai
tree in the path of the dozer, |
which was working on an up-hill •
grade, toppled toward the driver.
Mr. Fennimore dove from his
seat to escape. As he lay helpless
on the ground, the tractor engine
began firing in reverse, and the
heavy machine rolled across his
body. !
The injured man was placed
on a door and brought to Palmer
in the back of a pick-up truck.
The accident occurred at 2:30
and he was not admitted to the
Valley hospital until 6:30 Fri
day evening.
Drs. R. E. Garrett and H. Har
old Lamberton, Post orthopedic
surgeon now living in the Val
ley, worked the entire night;
over the injured man. He was
found to have crushed both legs, |
broken his left knee, left thigh,
right shoulder, seven ribs, an
undetermined number of verte
brae and to have suffered in
ternal injuries.
Dr. Garrett said the man’s
condition is “very grave.” Pneu
monia is feared.
Mr. Fennimore is well known
in the Valley. He is a former
schoolmate and long-time friend
of Father James Snead of St.
Michael’s church here, and was
winner of the radio award given
at the church bazaar recently.
The enjured man owns a gym-1
sum mine in the Sheep Mountain
region.
HELP'S COMING
There’s a new government
bulletin in the making, which
promises help with Christmas!
gift suggestions. The bulletin is'
said to be crammed with prac
tical ideas for making gifts. It is
in the printing stage now, and
should arrive in the Valley in the 1
near future. The bulletin may be
picked up at the Extension Of
fice, when it reaches Palmer. i
Bid Withdrawn
On Buildings
The Valley Volunteer Fire As
sociation has determined to with
draw its bid for 16 buildings lo
cated at Cathedral Heights on
the Alaska Highway, it was an
nounced this week. The decision
was made upon the recommenda
tion of William Curtis, sent to
inspect the unit last Friday.
The Association had met
Thursday evening to discuss with
interested businessmen the pur
chase of Cathedral camp build
ings. A1 Hagen of the Association
announced that the plan was to
reserve two or three of the units
for use by the fire department.
The remaining structures were to
be sold to interested Valley pur
chasers.
Mr. Hagen asked for discus
sion of the plan, and also re
quested information on the camp
condition. The Betts brothers,
Wasilla truckers, said they had
stopped at the camp, but were
unable to give exact informa
tion as to building type and pres
ent condition.
However, it was believed the
camp should be free from pilfer
ing, since the Military Police had
maintained a camp there for
some time.
Members of the group, none of
whom had exact information
about the Cathedral camp, said
they believed buildings to be
mostly of native lumber, rather
than K-D type construction.
It was suggested that some
one be flown to Cathedral to in
spect the camp. Leslie Green
said he would make the trip at
cost, taking with him one man
appointed by the fire association.
William Curtis was selected by
the group to make the inspec
tion, and was asked to report
back to the Fire Association at
1 o’clock Sunday. It was further
suggested that an alternate trip
by car be planned, in the event
flying weather was poor on Fri
day. Victor Nielson offered the
use of his pick-up, and Clayton
DeLand volunteered to act as
driver for Mr. Curtis.
On Sunday, Mr. Curtis sub
mitted his report to a small
group, and it was agreed that
the fire department would take
no further action in the matter.
Mr. Curtis found the buildings
to be principally of native lum
ber construction. Most of them
were “hollow shells,” he said.
• (Continued on page 3)
PHS Starts Season
With Pair Of Wins
Palmer high school won its
initial two games of the current
basketball season last weekend
by the precarious margin of one
point in each game. They
squeezed by the Alumni 20 to 19
on Friday, and bested a fast
Army five 21-20 on Saturday.
Friday’s game was more near
ly a rodeo than a basketball
game. The high school five came
through it thoroughly tired and
more than a little shaken. Ray
Puhl, high school forward, was
the evening’s one casualty,
though. He lost a tooth, when
bumped by Bert Stewart in a
melee near the basket.
The Alumni started fast in
that game, to pull to a 6-2 lead
in the first quarter. The high
school steadied as game time
drew on, evening the count at
6-all midway in the second quar
ter, and pulling ahead 12-11 by
half time.
There was never more than
four or five points difference in
the score during the entire eve
ning. The high school was ahead
16-13 at the third quarter, and
barely lasted through an Alumni
spurt in the fourth quarter.
Larry Stevens, high school
guard, played a smooth floor
game and led his teammates in
scoring, netting 10 points in all.
Bob Stewart, small and fast, was
(Continued on page 3)
Court lessons learned in after
school and evening drills were
thoroughly tested in Saturday’s
high school-Army contest. The
Army, the 27th Statistical Con
trol Unit, displayed a speedy
court game that kept the high
school boys working hard.
Although trailing by a small
margin through almost the whole
game, the Palmer five played as
smooth a game as though it were
mid-season. Their defensive work
was outstanding, and the Army
men were forced to shoot well
out to make their scores.
Palmer scored first with a foul
shot by Larry Stevens, but the
Army quickly retaliated with a
field goal. The score was knotted
at four-all at the end of the first
quarter, but Army led 11-8 at
the half and 17-12 going into the
fourth quarter.
However the Palmer five
never lost heart. They settled
down to work in the fourth quar
ter to whittle away the Army
lead, point by point. With two
minutes of play remaining, the
local boys rallied to grab their
one-point lead, and then held on
to control the ball until the final
whistle.
The Army squad played a
clean, fast game, but showed
need for more game experience.
Players repeatedly lost control of
(Continued on page 3)
Two Valley Men
Named to Serve
On New Board
The appointment of a soil con
servation technician for this area
will be announced within the
next few days, it was learned
last week. J. H. Christ, Pacific
coast head of soil conservation
work, conveyed that information
to Don L. Irwin, head of Alaskan
experiment stations, in a recent
letter.
Announcement of the three
man territorial board of soil con
servation also has been made. All
three men named are farmers.
They are Frank Linden of Fair
banks and Frank Lynn and Max
Sherrod of Palmer.
This board, created at the last
session of the legislature, will be
assisted in its work by a super
(Continued on page 3)
ARRC Man
Arrives Here
C. W. Peters of Corvallis, Ore.,
new manager of the Alaska Re
construction and Rehabilitation
Corp., arrived in Palmer last Fri
day. He travelled to Alaska
aboard the steamer Aleutian, ac
companied by Mrs. Peters and
their 12-year-old daughter Char
lene.
He was brought to Palmer by
Col. Otto Ohlson, former general
manager of The Alaska Railroad.
The ARRC’s. new manager
comes to his job with a varied
background of farming and farm
organization experience. He is a
graduate of Oregon State Col
lege at Corvallis. For the past
five years he has been assistant
(Continued on page 3)
Au-Ro-Ra Carries Kermit To McKinley Park
A happy, gray-eyed freckle
faced youngster from Palmer is
scheduled to climb aboard the
Alaska Railroad’s new stream
liner in Anchorage today. He is
Kermit King, 10-year-old sixth
grade student here. Kermit was
just starting a vacation at Mt
iVfcKinley park.
Kermit is the Palmer boy
who submitted the name Aurora
for the streamliner in the recent
contest. Being just 10, he doesn’t
know about the tricky little
quirks that can win contests. The
hyphens that made another en
try the winner (Au-Ro-Ra is the
way the winning entrant does it)
don’t mean much to him. To Ker
mit, Aurora is Aurora, no mat
ter how it’s spelled.
Thai's why, when he heard
a premature radio announce
ment of the winning name,
without an explanation and
without the announcement of
the winning contestant, Ker
mit thought the announcer
was talking about his entry.
He was sitting at home with
his parents and little sister and
brother, in the King living room
at the Experiment Farm, when
the news flash was repeated.
Kermit was electrified, although
there had never been much
doubt in his mind whos name
would win.
"Mother, that's my name,"
he cried, when the announcer
was finished. "That's the name
I wrote down on my entry
clank. Mother, you know, I
knew I was going to win, be
cause I prayed before I wrote
it down. I knew my name
would be the one."
Believing that he would be a
passenger on the streamliner’s
initial run the following Sat
urday, Kermit ran to his room
and began inspecting his clothes
and packing his bag for a week’s
vacation in McKinley Park, the
contest prize.
So excited he could neither
eat nor sleep that night, Kermit
told friends on the school bus the
following morning that he would
leave for McKinley soon. He re
ported at the school office that
morning, to find when and
where he would catch the train.
(Continued from Page 5)
$50,000 Unit
Can Be Bought
For Use Here
i
The planned installation of a
$50,000 automatic dial telephone
system in the Valley was this
week announced by Mr. and Mrs.
Maynard Sands of the Valley
Telephone Exchange. The neces
sary equipment, in its entirety,
is available and has been prom
ised to the Sands for spring de
livery.
“It’s possible to get, and it will
be purchased, if the people of
the Valley want it,” Mr. Sands
declared. “It’s up to them. If
they want it, they can have it.”
The Exchange managers said
tthey must be assured of a min
j imum of 300 subscribers before
undertaking the purchase of the
! new equipment. The unit under
consideration would take care of
approximately 500 subscribers,
the Sands stated.
Want A List
If the necessary subscribers
can be promised, the order will
be sent at once. However the
Sands are asking for an expres
sion of co-operation from Valley
people before that order goes.
All they want is assurance that
there will be at least 300 phone
subscribers for the new system.
They will appreciate a list of
names of potential new subscrib
ers.
The advantages of a dial sys
tem, such as that planned, are
many, according to Mr. Sands.
The purchase of the new equip-,
ment will permit immediate ex
pansion into rural areas. It is
believed that it will reach the
great majority of Valley resi
dents who want telephone ser
vice.
The dial system eliminates op
erators and thus cuts down per
sonnel expense for the phone ex
change. It is expected to make
for clearer phone conversations
in the Valley area. However,
it was emphasized that only lo
cal improvement can be expect
ed. New equipment in the Val
ley can do little to better condi
tions on calls to other points.
All Complete
If the automatic system is or
dered, a man will come from
the states next spring to oversee
its installation here, and to train
Exchange personnel in its use.
Telephones and all equipment
necessary to operate the system
are included in the unit to be
purchased.
The Sands say there are now
70 subscribers to telephone ser
vice and “about a hundred” cm
the waiting list, so they need io
find only 130 additional subscrib
ers to insure the Valley the lat
est in modern telephone service.
Stand Pat Till Spring
Should the dial system be or
dered, Mr. Sands said there
would be little further expansion
of the present system this win
ter. Present lines will be main
tained, and possibly a few more
will be added, but new subscrib
ers will be urged to wait for the
arrival of the dial system in the
spring. The switch to dial ser
vice will see no change in man
agement or ownership of the Val
ley Telephone Exchange. The
system will remain under the
management of the Sands as pri
vate owners.