Miss Li91 Abner? Read Him on Page 4
Yol. 1, No. 5
Palmer, Alaska, October 1, 1947
Ten Cents
PALMER AIRPORT IS NEARLY FINISHED
%
Cars Collide
Near Palmer
A pick-up driven by Robert
Stewart and a Ford coupe with
Hellmut A. Stephen at the wheel
were, involved in an accident
near Palmer last week.
The smash-up occured in late
afternoon. The two cars were
both driving along the highway
in the same direction. Mr. Hell
mut attempted to pass the pick
up as he drew alongside, he
drove into a chuckhole which
bounced him into the side of the
other car.
The side of the Ford pick-up
was entirely ripped away, accord
ing to the report of the accident.
Neither Mr. Stewart, who was
driving alone, nor Mr. Hellmut
and his wife, who accompanied
him, was injured.
Mr, Hellmut’s car wa s not
damaged in the accident.
Another recent accident,, which
occured while the Moose Creek
bridge was closed, almost com
pletely demolished a 1946 Dodge
sedan. The car, driven by John
Boner, 18-year-old nephew of the
vehicle’s owner, left the road
three miles west of Alpine Inn.
Mr. Boner suffered a badly
bruised back, but no serious in
juries. He and his uncle had just
driven to the territory over the
Alaska Highway.
Missing Miners
Return Safely
Don Harvey, Inglewood, Cal
if., resident who was recently
reported the object of a search
at Talkeetna, walked into the
Palmer postoffice this week to
•* claim his mail.
Mr. Harvey had been pros
pecting in the area about 75
miles' west of Talkeetna, and
was reported missing in a wire
directed to the office of the U.
S. marshal .in Anchorage. Mar
shal Bill Bouwens of Palmer
also was wired. At the time of
the report, Mr. Bouwens said he
believed that a search had al
ready been instigated in Talkeet
na for the missing Harvey and
his partner A. Ramsower.
Neither of the two men re
ported anything unusual about
their prospecting trip. They said
they had not planned to be
back before late in October.
See A Show,
Win A Paper
A theatre ticket may buy a
month’s subscription to the Val
ley Frontiersman for Friday
night - showgoers.
Beginning next Friday even
ing, which is family night at
the Valley Theatre, 10 names
___ will be drawn from the stage.
Those Valley residents whose
names are drawn, and who are
present in the theatre at the
time of drawing, will receive a
month’s subscription gift to the
Frontiersman.
Also beginning next Friday,
it will be possible to buy a sub
scription to the paper at the
theatre. A representative of the
paper will be in the lobby be
fore the evening show.
Finishing A Map
An Alaska Road Commission, tractor and carry-nil smooth out the bumps in the 4,400 .foot east
west runway at Palmer airport. The 300-foot wide airstrip has been dozed, filled and stripped,
although occasionally a second machine turned a helping track. No plane has been landed on
the east-west strip yet, but members of the Airport Association expect it to be in use by
freeze-up this fall. (Photo by Palmer Photographic Center)
HeckerFuneral
Services Held
Funeral services for Earl Hec
ker, local barber who succumbed
at Matanuska Valley Hospital at
6 o’clock last Friday evening,
were held in Palmer at 2 o’clock
this afternoon. Interment fol
lowed in the Palmer cemetery.
Services were held in the
United Protestant Church with
Rev. George Geiwitz presiding.
Members of Palmer Moose
Lodge 793 asisted in the service.
Mr. Hecker was a charter mem
ber of the Palmer lodge.
Mr. Hecker was 57 years of
age at the time if his death. He
is survived here by his widow
and three daughters, Mrs. Jack
Leek and Barbara and Joyce
Hecker. JHe also leaves a daugh
ter, Mrs. Chester Burden, and a
son, William E. Hecker, Jr., of
Anchorage, and another daugh
ter, Mrs. Robert Totten of Ju
neau*
(Continued on page 8)
Thieves Ransack
Rooms at Lodge
Prowlers entered the Matan
uska Valley Lodge last Tuesday
evening, and ransacked rooms
on every floor of the building.
They were reported to be a group
of several men, dressed in uni
form.
The thieves were seen by
several guests, who believed
they were registered at the
Lodge. One room was robbed of
a small amount of money.
The robbery occurred while a
P-TA meeting was in progress
at the Palmer school. Many of
the residents of the Lodge are
teachers, who were attending the
meeting.
NOT TALKING
Members of the Co-op Board
of Directors still had not talked
last Saturday in regard to the
potato market. Reports say that
Valley farmers may market the
spud crop independently this
year. No Co-op officials will
comment on the rumor.
Photo Club
Is Planned
How to take good pictures—
that’s what Bill Rempel and
Irwin Plitt of the Palmer Photo
graphic Center want to show
folks
And because the two photo
graphers want to share their
knowledge, they are planning to
organize a Photography Club in
Palmer. Membership in the group
is limited to the younger set
however. No students allowed
over 20 years of age and none
younger than 7."
The course outline is planned
to include developing, printing,
enlarging and photo finishing.
Teen-agers interested in photo
graphy are asked to call at the
Photographic Center for details
of the plan. Class time and length
of the course have not yet been
decided. They’ll be announced
after potential students have in
dicated their free hours.
Iceboxes to Eskimos Are Next,
Some of the top salesmen in
the business could take lessons
from young Freddie Cook, Fron
teirsman paperboy and subscrip
tion-solicitor.
Freddie has just added the
job of subscription- soliciting.
His first efforts along that line
were last Friday evening. And
when he checked in his take
that night, he revealed that he’d
managed to sell one subscription
to Clyde King, and just seconds
later, a second subscription to
Mrs. Clyde King.
Here’s the way he explained
it, when a mere editor couldn’t
understand why two people in
the same household would be
such strong Frontiersman fans:
“Well, here’s how it was. I
was walking along, just peddlin’
my papers, when Mr. King
drove up in a car and said he’d
like to buy one for a month.
So—I sold it to him.
“Then I was walking along
some more, when Mrs. King she
came out on her front porch
and said she wanted to buy one
for a month. So, I sold it -to
her.
“Why, didn’t I tell her that
Mr. King bought one? Well, I
meant to—I had it on my mind.
But I was just walkin’ along
there, thinkin’ about how much
trouble I was goin’ to get into
at home because I didn’t change
my clothes and because I was
late, and you know, it just
slipped my mind to tell her.”
So Freddie collected his com
mission on both papers, and the:
Kings have a two-months sub-j
scription to the Frontiersman. It
all seems j>retty simple to Fred-,
die. I
Two Runways
Are Ready For
Winter Flying
A government planning agent's
map of Palmer back in the mid
30’s, when the colony first be
gan, is nearly an actuality today.
That first plat of the community
of Palmer showed Palmer air
port. Today, more than 10 years
later, there, are only a few more
finishing touches needed on the
I east-west runway of the port, to
make that early map an accurate
picture of Valley geography.
Planned originally as one
means of shipping Valley pro
duce to market, the original idea
still holds, although a decade
of advance in aviation have made
those original plans blossom and
multiply many times over.
It is the hope of Valley resi
dents that Palmer's airport of to
day will soon be a scheduled
stop on the route of flying pro
duce carriers. When that day
comes, it is expected that Valley
foods will reach not only the
markets of the territory, but
may be exported to Outside mar
kets.
Big Enough
li tnose plans cio materialize
in the near future, it will find
Palmer’s two airstrips more tha&
adequate to the job of providing
entrance and exit for the flying
freight carriers.
The present north-south run
way, in use for almost a year,
is 2,610 feet long and can be
safely used by “any single-en
gined plane flying in Alaska and
by some two-motored ships,” ac
cording to Leslie Green, local
pilot. Mr. Green further be
lieves that the north-south run
way will afford safe landing to
ships as large as DC-3’s as soon as
the ground freezes.
The east-west runway, which
is still under construction, but
which is partly ready for use,
will handle a DC-4 upon com
pletion. This runway is to be
4,400 feet long when finished
this fall. It has a potential
length of at least a mile, if future
developments prove the need
for a larger strip.
Filling and stripping of the
east-west runway is now nearly
finished. A tractor and carryall
j working at the port have only a
few more rods to cover before the
entire strip will be roughed out.
The final work on that strip is
expected to be completed in time
to permit landings there this fall.
No plane yet has landed on
the longer runway, but the north
south strip has been used by
transient air traffic all summer,
as well as by Leslie Green and
Leonard Turner, who keep ships
permanently based there.
Hartley Was First
The first plane to land on
that strip was a Cub owned by
Jim Hartley. The ship set
wheels on the Palmer airport for
the first time just a year ago.
Since that first landing, further
improvement has smoothed the
strip until it is as level as a floor,
j Mr. Green, who owns an Aeronca
Chief, uses it as a classroom for
.the 12 students he is now teach
I (Continued on page 8)