FIRST VALLEY PAPER
PRINTED AUGUST 1% 1935
Jack Allman, editor and publisher of the Matanuska Valley's f
irst newspaper, the MATANUSKA VALLEY PIONEER, is
pictured above in a photograph used in a write up of "Ameri
ca's Interesting People" in the April, 1937 issue of the American
Magazine. The story, "Susie is Dead" has been made availab ■
3e to The Frontiersman by Mrs. Allman and is being reprinted
as written by Editor Allman many years ago. It will no doub j
1 bring smiles of the days gone by to many readers.
SUSIE IS DEAD
By Jack Allman
Susie is dead! I was in the Ma
tanuska Valley Co-Op packing
plant when she came in. I recog
nized her at once in spite of the
scfaalded whiteness of her skin
which had bristled with the rus
set of full blooded Duroc Jersey
when I first knew her.
Yes, Susie is dead. Killed to
make hams, bacon, lard, chops,
headcheese and salt pork. I saw
liw-e thick and heavy . . . yes,
matronly . . . sides go into the
pork barrel; sides that in the past
two seasons had been nuzzled
oy no less than twenty-six greedy '
httte red youngsters. Susie did
Iter share toward making the
colony a success and now, her
usefulness as a potential mother
*was si an end; she was going the
wafj of lesser pigs. I say lesser
pigs because Susie was no com
mon porker. Susie was famous. I
knew her personally.
« She symbolized a phase of the '
Jsjiony development that was
never in the original planning.
She exemplified the ability of
John Colonist to gather sheckels
unto himself when every econ
omic condition was absolutely
against the process. She was a
pawn m a piece of the most
"-"‘hireling of all the sharp-shoot
ing rackets farrowed by the pe
culiar set-up of the first year’s
development program.
Here we had Uncle Sam hell
bent on spending five million dol
lars as rapidly as possible on the
rehabilitation of 200 relief famil
ilies. But none of this money was
to get into the hands of the col
onist. Not a chance. They could
not even work for it. What did
they need cash for? They had
credit. Credit without li.mit. But
no cash.
Of course they could have
bought food, clothing and tools
on tick and sold them for cash,
but that would have been dis
honest. They figured out other
ways, and for sheer ingenuity
some of them would make you
gasp in open-mouthed wonder.
Made the colony officials gasp
too. At least they did when the
Susie deal came up.
It was on a Sunday morning
that I first met Susie. I had hiked
out Finger Lake Road and since
sitting behind a desk writing ed
itorials (and birth announce
ments) is not conducive to good
wind, I was puffing hard when
I topped the first rise. I leaned
against a fence to catch my
breath and right there on the
other side was Susie. She was a
maden then.
She looked like a nice sociable
pig, and I spoke to her. She fin
ished rooting at the toe of my
shoe pack with her India rubber
snout and then passed the time
of day with me. We chatted for
a while and then I asked her if
she were a native pig, or one that
had been imported with the col
onists. Her hazel eyes opened
wide and from the way. she
grunted I knew I had in some
way offended her.
“Who, me?” she asked. “You
claim to be a newspaper man
and you don’t know who I am?
Why I’m the most famous pig in
the valley. In all Alaska, I guess.
I am the pig.”
She made me feel kind of fool
ish, but I was really interested
then. I had heard the story of the
pig deal, but for obvious reasons
neither the colony officials nor
the individuals involved cared to
supply the details. Here was a
chance for me to check the story
right at its very source, so to
WELCOME FRIENDS
to the
I5TH ANNUAL VALLEY FAIR
STOP IN WHILE YOU APE HERE
Wo carry a complete line of Groceries,
Fresh Vegetables and Luncheon Meats
North Palmer Store
' 8
speak. I led her on.
Now Susie might have been a
bit egotistical about the part she
played in the frenzied finances
of some fenageling farmers, but,
by golly, I’ll say this for her;
Susie was truthful.
“I was born right up here at
the crossroads on the farm of old
settler Snodgrass,” she said. “And
when I was two months old, the
corporation that runs the colony
bought me for ten dollars and
turned me over to colonist ‘A’
as what they called ‘foundation’
stock.
“He gave me a good home and
I was just getting used to the
place when the corporation an
nounced that they would give the
colonists half cash and half cred
it on all profit from stock trans
fers.
“Well, sir, that was the first
ruling that gave the colonists a
chance to get their fingers on a
pinch of change, so what does my
owner do but sell me to Colonist
‘B’ for twenty bucks. Of course,
they made the deal up between
themselves, neither caring how
big their debt became because
they probably would be going
back pretty soon anyhow.
“They went to the colony office
and had me taken off ‘A’s’ ac
count and charged up to ‘B’ for
twenty. It looked like a clear
profit of ten dollars for ‘A’ so
Ed Cronsin, he’s the fiscal agent
for the corporation, gave ‘A’ a
five spot and credited his account
with a like amount. It was the
five cash that made a hit with
the boys, though, and they were
both pretty tight when they took
me to my -new home that even
ing.
“Then, when I was with ‘B’
about a week he sold me to ‘C’
for thirty. Cronin rubs twenty
off ‘B’s account and there’s an
other ten paper profit with half
of it in cash. And pretty soon ‘C’
pulls the. same gag with the col
mist ‘D’ and damned if I’m no+
worth forty bucks quicker’n you
could root a runt out of a trough.
And me less than four months
old.
“Well, the racket blew up
when ‘D’ tries to pull his sale.
Too active a market in live pigs,
1 guess, and Cronin investigates.
Boy, did he blow up! He said a
Original lent “news-shack", without window, where Jack
Allman, editor, put out first newspaper of the colony, Mal
anuska Valley Pioneer, Vol. 1, No. 1, August 22, 1935. Four
page, mimeographed 3 '/2 x 14 sheet, two column; weekly.
Lead story: World shocking news of Will Rcgors-Wiley
Post crash only 30 hours after visiting the colony. Editorial
proclaiming Palmer now a city (200 ienis) for Mark Twain
claimed no town takes on a stature of a city until it has a
newspaper and “Today The PIONEER makes is humble
bow ..."
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lot of bad words, but there wai
nothing he could do about it.”
Susie heaved a deep porcine
sigh. “Everything would hav€
been all.right,” she said, “If only
I could have grown fast enough
to keep up with my inflated val
ife, but I couldn’t And I was
eating well, too. As much as ]
could.”
I asked her if she had ever
heard of Ponzi and she wanted
to know if it was whole grain oi
some of that patent mash they
were shipping in. Before I could
enlighten her about schemes for
making money someone opened
the back door of the house and
threw out a pan of potato peel
ings. Away she went, her big
triangular ears cocked forward,
her corkscrew tail quivering in
anticipation of the succulent par
ings.
And now poor Susie is dead.
Gone the way of all good swine,
but as I said before, she did her
part toward developing the col
ony.
MEANT HIS SPEECH
Fayetteville, N. C. — While
Mayor Georage Herndon was ad
dressing a group of auxiliary po
licemen on law and enforcement,
a messeenger interruptd to ad
vise him that an armed bandit
had robbed the Mayor’s music
store of $40. The Mayor complet
^A»^rVW^VVS/VVVVVMWVVWWVVVVVVVS^
r MERCHANTS FEATURING
LOCAL-GROWN PRODUCE
Merchants throughout the Pal
mer and Anchorage areas this
week are cooperating 100 percent
with the Matanuska Valley
Chamber of Commerce sponsor
ed Alaska Farm Week which
has been proclaimed by Gov. B.
Frank Heintzleman from August
25 to September 5. The observ
ance will climax with the big
gest vegetable and produce dis
play ever shown, at the Matarv
uska Valley over the Labor Day
week end.
Special displays of Valley
grown produce are being fea
tured in the markets, identified
by the “Nugget Buy” posters
which were prepared for the
special week. Housewives seeing
a display so identified may be
sure that she is purchasing fresh,
locally produced items for her
dinner table.
Stuart Durrant, project chair
man, speculated at a recent
Chamber meeting that the idea
could grow in such proportions
as to embrace the entire Terri
tory and branch out into any
thing, in any line, that is pro
duced in Alaska.
ed his address with greater earn
estness and enthusiasm.
Imer Store
WISHES THE
1955 FAIR
GREAT SUCCESS
We Carry a Full Line of Staple
Groceries and Luncheon Meats
I