Palmar High School
annual Hallowe'en
Carnival and Dance al
gym al 7 p.m., Ocl. 28.
« Halley Mrotttiergman
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
U PAGES
TODAY
VOL. 4, NO, 7
PALMEH. ALASKA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27., 1950
PRICE 10c
Start Excavations Ht Eklutna liake
ALL FIVE WINNERS OF TERRITORIAL
4-H AWARDS ARE VALLEY YOUTHS
iivc wiiiucis ui ‘i-n*
Club territorial awards this year
are from the Valley. Three of the
winners are Betty Blunck and
Kent Sandvik of Palmer and
Francis Dinkel of Wasilla, who
will receive trips to the 4-H Club
Congress in* Chicago to be held
from November 26 to 30.
The remaining two winners,
Genevieve DeLand of Palmer and
Donald Dinkel of Wasilla, each
will receive a gold watch.
All winners come from fam- i
ilies much interested in 4-H Club
work. The children have joined
4-H Clubs as soon as they were j
old enough and the parents have
given much time and effort to;
keep 4-H Club work going. It is ;
interesting to note that of these i
five winners, four have brothers j
or sisters who have won similar |
prizes, or were previous winners j
themselves.
Enlers Clothing Contest
Betty Blunck came to Alaska a
couple of years ago from the state
of Illinois, where she did most of
her 4-H Club . work. She is 17
years of age ai| is now’ attending
her first year o; college in the
states. She entered the Clothing
Achievement Contest which is
sponsored by the Spool Cotton
Company because she has taken a
clothing project in addition to
others each of her eight years in
club work.
In 4-H for Seven Years
Francis Dinkel, a 16-year-old
Wasilla resident, has been in club
work for seven years. In 1948 he
won a gold watch as winner of
the Meat Animal Contest. He has
a brother and sister who have
each won trips to Chicago. Not to
be outdone, Francis entered the
Poultry Contest sponsored by the
Dearborn Motors Corporation and
will be Chicago - bound himself
the latter part of November.
Kent Sandvik is following in
the footsteps of his brother, Lynn,
by learning all he can about gar
dening in Alaska. He is 17 years
old and this is his sixth year in
club w’ork, each devoted mainly
to gardening. Everyone who saw
his garden this summer said it
(Continued on Back Page)
Dr. Sims to leave
Valdez Hospital Today
Dr. F. R. Sims, severely injured
this week when he fell almost 400
feet into Keystone Canyon, ex
pected to leave the Valdez hos
pital today to return to his home
at Palmer, according to word re
ceived from Valdez late yesterday.
Dr. Sims, well known Palmer
dentist, was on a hunting trip
with E. R. Alexander of Valdez
when the accident cocurred on
Wednesday. The dentist, accom
panied by Mrs. Sims, had gone
to Valdez last week-end. They
had planned to stay the week so
that Dr. Sims could give several
of his patients at the seaport
dental treatments.
According to the report from
Valdez, Dr. Sims suffered severe
cuts and bruises when a small
tret in the canyon pulled loose
and he fell the long distance.
TB SEAL SALE
The annual T.B. Seal drive
will get under way here next
week. Palmer ladies in charge
of the sale make the following
announcement:
“It is again time for our an
nual Christmas Seal sale. We
hope to get the seals out the
first week in November, aim
ing to get the seals into every
home. If we miss you, drop a
card to Viola Thuma, Palmer,
and seals will be sent on re
quest. This is your seal sale.
We must all work together if
we are to eliminate tubercu
losis.”
Plans Started for
Bigger, Better Fair
For Valley Next Year
Expressing satisfaction over ex
hibits, attendance and financial
gains at this year’s Palmer Fair,
the board of directors of the Mat
anuska Valley Fair Association
said this week that plans for a
bigger and better fair than ever
have already been started here
for next year. Carnival equip
ment from last year has been
stored here for use again at next
year’s Fair. Mr. Stein of the Car
nival Company states that he also
will have other new and bigger
rides for the coming year.
A discussion of extensive plans
and suggestions for next year’s
fair was held at the regular gen
eral membership meeting of the
Association Tuesday night at the
Rec Hall.
Among the many worthwhile
plans offered at the meeting was
the suggestion that a big supply
of the Valley’s famous potatoes
be exhibited in connection with
the give-away baked potato fea
tured at the Fair this year. Those
persons sampling the potatoes
then also could buy a supply for
home consumption.
An operating statement pre
(Continued on Classified Page)
FIRE ASSOCIATION
HOLDS ANNUAL MEET
The annual meeting of the Fire
Association will be held Tuesday,
October 31, A1 Hagen, chairman
of the board, announced today.
An election of officers for the
coming year will be held at the
meeting which will convene at 8
p.m. at the Valley theatre.
Mrs. Alexander in Hospital
Mrs. Lilas Alexander, admitted
to Valley Hospital for surgery
late yesterday afternoon, was re
ported to be getting along very
nicely today. Mrs. Alexander is
with the Matanuska Valley Bank
here in Palmer.
The first piece of heavy earth-moving equipment belonging to
Jim Zimowske and moved in by H. B. Burleson, is shown on arrival
at Eklutna lake. It will be used to excavate for preliminary build
ings before the major project gets underway. Left to right in the
picture are Zimowske; center, B. G. Felkner, chief of the project,
and H. B. Burleson, head of the Transportation Company.—(Photo
by Palmer Studio.)
James W. Wilson Resigns Post
As Manager of Valley Cooperative
LEGION LADIES DONATE
$10 TO 'IRON LUNG'
A contribution of $10 toward
“Operation Iron Lung’ was voted
at the regular meeting October
19 of the American Legion Aux
iliary, officers announced today.
The donation was forwarded to
Anchorage where “Operation Iron
Lung” is now in progress.
PAT CARTER STARTS
NEW SUBDIVISION
WASILLA — Sub - dividing of
property at Lake Lucille was an
nounced here this week by Pat
Carter. Jim Baldwin, registered
surveyor, is in charge of the sub
division survey.
A name for the new sub-divi
sion has not yet been chosen, Mr.
Carter said in making the an
nouncement, adding that he
would welcome suggestions.
WASILLA FAMILIES
LEAVE FOR STATES
WASILLA—Two Wasilla fam
ilies, leaving for the states, said
farewells to friends here this
week.
Mr. and Mrs. George Venne
and family plan to spend the
winter in Oklahoma. They are
now on their way Outside, driv
ing over the Alaska highway.
Mr. and Mrs. James Hilliard
and family plan to make their
home Outside. They also are
making the trip to the states bv
car, driving over the Alaska High
way.
waiiito . tt uovjii, aiaaagci ui ;
Matanuska Valley Farmers Co
operating Association here for j
more than the past two years,
submitted his resignation to the
board of directors of the MVFCA
this week. The resignation is to
be effective November. 1
Mr. Wilson has served as man
ager of MVFCA since October,
1948, when he came to the Val
ley from White Salmon, Wash., j
to assume his post here. He has |
had many years of Co-Op man-1
agement as a background of ex- j
perience, serving in that capacity j
for two and one-half years at!
White Salmon before coming to
Palmer.
“I have not made any definite
plans for the future,” Mr. Wilson
said yesterday, adding that “my
first concern now is to wind up
all Valley Co-Op affairs” before
his resignation becomes effective.
i DR. BAILEY ADDRESSES
PALMER SPEAKERS CLUB
Dr. Clarence Bailey was guest (
speaker at the regular bi-weekly
dinner meeting of the Palmer
Speakers Club Wednesday eve
ning at the Rec Hall library. Dr.
j Bailey, local physician, spoke on
| the needs and problems of the
Valley Hospital.
At an open discussion also held
at the meeting, the question was
raised of referring the hospital’s
needs and problems to a health
board.
The next meeting of the Speak
ers Club will be held on Novem
ber 8. The dinner meeting starts
promptly at 6 p.m., according to
the announcement.
Tinoi c^uirntNi
FOR EKLUTNA HAULED
FROM PALMER
The very first piece of equip
ment to arrive on the job was
trucked into Eklutna lake from
Palmer this week to do the very
first bit of work on what is to be
one of the world’s largest dams.
The first equipment to arrive
on the $20,000,000 project was a
power shovel owned by Jack
Zimowske of the Valley Excavat
ing Company. It was hauled to
Eklutna lake on Monday by the
H. B. Burleson Transportation
Company.
The first bite that the big shov
el will take out of the earth at
the dam site will be to start exca
vation for construction of quar
ters that eventually will house
crews of men who will number
into the thousands.
The power shovel is only a fore
runner of the hundreds of pieces
of heavy equipment that will be
hauled to the Eklutna project
which will be under construction
for the next five years.
In preparation for the traffic of
heavy equipment, the Alaska
Road Commission has already
started widening the road leading
to the dam site.
A series of miniature earth
quakes also disrupted the quiet
of the scene at Eklutna lake this
week. They were man - made
though, with charges of dynamite
set off by Bureau of Reclamation
engineers.
The earthquakes will continue
about a month, and will be
watched by seismographs to de
termine types of rock formations
below Eklutna Lake. Dart Want
land, chief geophysicist for the
bureau, was sent from Denver to
analyze findings.
The quakes will enable Recla
mation men to determine the best
location to begin drilling a 4H
mile tunnel to drop lake waters
to a power plant 800 feet below',
on the shores of Knik Arm. In
formation for prospective bidders
also will be gathered.
Dynamite charges ranging from
(Continued on Back Page)
MRS. HANSON HEADS
NEW ACCA CHAPTER
FORMED AT WASILLA
WASILLA—A Wasilla Chapter
of the Alaska Crippled Children’s
Association is to be sponsored
here by the Wasilla Homemak
ers’ Club with Mrs. Henry Han
son named as chairman, it was
announced this week.
The Homemakers’ Club ac
cepted the sponsorship of the
ACCA Chapter at a public meet
ing held in Wasilla last night,
when a delegation of 12 members
of the ACCA at Anchorage met
with the townsfolk to discuss the
organization of the Chapter.
The delegation members were
also guests of Mrs. Hanson at a
dinner at her home that evening.
At the public meeting held lat
er, Mrs. M. C. Hoppin of Anchor
age, who is president of the Alas
ka Chrippled Children’s Associa
tion. spoke briefly on the work of
ACCA and its plans and hopes
for the future.