Picture of Valley Old-Timers Nr. and Mrs. A1 Walter
Evokes Memories of Pre-Colony Pioneer Days
An old-timer from the Matanu
ska Valley in its pre-colony days
rated a picture and a lonR story
about his tomato growing in the
Charleston. West Va. Daily Mail.
The arrival of the story here
recently started off an epidemic
of reminiscing about days when
the Valey numbered a dozen or
so families as settlers.
The Daily Mail story concerned
Mr. and Mrs. A1 W. Walter who
live in Charleston now. Mr. Wal
ter is 80 years old and grows to
matoes which were ripening the
middle of May on plants measur
ing five and a half feet tall. He
had all the local experts baffled
by his non-spraying method of
growing tomatoes. He claimed
that he’d learned how to dispense
with such unnecessary fuss
through his growing experiences
in Alaska, i.e., the Matanuska
Valley. There, he claimed, folks
often had to pour boiling water on
the ground to thaw it out for
planting. Reasoning that pests in
the ground caused tomato blight,
he .-ipplied the Alaska scalded
earth technique to kill the pesty
things. His successful application
of the theory astounded the ex
perts.
Old acquaintances of the Wal
ters in the Valley had little to
say about these tomato theories,
but they added a great deal to the
newspaper article’s information
about the Walters in the Mata
nuska Valley.
According to M. D. Snodgrass,
A1 Walter started prospecting
around the Chickaloon district
around 1910 or 11. At first he
came down in the Valley to visit
his brother who had homestead
ed the present Henry Harrison
place a mile or so out of town on
the Wasilla road. Later A1 pur
chased the farm where the Harold
Old Time Valley settlers, Mr. and Mrs. A1 W. Walter and toma
toes grown "Outside" at their Charleston, West Virginia Home.
Mary, in 1915. The old Cornelius
place was located about three
miles northeast of Four Corners.
It wasn’t until a school teach
er stopped off in the Valley en
route to her first Alaska post on
the Koyukuk River that A1 Wal
ter put an end to his bachelor.
career. He was about 50 then and
the school teacher. Miss Anna
Connell, was 41. Miss Connell
converted the farm her husband
built up northwest of town to a
Grade A dairy farm. Recently
she explained why no homesick
ness for England drove her from
Alaska. When she came she
brought l^er ‘'home” with her and
transplanted it here. Anyone who
has seen her beautiful gardens
Health Center Gets
Clothing Donation
From A.C.C. Assn.
The local Health Center and
Welfare Council received a huge
donation of used clothing last
week from the Alaska Crippled
Children's Association.
Mrs. Marshall Hoppin of
Anchorage made the delivery of
freshly cleaned and mended gar
ments which were stacked to the
roof in the back seat and floor of
her car. The ACCA has given up
the second hand clothing .store
will understand what she meant.
Mrs. Mary Cornelius returned
to the Valley about tv.o weeks
ago after completing 14 months
of nurse’s training at school and
three Seattle hospitals. She is
staying with her daughter, Mrs.
Ralph Moore. After the Fair, she
says she will have to go back to
take her exams and look after her
folks. Captain Axel Olsen is 35
now and he needs attention. He
and Mrs. Olsen, who continues
“fairly well,” are living near Se
attle.
formerly operated in the Gilded
Cage.
Miss Marjorie Myren. Valley •
public health nurse, finds fre
quent need for such garments in
her home visits around the Val
ley. The greatest need is for
children’s clothing, but some
times adults get caught in a fire
or some other calamity and need
clothing quickly.
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Palmer
Thumas now live—house and all
and settled down to grow crops.
He was a big farm operatoi
here in the Valley, Snodgrass re
called. One year he grew 40 ton;
of potatoes. Every year he’d sel
his potato crop in Anchorage. Ht
was the manager of the firs’
farmer’s co-op. There weren’'
many growers in the Valley then
according to M. D., but they or
ganized and operated out of Mat
anuska, where they used a big
warehouse for storage. One year
these farmers harvested a bump
er crop of 3,000 tons of potatoes
There was no big army post neai
Anchorage then, and they sole
only 600 tons of the total—the
rest of the potatoes rotted. Thai
nearly broke the Valley.
Early Valley Romance
Most of this time. A1 Walter
had been a bachelor. In the early
Valley days there were only £
dozen families settled on home
steads. There were few like Cap
tain Axel Olsen who brought his
whole family, his cattle, and his
tools hauling everything by
sleigh over snow-covered trails
from Knik to their homestead
near the Matanuska Experiment
Station. There we:’e several bach
elors, and the early Valley mar
riage of four of them still stand
out in the memories of the old
timers as outstanding events. Jim
my St. Clair met his wife around
Knik and they were married in
1910 or 11. They homesteaded
close to the river near Bill
Smith’s present place. Roy Cor
nelius married Olsen’s daughter.
■ucvei rcHuueu uei iLSKiino scnooi.
Quickly Walters sealed his fate.
His wire.to Miss Connell’s family
was terse but definite, “I have
met your daughter, and she is
mine.”
Mr. Snodgrass remembers Mrs.
Walters as a good farm wife.
“She raised chickens and ‘put up’
about everything they needed on
the farm. To the Daily Mail, Mrs.
Walter bragged about her Alas
kan strawberries five inches
around, turnips weighing 25
pounds, nine pound beets and the
“finest” oats in the world. The
Walters had one son named Rus
sell. The family left the Valley
in the fall of 1933 after selling
their farm to Harold Thuma.
The fourth bachelor waited j
even longer than Walter to mar- i
ry. Adam Werner had started
homesteading in April, 1914. It
was 1929 when he married a pret
ty young English girl whose
mother had also married in the
Valley.
Some Siayed Here
Although the Walters left Alas
ka behind, the three other fami
lies cast their lots with Alaska
and stayed to watch their early
dreams come true. The Jimmy
St. Clairs are living near Seldo
via now, but the Cornelius fam- j
ily and the Werners brought
their families up in the Valley.
Roy Cornelius and Adam Werner
died several years ago. but their
children carry on here, and are
beginning to establish families of
their own, the third generation
in Alaska. Mrs. Werner recently
f
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