ncelon Seminary
cert at United
.lestant Church
<ighl at 8:00 o'clock.
!ock.
THREE—NO. 43
Malley Mrontiergman
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
PALMER. ALASKA. FRIDAY. JULY 7. 1950
Maianuska Valley
Sportsmen's annual
fish fry will be held
on July 16.
PRICE 10c
iQvernor to Preside At Public Meeting July
% Government Men,
.wspaper Women,
> -an Alaskan Visits
5 Sanies that. usually make na
.-anal news yfill be appearing in
■ 'laskan headlines during July
'* August f^f this year, Don L.
Ain> director of Alaskan ex
.riment Rations, revealed upon
M> r®cerm return from Juneau.
" ‘ Ir,win said these men and
i either were already in the
ory or were planning visits
laska in the near future:
nm R. Broadbent of the Bu
i of the Budget at Washing
, D. C.
teub Snyder, deputy admin
ator of the Farmers’ Home
ministration. Mr. Snyder, who
1 come sometime in July, but
10 has not yet fixed the time
the visit, may bring with him
ward Bertsch. Mr. Bertsch
^ns in the Portland office of FHA
; : a number of years, and is now
i the Washington, D. C., office
f that agency.
•V vjlaud R. Wickard, administra
te r of the Rural Electrification
* jministration, w^ho even now
touring REA installations in
f; .e territory.
Assistant secretary of agricul
- .a, Knox Hutchinson, who is
l ’ecided between July and Aug
i L visiting dates. Mr. Hutchin
i is expected to bring George
illips with him. Mr. Phillips is
charge of Alaskan affairs in
; office of the secretary of ag
ul.ure.
u ia Fauber, an officer of the
tic nal Federation of Business
Professional Women, plans
in Juneau on July 17. She
i make a visit to Anchorage
in the month.
sie Arndt, staff writer with
Christian Science Monitor,
ns to do a series of articles on
iska this summer, and will be
iducting her research in the
ritory sometime this month. It
possible that she will accom
ny Miss Fauber on her trip
l jrth.
ESTIMATED 500 FOLKS
ATTEND WASILLA'S
"OURTH CELEBRATION
VASILLA—Nearly 500 people
om Anchorage and the Valley
■cepted Wasilla’s invitation to
lebrate the Fourth of July here,
asilla’s annual program at the
1 park is sponsored each year
the Veterans of Foreign Wars,
itna Post No. 9365.
his year’s celebration program
uded speeches, a bingo game,
^s, and a softball game. The
•■ilia VFW team defeated the
erican Legion softball squad
?almer by a score of 17-3.
vize winners in the scheduled
vings of the day were an
iced by Post Commander
,es Nelson as follows:
Jectric mixer—Jack Scott of
ner.
lectric toaster—John Byers of
dlla.
lectric radio-clock—Ira Cus
of Wasilla.
^uilt—U. L. White of Palmer,
^he quilt was the project of
silla’s Library Club, and was
: offered as an American Le
fn prize.
\dl in all, the program was
^ct, celebrants agreed. Even
veather couldn’t have been
iV.
ACS Office Open,
On Emergency Basis,
Around the Clock
Th Palmer ACS office is be
ing operated on a 24 - hour
basis, during the present peri
od of national emergency.
However the office is manned
for the purpose of receiving
official messages only accord
ing to Sgt. Wayne Wheeler.
No private wires will be re
ceived or dispatched outside of
the regular eight to five day
time hours at the ACS desk.
SHEER MOUNTAIN INN
TO BE MADE SKI LODGE
A ski lodge will be located near
the Valley next winter, accord
ing to the present plants of Mr.
and Mrs. Alton A. Johnson, for
merly of Anchorage. The John
sons have purchased Sheep Moun
tain Inn from Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Hinshaw, and are hard at
work to convert the inn into a
true skier’s paradise.
“The slopes behind the Inn are
the finest natural ski slopes I’ve
seen in Alaska,” Mr. Johnson
stated.
The Inn’s new owner, a ski en
thusiast, was an officer stationed
at Fort Richardson during the
last war. He hopes to make of
Sheep Mountain Inn, a weekend
resort that will bring Post and
Anchorage skiers flocking up the
Glenn Highway next winter.
WASILLA MAN
WOUNDS SELF IN ARM
AT TARGET PRACTICE
WASILLA—Ira Custer received
a gunshot wound in the arm,
while target practicing this week.
Mr. Custer was testing the oft
repeated observation that a bul
let fired directly into a rail would
not ricochet. That observation is
not true—ask Mr. Custer.
The injured man was brought
to Valley Hospital for treatment.
Mrs. George Small entered
Valley Hospital this week for
medical attention. »
Budget Director Eyes Expense Account
Of Government Agencies in Alaska
CHURCH GROUP
PRESEHTS CONCERT
AT 8:00 TONIGHT
Tonight at eight o’clock, in the
United Protestant Church, the
Princeton Theological Seminary
Choir will present the eight-hun
dredth-and-something concert of
its musical career. The 23 choir
members had 800 concerts under
their belts at the end of the spring
term of school, and since that
time they’ve been singing their
way across nine states, into Can
ada and up the Alaska Highway.
The students, all of whom are
taking theological training at
Princeton Seminary, have pre
pared a concert of sacred music
that includes numbers which date
back to the sixteenth century.
Most of their music is presented
without instrumental accompani
ment.
When the choir leaves Palmer,
they will continue to Anchorage
for a concert and then will go to
southeastern Alaska for a whole
series of concert stops.
The current tour is the fifth an
nual singing summer for the
choir, which has travelled to
Cuba, Mexico and Canada in
other years.
Water Pollution Complaint
Referred to Juneau
The water pollution com
plaint, recently lodged with
the Matanuska Valley Health
Council, has been referred to
Amos Alter of Juneau for ac
tion. The Health Council asked
for help from Lloyd Morley,
territorial sanitarian, and Mr.
Morley referred the matter to
Mr. Alter. Mr. Alter is chair
man of the water pollution
control board, which is affili
ated with the territorial de
partment of public health.
To scan the budgets of every
governmental agency in the ter
ritory, is Sam R. Broadbent’s rea
son for being in Alaska this
month. Mr. Broadbent is with
the Bureau of the Budget of
Washington, D. C.
He arrived in Juneau last week,
and was expected to come to An
chorage sometime this week. He
intends to remain there until
about July 20, then going on to
Fairbanks and returning to Wash
ington, D. C., by way of south
eastern Alaska again.
The budget-man has a tremen
dous program of work outlined
for himself. He plans, while here,
to take a peek at the finance fig
ures of two or three dozen gov
ernment agencies. However, he’ll
concentrate the major portion of
his time on the budgets of mili
tary forces in Alaska.
Mr. Broadbent was last in the
Matariuska Valley in 1946. He
spoke with Don L. Irwin, direc
tor of the Agricultural Research
Administration, at Juneau, when
he expressed great interest in
the development of the past four
years in the Valley. The budget
representative plans a visit to
Palmer, but the time of that visit
was uncertain, at press-time this
week.
Sandvik and Roark
Awarded ARA Bids
Local contractors Chek Sand
vik and Bill Roark were the suc
cessful bidders on two construc
tion projects for the Agricultural
Research Administration, Don L.
Irwin, ARA director, announced
this week. The pair will build
both the greenhouse and the veg
etable storage house, to be con
structed here.
The garage and threshing shed
at the Matanuska station prob
ably will be built by the Anchor
age firm of Reynolds & Davis.
Mr. Irwin said. However they
have not yet been officially
I awarded the contract.
Home-Grown Cherry Pies For Alaskans Is One
Of Chief Problems Of Experiment Station Staff
Principal test plantings at the
Matanuska Station this year are
of barley, tree fruits and bush
fruits, Don L. Irwin, director of
experiment stations, said this
week. Also high among experi
ment station experiments this
season are test plots of grains,
grasses and legumes planted
throughout the agricultural areas
of the territory.
The world collection of barley
was planted at the Matanuska
Station this spring. This includes
5,000 varieties of the grain. Next
year, the world collections of
wheat and oats will be planted at
the Fairbanks station.
Tree fruits and bush fruits are
being tested, with the expectation
that both may be developed into
future commercial crops of the
Territory. Bush fruits in the ex
perimental work include straw
berries, blueberries, raspberries
and currants.
The tree fruits are of particu
lar interest to horticulturists, Mr.
Irwin said, because as yet no va
riety has survived the winter
here. Station experts have dis
covered three reasons why they
die: (1) Early sun, at a low angle,
sunburns tree cells and disease
enters through the resulting
peeled areas: (2) Long winters
with drying winds; (3) Late rains.
Given the reasons for the fail -
ur- to survive, Mr. Irwin said it
would be only a matter of time
until tree fruits are developed
which will be adapted to commer
cial use. Norway and Sweden
had the same problems 40 years
ago,” he pointed out. “They
found the answers, and we’ll find
them, too. What we really need,
is someone who can go to those
countries, observe their trees, and
bring us back scientific data on
them.”
The grasses, grains and le
gumes experimental plots are be
ing tested in cooperation with the
veterans, on-farm training classes.
Plots have been planted in the
Tanana Valley, along the Glenn
Highway to the north, here in
the Matanuska Valley, and on the
Kenai Peninsula.
This testing is nothing that will
be completed this year or next,
the research director reminded.
He said it takes at least six years
of plant breeding to get a per
fected plant. One superior plant
from 11,000 trials is the average
that the horticulturist looks for,
so Alaskans can’t plan for a home
grown cherry pie for some few
years yet.
HdKo VALLEY TULA
TO GOME PREPARED
TO QUESTION HIM
Detailed plans for the public
meeting planned for July 12, with
Governor Ernest Gruening sitting
as chairman, were outlined at
Wednesday’s Chamber of Com
merce meeting. The July 12 meet
ing is scheduled for nine p.m.,
following an earlier evening ban
quet for members of the field
committee which will be meeting
here next week. The public
meeting will be held in Palmer
Gymnasium.
James Hurley, temporary
chairman at Wednesday’s Cham
ber meeting, said Governor
Gruening had expressed the wish
that every Valley resident with
a question to ask would attend
the meeting. The Governor prom
ises to try to answer each question
put to him.
The banquet planned earlier
next Wednesday evening, will,
be for field committee members,
Chamber of Commerce members
and their invited guests only.
Tickets have been issued for the
dinner, and at press-time there
were only six tickets left. The
Chamber member who wishes to
attend the banquet is urged to
get in touch with Viola Daniels
at once, and reserve his tickets
All reserved tickets must be
called for before noon next Wed
nesday, or they will be sold to
anyone wishing to buy them.
Tickets will cost $2.50 each.
The banquet, which is being
prepared by members of the
Ladies’ Aid of St. John’s Luther
an Church, will be held in the
church basement.
Only other business taken up
at the Wednesday meeting was
the matter of a wired invitation
to Portland Chamber of Com
merce members to visit the Val
ley, when they come to Alaska
later this month. After some
discussion, it was decided to is
sue an open invitation to the
visitors, allowing them to set th<~
time of their visit here.
The Portland delegation is
pected to be in Anchorage lare
next week, and are reported to
be planning a three-day stay
there.
—
Crocker Case to Be Tried
By CAA on July 14
The case of Eugene Crocker of
Anchorage, accused by CAA of
“flying an aircraft in violation of
safety regulations,” will be heard
in Palmer on Friday, June 14, it
was announced today by George
Kurtz of CAA. The hearing will
be held at 10 a.m. in the Valley
Theatre.
Crocker flew his plane, in what
local residents described as a
“reckless and dangerous manner,”
over the main street of Palmer
last Feb. 22. Several Valley folk
protested to CAA, and a formal
complaint was filed.
The flyer later cracked up his
ship on that same day. when he
landed on the ice at Wasilla.
MRS. ROETMAN VISITS
Mrs. Agnes Roetman, mother
of Mrs. Harry Ryan and Ernest
I Roetman of Palmer, arrived in
the Valley last week for a sum
mer-long visit. Mrs. Roetman
flew north from Jackson, Minn.