WELCOME
EDITORS
Kalley Isirontiergman
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
n PAGES
IL TODAY
V ULUMl 4, NO. 40.
PALMER. ALASKA. FRIDAY. JUNE 15. 1951.
PRICE. 10c
WATER DUE SATURDAY
DOUBLE TROUBLE
PILES UP WORK
FOR CITY COUNCIL
Water! Building code! Maps!
Boundaries! Sales lax! Police
protection! City hall! Fire sta
tion! Money — money — money!
Those are a few of the prob
lems the new city fathers of Pal
mer found in their laps last night.
And they tackled them all.
WATER seemed temporarily
near solution.
BUILDING CODE, which pre
sents immediate problems as con
struction is about to start on both
commercial and private struc
tures, was referred to a commit
tee of two: Lloyd Severns and
Chet Sandvik.
► STREET SURVEY, and need
for a map showing definite street
locations and city boundaries,
must be met for applications for
government funds and to prevent
what has happened in other cities
when dwellings or business hous
es jutted out onto property that
later was required for streets. The
maps now are in process.
SALES TAX of 2 percent on
retail purchases to provide city
( Continued on Page 12)
■Construction Rushed
On Palmer’s New
Complete Food Center
Construction and remodelling
are going forward to convert and
expand the Shamrock Bakery in
to an all-department market, ■
opening in Palmer about June 30. ;
Name chosen is the Palmer ,
Food Center.
* Equipment from the former ,
Shamrock bakeshop has been 1
moved back into the new addition ]
to the building. This week par- j
titions will be torn out to give ,
way to streamlined counterspace \
and departments. New lighting j
fixtures and a neon sign are be- £
ing installed.
The complete “self-contained” .
bakery is running now and will
continue with its usual service,
even while building and renova
tions are going on. It will con
tinue as one of the major depart
ments of the new Palmer Food
Center.
“We feel the name Palmer Food
Center is appropriate because we £
will operate a complete food mart «
shop”, Nels Stensland said today. I
Mr. and Mrs. F+ensland will di
rect operation ol the new all-de- 1
partment market and a food store r
manager with experience both I
Outside and in Alaska will han- 1
► die those departments.
Remodelling and installation of a
ultra-modern equipment are be- a
ing rushed so that all depart- a
" ments will be ready for a gala I
* opening. t
WATER—OR ELSE—Determined that Palmer shall have water,
the city's first mayor, Carl Meier, helps unload pipe—gift of the
Alaska Railroad—which will bring relief to parched homes and
business firms in Palmer. The pipe will connect additional waien
sources with the pipelines of the Matanuska Valley Farmers Coop
erating Association, owners of the present system. City Council*
men pitched in to transport the donated pipe to the work area,
then rolled up their sleeves "to lay it on the line". Right is Frank
Brown, one of the first city councilmen. The city council were on
the job, not as City Fathers, but as pipe-laying laborers, wilhout'pay.
But they want water for everyone in the new City of Palmer—and
they're working for it.
ADDITIONAL LAND
FOR CITY PARK
Site of the famous old Palmer
Trading Post at the end of the
Matanuska Bridge, was offered
by C. C. Brix last night to the
3ity Council for a Park, with an
additional strip reaching to the
'iver.
“The land is being surveyed
and when that is finished I will
jive the City of Palmer a deed”,
3rix, white-haired but swift
>poken, told the council.
He told of how he homesteaded
an the land 20 years ago as the
‘finest spot in the Valley”. The
and adjacent reaching to the
iver he purchased more recently
o it could not be despoiled “by
my joint”. Through the years, :
le said, it has been his dream
omeday to give the land for the j
(Continued on Page 9)
Nation's Editors Visit Palmer!
From all parts of the United
itates more than 150 newspaper
ditors and publishers were ex
acted in Palmer today.
They are members of the Alas
:a tour which followed the an
tual convention of the National
Iditorial Association members
eld in Seattle, June 2-5.
Gala celebrations were set up
t all their ports of call. The Mat
nuska Valley Farmers’ Cooper
ting Association joined in the
inchorage Chamber of Com
merce welcome, by supplying the
finest produce from this “horn of
plenty”.
In Alaska, the editors had their
choice of assorted tours. The
group who will visit Palmer today
chose to headquarter at Mt. Mc
Kinley Park Hotel. Special train
over the Alaska Railroad carried
the publishers and editors over
the historic route. The party was
scheduled to leave the train at
Wasilla, take busses to Palmer
and entrain again at Matanuska,
thence to Anchorage and over the
famous Loop to Seward.
There they were to join the
party who chose to see the Ke
nai Peninsula, and also those who
remain aboard ship at Seward.
In Palmer, no formal program
was set.
Two points the editors wanted
to visit in their moments in Pal
mer were the Co-Op creamery
and the thing which always hap
pens to newspapermen anywhere,
anytime, the local newspaper—
THE VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN.
(For Picture See Page 9)
VANDALS BREAK
INTO FAIR GROUNDS,
DESTROY PROPERTY
Valuable property and records
were wrecked and destroyed
when vandals broke into the Mat
anuska Valley Fair Grounds the
other night, Clair Stock, presi
dent of the Fair Association, said
today.
Books, tickets, letters and rec
ords were torn and scattered.
Supplies stored by the carnival
were destroyed. Part of the newly
painted fence was ripped apart.
“If there is any further intru
5ion, we’ll prosecute to the limit”,
Stock said. “The community
worked hard to provide those fair
grounds for community recrea
(Continued on Page 9)
ALASKA RAILROAD GIVES PIPE,
CITY FATHERS MOVE AND LAY IT
Waier may be flowing through all Palmer pipelines Saturday.
Prayers of housewives—curses of business owners—over dry
Wheil Wal6r desperately needed, should be answered
tomorrow when rapidly laid pipelines tap Carnegie Creek and
connects with the line owned by the Matanuska Farmers' Cooperat
ing Association, with a pump to step up the pressure.
. Pfljner—if verbal but still unsigned agreements are kept
should have full pressure 24 hours a day—with all the water which
can flow through a 4-mch pipeline, and which should be ample to
supply all users, according to estimates.
Alaska Railroad Gives Pipe
Stepping into the crisis in Palmer where health and fire hazards
mounted hourly as water was cut off, came word from John E.
sm67' a,ctlng 9eneral manager of the Alaska Railroad, that the
ARR would donate any amount of 4-inch pipe required from their
stockpile at Eklulna if the city would move it.
„ Value of the pipe which was offered by the Alaska Railroad
a permanent gift—and free"—was estimated at about $9,000.
The city moved it—and fast—last Sunday.
as
Mayor Carl Meier got out his
trucks. So did city council mem
bers who had trucks. Steve Ward
and Jan Koslosky sent workers
to aid the city fathers. They cart
ed the pipe and laid as much as
they could cram through in the
day. Then contractors took over
to finish the job—McKechnie took
in his equipment to bulldoze the
trail, lay remaining pipe and weld
the connections.
Light weight “Normandy
Beach” steel pipe was laid over
the 2,700 feet between the new
feeding creek and the Co-Op line.
Problem arose when some of
the pipes seemed to be clogged.
Under prodding the pipes, long
unused, disgorged a big stick and
several beer cans. One pipe had
a bullet hole which was quickly
welded! Cleared and cleaned, the
lines now are declared pure to
carry a full city water supply.
The gift of pipe from the Alas
ka Railroad was 5,600 feet, en
ough for a second line should it
be needed or when there is time
to lay it. The extra lengths of
pipe have been stored in Mayor
Meier’s pea patch, with damage
to peas but not to the pipe.
Co-Op Cooperates
The gift from the Alaska Rail
road solved the problem of both
city council and Co-Op as where
to obtain pipe for the extension.
E. R. Brock, chairman for the
Matanuska Valley Farmers’ Co
operating Association, represent
ing the Co-Op, accepted delivery
of the pipe, gave approval to the
temporary line, and agreed to
have the Co-Op-owned pump
available to apply the water pres
sure.
Under the agreement, still in
the hands of the attorneys for
final drafting, the Co-Op bears
the costs of the extension line and
will divert 25 percent of gross re
ceipts to meet those costs, raising
water rates if necessary. The city
will pay the difference between
costs of the line and water-rate
income charged and collected by
the Co-Op.
So, people of Palmer now may
lurn on their faucets— and hope.
Water level is low. The Co-Op
tank is about empty. The newly
tapped creek supposedly will sup
ply about 302,000 gallons every
24 hours.
The line which is laid is tem
porary. A permanent line must
be laid underground.
But at least the city fathers, in
almost nightly sessions with the
Co-Op, have reached the agree
ment and done the work, and
aave laid the pipe “on the line”.
CITY SEAL
Seal for the new-born City
of Palmer, designed by Rusty
Dow, noted Alaskan artist,
won unanimous approval at
the city council meeting on
Thursday night.
Design is symbolic of the
Matanuska Val ?y—pioneers or
Colonists, am., and a woman.
—in the back* ound, their log
cabin in a set ,ng of firs with
majestic Piont r Peak piercing
the clouds. I * the foreground
two overflov ig horns of
plenty. And in ie sky, the Big
Dipper and thi Northern Star,
Alaska’s guiding stars.