Fair Visitors, Help Us Dedicate Our Airpc
Pre-Airport and Pre-Highway Palmer in 1932
Palmer, in its pre-cclony days of the early 1330s, looked like this
from the platform of the Alaska Railroad station. The few early
settlers then, among whom were numbered Jim Felton, were
more concerned with adequate roads than with a Palmer air
port. The wagontrail at the left leads to the Felton residence,
barns and outbuildings, located in the same spot where Mr.
Felton's modern white rooming house stands today.—(Photo by
'courtesy cf Clyde King, Sr.)
First We Clear and Log to Make An Airport
—-m ■•ma wnnai
An early job on Palmer's airport, and one of the most difficult,
was the hauling and piling of felled timber. Tractors were used
ior the logging operations at the port. Contract terms were ex
acting on this portion of the work, which possibly accounts for
the worried look on the face of operator Frank Sexton.—(Photo
iy Palmer Studios).
Next We Haul the Dirt
Work on Ihe excavating job at the Palmer Airport, and the
preparation of the sub-grade for its stabilized gravel surface,
required 2,000 man hours in the 70 working days called for in
the contract. This carryall is busy far down at the north end of
the north-south runway. Both Lazy Mountain and Byer's Peak
are plainly visible in the background. (Photo by Palmer Studios).
VALLEY FOLKS’WORK,
WORRY AND MONEY
BUILD AN AIRPORT
Conceived by an imaginative
map-maker, in the days when the
infant Matanuska Valley colony
was still to voice its first wail of
protest against the rigors of life
in the north, the Matanuska Val
ley Airport today is visual evi
dence that determined humans,
working together for common
good, can bring about results
through sheer effort and perse
verance.
For the Matanuska Valley Air
port, considered a newsworthy
topic by several of the Territory’s
newspapers today, has been an
airport in the public eye, almost
from the moment that the vision
ary map-maker set it down on
paper.
For the first few years of colo
nist life here, the new Alaskans
were too busy transforming a
chilly and unfriendly northern
Valley into homes and farms, to
worry overmuch about an air
port. They dreamed of the day
when Matanuska Valley products
would be served to many an
Alaskan, and even on an occa
sional Outside dinner table, but
even in their dreams they knew
that was a future far distant.
Only Emergency Field
When airport talk first began
to brew, the colonists were think
ing in terms of a small emer
gency field, for use when planes
could not get down on the near
by, but often weathered-in, air
strip at Anchorage. Pilot farmers
and flying enthusiasts used make
shift runways on the Max Sher
rod farm or at the Merle Ander
son ranch to land their planes.
Time went on, and colonists
grew interested in a possible field
to be constructed by CCC funds
and forces. The map-maker’s plot
was slashed and cleared, and then
was abandoned as the Army evi
denced interest in construction
of a larger field, not so conveient
ly tucked into Palmer’s doorstep.
The land originally earmarked for
an airport is property lying di
rectly behind Palmer School, and
even then far too close to the
school and the first Valley Hos
pital for compliance with safety
regulations. (The ARA Building
now stands on that site).
First CCC crews, and then the
Army, lost interest in a Palmer
airfield. Local pressure grew
stronger to “do something” about I
getting an airstrip here. By this
time, there was even a murmur
of talk testing the possibility of
constructing a larger field; pos
i
Hartley Is First Pilot
To Land On Palmer Port
Jim Hartley, formerly a part*
ner in the Hartley Brothers
Motor Company of Palmer, was
the first Valley pilot to test a
finished runway at Palmer Air
port. In 1946, Mr. Hartley took
off from the landing strip at
the Merle Anderson farm and
set the wheels of his Piper Cub
down on the north-south run
way of the barely finished Pal
mer Airport.
Mr. Hartley is no longer a
Valley resident. He recently
went to Kenai, where he is
partner in the operation of a
general store.
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CONSTRUCTION STATI
OF THE
MATANUSKA VALLEY AIRPOF
East-West Runway Length (in feet).
North-South Runway Length (in feet) ....
Runway Width (both strips in feet).
Acres cleared for approachways.
Acres grubbed and levelled .
Cubic yards of excavation .
Yards of stabilized gravel spread .
Working days to complete contract.
MAN HOURS OF WORK ON BOl
Clearing .
Excavation and Sub-Grade .
Engineering .
sibly one that would permit
freight plane landings.
Grange Acts First
The move grew stronger, and
in May, 1944, members of the
Northland Pioneer Grange made
the first gesture of the action that
was to result in today’s Matanus
ka Valley Airport. At that meet
ing a committee of three, Rex
Monoghan, Earl Hecker and Har
old Dinkel, was named to discuss
Palmer’s airport needs with of
ficials of the Matanuska Valley
Farmers’ Co-Operating Associ
ation and the Alaska Rural Re
habilitation Corporation.
Grangers still favored construc
tion of the strip on the ARRC
controlled land.
By February of 1945, action had
resulted in the drafting of a peti
tion, to be placed before the board
of directors of the ARRC, asking
for transfer of the Palmer air
port land to the newly-organized
Palmer Airport Association.
It was suggested at the Grange
planning meeting, preliminary to
the calling of the Airport Associ
ation organizational meeting, that
the American Legion, the Loyal
Order of Moose, and the MVFCA
appoint committees to prepare
plans for founding the Palmer
Airport Association.
Four Organizations Still Function
(Those four organizations, all
still active in the Matanuska Val
ley today, will play an important
part in the dedication ceremonies
of the Matanuska Valley Airport
tomorrow. Representatives of the
four organizations will be seated
on the speaker’s platform at the
ceremony. A daughter of a mem
ber from each of the four organ
izations will participate in the
christening ceremony, when tric
kles of Matanuska River water
are sprinkled on airport runways
in the dedication ceremony).
The Palmer Airport Association
was brought into being at a spe
cial meeting held on Feb. 26, j
1945, with L. C. Stock acting as
temporary chairman. Committees
:rom all of the sponsoring organ
zations were present at this
meeting.
Officers elected at this first
meeting included:
Rex Monoghan, president; Ro
and Snodgrass, secretary; Leo
Lucas, treasurer. Of the three,
anly Mr. Monoghan has gone
! from the Valley in the interver
ing years. He now makes hi
home Outside.
Ask ARRC For Land
Following the establishment c
j the association, M. D. Snodgras
asked that the ARRC be present
ed with the petition which ha<
been circulated by the Grang
committee, and which asked tha
the airport site, 300 feet wid'
and 3,000 feet long, running*nortl
and south along the east bound
ary of the Palmer townsite, b<
transferred to the Association.
It was further decided to as!
the MVFCA to transfer the saw
mill site (located near the pres
ent Valley Hospital) to the As
sociation, for use in the construe
tion of the proposed runway
Easements were requested fron
Jack Cope and Roland Snodgras;
to slash timber in a 500-foot wide
strip from the approachways al
the north and south ends <?f the
planned runway.
In March, 1945, representatives
of the Palmer Airport Association
met with Marshall Hoppin, then
head of the Civil Aeronautics Ad
ministration, to plan Palmer’s
airport. Mr. Hoppin advised Pal
mer representatives to plan for
the field of their future needs,
and to appoint a committee to
study possible locations. He rec
ommended that the airport be lo
cated at least two and a hal.
miles from Palmer. »
CAA Approves Site
Later that month a CAA engi
neer inspected Palmer sites and
approved a location east of the
town, requiring purchase of prop
erty from A. Egtvet, Roland
Snodgrass and the MVFCA. Mr.
Egtvet agreed to sell 40 acres oi
land at $70 an acre, because ol
his deep interest in the airport.
(The Valley farmer’s brothers
and cousins were principal own
ers of the Boeing Field profT- ^
near Seattle, and the family
vitally interested in the develop
ment of aviation). The MVFCA
gave a small parcel of land need
ed at the north end of the run
way.
Under date of May 17, 1945.
members of the Palmer Airport
Association first sold stock tc
subscribers, to create a fund for
land purchase and for the devel
opment of the landing strip. First
names on that subscription list