VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
PRINTED AT PALMER, ALASKA, EACH FRIDAY
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office at
Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1379.
Viola Daniels .Editor
Barbara Carter ...Wasilla Correspondent
Mrs. Jack Thatcher .Valdez Correspondent
Subscription Rates.50c a month, $5 a year
Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may
be reproduced except by permission of the publishers.
DANIELS—In the Lion’s Den
We were sorry to learn, this week, of the excep
tionally poor job of publicity we've been doing on
Palmer and the Matanuska Valley. We take the
blame for that—both from the point of view of our
newspaper and for the Chamber of Commerce, for the
proposed Chamber of Commerce booklet has been
stopped in our file basket for several weeks now.
However we don't think even we can be completely
to blame for the deep, dark ignorance of Palmer facts
and figures that was displayed by a Douglas resident
last week. We just can't understand how any member
of our territorial legislature can possibly know so little
about this territory for which he helps make the laws.
After his quoted statement in the Juneau, Alaska,
Empire that "Palmer is just a few minutes away from
Anchorage on a paved road," we don't wonder that
our town too often seems to get lost in the shadow of
our big neighbor.
We also deplore the legislator's confused version of
our airport facts and figures. We can understand
that he may have been misled, in some respects, by
stories published in Anchorage concerning the airport.
However we had been assured by the editor of the
paper publishing those stories, that everyone interested
in the Palmer airport in Juneau would be properly in
>formed of the true facts. Where he got his figures on
the per-acre cost of airport land, we'll never know—
it's the first time we'd been introduced to those par
ticular costs. Not even the recent all-out attack on
the territorial commissioner of aviation in Anchorage
unearthed any report as alarming as that.
We'd further like to assure the Douglas repre
sentative, and have other Valley residents do likewise,
that Palmer's airport is considered completely essen
tial to the million-dollar field now under construction
in Anchorage. It often happens, even on the best of
regulated airports, that weather does close in. When
that happens, airlines pilots and passengers alike are
happy in the thought that there is an alternate strip
at hand, only a few minutes further by air.
Anchorage is extremely interested in seeing that
Palmer gets its airport. Anchorage planners know that
the Valley's flying weather is probably the most ideal
in the territory. Surely, anyone who lives in the Juneau
area can recognize the importance of weather, when
planning new airfields.
But, as we started to say, we're sorry the Douglas
gentleman is so misinformed about Palmer and the
Valley. And we think that we who live in the Valley
ought to do something about it. We'd suggest that
^ everyone who reads this column, and who is convinced
* that Palmer needs an airport, who believes that the
capitol ought to be located somewhere north of the
Gulf of Alaska, write the Douglas legislator and tell
him so—with reasons.
We'd further suggest that anyone who has any
pictures of Palmer businesses, activity in our town,
and other pertinent pictorial facts, send prints of those
along to the Douglas gentleman. Let's bring him up
to date on Palmer.
In the meantime, to further plans for halting the
proposed construction of the terriorial office building
in Juneau, it was suggested at Wednesday's quorum
less Chamber of Commerce meeting, that we direct
letters to GSA officials and to Department of the In
terior heads, protesting th<
building. We'd suggest th
press the cause for Palme
indicate it is the people's w
future capitol be determine
Until that site can be v
abide by the people's dec
funds for the construction c
our first major problem in 1
FARM DOINGS
IN THE VALLEY
By Lew Hanks
Cutworms are beginning to ap
pear. Fields should be watched
carefully and poison bait set out
if the infestation seems to be
serious. The Co-Op Warehouse
has stocked a small amount of
chlordan available for cutworm
control.
Gene Kirsch is running some
weed control experiments. He has
received some chemical weed
killer from Clyde Sherman, which
he will use on observational plots, i
Mary Lou Lashbrook and Maud 1
Hosier are concerned over the
destruction of the wild flowers
along our roads. Too many peo
ple, instead of enjoying them in j
natural settings, are pulling up
the plants for transplanting —
usually with poor results. Peren
nial flowering plants should be
transplanted only when they are
fully dormant.
I. M. C. Anderson of the Farm
ers’ Home Administration at An
chorage was in Palmer Tuesday
and Wednesday.
For foxtail control, mow those
pastures before it goes to seed.
A properly managed heavily fer
tilized brome pasture will crowd
out the foxtail.
Oscar Anderson has a nice
stand of brome grass on his air
strip at Big Lake, where the
ground was cleared in the winter
and all the topsoil left. On the
part bulldozed out in the sum
mer, the dirt is in the stump
row and the grass is sparse.—Nuf
sed.
VALLEY
REAL ESTATE
(Theatre Bldg.)
5-rm. house in town;
$2,000 cash down;
terms on balance.
20 acres cleared land,
furnished house, mod
ern; $5,000 down,
terms on balance.
100-acre farm, 35 acres
cleared, $4,650 down,
balance on easy
terms.
140-acre farm, 40 acres
cleared, terms.
2 cabins, close in, 2 lots.
For Rent or Sale
6 - rm. house, 5 acres
ground. $3,000 down
or $60 mo. rent.
For Rent
House. 3 miles out on
Anch. Highway. For
months June, July,
August only.
LOTS OF LOTS
ACREAGE
Listings Wanted
j use of GSA funds for the
at those letters should not
r, so much as they should
ish that the site of Alaska's
d by vote of the people,
oted upon (and Palmer will
:ision) let's keep our GSA
>f schools in Alaska—that's
he territory.
Kodiak Man io Write
Article About Palmer
Palmer will be described in a
coming edition of the Encyclo
pedia Americana and the Ameri
cana Annual, it was announced
in Kodiak last week. Kenneth
Wade of Kodiak has been com
missioned to write the article. In
addition to Palmer, Mr. Wade will
cover 11 other Alaskan cities for
the Encyclopedia Americana.
Carleton W. Moseley, charged
with driving while under the in
fluence of liquor on June 5, was
found guilty by U. S. Commis
sioner Dorothy Saxton last Tues
day. Moseley was fined $100 and
lost his driver’s license for a six
months’ period.
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Mrs. C. W. Peiers Allends
Wisconsin Summer School
Mrs. C. W. Peters, former Val
ley resident, is attending summer
school near her Wisconsin home
this year, she writes Valley
friends. Mrs. Peters’ mother is
caring for her daughter, Valley
Jean, during the summer school
term. Mr. Peters will remain at
his desk in Washington, D. C.,
during the summer months.
Wasilla Invests $125. Palmer $20
In Coming Malanuska Valley Fair
To date, the community of Wa
silla has shown much greater in
terest in the coming Matanuska
Valley Fair than have Palmer’s
merchants, fair board president
Clair Stock announced today. At
last Tuesday’s regular board
meeting, a Wasilla representative
reported with $125 in cash, col
lected from Wasilla’s mercrants
who had purchased advertising
space in the premium book. The
Palmer solicitor was able to
match that with just $20, the total
amount collected from Palmer
businesses.
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