Junior Prom at Palmer
School Gymnasium on
October 7.
—-«-s»s1H-nslley« Mrnntivrgmnn
PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE MATANUSKA VALLEY
VOL. 4. NO. 3
PALMER. ALASKA, FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 29. 1950
PRICE 10c
Valley Hospital Gels
New Manager, $3,000
From Presbyterians
A new manager for the Valley
Hospital, Mrs. Gladys Burrell, and
solid cash in the amount of $3,000,
were the tangible assets displayed
by the Valley Hospital Associa
tion this week as evidence of
help given the local institution
sipce its alliance with the Pres
byterian national board of mis
sions.
Jack Newcomb, president of the
Valley Hospital Association’s
board of directors, said a portion
of the money received would be
used to retire hospital bonds. De
tails of the method to be used in
redeeming the bonds had not
been worked out at press-time.
Mr. Newcomb said bonds in the
10-year redemption series would
be retired first. “The method of
retirement has not been fixed
yet,” Mr. Newcomb stated. “How
ever bond holders can be sure
that it will be just as fair a meth
od as we can possibly find.”
Mrs. Burrell, the new nurse
administrator, is due to arrive in
Alaska on the next Denali. She
is a graduate of the Swedish
American Hospital School of
Nursing at Rockford, 111., where
she began her training in 1945.
(Continued on Back Page)
I
I American Legion Gets Reclamation
Okay for Construction of Offices
PRICE OF MILK
UP A NICKEL
ON OCTOBER 1
A five-cent hike in the retail
price of milk, effective Oct. 1,
was announced this week by
Clarence Bell, manager of the
Matanuska Valley Farmers’ Co
Operating Association creamery.
Beginning the first of the month,
milk will retail at 40 cents a
quart in both Anchorage and the
Matanuska Valley. This is the
first time the regular winter in
crease has been charged in the
Valley, although it normally goes
into effect in Anchorage in Sep
tember.
The higher price is caused by
winter rate for milk paid to dairy
men, which also goes into effect
on Oct. 1. On that date, Valley
milk producers will be getting
$10.40 per hundredweight for
their raw milk.
This year, for the first time in
several winters, there will be no
shortage of fluid milk, Mr. Bell
said. Several new Grade A dairies
have come into production here
(Continued on Back Page)
lVId LclH UbfYd V cUlC^ rusi ilU.
I of the American Legion has been
awarded the bid to construct of
fice quarters for the Bureau of
Reclamation in Palmer, Legion
naire Jack Maze said today. The
announcement was confirmed in
a telephone conversation between
Mr. Maze and Joseph M. Morgan,
chief of the investigations branch
of the Bureau, last Monday morn
ing.
Mr. Morgan asked that plans
for the structure be farseeing
enough to permit the addition of
another floor of offices next year,
should the Reclamation staff need
more space. He anticipated that
the Eklutna project personnel
would be in need of another
block of offices in another year’s
time.
The Legion’s building commit
tee is pushing construction plans
with all possible speed, for the
office space will be needed with
in another six weeks to two
months. Contractor Ray James of
James Construction Co. of Sew
ard will be in charge of the work.
A carload of materials is expect
ed to arrive in Palmer Monday,
to begin the job. In the mean
time, preliminary preparations
already are under way at Legion
'Hall.
j Chirikoff Beef To Be First
I Pay Haul At Palmer Airport
The first new commercial oper
ation to utilize Palmer’s recently
finished airport will begin here
when a B-23 sets wheels on the
local runway sometime tomorrow.
The ship is under charter to the
Chirikoff Cattle Association, and
will be used to haul beef from
Chirikoff Island to Palmer,
Partners Harry Ryan and Wal
ter Cooper of Palmer Cold Stor
age have recently entered into
partnership with Charles Waller
of Kent, Wash., a wholesale meat
packer. They plan to butcher beef
on Chirikoff and transport it by
plane to Palmer for processing
and freezing here.
Mr. Waller recently purchased
the cattle on storied Chirikoff, a
former Russian prison island,
from Jack McCord. Beef animals
first were brought to Chirikoff
in 1888, when a few head were
planted there by the Semidi
Propagation Co. The herd has in
creased to what Mr. .Ryan esti
mates to be 800 head of cattle
today.
The partnership trio plans a
fall round-up, to get under way
«r
within the next two or three
weeks. They will slaughter about
250 bulls of the Chirikoff herd,
for processing at this time.
Round-up preparations at Chir
ikoff have been under way for the
past several weeks. Arthur Fox
of Palmer is supervising the con
struction of corrals and wing
fences there. A power barge, part
of the equipment of the new
company, will leave from Anchor
age within the next week or two,
carrying supplies and equipment
for the round-up.
The Chirikoff round-up will be
unique, in that cowboys and
bronchos will carry on onl” a
small part of the work. Loaded
aboard the power barge when it
leaves Anchorage will be a small
Aeronca plane. Messrs. Cooper
and Ryan expect to do their cow
punching from the skies in the
ship, since the wild cattle of Chir
ikoff can be handled in no other
way.
The herds have been little dis
turbed sjnce they were turned to
graze on Chirikoff’s pea and Rus
sian wheat forage before the turn
ot tne century, mey nave revert
ed almost completely to the wild
state.
Once cattle are rounded up and
slaughtered at the Chirikoff cor
rals, the beef will be loaded
aboard the B-23, a former Army
bomber, and flown direct to Pal
mer. The two-motored plane is
DC-3 size, and will carry a 9,000
pound load. It. is expected to
make three trips a week into
Palmer, during the height of the
round-up.
The local plant of Palmer Cold
Storage already has been enlarged
to take care of the additional
meat-packing. Mr. Ryan said he
anticipated no need for a larger
staff, at this time, but as the in
dustry grows, Palmer may well
grow to be the meat-packing cen
ter of the territory.
Mr. Cooper said the construc
tion of Palmer Airport had made
the new industry possible. “With
out the new airport here, we
wouldn’t have been able to handle
the business at all,” he said. “The
entire operation would have had
to go to an Anchorage firm.”
JUDGE RULES
FOR NO ELECTION
AT THIS TIME
The request of 112 local
citizens that Palmer resi
dents be permitted to hold
an election to decide if this
unincorporated commun
ity shall become a city, was
denied in Third District
Court this morning. It was
the second time in Alas
kan history that residents
of an area have been de
nied the right to vote on
the creation of a city.
Judge Anthony Dimond
cited three reasons in
handing down his decision.
He based his denial on
these facts:
(1) The area sought to
be incorporated includes a
considerable portion of
farm land.
(2) The applicants pre
senting the petition failed
to present any financial
statement to show that
sufficient funds can be
raised to maintain a city.
(3) The application of
the petitioners was not ver
ified, and although this is
not required by law, it is
believed to be necessary.
The petition was denied
without prejudice, and
may be re-submitted for
further consideration at
any time.
Proponents of the plan
already were preparing ad
ditional facts and informa
tion, in order to re-submit
their petition. They ex
pect to renew their request
within the next few weeks.