Matanuska Valley Memoir Item Type Working Paper Authors Johnson, Hugh A.; Stanton, Keith L. Publisher University of Alaska, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station Download date 06/10/2021 23:58:35 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9738 Bulletin 18 July, 19S5 * " ' * \hhnM\*ia\p4L MATANU5KA VALLEY llm i /I r LIV i /Ii/N f \ inI D To dfira ' A I■ ^ B M H1 1 1■ ^^lu B M ■I m $rn ■I I ’•t :: . Alaska Experiment Station Palmer. Alaska ' Matanuska Valley Memoir The Story of How One Alaskan Community Developed Hugh A. Johnson and Keith L. Stanton University of Alaska Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station Palmer, Alaska July, 1955 Third Edition Printed May, 1980 by Mapmakers Printing, Palmer, Alaska in cooperation with the Wasilla- Knik - Willow Creek Historical Society, Wasilla, Alaska Copyright 1980 'apmakers Printing These people, gathered for the 20th anniversary of the Co-Op on October 28, 1956 in the Basement of the Matanuska Maid Office Building in Palmer, were living in the Palmer area when the co-op was formed in 1936. They were both settlers (S) and colonists (C) and are from left to right: Frank Clark (S), Margaret Snodgrass (S), Bea Huntly Johns (C), Fanny Wirtanen Martin (C), Jennie Clark (Mrs. Frank)(S), M.D. Snodgrass (S), Gertie Kenser Bircher (C), Fanny Werner (S), Carl Meier (C), Cora Hemmer (C), Joanna Hyland Smith (S), Thomas Lepak (C), Edith Meiers (Mrs. Carl) (C), Clair Patten (C), Irene Benson (C), Lillian Eckert (C), Oscar Kerttula (C), Henry Harrisson (S), Irene Lepak (C), Bill Hoskins (S), Viola Thuma (S), George Campbell (C), Pat Hemmer (C). (Matanuska Maid photo, courtesy Jim Fox). Overhead view of Palmer, showing a few of the original tents used by the colonists, until their homes and farms were ready. Left front is where now, in 1979, the Frontier Cafe is located. The block on the front right is occupied by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Building, and the Elks and City of Palmer have taken over after the tents had fulfilled their use. (Photo from National Archives, courtesy Jim Fox). Joe Puhl with wife Blanche and two sons on tract No. 99 in 1936. (From the National Archives, courtesy Jim Fox). 2 INDEX PART I - EARLY HISTORY Chapter I - The Russian Era, 1741 - 1867 ......................................................................................................... 6 Chapter II - Gold and Coal .................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter III - Transportation Systems and Early Settlers............................................................................... 11 PART II - EARLY AGRICULTURE Chapter IV - Agriculture, 1898 - 1914 .............................................................................................. 17 Chapter V - Agriculture, 1915 - 1 9 1 9 ...................................................................................................................22 Chapter VI - Agriculture, 1920 - 1929 .............................................................................................. 26 Chapter VII - Agriculture, 1930 - 1935 ............................................................................................................ 29 Chapter VIII - The Matanuska Colony, 1935 - 1948................................................................................. 31 The Colony Concept........................................................... 31 The L a n d ............................................................................................................................. 32 Settler Selection .............................................................................................................. 32 Home is a Castle ......................................................................................................... 34 Settlement Experience..................................................................................................... 34 Farm Development Problems ...................................................................................... 36 M arketing ............................................................................................................................. 38 An Expensive Experiment.............................................................................................. 38 Old Settlers Loans............................................................................................................ 38 In Retrospect...................................................................................................................... 3 9 PART III - PRESENT DAY SITUATION Chapter IX - The Era of Scientific Development, 1948 - Agricultural Experiment Station.....................................................................................41 Agricultural Extension Service .......................................................................................43 The Alaska Department of Agriculture ...................................................................... 44 The Soil Conservation Service .................................................................................... 45 The Farmers Home Administration ..............................................................................45 The Matanuska Valley Breeder’s Association.......................................................... 46 The Valley Economy in 1955.................................................................................... 46 The Matanuska Valley Bank......................................................................................... 48 Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union ................................................................. 48 The Matanuska Electric Association ........................................................................... 48 The Matanuska Telephone Association...................................................................... 49 The Matanuska Valley Farmer’s Cooperating Association.................................. 49 The Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation ....................................................... 51 T ran sp o rtatio n .................................................................................................................... 51 Colonist experience to 1955 ...................................................................................... 51 Recent homesteading experience ............................................................................... 54 Chapter X - Handwriting on the Wall Paternalism and Progress................................................................................................... 5 5 Markets and marketing ..................................................................................................... 56 Community facilities.......................................................................................................... 57 People ................................................................................................... : ...............................57 3 INTRODUCTION TO THIRD EDITION Twenty-three years ago today, on a crisp Fall morning, I one straining at its social and political leashes to become drove away from the Matanuska Valley which had been first class; Willow, which was little more than a train stop home for six years. Matanuska Valley Memoir had been on the Alaska railroad, now hopes to become the capital published and distributed. The nearly 500 copies shortly city of Alaska. Heartrending to an old-time agriculturalist became collectors’ items. Some years later, the Soil and to conservationists generally are changes occurring to Conservation Service reprinted the Memoir. Those copies the countryside. also soon disappeared. Subsequently, from time to time, 1 Gone or going are most of the Colony houses and barns was contacted by persons trying to kindle interest in although some still remain, often remodeled beyond another reissue. 1 am delighted that Mapmakers Printing, recognition. Gone for all practical purposes are the Co-op (Division of Alph Three Press), in cooperation with the from Palmer and the men from the coal mines up the Wasilla-Knik-Willow Creek Historical Society, has Matanuska from it. Coal cars now carry gravel from a siding undertaken the task. 1 wish them financial success and hope which used to be the railroad spur to Palmer and on to the the new readers will enjoy this reproduced regional history. mines. The ARR depots at Palmer and Wasilla are closed. Much has happened to Palmer and Wasilla, to the Gone are many fields productive in 1955. Gone, too, are Matanuska Valley and to Alaska since the concluding words many farms which were considered to be profitable. I’m in Matanuska Valley Memoir were written. 1 thought 1 was told that there now are more horses in the Valley than being prophetic in mid-1955 as 1 wrote “Chapter X - there are dairy cows and that hay farmers outnumber all Handwriting on the Wall,” in which one sentence says, other kinds. Many of the successful remaining farms cater “The Valley is entering another period of transition....” to special markets which pay a premium for locally grown I was unusually fortunate that my employment grains, seeds or organically grown vegetables. permitted periodic return to this area which had claimed Yes, another wave of change has come to the Matanuska my heart. Thus, the changes occurring during this third Valley. Land as living space is Gold! People cannot afford decade since the Memoir was published are somewhat less to farm