May 28th , 1935, was a fine spring day in Palmer with no rain, and everyone made the most of it. Work continued on the camps – erecting tents, drilling wells, building roads, and moving families and their belongings – but some made time to play, and to enjoy the scenery.
Photo from the PMHA Bailey collection, showing an aerial view of Palmer from later in the summer of 1935. Note the well-used baseball diamond at far right.
Arville Schaleben of the Milwaukee Journal – unaware of the transient’s ball game the Sunday before his arrival, or the epic competitions held in Matanuska Junction during its railroad-boomtown heyday two decades earlier – reported that the Valley had “its first baseball game late Tuesday. A pick-up nine from camp played Wasilla village and won, 13 to 5. It was a sweet victory, particularly because Wasilla had a ‘ringer’ pitcher imported from Anchorage. There was a good crowd but it didn’t include many of the colonists. They’re too busy.”
Quote from Arville Schaleben, “Alaska Colony Grumbles About Shortage of Tents,” Milwaukee Journal, May 30 1935.
For a taste of baseball in the Matanuska Valley during the railroad-building days, check out the Anchorage Times archive (made accessible via the Atwood Foundation; use “atwoodfoundation” for username and password). “Commission Plays a Classy Game” in the July 17, 1916 edition tells of a ball game in Matanuska Junction with 200 spectators from Anchorage.
Photos from ARRC album building Camp 8
Progress continued on the camps
Margaret Miller, writing a long letter home, noted, “It has taken me three hours to write this – but I’ve been interrupted by Neil several times to go outdoors and look at the beautiful sunset on the mountains.”