Ninety years ago today, May 2nd 1935: the Matanuska colonists were en route to Alaska on the St Mihiel; the project administrators and transient workers aboard the North Star were loading lumber in Ketchikan; and families in Michigan and Wisconsin who made the final round of selection to join the project had received notice that they would be leaving for Alaska in two weeks.
Meanwhile in Alaska, the imminent arrival of so many people inspired skepticism and enthusiasm. The Anchorage Times had floated the idea of a welcome party for their new neighbors in an editorial on April 29th, and by May 2nd there were committees formed and plans underway to throw a lavish luncheon of all-Alaskan food, for almost 300 people, who would be arriving “possibly a week or ten days hence. The exact time will be learned later.”
