At the end of May, 1935, the complaints began.
As Kirk Stone succinctly put it, “The Matanuska Colony was an experiment worked out in an emergency.” The project was a New Deal relief measure for desperate families to escape drought, a utopian experiment in community planning, and a pragmatic boost to Alaskan agriculture, all awkwardly rolled together in a hurry with conflicting layers of management. Little surprise that there was conflict nearly as soon as lofty ideas landed in the muddy ground by the Palmer railroad siding.
Arville Schaleben, “Alaska Colony Grumbles About Shortage of Tents,” Milwaukee Journal, May 30th 1935.
Photo from the official ARRC album, Mary Nan Gamble collection, Alaska State Library. “Camp 8 showing corduroy road, tents, and well rig. May 29th.”
A shortage of tents had plagued the project from the start. Construction of tents, delayed by rain, was still in full swing a week after the arrival of the second contingent.
Rain and mud on the new dirt roads bogged down supply trucks.
Photo from the ARRC album. “Truck stuck in the mud.”
It was an ongoing problem.
Photo from the ARRC album. “Pulling truck out of mud.”
The source of greatest outrage was the high prices at the commissary. Colonists were allowed to buy food on credit, all part of the deal – transportation, land, food, a house, etc., all to be paid back after they had become self-sufficient. Some went on a spree of pork chops and canned peaches; others balked at adding more dollars to their debt. Charlie Warter, the Juneau grocer brought up to run the commissary, had to explain to the recent Midwest transplants that Alaskan prices are a lot higher due to freight.
Arville Schaleben, “Alaskan Colony Files Protest at High Prices.” Milwaukee Journal, May 31st 1935.
While Warter’s time in Palmer would be short, at least two commissary workers – Phil O’Neill and Louis Odsather – would go on to become prominent longtime community members.
“Phil O’Neill’s opportunity to come go to Palmer came when Charlie Warter, who he worked with in Cordova, was hired to be in charge of the ARRC commissary. Charlie remembered Phil’s merchandising experience and asked him to come to Palmer, too.”
‘In 1935,’ Mr. O’Neill points across Palmer towards Pioneer Peak, ‘this was nothing but mosquitos and rabbits. As soon as the trading post was finished we moved in. It was 16 x 20 foot tents stuck together, adjacent to Felton’s Store. It was an interesting experience to be the first hardware store in town – no matter what you get in, you might get it for everybody,’ he explains.
‘It was obvious to me,’ recollects Phil, ‘that from the first two hundred families that arrived not all of them were suited for the colony. There were many that, for the first time in their lives, had unlimited access to groceries. No matter that they would have to pay for them eventually.’”
Excerpt of interview with Phil O’Neill from “The Matanuska Colony – Fifty Years 1935-1985” by Brigitte Lively.
Photo of the commissary in May 1935, cropped from a photo in the MSB Sandbote collection.