WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING

Refurbishing of the 1935 Colony-era "Recreation Hall" along Dahlia Street continues to progress, with the look of the building's original exterior becoming more apparent. For certain, it will be a "charmer" when the work is completed!

Tidbits of conversation have noted the shooting range that functioned in the basement level of the "Rec Hall" ... where in 1956 four local ladies won blue in National Match competition! I personally remember the colorful Wurlitzer juke box just outside the restaurant entrance, with its red-yellow-orange-lime green colors swirling and blending as its music mechanism went into nickel motion. Jack Seemann recalled that Harriet Bell McRae and Dexter Bacon signed up the first members of the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union in a little corner spot there. Someone else remembered that the 1958 "statehood" referendum had been voted on at the local precinct site in the building.

To help fight a tuberculosis epidemic in Alaska, Public Health nurse Marjorie Myren staffed the local Health Center on the top floor and, around 1945, administered BCG tests to class after class of students who had walked from the Palmer Territorial School (the Borough building) in fearful trepidation.

Now is the time to help the building's owner, De Lena Johnson, as she searches for missing links in the building's history. Lend a "helping hand for history" if you can! DeLena is reachable at ethos@mtaonline.net


IN THE PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
Time flies when you are having fun, the old expression notes! October's program introduces, unbelievably, PHS's THIRD decade of focus on historical learning, sharing, preservation, and downright enjoyment!

Our October 17 gathering will begin at 7:30 p.m. with the ANNUAL MEETING. Brief summary reports will be given of last year's PHS activity, and members will elect a Board of Directors to serve for the coming year. Expect the Board's call for new participation from our members. This also is a timely opportunity for you to present your suggestions and ideas for future PHS direction. To close our annual meeting agenda, the Board will announce its recipient of PHS's "fifteenth annual historical preservation award"!

It then will be time to "fasten our seat belts" for the evening's program. If you had flown around the Valley in September 1939, what would you have seen? Would anything remain today after 78 years?

Included in program viewing will be 48 very high resolution photographs, courtesy of AeroMetric, Inc. and covering the Valley from Wasilla to the Butte and from Knik River to Moose Creek. .. all taken from about 2,000 feet with a large-format camera mounted on the outside of the airplane! We'll see blowups of these photos, and a slide show, too, using our new digital projector. We can zoom in to any part of a photo, and see the colony farms, settler's homesteads, and towns in great detail (even able to read signs on the buildings)! What's going on in Wasilla, Palmer, and Matanuska on that sunny day in 1939?

Much has changed during the years, of course, even the rivers--the photos show an entire farm and two settlements now abandoned due to the Matanuska's channel changes. We can look at some satellite photos for reference. Our senior members will be needed to help us identify features, many long gone from memories, except for these photos.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 17,2007
Palmer Public Library Meeting Room

As always, the public is cordially invited to attend, and refreshments will be served after the program. Our exceptional hospitality committee, continuously serving PHS for the past two decades, hint at lemon bars--you can't miss that!

CONNECTING HSTORICAL TIES
The power of Mother Nature plays a not too distant role in our Valley's look of today. At one time, the annual breakup of Lake George, located at the headwaters of the Knik River, was known at least locally as "the eighth wonder of the world"! Residents prior to 1964 can likely recall the sight and excitement when the Knik glacier's ice wall would release the pent up contents of Lake George, thereby dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the Knik River, along with huge chunks of ice. Available records show that the "breakup" occurred during the months of June to August, depending on the heat of summer sun and the amounts of previous year snowfall and current summer rain.

Amazingly, Lake George has not dumped since 1964's massive Good Friday earthquake, an event which affected elevation of the Eklutna Flats.

The following September 18, 1915 Anchorage Daily Times article has come to PHS thanks to Colonist daughter Beverly Larsh Hayes. This article of 92 years ago gives additional perspective to today's Matanuska Valley and to our "flightseeing journey" during October’s program.

"Flood at Knik Flats"
"A few miles up the Knik river, there is a beautiful lake said to be 14 miles long and about 11 miles wide. For years, it has been a favorite hunting ground for the Indians of this region. Every year, the Indians would bring their families to the mouth of Knik River, arrange their camps and the men would go far up into the mountains to hunt and fish. About 20 years ago, it is related, the huge glacier, which serves as a wall for the large lake above, gave way and huge columns of water came tearing down the mountain side, swelling waters of the Knik River until the whole country tributary to the mouth of the river was submerged, drowning nearly all of the Indians camped in the flat below. Since that time, the Indians have kept an eye on the glacier, expecting that at any time another break would occur. But until this year, as far as it can be learned, the glacier has held the waters of the lake and no floods of any consequence have occurred. About 2 weeks ago, an Indian came down from the lake and immediately warned those living in the neighborhood of Old Knik (Eklutna) to leave the flat as the glacier was expected to break at any moment and cause much damage. The people living in that vicinity having heard before an account of the danger, and left. Sunday morning, the side of the glacier gave way and oceans of water came sweeping down into the valley below. Had the people not taken the advise of the Indian, many lives would have been lost."