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About Southern Oregon miner. (Ashland, Or.) 1935-1946 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1935)
Southern Oregon Miner SUCCESSOR TO JACKSONVILLE MINER EICHT PACES ASHLAND, OREGON. FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1935 COMICS AND FEATURES “PIONEERING” MOVEMENT INTO ALASKA By WILLIAM C. UTLEY ROBABLY countless time« since de(iresslon «nd drouth struck Hub marginal In ml* »nd poor fur ml nit country, farmers nnd their families, discour- ii|(ed nnd In some cases destitute, have prayed for a chnnce to go away somewhere- .'ny where—alyl ■tart all over again, with nothing more perhaps than the at reng th of their hands and n few fundamental pieces of equipment, hut with a clean alate and an equal footing for alL In one of the tuoat s|>ectacular experiment! the llraln Trust haa yet devised, the Federal Emer gency Belief commlsBoin Is trying to determine whether a literal an swer to that prayer Is not, after all. the solution to the farmer's plight In many advanced cases of eco nomic collapse. The FERA la taking 2<>0 families from drouth-stricken farms In northern Minnesota, Wlaeonaln nnd Michigan, families who had just about given up all hope of ever again "making a go" out of their farms, herding them nnd a few of their effects Into a Imat and ship ping them away to a brand new stake ami a now life—In Alaska. Here la a land which to moat of them Is one so cold that Ice cream bars pre nsmed after It, so wild that moat of the life con sists of Eskimos, caribou and grlz sled prospectors (tanning for gold. But they care not. For them It la the land of new hope, nnd In It they are going to build a Utopia In the wilderness, where everybody starts from acratch and where, they are certain, reward will come In actual proportion to sweat and sin cerity of efTort. The egodua haa. in newspaper ac counts somewhat colored, been called the “exiling of families to bleak tcrrlt trial outpost»;’ Infer ring a parallel to the exile of Rus sian peasants Into Siberia. It Is not like that at all. Nobody has to go who doesn’t want to—and every body In the party seems to be tickled to death of the chance. P dlmute nnd terrain. Not a few heartaches may be Imagined ns some treasured poraesslon, of great sentimental, but no practical value. Is kissed good by. But then, moving day In always a house-clean Ing for non essentials. The average family making the trip has four members. Each fam Uy will have the benefit of a gov ernment drawing account of *8,000. which must lw paid back In !»• years with 3 per cant Interest. To finance the project the government has set uside *300,000. In some quarters It haa been suggested that half a million dollurn might lie more wisely spent by buying these (ieo pie new farm lamia In the United States proper. Thin, officials de clared, would I m * simply handing out nlnis, ami one of the objects of the entire experiment In to find out whether such families enn Ite res cued without alma. The same official« admitted that the payment of the imsange In Itself constituted alms, but they claimed that the situation was modified con siderably by an agreement tfiat the looney will I m * paid back when the new farm land produces more than a living for Its people. If It ever does. Besides this. It Is argued, the colonists will have a new mental outlook they could never attain were their new homes established In one In many sections of the United .States, will lie turned Into bird refuges, wild life preserves, forests nnd other adaptations, but will nev er ngaln be farms. Up In this rugged country Arctic winds chill the climate but nt the same time warm Pacific currents from Jupnn temper It. It la not really as bad ns linnglncd by those not familiar with Alaska. The win lers are not really much more se vere than those of tunny well-pop ulated parts of Canada, nnd the summers are quite comimrable to those of the Middle West, nithough the winters nre longer and the sum mers shorter. From Seward the little band will pass onward through Anchorage, which la the southern gateway to Slips of pa(>er, numbered, will be mixed up In a hat, just as at a raffle. The number on each slip of pa|H?r will correspond with the num ber of a plot of 40 acres of unset tled. wooded land For temporary dwellings tne Alaska Colonization cor(>oratlon will have set up a tent on each plot. Each family, when it draws a number, will move Info the tent designated by that num ber. The process will be repeated when the second half of the mi gration arrives. All this land of new hope Is entirely overgrown with spruce, cottonwood and birch. This must sll be cleared away, and with the help of the CCC workers, the fam ilies hope to have a large share of the work done before the short SITE OF NEW FARM PROJECT PACIFIC Selecting the Company. For the past few months FERA workers have been going about quietly selecting members of the company. This has been an exact ing task, for only the purest Amer ican farming stock will be allowed to settle In the Alasknn colony. They must also be healthy and well equipped physically to atund pioneer life nnd temperatures which sometimes fall to 40 degrees below xero. Moat of them arc fam ilies that have been entirely de pendent upon the government for their existence. Along with the 200 families, 400 single mon, CCC workers, are being sent to help In the hard work of starting the frontier Utopia. They will help In the clearing of gov ernment land and In the building which will be necessary. Each fntnlly Is allowed to take but 2,000 pounds of belongings. Many an heirloom. Itself carried west In an enrllcr day by an ear lier pioneer, la being left behind, making way for equipment that will be of greater value In the new life. There is no room for an un necessary pound. Live stock and machinery are being disposed of, for at the end of their journey these families will get tools and equipment better suited to Alaskan Just as These Pioneers In the Gold Rush Days of ’98 Set Forth to Conquer the Wilderness, Will 200 American Families Seek a New Start in Alaska This Summer. of the states. The movement will further servo n useful purpose by helping to build up Alaska. Bound for Seward. On »t«»«*l rails, over the Oregon trail famed In pioneering history, the adventurers ami their meager accoutrements will go to Seattle, where they will board a steamer for Seward, Alaska. Some of them are already on their way as you read this. Perhaps a good share of these people will never agnln pass south of their point of entry Into the Alaskan peninsula. At any rate, they will never again return to the farms they have left, for these, In accordance with the FERA plan of relocation of destitute farm families the rich Matanuskn valley. They will travel by train to Palmer, a lit tle village 150 miles north, It Is In the wild country near Palmer that their new plots of land will be staked out. Leader of the party Is Pon L. Ir win. son of a man who was among the lenders In the Oklahoma land rush. He Is superintendent of colonization In Alaska. The or ganization Itself Is known us the Alaska Colonization corporation. Draw for Locations. Not until It has reached Palmer will the party settle the questiou of location of Individual farms. There a drawing will be held which will assure the dispensation of land with complete Impartiality to all. Alaskan summer draws to a close. Log dwellings will lie erected at tlrst, from the gleanings of the tim ber clearing. According to the plan, the women folks will have topitch right in, maybe even swing an ax or two. to help the men with their work. l-'EllA architects have designed a sort of hamlet for the center of the colony, and the CCC workers will begin upon this project soon after their arrival. A modern schoolhouse, accommodating 480 children, will be erected first. for these people have no Intention of robbing their offspring of the cul tural and educational benefits of the civilization back home. The schoolhouse will serve In sev eral other capacities. It will be the center of all community life. It will have a community hall and a gymnasium where meetings, dances and entertainments of various kinds will be held. If the workers are able to main tain the schedule laid out for them, the coming of the next winter will nlso hud a comfortable dormitory for the teachers in the school, and a house for the manager of the colony. There will be erected a community Industrial building which will Include a creamery and a greenhouse. Construction will be speeded on a barn for 40 teams of horses, a warehouse, shops, garages, a community poultry farm and other essentia’ commu nity projects. The (vermanent houses of the families will be equipped as are many modern farm houses in the States, with running water, wood burning stoves, chemical toilets and other conveniences. About the only thing that will be lacking is electric light Kerosene or oil lamps will be nsed. Just as tbelr cousins who attend the consolidated schools in the States, the children will be taken to their lessons each day by a motor bus. Eacn u.*wUy will keep one milch- Longhorn cow. supplied by the gov ernment, which, ’n fact, will sup ply all work ant-*als and tools. Even here, however, the farmer citizens will not be free *rom close government supervision over their Industry, for the government re serves the right to regulate strict ly the crop production of each farmer. Reason for this regulation Is said to be that the colony is being formed to supply stores in the Matanuska valley with *1,000.00)1 worth of goods annually. The valley now imports this amount of goods every year from the United States and Canada. The land In the Matanuska val ley Is fertile and Is especially good for dairy and truck farming. Al though the summers are short, the days are really much longer than they are In the States and give about twice as much sunlight. The land Is rich in natural and min eral resources. The rivers and streams abound In flsh and there Is plenty of game to be found In the wilds. Alaska could support a popula tion much larger than the 00,000 It now does, nnd It Is quite possible that this colony may be the start of a progressive growth. It Is a’ lenst the largest attempt the fed eral government lias yet made to colonize the northern possession. Alaska needs more people to make use of Its vast agricultural and mineral wealth. It is the only part of the United States where unemployment does not exist, al though It is not hard to get a Job in Hawaii, either. It Is one ot the very few parts of the world which invite immigration. ©. Western Newspaper Union. Forwarding Mail The postal regulations say that unlimited requests for the forward ing of mall to other post offices shall be observed for a period of two years, unless revoked, except that such requests affecting general delivery mall at city delivery post offices shall expire at the end of 30 days unless renewed.