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Show Alaska Colonists Live In Temporary Tent Dwellings cn-il by large mosquitoes. Farmers Farm-ers of the region must wear mosquito mos-quito netting; suspended from headgear to escape the insects" ataclvf. But, if at the end of five years the colony is flourishing others probably will be established in other more temperate sections of Alaska, advancing the huge territory terri-tory another step toward statehood They will live in the tent city until the remaining families of colonizers arrive from Seattle later this month. When the full contingent has arrived, government supervisors for the project will stage a drawing draw-ing in which the most desirable tracts will be alloted over the S.000 acre tract set aside for the farming colony. Each family will receive 40 acres of land, on which modern homes, capable of withstanding the rigors of an Alaskan winter, will be constructed by fall. While their elders strolled about Seward, a majority of them viewing view-ing Alaskan scenery for the first time, children of the party remained re-mained in quarantine aboard the U. S. army transport St. Mibiel. The quarantine was imposed as a precautionary jneasure when five children of the party were stricken with measles. They were isolated and reportedly were making mak-ing favorable progress. The warm weather of the valley, despite snow on bordering mountains, moun-tains, promised a favorable reception recep-tion to the settlers. Already, strawberries, onions and other vegetables are growing. Soon the days will be 20 hours long. Old residents of the region are skeptical of success of the new venture, however. Damp soil, they believe, will not produce fine vegetables and markets mar-kets are slight for such produce. Work in the fields will be hamp- PALMER, Alaska, May 10 I'.R White tents sprawled over the green Matanuska river valley today, reflecting the bright hope of 67 midwestern farm families driven from their homes by drought and dust and seeking a new life in Alaska. Two hundred of the structures, aligned in neat rows by 500 civilian civil-ian conservation corps workers, made up one city of temporary dwellings, where the American colonists will live until their experimental ex-perimental farming venture gets under way in earnest. Two miles distant, another canvas can-vas town was constructed as quarters for the workers thenv selves, advance guard of the migration mi-gration to come. The first contingent of settlers, 67 families from dust and drought denuded farming areas of Minnesota, Minne-sota, are at Seward, awaiting completion of preliminary work here. |
