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Nqrth yr-, 3t t1rh NOV 16 1936 U n lv ersitY U ora ry No. 4 -- 1362 THE WO R K·S PROGRAM Works Progresc Administration For Release to Morning Newspapers Friday, November 13, 1936 Delegate Dimond says Success of Matanuska Colony Assured. The majority of the colonists in the Matanuska Valley, Alaska, will have paid off their debt to the FederFil Government in a few years, and will be on a selfsustaining basis, in the opinion of Anthony J~ Dimond, Delegate for Alaska, who has returned to Washington ~or the opening of the next Cor.gress. 11 ! made two visits to the Matanuska colony before returning to Washington," said Delegate Dimond, 11 and my talks with many of the colonists convince me that the farm colonization project there will be a. success. I f ound the coloniste cheerful and contented and the great majority of them working hard to get their homesteads on a producing basis. 11 The homes of the colonists cor:rnnro favorably with farm homes in continental United States. ']hey are well built and comfortably furnished. ,;~very appearance now of an The community has old settlement with all the a~tivitios of community life which the settlers enjoyed before they imigratcd to the valley. 11 0f course, the colonists will continue to need assistance for a time, but as more land is clenrcd and crops put in the necessity for aid will diminish. Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Thero 4-1362 -2- is a ready market ri bht at hand for everything which can be raised in the valley. Demand now exceeds the supply and. as the permanent population of Alaska increases this demand will increase. "Hundreds of farmers will find their permanent homes in .Alaska as the success of the Matanuska experiment becomes lmown. aid, but good roads must be urovided. pioneering period will be short. They will not need government The pioneering is now being done, but the Not only is the growing of field and root crops fina.ncially successful but the colonists are provirig that dairy arid beef cattle, hogs a.nd sheep can be raised to advantage." The Matanuska farm colony, located a few miles north of .Anchorage, Alaska, was sponsored by the Federal Emergency Relief .Administration and the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation. The colonists were selected from Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin and arrived in the valley in the early summer of 1935. This year the colony was augmented by several families which paid their own way to Alaska.• 0000000 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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