fettmri>iatlt)§atemai)
OF SEWARD, ALASKA — Established August 19, 1904
H. V. HOBEN and E. F. JESSEN, Proprietors
E F. Jessen, Editor and Manager
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL ALASKA
farming and gardening in the Susitna valley and in the
* numerous valleys of Kenai peninsula, including the
great plateau on the western side of the Kenai peninsula
between Cook Inlet and the Ivnik mountains, have pro
gressed far enough on many small patches widely scatter
ed since the building of the Alaska Railroad to demon
strate what can be done on a large scale on every# square
mile of those extensive areas'.
With certainty, there are 2,000,000 acres on the Kenai
peninsula and 3.00*0,000 acres in the* Susitina valley, to say
nothing of an equal amount in the Tanana valley, which
have possibilities for growing every kind of vegetables,
berries, rye, oats, barley, and the harder wheats, more a
bundantly and of better quality, acre by acre, than the
northern states of the United States.
If that statement should seem too sweeping, the an
swer is before the eyes of every man and woman who will
visit the hundreds of little farms and gardens in and
around Seward, Seldovia, Kenai, Hope, Sunrise, Anchor
age, Matanuska, Wasilla, Talkeetna, and scores of other
places in those valleys. *
What is produced on one acre can be produced on the
adjoining acre under the same conditions, or the adjoin
ing hundreds of acres, or thousands acres.
The long summers and the long hours of daylight in
these latitudes produce with a rapidity and luxuriance of
growth that are not surpassed in any State of the Union.
When summer comes, it is here in a bound, and the danger
of killing frosts is past, unlike the conditions that menace
crops in many of the agricultural States.
The agricultural possibilities in central Alaska were
very interestingly presented in a talk by John E. Ballaine
to the Seward Chamber of Commerce on the occasion of
the reception to Governor Parks a few days ago. Mr.
Ballaine knows Alaska and every part of Alaska and eve
ry possibility in Alaska more thoroughly than any other
man in or out of the Territory, and he is widely recog
nized as the best authority on Alaska.
Many people, Mr. Ballaine pointed out, see large
patches like the country west of Wasilla, covered with gee
pole spruce, which they hastily conclude must be worth
less for growing any kind of vegetables. But he gave in
stances to prove just the contrary.
For example, he recently visited with an old friend,
Mr. Dorwin, a fox farmer at Montana, 209 miles north of
Seward on the Alaska Railroad, in the general part of the
Susitna valley.
Mr. Dorvvin took up a homestead there five years
ago for the raising of foxes on what appeared to be
worthless land covered with six inches of moss and a
growth of stunted spruce, but with 10 or 15 feet of good
soil underneath. He spaded about an acre of the garden,
turning the moss under. The second year he spaded it
again. The third year he spaded it well, and planted it in*
garden. The moss had partially decomposed, and the gar
den was medium.
The fourth year Mr. Dorwin spaded it for the fourth
time, when the moss had completely rotted, forming a fine
• mulch for the soil. It grew a wonderful garden.
This year, the fifth, Mr. Dorwin’s garden and berry
bushes loaded with all varieties of berries is one of the
show places of any part of Alaska. No farm in the Unit
ed States presents a more thrifty and wholesome appear
ance. No garden in Washington, Oregon or California
is better than this truly wonderful garden.
But it is not alone in vegetables and berries that the
soil and climate of central Alaska produce abundantly,
Mr. Ballaine emphasized . The 5,000,000 acres of tillable
lands in the valleys of the Kenai peninsula and in the Su
sitna valley, after preparation such as Mr. Dorwin gave
to his garden tract, can and does produce rye, oats, barley,
and the hardy varieties of wheat in quality and quantity
the equal of any other section .
But these latitudes of Alaska are particularly suited
for rye, Mr. Ballaine pointed out. It is here that rye
thrives in its native and best environment. It grows rapid
ly and matures within 60 days from planting. It is equal |
to wheat in nutritive qualities and in market value. It
makes the staple flour for bread for 100,000,000 people!
in northern Europe. The 5,000,000 acres in the Kenai |
peninsuula and the Susitna valley can produce every year j
without fail an average of 25 bushels of rye per acre, or a j
total of 125,000,000 bushels. That would be enough toj
support a farming and industrial population of 3,000,000. j
As for market, Mr. Ballaine called attention to the |
60,000,000 people in Japan and the 400,000,000 in China,!
next door neighbors to Alaska, who constitute the world's j
largest importing field of consumption.
The rapidly increasing population of the United
States and the World is hastening the time when every
productive acre in the Susitna valley and the Kenai penin
sula will of necessity be brought under intensive cultiva
tion.
TO SPONSOH OF FLIGHT
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I BARTLESVILLE, Okla., Aug. 20. j
(TP)—L. E. Phillips, vice-president and |
| general manager of the Phillips Pet- |
| roleum Company and brother of Frank I
| Phillips who sponsored the Woolaroc, |
winner of the Dole trans-pacific flight] =
at Wheeler Field, today jocularly tel- |
egraphed his friend James D. Dole, |
dower of the brize for the race, “To |
: deliver the goods.” §
TEACHES HOME MAKING i
TO OVOID DIVORCES i
BATON ROUGE, La., Aug. 20. (TP)
!—Louisiana has a new form of “di
jvorce insurance!”
| Approximately 10,000 “Jills,” po
tential life-mates of as many “Jacks,”
'are learning the vocation of perma
Inent home-making under the direc
tion of Miss Clyde Mobley, supervi
|sor of home economics,
j They put their theories into actual
| practice in SI model cottages, which
!are part of the state high school sys
i tern. The girls wrork out all the pro
jblems of home economics, ranging
| from cooking and sewing to house
beautification and landscape garden
ACADEMY
FILLS VACANCIES
PARIS, Aug. 20. (/P)—France lias
elected two “Immortals” to fill the
vacant chairs of the French Acade
my. They are Abel Hermant, nove
list and playwright, and Emile Male,
historian and authority on medieval’
religious art. They fill the chairs
jleft vacant by the deaths of M. Rene
|Boylesve and M. Jean Richepin.
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i MORE CHICAGO BRUNDAGES
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Mr. and Mrs. Edw. J. Brundage and
! son, residents of Chicago and presum
s ed to be of the prominent Chicago
j family of that name, will arrive in
| Seward tonight from the Interior en
route South. It was but a -short time
back when Sewardites had the pleas
ure of meeting another Brundage,
Avery, from Chicago. Mr. and Mrs
E. J. Brundage are members of the
Wide World Travel Service, tourist
party.
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SEWARD AVIATION FIELD
Two teams and a crew of men, in
charge of Anton Eide, local superin
tendent of the Alaska Road Commis
sion, are engaged in clearing up the
aviation grounds over near the radio
station. The field, when completed,
will be approximately 1,000 yards in
length and 300 yards in width. The
field is in the shape of a cross and
is said to the one of the largest .and
finest in the entire Territory.
SEA EXCURSION TOMORROW
The M. S. Discoverer, Captain Ber
ger, will leave the Seward dock float
at 7 o’clock in the morning on the
first excursion of the season to Bear
and Columbia glaciers and to Seal
Rocks. The voyage will last the en
tire day. Lunch will be served by
the skipper. Excursion tickets are
being sold at a few of the local
stores.
LUTHERN SERVICES
Luthern services will be held at
the Odd Fellow’s hall on Sunday
August 21 in the evening at 7:30.
Sunday School will be held in the
afternoon at 4:00 p. m.
The Luthern Church ought to ap
peal to you because it is as broad
and as narrow as the Bible.
Because it is not a social institu
tion, but in God’s service for the sal
vation of men.
Because it recognizes the preach
ing of the Word os its Business.
Because it proclaims to man, with
out fear or favor, the whole counsel
of God..
Sincerely yours
H. KURING
One of the finest excursion trips
imaginable Sunday. Make reserva.
tions for the trip to Bear and North
western Glaciers and to Seal Rocks,
on the M. S. Discoverer.
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Ml .fi2- ■ ■
LIBERTY
THEATER
TONIGHT—TWO SHOWS 7 AND 9
LOUISE FAZENDA — JACQULINE LOGON
JASON ROBARDS — ARTHUR HOYT
“ Footloose Widows ”
Considered one of the best FARCE-COMEDIES ever written for
the screen. A funny story of two shop girls who pose as wealthy
widows to catch rich husbands. It’s Laugh, Laugh, Laugh all
the way through.
The PATHE NEWS is unusually interesting because of having
Lindbergh’s Take-Off from New York on his
Great Flight to Paris
There will also be a FABLE Reel.
A good comedy drama feature
SUNDAY ONLY
“WHEN HUSBANDS FLIRT”
- A two reel comedy “LIVE COWARDS”
And the PATHE NEWS Ivs further scenes of Lindbergh’s flight
after leaving New York and gives an animated map of the trip.
A Reel of Jokes
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Just Received-Direct
From
New York
FI COATS
IF CARACUL AND SEALINE
AT PRICES FROM JgJ to JJft
CLOTH COATS
IN l'WEEDS, PLADS AND PLAIN
MATERIALS AT PRICES FROM
$12 75 ,0 $4500
ALL THE NEW FALL SHADES IN
FLAT CREPES, SATIN CREPES,
SATIN BACK CREPES AND
FLOWERED CREPES RANGING IN
PRICES FROM J16-75 to
COOLIE COATS
THE VERY LATEST IN ORIENTAL
DESIGNS. $7-95 to $23-50
IN SOFT VELVETS AND FELTS
FR0M $5-95t0 $8-00
OUR ADVANTAGE OF CHAIN
STORE BUYING ENABLES US TO
QUOTE ABOVE PRICES — WE IN
VITE YOUR INSPECTION TO DE
TERMINE THESE REMARKABLE
VALUES.
GORDON’S