Celebrating 70

Valley Life editor

This June, the 70th anniversary of the Matanuska Colonist Project will be celebrated, but a film about the project could be in peril because of funding issues.

"Alaska Far Away," a film detailing the project, has been in the works for nearly a decade. Filmmakers Paul Hill and Joan Juster still need approximately $200,000 to finish the project, and that money must be in place in the next month or so to ensure the film will be completed by Colony Days, in June.

The Palmer Historical Society is trying to raise money for the project, so the film can be premiered during the 70th anniversary reunion this summer.

"The filmmakers took it on themselves, and we're not necessarily paying them to do it," said Wayne Bouwens of the Palmer Historical Society. "They've been doing it on their own for nine and a half years. We're trying to raise money locally to help them get it completed."

The Palmer Historical Society has been showing rough copies of "Alaska Far Away" to local business and community groups, and trying to obtain grants from various agencies and organizations.

"Hopefully, we can get donations lined up pretty quickly, because they need to have some idea around the 15th of February," Bouwens said.

The filmmakers started the project after visiting a friend in 1994. They immediately immersed themselves into the filmmaking project, interviewing more than 120 people, including Colonists and their children, journalists who covered the project nationally and project administrators. They have amassed more than 90 hours of newsreels.

"They've done a really, really good job," said Bouwens, whose family moved from Wisconsin to the colony of Matanuska in 1935.

Bouwens also pointed out that once the movie is complete, the raw footage will return to the Palmer Historic Society.

"I'm sure we'll put it in the library or at the university, so people can use it for research," Bouwens said.

The movie tells the story of the 202 families who relocated to Alaska from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. All were on government relief, unable to farm during the Great Depression. The move to Alaska gave them a new start - for a $3,000 mortgage, each family got a house, a small barn and some livestock, on 40 acres.

"The program opened up all of central Alaska, with them bringing in 200 families," said Bouwens, whose family was the largest - 11 kids and parents - of the relocating families. "All of us were living in a tent for a while.

"For me, this place has been good to me," Bouwens said of why he has remained in the Valley all his life. "I've been blessed with good jobs, and it's not in a big rush like Anchorage always has been.

"We've always had open spaces, and it was a good place to raise kids," Bouwens continued.

Those interested in donating to the movie project can do so by contacting the Palmer Historical Society, Bouwens said. The phone number is 745-2880. Donations are tax-deductible.