Colony kid helped build what Alaskans take for granted

PALMER -- Times have changed significantly since John Hemmer, at 9 years old, rode aboard the Saint Mihil, normally used as a U.S. troop carrier, with his family to Alaska in 1935.

Although the changes have been good and bad, Hemmer said he'd rather be in Alaska than anywhere else. And that seems fitting -- Hemmer worked on construction crews for years, helping build the roads that give today's Alaska residents to some of their favorite recreation and vacation spots. Pushing dirt, Hemmer saw a lot of Alaska -- and learned to love the state.

Hemmer's parents, Patrick and Cora, were among the first wave of colonists to arrive in Alaska. Hailing from Minnesota, the Hemmers brought four children to Alaska in hopes of starting over after the Great Depression. When colonists drew lots for which 40-acre parcels they'd get, the Hemmers drew land in the Butte area -- land full of trees, Hemmer said with a wry smile.

Hemmer helped his father clear and farm the land, but left when he was 17 to work on the road to Fairbanks. Working for $1.75 an hour, Hemmer helped build the section of road between Lila Lake and the Nelchina River. It was a time of much roadwork, Hemmer said, as roads were being improved across the Valley.

Drafted into World War II at age 18, Hemmer said he caught a glimpse of the rest of the world. After receiving training at Fort Richardson, he was shipped out to Attu Island, then transferred to Oklahoma and on to Mississippi, where he received advanced infantryman training. He celebrated VE Day -- May 8, 1945, the day Germany surrendered -- while still in Mississippi, but celebrated VJ Day -- Aug. 6, 1945, the day Japan surrendered -- in Calcutta, India.

War was as good for Alaska, Hemmer said, as it was for the rest of the U.S.

"In the early days, everybody had agriculture like cows, horses, pigs and chickens," Hemmer said. "It was pretty much self-supporting."

Not only was there not a lot of surplus, there wasn't much need for it, as many Alaskans provided for themselves. Once war began, however, Fort Richardson and Elmendorf Air Force bases filled up, and the Alaska Railroad was well into construction, and the influx of people needed to be fed. Valley-processed milk and eggs became staples at the bases, which helped farming in the Valley become more lucrative.

But the influx of people also needed roads, and after he returned to Alaska from his war duty, Hemmer went to work as a heavy equipment operator for the road commission, then operating on behalf of the Department of Interior, as statehood was still years away.

During an intermission from his construction work, in the early 1950s, Hemmer trucked Matanuska milk in to the bases in Anchorage. It was while he worked delivering milk, he said, that he met his wife, Geri, during church at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Palmer.

"I met her," Hemmer joked, "and I chased her till she caught me."

Geri Brown, originally from New York, taught first- and second-grade classes in the Palmer for thirteen years, first at what's now the Mat-Su Borough building and then at the newly built Swanson Elementary School.

During the early years of their marriage, Hemmer said, the two were members of the ski club at Hatcher Pass. The club operated a rope tow, charging skiers $1 a day to use the tow.

"We didn't have any insurance at all," Hemmer said. "The way we got around that was, the ticket was a one-day membership, so if you sued, you'd have to sue yourself."

There weren't any lawsuits, however, and Hemmer said he didn't remember any accidents more serious than a sprain on the hill.

Hemmer said a snowy day caused Hatcher Pass to miss its chance at being turned into Alaska's premier ski resort. Before Alyeska was built, he said, the same people who would later build in Girdwood scheduled a visit to Hatcher Pass to see which hill would best fit as a resort. That day, Hemmer said, the road was snowed in and, although the maintenance crews had placed the road as a high priority, roads used by school buses came first. The delay, he said, made the decision for the investors, and construction began at Alyeska instead.

But Hatcher Pass is a natural choice for skiiers -- people have been skiing there as far back as the '30s, he said -- and Hemmer believes a ski area will be built one day.

"I think it will, eventually," Hemmer said. "We have the terrain, and pretty much the snow -- there's no reason for it not to go."

After marriage, Hemmer returned to work in the construction field, and went to work for companies who contracted with the state, working union jobs.

"It was great," Hemmer said of working for the union. "The wages were higher -- I was getting $5-something an hour, and they just kept going up and up."

The higher-paying jobs, he said, meant it was difficult for farmers in the Valley to keep or pay laborers, but it was good for growing families such as the Hemmers. Hemmer worked on the road to Seward, in the Rainbow area, then worked on the road to Hope the next year. Little by little, Alaska's road system was developed.

Although he never returned to work for his father, money from his roadwork, Hemmer said, helped finance the family's farm, which had expanded by 100 acres shortly after his return from the war. The Kenser family, he said, owned land near what's today Hemmer Road. After the family moved away, he said, his father rented it from the Matanuska Valley Farmer's Cooperative. After his return from the war, Hemmer said, Don Irwin, the colony's first manager, stopped by and suggested his father buy the land. They took him up on the offer and purchased some prime farmland, which became even better real estate. But farming, for his and others' families, remained a struggle.

"It's impossible to make any money at it," Hemmer said.

Hemmer, like many Alaskans, has a past that intertwines with the state's history. In addition to road building, he dabbled in gold mining in the Hope area, did maintenance work on an Army pipeline that used to carry petroleum to and from various points around the state, owned his own excavating business and did maintenance projects for the city of Palmer after selling them his excavating equipment.

Geri Hemmer said she used to chide her husband for working when he should be playing, and it turns out that she was right all along. When asked what he enjoyed most, Hemmer said his time skiing and, later, in the couple's home off Nancy Lake have been most enjoyable.

Geri and John, who recently celebrated their upcoming 50th anniversary, moved back to Palmer recently. They celebrated the impending anniversary by hosting a family reunion and entering a float in the Colony Days Parade. Four generations were aboard the float -- technically speaking. Their first great-grandchild was aboard, but has not yet been born. And although their family is scattered "from hell to breakfast," as Hemmer put it, it's apparent they're held close in heart by the couple.