Peek at the Past: A look back in Mat-Su's history

Appearing in the Sept. 30, 1976 issue of the Frontiersman:

Guard gets Alcantra

Gov. Jay Hammond has signed an agreement which guarantees the continued use of the former Alcantra Youth Campus near Wasilla as a state agency and provides that the compound be made available for local use.

The governor issued the following statement from his Juneau office: "When the Department of Health and Social Services terminated their youth camp operations at Alcantra in June, local concern arose over the further use of the facility."

An agreement transfers the title of the property from the Department of Health and Social Services to the Department of Military Affairs. Further, it directs Military Affairs to use the facility as a National Guard training center and to provide, through contract with the Mat-Su Borough schools, vocational and handicapped educational facilities, whenever necessary and possible.

Winless Falcons to meet Dimond

The Palmer-Wasilla Falcons, winless in three outings and mired in the cellar of the Cook Inlet Football Conference, along with Chugiak, find themselves in the spoiler mode this weekend against league-leading Dimond.

Falcon coach John Switzer said the Falcon line played a solid game against Kenai last weekend.

With the exception of a couple long-gainers, he though Palmer-Wasilla outplayed the Kardinals physically throughout the ball game.

The Fisher's Y Grocery in Big Lake had its third anniversary sale in 1976, offering eggs for 87 cents a dozen and two pounds of Tilamook cheese for $3.39.

At Alaska Federal Savings, the interest rate on a mortgage was 7.5 percent, which is higher than today. The National Bank of Alaska opened the doors on its Wasilla branch.

Getting around the Valley wasn't cheap, though. The fare for Yellow Cab of Wasilla was $2, with $1 per mile.