PALMER,  AK
July 26,2011

Looked for moose but none to be found

Moved from Seward to Palmer today, stopping at for a photo op just outside Seward.  By the time of statehood in 1959, most of the land in Alaska was owned by the federal government with some land centered around cities owned by individuals.  Because of the growing non-native population, the discovery of a vast oil field on the North Slope and increasing demands for the oil by the Lower 48, the question of who owns Alaska became a national issue in 1971.    Congress deviated from its
established federal Indian policy by enacting the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act .  ANCSA established 13 Native regional corporations and over 200 village corportions .  Congress conveyed44 million acres and almost a billion dollars to these corporations to give them a financial means of independence.  The other 88% of land in Alaska is owned by the federal or state governments.
We saw a bear cub just south of Anchorage after fueling up the RV.  It playfully scampered into the woods as we drove past.    The cost per gallon of diesel was $4.27/gallon.  With this rig it took $320 to fill up our 150 gallon fuel tank.  But we remind ourselves that we can go 1,000 on a tank of fuel.

The sun peaked out mid afternoon so we went for a walk around the campground, took a nap, and then went into Palmer to see what it offers.  At the Visitors Center is a statue of Balto, the lead dog of the final sled dog team that ran from the railroad station in Nenana in 1925 to deliver diptheria serum to Nome. 

Palmer is a quiet town with a population of 8,400.  It is a bedroom community for Anchorage.  Its first inhabitants were native Athabascans, followed by Russian fur trappers and traders.  When gold was discovered in the late 1800s and the US government became interested in the coal fields, railroad construction began.  Then came homesteaders, and then aan agricultural experiment station.  The population grew in 1935 when the President roosevelts Matanuska Valley Colonization Project brought mid-west farm families here to get them off relief during the Great Depression.  We dined at the Colony Restaurant called the Noisy Goose.  You were invited you to jump up on your table, flap your arms and loudly honk like a goose if you thought your food was taking too long to be served.