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During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave more than two hundred families from some of the poorest areas in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan the opportunity to start their farms anew in the undeveloped land of Matanuska in Alaska. These transplanted midwesterners soon found themselves in a startling new climate and landscape that presented many unexpected challenges. Available for the first time in paperback, The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony examines several case studies of these original families, dispelling many frontier myths and describing the reality of pioneering in Alaska. Despite the many impediments, Orlando W. Miller argues, much of the current agricultural success in Matanuska can be directly credited to the innovative farmers who settled there in the 1930s.
Preface
Introduction
1. Alaska before the Matanuska Colony
2. The Origins of the Matanuska Colony
3. The Source of the Colonists: The Great Lakes Cutover Region
4. The Selection and Arrival of the Colonists
5. The Early Troubles
6. Managing the Colony
7. Paternalism and Pioneers
8. The Press, a Hero of Self-Help, and Some Rebels
9. Promoting the Last Frontier: The Closed Safety Valve
10. Promoting the Last Frontier: Military Alaska
11. The Frontier and Actuality: The New State
12. Conclusion
Epilogue
Appendixes
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index