Post #7 Matanuska first day...Not Unforgotten

Post #7 Matanuska first day....Not Unforgotten

As they came off the train, Tony and Alys embraced briefly to reassure themselves that all would be ok. Their belongings were already being loaded onto trucks to be taken to the tent city. After Mr. Don Irwin, the manager of the Colony, gave them some words of welcome and some brief ideas about safety they were escorted to their assigned tents. Some families had to share a tent. Some with large families had to fit themselves into one.

Alys set about organizing the family tent as she stepped into it and took careful measure of its possibilities. Stove, cots, bedding, table, bench, oil lamp, shelf, and a selection of kitchenware were stacked inside. Suitable. Clean, with small spaces in the wood floor that she was used to dealing with. A blanket used as a divider would give the girls privacy and a quiet area to call their own. Two cots pushed together for she and her husband would suffice. She would trade one cot to a neighbor, Lona Boice, for more bedding as the girls could share and this gave more space in the "living" area.

Tony set up a wood plank walkway to keep the mud away from the tent door. The frost had just gone out of the ground, and the mud was awful. It stuck to their feet like wet cement, only to dry soon and flake off into dust. Managers were aghast that their piles of lumber were "disappearing" as survival and make do instincts kicked in among the colonists who made good use of any items they could "appropriate".

Their evening meal was served in the train dinning cars by the cooks from the CCC crews. Oranges from California were served as desert. Alys divided one amongst them, and kept three for the girls to have in the days to come.

After some visiting and walking, the family settled in for their first night in the Matanuska Valley. Tiny and Gerry slept soundly after getting a "bird" bath in a basin of warm water heated in the side tank of the wood burning kitchen stove. While the sun had not quite set, the new Alaskan couple covered up and snuggled closely to keep warm and to continue the strong bond that was growing between them. They were going to be ok!