The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony

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. "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.