About Alaska Far Away

In the midst of the despair of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal gave 202 struggling Midwestern farm families an extraordinary opportunity: a chance to start over in a far-away Alaska. Alaska Far Away tells the story of this bold government experiment, and the families who found themselves thrust into the national spotlight along the way.

It generated a whirlwind of publicity and controversy at the time, not only as a federally-funded social experiment, but also as one of the last pioneer movements in America. The Matanuska Colony isn't just a fascinating footnote to the history of Alaska. It encompasses the despair of the Depression, the creative energy of the New Deal, the adventure of pioneering in Alaska, and the best and worst of our government and ordinary citizens in facing those extraordinary challenges.