The Colonists

Approximately 203 families were sent to Alaska from the cutover region of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin in 1935 to take part in the Matanuska Colonization Project in Alaska.  Many of these young families also included children, so the total number of participants was over 1,000.

The government, aware that the distance and difficulties involved in the Matanuska project might be overwhelming for some families, offered to pay their way back to their homes in the Midwest if they decided to leave the colony within the first year.  A number of families took the government up on this offer, particularly during the first summer, so there are still many Matanuska Colony families to be found in the Midwest. Juster Hill Productions conducted interviews with colonists throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; many of their descendants still live there, as well.

Over 150 people were interviewed during the making of Alaska Far Away. Not all the interviews could be included in the film. However, the original full-length interviews, along with written transcripts of the interviews, are being donated to the Palmer Historical Society in Palmer, Alaska, to create a permanent oral history archive of the Matanuska Colony.