by Peter Twitchell
I come from the small community of Bethel Alaska. There was never too many vehicles in the 50s when I was a boy. That would be in the early 50s and you could probably count them on your hands – the number of vehicles in Bethel
My good friend Samuel Oscar’s dad Jesse (I thought as a young lad of 10 years old), had the coolest car parked in front of his house. I remember what looked like fins on the back of his vehicle growing up in Bethel. Little did I know I would move to the city when I retired.
I did my best advocating for caselot stores in Bethel by anyone who was interested, even the Calista Corporation. We never did get a caselot store like Costco and we suffered the consequences of inflated grocery prices in both the major stores in Bethel. It was a sad case of price gouging in my opinion, we paid top dollar for food to feed our families!
When I retired at 66, I just couldn’t live in Bethel with the high price of gasoline for my outboard motor, stove oil, electricity, and water from the City delivered to homes. I spent an average of $1500 a month to live in my own residence on Watson’s Corner and that’s not even counting the food I had to buy besides my subsistence fish, moose and ducks and tundra berries.
I moved to Anchorage where groceries were reasonably priced in one store or another. The city where I could find a one bedroom apartment for $785 a month total with everything paid for: my electricity, water, heat and garbage disposal. It was almost half of what I spent just paying utilities in Bethel and the high cost of food.
I’ve never chosen to work for the government or the state where I could earn a pension when I retired. It was important to me to work with Elders for 24 years at the radio station KYUK recording all the values of our people in the Kuskokwim region – the traditions and living our native culture locally. I don’t regret it. I’ve loved Elders since I was a boy because they taught boys and girls in their families and the community to love, respect, honor, and take care of each other and help each other as much as we could when we were growing up.
I am amazed with the handful of cars that I grew up with in Bethel. There are at least probably half a million cars on a daily basis in Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley. Also the Kenai Peninsula and Seward.
To put it lightly you could have bumper-to-bumper cars from Palmer, Alaska all the way to Anchorage if you had only one lane and if there was an accident. In 1971 when my wife and I moved to Kenai for a year, one of the Alaska state trooper detectives gave me driving lessons and told me to drive defensively. Now I understand why he said that. He always said no matter what the speed limit you’re driving from Kenai, Anchorage to Wasilla and Glennallen and beyond, always keep up with the traffic regardless if they’re going 5-10 miles an hour above the speed limit in order to avoid an accident.
I saw one antique car like the one that Jesse Oscar owned as well as other collectibles from the early days, the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. I was fortunate to own a 1952 Chevy which didn’t have any fiberglass or aluminum on the body to me. It was made from solid steel and I bought that for $200 and after two years living in Kenai and returning to Bethel, I sold that for $200 bucks. It was a sturdy car and ran like a workhorse beside the beautiful mountains, the valley, and all the moose, bears, and bald eagles.
I am now one of the hundred thousand residents of the Valley and counting. Channel 2 News reported this morning, “The Alaska State Fair in Palmer will attract 400,000 people this year.” The State Fair will be from now until Labor Day.
When driving I use the right lane when going to Anchorage because I don’t travel the excessive speeds most people do, especially in my 2003 Model Ford Explorer Sport.
