The Matanuska-Susitna Borough is Alaska’s bread-basket. The Mat-Su Borough has a relatively mild climate and some flat land suitable for farming, but the region also contains huge mountains, glaciers, broad braided rivers, and vast expanses of bear and wolf-laden wilderness.

The Palmer Visitor Information Centre, Museum & Chamber of Commerce serves as a fount of tourist information and houses a small history museum dedicated to the Matanuska Colony. Whipsaws, scythes, and clothes wringers all testify to the colonists’ backbreaking work. A short walk from the visitor centre is the Colony House Museum. It has been restored to look as it did between 1935 and 1945.