First rural rehabilitation colonists, northern Minnesota to Matanuska Valley, Alaska. Photographed by WPA PhotographeråÊDorothea Lange in May of 1935. Poor families in San Francisco, California, on their way from Northern Minnesota to the Matanuska Valley Colony. Includes portraits, views on a train, registering at the dock, on board the ship U.S. A.T. St. Mihiel, and people leaning on rail. Ship sailed May 1, 1935.

"The movement of colonists from northern Minnesota to Alaska in the spring of 1935 is an attempt at ordered resettlement of distressed people. As the initial contingent of 67 families passed through San Francisco, photographic documentation ... was made by Dorothea Lange, of the Division of Rural Rehabilitation, California Emergency Relief Administration"