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Matanuska-Susitna Valley (known locally as the Mat-Su or The Valley) is an area in Southcentral Alaska south of the Alaska Range about 35 miles (56 km) north of Anchorage, Alaska. It includes the valleys of the Matanuska, Knik, and Susitna Rivers. It is the fastest growing region in Alaska and includes the towns of Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Houston, Willow, Sutton, and Talkeetna. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley is primarily the land of the Dena'ina and Ahtna Athabaskan people.
The valleys are shaped by three mountain ranges: the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains. The Matanuska-Susitna Valley was carved by glaciers leaving thousands of lakes. The Mat-Su rivers and lakes are home to the spawning grounds of chinook, coho, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon. The area is home to 31 state parks and campgrounds.
The 23,000-square-mile (60,000 km2) Matanuska-Susitna Borough (the Alaskan equivalent of a county) governs the Mat-Su Valley.
The City of Wasilla was founded on Dena'ina land when the Alaska Railroad was constructed in 1917. Knik, also on Dena'ina land, was the first boom-town in the valley and predates Wasilla. In 1893 the Alaska Commercial Company was built at Knik, and in 1898 Knik was settled by trappers and gold miners.
Talkeetna began in the late 1890s, with the construction of a trading station and later the Alaska Railroad. Today, Talkeetna serves as a tourist hotspot, and the starting point for mountaineers who climb Denali.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough (often referred to as the Mat-Su Borough) is a borough located in Alaska. The borough is part of the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area, along with the municipality of Anchorage on its south.
The Mat-Su Borough is so designated because it contains the entire Matanuska and Susitna rivers. These rivers empty into Cook Inlet, which is the southern border of the Mat-Su Borough. This area is one of the few agricultural areas of Alaska.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Matanuska-Susitna Valley", and "Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0
