Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.05.1987, Blaðsíða 5

ALDARAFMÆLISÁR, FÖSTUDAGUR 15. MAÍ 1987-5
Thingvalla Pioneer's Story
Continued from Page 4
homestead. With the help of another
settler he took out logs on our own
land, hewed them and built the walls
for a log house to the height of about
eight feet and a size of about 16 by
20 feet, leaving the roof and floor to
be done later. He had also managed
to put up a supply of hay for the
cows.
But news came to us in the latter
part of the summer while we were
still in Millwood, that a prairie fire
had razed a considerable area, in-
cluding part of our homestead and
our prospective home had been burn-
ed to the ground.
Father had then received permis-
sion to use temporarily a small hut
which had also been built during the
summer by our future neighbor, Jón
Magnússon. This was built of black
poplar logs, with sod roof, and plas-
tered with clay. It was 14 by 14 in
size, about seven feet high, had one
small window and there was a cast-
iron stove in one corner. To this
rather cheerless accommodation we
arrived on this cold, blustery pitch
dark evening.
So here we were, two families,
counting nine people huddled in this
little house, tired, cold and hungry,
with no chairs, no table and no bed,
and only the little four-lid cook stove
to keep us warm.
However, a good fire was soon
burning in the stove, and this work-
ed wonders in cheering everyone. A
wide board nailed to the wall served
as a table, a few small boxes to sit on,
and a good hot meal, all served to
minimize the gloomy aspect of our
condition.
When it came time to go to rest, the
boxes were put outside, and our bed-
ding spread on the sod floor where
we all slept the sleep of exhaustion
after a long day's travelling against a
bitterly cold wind.
Everyone was up bright and early
next morning, eager to view the new
surroundings.
It was a lovely sunshiny morning
and much warmer.
After breakfast, father and Helgi
shouldered picks and shovels and set
out for the spot on our homestead
where our home was to be, just a half
mile away from Jon's log cabin.
A partnership was formed, where
it was agreed that the two families
would live together through the com-
ing winter, and share in making a
habitable place to live in, in the short
time before winter set in.
The material on hand consisted of
the lumber from the house we lived
in, in Millwood, which had been torn
down, plus some odds and ends
bought cheaply from the mill. This
however, was not sufficient to build
a structure that would resist or give
protection against the rigors of severe
winter weather. It was therefore de-
cided to make an excavation on the
south side of a hill, large enough to
live in, and use the lumber to line the
walls and for a floor.
When this was completed, it was
roofed with poles and sod.
The walls were about 7 feet high,
the front end standing full height,
clear of the excavation, the other end
being level with the top of the hill.
All this was accomplished in record
time, and no time was lost in mov-
ing the two families.
Our cook stove was set up in a
corner in the front end, and used by
both families. The water for cooking
and washing had to be brought in
buckets from a little lake, three-
quarters of a mile distant. Carrying
the water fell to the lot of my sister
and myself.
Our dugout home was warm but
very crowded. We were sheltered
from the raw east wind by a fairly
heavy poplar bluff, and the fierce
northern blizzards did not affect us,
as only the roof showed on a level
with the hill.
News came that the railway had
reached a spot seven miles from our
homestead. A small village had
sprung up that was named Langen-
burg, and it served a settlement of
newcomers, Germans. One of the
two general stores in the village was
owned and operated by two Ger-
mans, Hinch and Ulrich, the other
was owned by Helgi Jonson, it hav-
ing been moved to Langenburg from
Shellmouth and was managed by
Bjarni (Davidson) Westman.
Most of the few settlers already in
the settlement procured their provi-
sions in this new town, it being
closest. A few travelled to Shell-
mouth to buy their groceries, a
distance of 15 miles.
* * * l,fí
Late in the fall of 1886 father ap-
plied for and was granted a loan of
some $200.00 from the Canada Set-
tlers' Loan and Trust Co.
With this money he bought a team
of oxen, a wagon and box, a set of
sleighs, a breaker plow, and a set of
harrows.
Our team of oxen, called Lamb and
Lion, were powerful animals and
easy to handle, except if travelling
away from home, and they found a
chance to turn to go back home
again, they would get out of control
and run like deer, and could not be
stopped or turned right or left until
they reached the yard at home.
That first winter, this team of ox-
en proved the only means of subsis-
tence for both families. There being
no work to be had, and little or no
money, they hauled dry firewood to
Langenburg that sold for $2.50 a
load, for which the bare necessities
were purchased. The only meat was
bush rabbits, of which there were
plenty, and of course the milk and
butter from our cows was an impor-
tant part of our diet. There were no
luxuries, unless a cup of coffee can
be put in that class.
Father and Helgi took a load of
wood to town alternately and the
proceeds were used to buy the bare
necessities, such as coffee, sugar, a
little flour and shorts to mix with the
flour for bread, also milled oats for
porridge.
Often we would run short of some-
thing, and would do without until the
next trip was made to town. When
coffee was served, my sister Guðny
and I were allowed a cup of weaker
coffee also a small lump of sugar
each.
We often watched mother as she
prepared meals, and could not fail to
notice the care and worry that show-
ed, when everything had to be used
so sparingly.
My sister and I took a notion one
day, that we would save our lump of
sugar and surprise mother by produc-
ing our little hoard, when her supp-
ly ran out. This we did, and instead
of using it, we deposited each lump
in a little tin that was hidden away
and kept secret. Then it happened!
Some time later, we heard mother
mention that the supply had run out,
we proudly produced our hidden
hoard, and were rewarded with a
very surprised look, a loving smile
and two big tears. That moment has
lingered in my memory all my life.
Thus the winter passed, and a cold
winter it was, that winter of 1886-7.
Many a report, like the sound of a
cannon, would be heard in the woods
nearby, on a clear night, when the
severe frost tightened its grip every-
where.
* * *
This tract of land that I have men-
tioned, gave great promise of abun-
dance and a bright future. It was well
watered with small lakes here and
there, plenty of haý meadows, and
pasture land, a good supply of
building logs and fuel.
Not many settlers had arrived in
the district thus far, and these, with
a few exceptions, had been employed
by the railway and had entered for
homesteads in later summer and
moved in when freeze-up came, and
work was suspended. The following
summer saw the largest number of
new arrivals also a lesser number,
the summer of 1888.
The various groups of settlers arriv-
ing during the summer of 1887 came
mostly direct from Iceland. A few
were from Winnipeg.
As the end of steel was still at
Langenburg, these people were met
there, and they and their effects were
transported via the oxen-wagon route
to the homes of kind hearted,
hospitable countrymen or relations.
Our oxen, often with myself as
driver, had a goodly share in these
operations. Also in the matter of get-
ting logs from the woods for
buildings.
While the business of house-
building went on, some of the
families had to live in cramped
quarters in shared accommodation
with their hosts. As an illustration of
this condition for several weeks that
summer, our house sheltered three
families besides our own. Our home
now being a two-storey loghouse,
quite roomy. But no one grumbled,
and in a surprisingly short time these
people moved into their own houses
on their own homesteads.
Soon the railway was pushed on
further into the North-West, and
when it reached the settlement on
the southern fringe, a small town
came into being, and was called
Churchbridge. This was in winter of
1887-88. The town grew, and very
soon there were two general stores,
a post office, a section house,
blacksmith shop, a boarding house,
and dwellings. One of the general
stores was owned by the widow of
Helgi Jonson, the colonization agent
who had passed away some months
previously. This store was managed
by Bjarni (Davidson) Westman, who
later married the window.
The other general store was own-
ed and managed by Johann G.
Thorgeirsson who came from Win-
nipeg and started the business that
was quickly patronized by the major
part of the settlement. "Joe" was lik-
ed and respected by most people,
both as a citizen and a businessman.
He had a pleasing personality, and
was always courteous and obliging.
In the winter of 1888-89 the
Thingvalla School was built. It was
a log building, shingle roofed and was
built by volunteer labor.
The first teacher was Miss Guðny
(Jonsdottir) Jones (later Mrs. Magnus
Paulson of Winnipeg). She was a fine
person and a very capable and con-
scientious teacher.
Ours was a six-months' summer
school, and Miss Jones taught there
for three summers, and as one of her
pupils I feel convinced that her work
conduct, and moral influence, made
a deep and lasting impression on the
minds of all pupils.
My sister,mar Guðny, taught at the
Thingvalla School during the 1893
term and after school was closed that
fall she went to Winnipeg and mar-
ried Th. (Þórður) Johnson, who for
many years had a jewelry and wat-
chmaker business on Main St. Thor-
dur was one of a large family often
referred to as "Hjarðarfells", as they
came from Hjarðarfelli in Iceland.
Alec Johnson, the well-known singer
who recently passed away, was the
youngest brother.
* * *
The settlement progressed; better
houses were built; some land was
broken and brought under cultiva-
tion, the little herds of cattle grew;
the Thingvalla Post Office was
established; and with money earned
in rail-road work, people lived under
easier circumstances.
It was a thoroughly Icelandic set-
tlement. All books and reading mat-
ter had been brought from the old
country. These were to a large extent,
the old Icelandic Sagas, also
"Rímur", books of poetry, Sunday
Continued on Page 8