Lögberg-Heimskringla - 23.04.1970, Qupperneq 4

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 23. APRÍL 1970
Lögberg-Heimskringla
Published every Thursday by
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Norður íshafið
Það er tímabært að birta nú eftirfarandi erindi
um hinn mikla landkönnuð, Dr. Vilhjálm Stefánsson,
sem Dr. Thorvaldur Johnson flutti, er minnisvarði
Vilhjálms var afhjúpaður í fæðingarbyggð hans Árnesi
í Manitoba í sumar sem leið, en því miður hefir mér
ekki unnist tími til að þýða það á íslenzku eins og tal-
að var um. En flestir, ef ekki allir lesendur blaðsins
geta notið ræðunnar á ensku. Hún var raunar birt
síðastliðið sumar í Icelandic Canadian ritinu, erí fjöldi
lesenda Lögbergs-Heimskringlu munu, því miður, ekki
sjá það rit.
Erindið er tímabært vegna þess að nú er Norðrið
hátt á dagskrá í blöðunum í Canada og kannske einnig
í Bandaríkjunum, þótt Canada sé sjaldan minnst þar
syðra í blöðum.
Flestir minnast þess þegar stórskipið Manhattan,
reyndi að ryðja sér gegnum fshafið síðastliðið sumar
til Alaska, þar sem miklar olíulindir ‘hafa fundist, og
komst skipið nauðuglega til áfangastaðar með aðstoð
canadíska ísbrjótsins John A. MacDonald. Nú hófst
önnur ferð Manhattans til Alaska 3. apríl og er áætlað
að ferðin taki 8-10 vikur.
Þessar ferðir hafa vakið Canadastjórn til um-
hugsunar um, hve hættulegt það er fyrir norðurströnd-
ina, eyjarnar, fshafið og umhverfið ef þessi skip,
misstu olíu í sjóinn, eins og víða hefir komið fyrir upp
á síðkastið, og hefir nú Canadastjórn tilkynnt, að hún
hafi fært landhelgina úr þremur mílum upp í tólf míl-
ur eins og 60 aðrar þjóðir heims hafa gert á undan-
förnum árum. Einnig telur Canadastjórn sér skylt og
einnig, að það sé lögmætt, að hún haldi verndarhendi
yfir íshafinu á svæðunum hundrað mílur norður af
eyjaklassanum í íshafinu.
í ræðu, sem Pierre Elliot Trudeau forsætisráð-
herra flutti nýlega fyrir blaðamenn sagði hann að allt
líf í Norður-íshafinu væri svo viðkvæmt að ef hafið
væri mengað af olíu eða óþverra af ýmsu tagi myndi
líf í sjónum og umhverfinu ekki bíða þess bætur.
Bandaríkjastjórn hefir nú sent Canadastjórn mót-
mælabréf gegn þessum aðgerðum en ólíklegt er að
Canadastjórnin láti það hafa áhrif á málið. Heims-
álitið hefir nú á síðari árum snúist gegn mengun vatna
og hafs, og hverskonar eyðileggingu umhverfisins, og
Richard Nixon forseti hefir sjálfur haldið ræður um
að bæta úr syndunum, sem framdar hafa verið gegn
náttúrunni og umhverfinu á undanförnum árum og
öldum; það er því ólíklegt að olíufélögin, þó voldug sé,
beri sigur úr bítum.
Þess mega stjórnarmenn í Ottawa minnast nú
með þakklæti, að það var Dr. Vilhjálmur Stefánsson,
sem fann og kannaði síðustu eyjarnar í fshafinu og
nam þær í nafni Canadaþjóðarinnar og benti jafnframt
á hve Norðrið væri fagurt og hve mikilvægt það yrði
þjóðinni í framtíðinni. — I. J.
DR. THORVALDUR JOHNSON:
Dr. Vilhjalmur Sfefansson
1879— 1962
All of us who live in this district, or have lived in it,
are tcxlay basking in reflected glory because of the fact
that Vilhjalmur Stefansson was bom among us — for he
was, in his time, the most famous Icelamder, or I should
perhaps say m‘an of Icelandic descent, on either side of the
Atlantic.
His parents were among the group of immigrants who
ar.dved in 1876, and they settled on the Hvammi farm, about
a mile northeast of here, probably in 1877. It wais there that
he was bom on November 3, 1879. The next year, 1880, was
a year of disaster for many of the settlers. A year of rain
and floods, loss of crops and cattle, and of serious illness.
That year his parents lost two of their children; and like
many others they decided to give up the struggle with the
primeval forest and stony soil and move away to greener
pastures. Next year, 1881, they moved away to the new
settlement then forming at Mountain, North Dakota, leav-
ing behind their little log cabin to moulder and decay as
the years went by.
The North Dakota settlement can really lay more claim
to him than we can, for it was there that he grew up to
manhood. It was there, at the University of North Dakota,
that he got his undergraduate education. At the university
he was somewhat like Stephan Leacock’s horseman who got
on his horse and galloped furiously in all directions. He
was not satisfied with being a brilliant student, which he
was. He took up debating and developed his remarkable
abilities as a public speaker. He wrote poetry (and good
poetry at that) for the student paper. His idol was Rudyard
Kipling, but oddly enough, such poetry of his that I have
does not resemble tbat of Kipling. He read widely. He de-
veloped an interest in science by reading Charles Darwin;
and he developed rationalistic views by reading the works
of Robert Ingersoll. It was because of his liberal religious
views and his known debating ability that he made his
first contact with Harvard University — for he was, in the
summer of 1900 at the age of 20, chosen as a representative
of the Winnipeg Unitarian Church to a Unitarian congress
in Boston. This turned out to be an important event in his
life, and the circumstances are rather interesting. At that
time the Winnipeg church was being supported by funds
from the American Unitaria-n Association. Rumors came to
Winnipeg that this support was going to be withdrawn. This
was a serious matter. The then minister was unable to go
to Boston, or did not feel like tackling the authorities there
but, instead, got in touch with Stefansson and proposed that
he use his debating prowess to argue the authorities there
into continuing the support of the church.
Although Stefansson pointed ,out that he was not a
Unitarian at all, still he took on the task. Not only did he
succeed, but he so impressed the man he dealt with (a Pro-
fessor Fenn of the' Harvard Divinity School) that he sug-
gested that Stefansson should enter the Divinity School.
This he actually did two or three years later, after his
graduation. But he made a condition. Since he was
not a believer, he would like to study religion as simply
‘folklore’. Dr. Fenn thought this would be all right because
by the time he had been at the Divinity School for
a year or two he was sure he would have become a good
Unitarian. Then Stefansson made another request. He
would like to take one course in Anthropology from the
Harvard School of Anthropology just acro9s the street from
the Divinity School. To this also Dr. Fenn agreed. After a
year in the Divinity School he entered the Harvard School
of Anthropology and was launched on a career that led
to fame.
It is a remarkable tribute to Stefansson’s enterprise and
initiative that within one year of entering the School of
Anthropology he had persuaded Harvard University to fin-
ance a small anthropological expedition to Iceland where
he hoped to study the skeletal remains of early Icelanders.
Here he ran into the difficulty that no one was permitted
to dig up cemeteries. He got around this by finding an
ancient graveyard (of the llth to 13th centuries) which was
being eroded away by the sea. There he found plenty of
nvaterial to study — no less than 82 skulls and skeletions
lying on the shore. This was in 1905.
Next year, 1906, was perhaps the most decisive year in
determining his career. He had joined an American arctic
expedition which was to travel by ship around Alaiska
whereas Stefansson was to go down the Mackenzie River
and meet them at the mouth of the river. The expedition
failed to reach its destination that summer and, in consequ-
ence, Stefansson found himself stranded among the Eskimos.
Actually, this suited him very well, for there was nothing
he wanted to do more than to live among the Eskimo and
study them.
It was this winter (1906-07) that he acquired the key
that gave him the mastery of the North — that is, he learned
how the Eskimo ‘lived off the land’. He learned their ways
of hunting, preparation of food, travel, the building of igloos
and many other things. And he learned their language. He
was back in the United Stated in the fall of 1907, full of
plans for the future.
Then came the big years:
(1) The joint American-tCana-
dian expeditioia 1908-12 in
w h i c h he encountered the
‘blond Eskimos’ of Victoria
Island, which most people
have heard about and (2) the
Canadian-sponsored expedi-
tion of 1914-17 in which he
discovered the last unknown
land masses of the American
continent, that is the islands
he named for members of the
Canadian Government, Bord-
en, MacKenzie King, Meigh-
en, Lougheed, and Perley.
These were dangerous and
spectacuiar operaitions involv-
ing much travel on moving
ice floes. At one time he and
his two companions spent 96
days on drifting ice, at times
hundreds of miles from land.
On at least two occasions the
world had given him up for
dead. The older of us will re-
member the flaring headlines
in the papers when he was
reported to be safe.
I cannot close without say-
ing something about the man,
Vilhjalmur Stefansson; but on
this I am not well qualified.
I met him only twice, very
briefly, and attended two of
his lectures. But I must say
something about the man, for
the man is behind the achi-
evements.
Certain things are obvious.
His brilliance as a student, in
North Dakota, Iowa, and Har-
vard. In his early years he
was full of self-confidence,
high spirits and mischief, and
some of his activities led to
his expulsion from the Uni-
versity of North Dakota. His
career at the University of
Iowa was amazing. There he
persuaded the authorities to
let him write the examina-
tions without having taken
the courses — and got his
degree in one year. He must
have possessed a great deal of
intellectual honesty. I think
it was this that made him
change his name from Wil-
liam Stephenson (the name on
his birth certificate) to Vil-
hjalmur Stefansson when he
was in his second or third
year at the University of
North Dakota. Evidently he
felt that the anglization of
his name was beneath his
dignity.
One of the amazing thirtgs
about his career is the great
impression he made on im-
portant and influential peo-
ple, even as a young man.
There are many examples of
this. He induced great finan-
ciers like Sir Edmund Walk-
er, Sir Edmund Osler, and
Lord Strathcona to support
his projects financially. He
persuaded Sir Robert Borden,
then Prime Minister, to make
his 1914 expedition a purely
Canadian expedition. Actual-
ly, it was planned as an Am-
erican expedition. Then it oc-
curred to Stefansson that he
might discover somenew land