Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.02.1985, Síða 4

4 WINNIPEG, FÖSTUDAGUR 22. FEBRÚAR 1985
Ritstj órnargr ein
Norrænt leiklistafélag í Winnipeg
Norrænt leikfélag hóg göngu sína
nýlega í Winnipeg. Hefur það haft
æfingar reglulega í Scandinavian
Centre. Fyrsta verkið sem sett var á
svið var Djákninn á Myrká, og var
það sýnt á Þorrablóti í Winnipeg 15.
febrúar.
Uppfærslan tókst með ágætum og
stefnir í rétta átt.
Það mun hafa verið árið 1883 að
Islendingar í Nýja-íslandi settu fyrsta
sjónleikinn á svið. Varð það gert við
íslendingafljót. Leikritið sem sýnt
var, var Nýársnóttin og leikstjóri var
Gunnsteinn Eyjólfsson. Ári seinna
var Jeppe á Fjalli sýndur af sama hóp
en smátt og smátt bættust fleiri
leikfélög í hópinn. T.a.m. var sýnt í
Mikley, á Hnausum og auðvitað í
Geysir. Geysir var reyndar um langt
skeið miðstöð leiksýninga í norður
Nýja-íslandi enda var byggðin svo
heppin að hafa á að skipa mjög
góðum mönnum til leiðbeiningar, svo
sem J. Magnús Bjarnason, J.P.
Pálsson læknir og Tímóteus
Böðvarsson.
Eftir að samkomuhúsið var byggt í
Árborg hófust leiksýningar þar og
héldust við næstum árlega í 30 ár.
Um 20 lengri leikrit hafa verið sýnd
þar á íslensku, auk fjölda einþættinga
og margra enskra leikja sýndir af
Islendingum.
Af öðrum byggðum má nefna Gimli,
Winnipeg, Glenboro, Morden,
Lundar, Leslie, Elfros, Mozart,
Wynyard, og Kandahar svo þau
helstu séu nefnd. Af þessu má sjá að
mikil gróska hefur að jafnaði verið í
leiklistarlífi og leikflokkar fjölmargir.
En smátt og smátt dó þetta niður.
Ástæður fyrir því eru fjölmargir og of
langt mál að greina frá þeim hér. Ollu
heldur er ástæða til að fagna nýjum
leikhóp og óska honum langlífis.
Norræna leikfélagið í Winnipeg er
eins og nafnið bendir til skandinavísk*
og eru meðlimar þess íslenskir,
danskir, norskir o.s. frv. Það verður
fróðlegt að fylgjast með framsókn
þess og vonandi verður ekki langt í
stórsýningu.
J.Þ.
Reminiscences from the Sugar Creek Era
Logging Camps at Sugar Creek.
BY Heidmar Bjornson
Jacob hefir jafnan verið vinnuglaður
Harðsnúinn og hraustur maður.
In writing a short account about
Jakob Sigvaldason's venture into the
sáwmill business at Sugar Creek (so
named as the water in it had a slight-
ly sweet taste), I can vouch for him
as being one of the many venturous
and hardy breed of pioneers, who
were instrumental in making the
Vidir district the most progressive
community in the Interlake area, and
second to none in any part of the
country.
I believe that his long time neigh-
bour Gunnlaugar Holm,
characterizes him aptly in the couplet
above, which freely translated,
describes him as a hardy and stalwart
man, who took delight in his work.
í recall it was in the early fall of
1934 that he set out to locate timber
north of Rosenburg. In travelling
through the bush he somehow lost
his bearings, but after two days and
a night, he finally came to a road. A
short time later he caught up with a
settler, who was driving home with
a moose that he had shot. Not hav-
ing had a bite to eat for almost 30
hours, it did not take him long to
assuage his pangs of hunger a bit, for
to the amazement of his new found
companion, he took out his pocket
knife and cut off a piece of moose
meat, and ate it with relish.
In his sojourn through the woods,
Jakob had found what he had been
looking for, namely a very good stand
of timber. Never a man to pro-
cr.astinate, he soon went to work
clearing a roadway to the place that
he had picked out fpr a campsite.
This took a good deal of time, not to
mention the arduous labour it
entailed.
Having accomplished this, he set
about constructing two log cabins.
There was of course no dearth of
building material, so within a short
period of time a cookhousg, and a
bunkhouse were ready for occupan-
cy. These proved to be quite comfor-
table, as the home-made heaters pro-
ved more than adequate to keep the
cold out. In fact it did happen that the
bunk house door had to be opened in
the middle of the night to cool the
cabin a bit, even when the outside
temperature was 50 below zero.
When the ground was frozen solid
enough, Kris, Jakob’s son, moved
their steamer to the location. Kris
Magnuson set up his sawmill ready
to cut the logs into lumber, as soon
as it began to warm in February.
About the only way one can
describe the mode of logging opera-
tion at Sugar Creek is by using two
four letter words, "Bull Work." It
took strength and stamina to wrestle
the heavier logs, and to load them on
sleighs by hand, to be hauled to the
mill site. However, nobody seemed
to lament his fate, and when the
day's work was done, the younger
members of the gang might attempt
some acrobatic stunts in the
bunkhouse.
In retrospect, I venture to surmise
that the Sugar Creek sawmill opera-
tion could not be compared with
those of McMillan Bloedel at the
Coast. I am very much afraid that the
balance sheet at the end of each year
showed considerably less profit.
Rough lumber, if my memory serves
me right, retailed at $15 per thousand
feet. But of course little of it was sold
at that price, as most of the lumber
was hauled to Riverton, where it had
to be piled to dry out some before be-
ing planed. Most of the product was
sold locally, as even in the Depres-
sion people planned for the future,
and several new homes were erected.
However, some of the lumber was
sold outside the Interlake area.
Jakob was always the first one up
in the mornings, and his clarion-like
call "Dayling in the Swámp" soon
woke the rest of us up.
It was difficult for some of the
younger fellows to get it through
their heads, how there could bé dayl-
ing in the swamp when there was ut-
ter darkness in the bush. However
they generally managed to make it to
the cookhouse, before Addie had
cleared everything from the table, as
they knew that she was in no mood
to cater to anyone coming in for a late
breakfast.
The winter of '36 was a memorable
one. For days on end the ther-
mometer hovered around the 50
below mark. However as there was
no breeze one did not seem to mind
the extreme cold at all. There was not
a sound to be heard, outside of a few
chick-a-dees chirping away, and the
odd squirrel scampering from limb to
limb in the evergreens. You might
also listen to the crunching sound of
a sleigh sliding over the icy snow in
the far distance. However, if you
happened to be out in the open driv-
ing a team of horses you were com-
pelled to walk behind the sleigh, to
tolerate the cold, no matter how
warmly you were dressed. During
this cold snap Jakob and I were busy
falling trees, and as soon as we had
cut 100 logs we would call it a day,
and hit for the warmth of the
bunkhouse.
I might mention here that late in
December 1935 I developed a severe
case of pneumonia. Jakob sent to
Riverton for Dr. Thompson. When
he arrived, he decided that I was in
no condition to be moved. Instead I
was moved into the cookhouse,
which was more comfortable than
the bunkhouse. I suppose with my
will to live a bit longer, combined
with Addie’s excellent nursing care
(God bless her) my condition did
Continued on page 8
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