Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.04.1988, Blaðsíða 2

2-LÖGBERG CENTENNIAL YEAR, FÖSTUDAGUR 22. APRÍL 1988
What's new
A Little Lunch Music is the name
of a new weekly recital series in the
downtown area. These free noon-
hour recitals take place every Tues-
day from 12:10 to 12:45 at the Holy
Trinity Anglican Church (corner of
Graham and Donald). Bring your
lunch and enjoy the music. Admis-
sion free. Last performance April
26th. Across the street is the main
library with several shelves of books
in Icelandic, which can be taken out.
Some are old but there is good selec-
tion of recent editions. Eat your
lunch, enjoy music and take an
Icelandic book home. What could be
more enjoyable, except for the pain
of paying bus fare.
* * *
Remember the Gala Dinner and
Ball at the Westin Hotel at 6:30 p.m.,
April 22nd sponsored by the Icelan-
dic Festival Committee. YOU! are
needed to make it the ball of the sea-
Early Icelanders in
PART XXIV
When the public began to realize
the railway was an actual fact and
about to link with the outside world,
there was great enthusiasm, and
commercial activity reached a high
pitch. This created a tremendous real
estate boom and building activity.
For the Icelanders this was a wel-
come change. While their building
skills were minimal, the availability
of work was a welcome change, and
the pay was considered quite
reasonable at $3.25 to $3.75 per day.
True, the job was somewhat strenu-
ous such as mixing mortar by hand
and carrying materials up ladders but
they seemed to be able to cope with
these labouring tasks.
During the summer of 1891 every-
thing was in a state of flux in Winni-
peg which was becoming a city. Be-
wilderment and confusion reigned.
Real estate was at a high pitch. Daily
properties changed hands, as if they
were ordinary merchandise. Some
were lucky and gained hundreds of
dollars in a day. There were cases of
buying property in the morning and
selling again the same day at a high
profit. When this occurs, it takes con-
siderable self-control so that your ac-
tions remain rational. Most play the
game with hopeful wishes and are in
considerable danger of losses. These
booms occur in big cities and require
caution. Real estate rises rapidly
above true values and collapses
without warning. Many buy at a high
price and decide to wait until the
property rises hundreds of dollars,
not considering that there are limits.
Those who are astute and ex-
perienced are always buying and sell-
ing and avoid having more than they
can comfortably handle. Nowhere
have these conditions happened
more frequently than in the United
States. During these booms poor in-
dividuals have often become rich and
the wealthy poor.
With all this activity it would have
been surprising if no Icelanders had
been in on the boom and not ac-
cumulated capital. The first Icelander
brave enough to take part in this real
estate was Helgi Jonsson, later own-
er and editor of the Icelandic paper
Leifur. Eyolfur Eyyolfsson was also
active and both were from the
eastern part of Iceland. A couple
named Bjorn and Oddny and a young
unmarried woman from Mana Pyin-
geyjarsyslu, who later became the
wife of the poet Kristin Stefansson,
bought city lots, west of the Central
School early in the spring of 1881.
They were said to have cost $250
each. It is unlikely that these people
had sufficient funds to make an out-
right purchase. They probably had
only sufficient money to make a re-
Upcoming Events
Thursday, Apr. 21 7:30 p.m. First day of summer. Bruin Chapter Icelan-
dic National League — Lutheran Hall — Manitoba Ave., Selkirk.
* * *
Friday, Apr. 22 Gala Dinner & Dance Westin Hotel — Winnipeg —
sponsored by Islendingadagurinn Centenary Committee.
* * *
Sunday, May 1 2 p.m. Icelandic Canadian Fron., Scandinavian Centre,
764 Erin St., Winnipeg. Annual meeting, entertainment and coffee
3 p.m.
* * *
Sunday, May 15 2 p.m. Fron Annual Meeting — Scandinavian Centre
— 764 Erin St., Wpg.
Friday, June 17 2 p.m. Betelastadur Open House. 1061 Sargent Ave.,
Winnipeg, Man.
* * *
Friday & Saturday, June 17 & 18 Alberta Icelandic Picnic —
Markerville
* ♦ *
July 29, 30, 31 & Aug. 1 Markerville Centennial Celebrations, Mar-
kerville, Alberta.
son. Not only will you enjoy yourself,
but also helping the Festival Commit-
tee to put on a better Islendingadagur
as they approach their Centenary.
Lögberg-Heimskringla will be glad to
sell you tickets. See you there!
* * *
The recent value of the Icelandic
krona is 31.42 cents Canadian and
39Í20 cents U.S. For travellers to
Iceland a rough and ready method of
conversion to dollars is to divide by
Winnipeg
quired down payment. Gudrun had
apparently only $20 to begin with.
But at this time the faith in debt pay-
ments was high and only small pay-
ménts were required to commence
building. All these Icelanders had
houses built on these lots. They were
all rather small of wood construction.
They had plastered walls and ceilings
quite well built. They had no maso-
nry footings but rested on wooden
blocks. This method was followed for
quite a number of years. The smallest
of these houses cost $350 to build or
a total of $600 with land. Gudrun
Jonsdottir rented her house for $12
per month over a two month period.
At the end of the two months she was
offered $1,000. She had gained $400
plus two njonths' rent on the whole
deal. tn 9i ‘1^1
In the article written by Rev. J.
Bergman which appeared in the
Almanak dated 1904 it is noted that
the house is still standing and for a
decade Jon Bjornsson from Hedin-
shofda at Tjornesi and his son Krist-
jan lived there. In 1904 the house
would have been 23 years old.
Translated from The Almanak dated 1904.
three to arrive at Canadian dollars
and by four to arrive at U.S. dollars.
This gives you an approximate and
quick mental method of value com-
parisons. Take for example 100
kronurs divide by three and you ar-
rive at $33 Canadian the actual
would be $31.42 this represents an
error of approximately 5% too high.
Divide by 4 and arrive at $25 U.S. the
acual would be $25.51 this represents
an error of approximately 2% too
low. These divisors are useful in ar-
riving at quick mental comparisons.
They tell you two things, firstly if the
cost seems high in comparison to
back home and if your wallet or
handbag contains enough cash.
Happy shopping in Iceland.
♦ * ★
Canada's population in 1961 was
18,238,247, the average age was 26.3,
the population in 1986 was
25,309,336, the average age was 31.6.
★ * *
In 1970, 10% of Canadian house-
holds had coloured TV, in 1986 this
figure had increased to 90%.
* * *
In 1966, 60% of the male popula-
tion in Canada smoked cigarettes and
40% of the female population. In
1986 these figures were male 30%,
female 28%.
★ ★ *
Just heard the Toronto Thorrablot
was well attended and enjoyable
with a good selection of Icelandic
food. This was held Saturday even-
ing March 26th, the same evening as
the Thorrablot at Innisfail, Alberta,
when the snow storm was coming in
on Alberta, closing highways and air-
ports. It was the big event during the
Icelandic National League conven-
tion. That is to say, ''The Thorrab-
lot not the storm.''
To commemorate the 100 years of publication since Lögberg began, the
board has arranged to make available a set of four table mats, high-
lighting the historical meaning of Lögberg, and events during the 100
years of publication of Lögberg as a paper, named after the famous law
rock at Pingvellir.
They are plasticized for preservation and are available at $ 10 per set
or $12 post paid.
Write or phone Lögberg-Heimskringla,
Rm. 40 - 339 Strathmillan Rd., Winnipeg, Man. R3J 2V6
Telephone 831-8952, Office hours 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mon. - Fri.
Availability limited to 100 sets produced.
Lögberg Centennial Placemats