Lögberg-Heimskringla - 20.03.1992, Blaðsíða 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 20. mars1992
The personal account ofan Icelandic immigrant’s
experiences in America — from 1886 to 1930
Continued
by Stefan Jónsson
(changed to Johnson In U.S.A.)
Translated from the origlnal
hand-written lcelandlc
byStefan Johnson’s eldest grandson,
Jon Wlllard Freeman.
Walking to Winnipeg
Men began to talk of going to Win-
nipeg to look for work. Another man
Magnús Jónsson, and I decided to go to
Winnipeg, but we had no money for
train fare. I had 25 <£ and Magnús had
50<p. We got a ride to Cavalier and then
walked and got to Pembina that night.
We planned to sleep outdoors for the
weather was mild.
I knew people there, Ólaf
Thorsteinson and others, and stopped
to see them. They gave us coffee and a
little something with it and asked us to
sleep in the house. We refused with
thanks but did accept their invitation
to have coffee before we left the next
morning. They wondered how we
would manage, but we had food with
us and the worst was that we had no
coffee. So we were grateful for the
coffee they had given us.
The next day we continued and
hoped to get to Winnipeg before
nightfall. We stopped at a house where
we bought coffee and bread and butter
for 25e and the people wondered
about us, but we were refreshed and
continued. Late in the day we were
tired and hungry. Our food was gone
but the weather was fine and Magnús
was for spending the night on the
prairie, while I favored continuing to
Winnipeg. We stoppedat anotherfarm
and the woman said we still had 20
miles to go. She sensed we were tired
and hungry and gave us bread, butter
and milk and refused to take our last
25c. From this we took heart and were
refreshed so we continued our walk
and got to Winnipeg just before mid-
night. It was good to have a bed that
night. (They must have stayed with
friends or family.)
Work found in gravel pit
We found that work was hard to
get. Only a little work on street and
road construction. After 3 weeks of
this we signed up to work in a gravel
pit 400 miles east of Winnipeg with
fare paid both ways if we worked 2
full months. 25 signed up, 10 Ice-
landers and 15 English and other
nationalities. Now we did not have to
worry about food. All was fumished
free and was good. The area we were
sent to was ugly, rocky hills and
brush and numerous small lakes, but
we were sent there to work and not to
admire the scenery.
We worked 3 weeks then many
men became sick and many began to
think about escaping this predica-
ment. The doctor said the sickness
was from bad water, but the company
did not want to release any men from
the committment. Men began to
realize that the harvest season in
North Dakota was near and that they
would get considerable more pay
there but now there was the problem
of getting a release.
One man, a huge Englishman, was
elected to be a spokesman for 16 of us
who wished to quit. We went in a
group to see the boss who had just
fínished eating. The Englishman told
him of our wishes to quit while the
rest of us stood around to back him
up. The boss said flatly that we would
have to live up to our agreement. The
wqrst of it was that we were penniless
and when we asked if we could ride
free back to Winnipeg the answer
was no. We had not worked a full
month and had signed up for 2 months.
Running out on the job
Now two of the 16 decided to run
out on the job and they were Icelanders
leaving only 14 who were quiting and
only myself and a Helgi Jonasson were
Icelandic. Since we had no money our
only way out was to steal rides on the
train. We walked to a round house
where the trains took on water, went
into the woods out of sight, built a fire
and waited for a train to arrive in the
night so that we would have darkness
to hide us. A train arrived and stopped
and we got as close as we could with-
out being seen, then waited until the
train whistled its intention to start,
then ran as fast as we could to get on
but only 8 managed to get on board.
Helgi and I and 4 Swedes were unable
to board and waited 4 hours for the
next train. We managed to board a flat
car loaded with machinery which we
crawled under, but it was not a com-
fortable place to be. But we were there
not long for the car was left at a side
track and we were chased off.
Ríding the rails
Now we were just 2, Helgi and I. I
don’t know what happened to the other
4, and we were on our own, unable to
speak English of course, somewhere in
the wilds of Canada. We hid until night-
fall when a train arrived and we got
into a car while the crew went off to eat.
This car also was loaded with machin-
ery and we quickly crawled under
equipment in a far corner where they
could not see us even with lights when
they searched the car. After awhile this
car also was put on a side track but the
car was locked and we were trapped
inside. Not a pleasant prospect but
luck was with us again. A brakeman
opened the car, looked in, found all in
order and walked away without lock-
ing the door. So we got out and into a
small town hungry and thirsty. We had
a few cents that we had eamed in
Winnipeg which now came in handy.
We leamed that another train would
arrive about 7:30 P.M. We looked the
town over and learned also that we
were 125 miles from Winnipeg.
Towards evening a train came in;
all the cars were locked but one which
was filled with lumber. We managed to
get on top of the lumber pile and
were barely able to sit there with legs
dangling and heads touching the roof
of the car. Along came a brakeman
and ordered us out of the car. When
we refused he laid hands on us and
tried to drag us off the lumber pile. We
fought back and pushed him out but
soon he retumed with an iron hook
which he tried to use on us. Between
us we got the hook away from him and
threw it as far as we could. He then
went for help but not before I had
bloodied his nose with my foot in all
the scufííe. Soon the train hadattained
considerable speed (he neglects to say
that it had started) and we talked it
over and decided to jump for it. We
had agreed to stay together if at all
possible. Helgi was a strong man but
rather stiff and clumsy and was appre-
hensive about jumping. Soon the
train went over a sort of swamp or
muskeg and where it slowed for a
bridge I jumped in the direction the
train was going and without waiting
for Helgi. I rolled over several times
but was unhurt. I did not know
whether Helgi had jumped or not and
it was useless to look for him. I was
tired and it was dark so I walked
awhile and then went into the woods
where I found a soft spot between
two trees and lay down and slept.
At sunrise I got up and started
walking along the railroad track. I
had no money, was tired and thirsty
and soon came to a very poor looking
homestead where a woman was milk-
ing a cow in the pasture. With the
few words I knew in English I gave
her to understand that I would like
to get milk from her. She gave me a
pitcher of milk and it sorrowed me
that I had nothing to pay with for
she seemed very poor and had 3 small
children. I understood from her that I
was 40 or 50 miles from Winnipeg. I
walked to the next train stopping place,
and shortly a train came and stopped.
When it blew the whistle and started I
walked along side the front of the en-
gine and jumped on and rode there
into Winnipeg. Everything was fine
except that I got some smoke and soot
occasionally.
Continued next week

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