Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.04.1992, Page 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. apríl 1992
The Life and Death of Little lceland
The Grand Rapids duringits heyday.
By John Klmantas
Continued
On August 29,1969, tourism minis-
ter Peter Burtniak announced that
Hecla and the adjoining islands would
be turned into a new provincial park. It
met with the wishes of the majority of
the islanders, who had been pushing
for tourism to replace the beleaguered
fishing industry. Burtniak said $2.5
million would be made available to the
island under a development program,
including $600,000 for land acquisition
and $1.3 million for the construction of
a long-sought-after causeway to the is-
land.
Ironically, the program, the Fundfor
Rural Economic Development, or
FRED, wasformed, amongother things,
to “raise the standard of living of the
people,” a fact that would later land the
province much criticism .
The plans also included a lease back
of private property to Hecla residents,
among other initiatives. Said Burtniak
at the time: “Features of the early settle-
ment will be preserved with the crea-
tion of an historic village and typical
fishing village at the present site of
Hecla.”
It was a dream that would never
quite materialize - a plan that only now,
after 20 years of the deterioration of the
buildings, is starting to take place.
Not all those most affected by the
govemment’s plans remain to tell the
story. The tale of a few, however, re-
main in library archives on microfilm.
Gunlauger Benson’s story was told
by the now defunct Winnipeg Tribune.
ITie life-long Hecla resident was paid
$14 an acre for his 150-acre farm. Simi-
lar land in neighbouring Arborg and
Riverton was selling for $100 to $150 an
acre at the time; $150 to $175 an acre if
the land included buildings. The quar-
ter-mile of lakefront land brought him
$10,500. Today, a stretch of similar
lakefront land, now in the heart of
Manitoba’s cottage country, would
bring a princely sum.
Another story
Grimsi Grimolfson’s story can be
found in the archives. The colourful
ferry operator died in 1986, atthe age of
73. He was forced into selling his home
because he had high school aged chil-
dren, he said at the time. The govem-
ment bought the Hecla Island School
and closed it, despite the willingness of
the local Evergreen School Division to
keep it open. The move was widely
criticized as a ploy to drive families
from the island.
Dennis Grimolfson, Grimsi’s son,
recalls helping his father on the eight-
car ferry that traversed the 1,200-foot
channel in the days before the cause-
way.
“I was very young then, ” Grimolfson
said. “I was just a kid going for a ride.”
Grimolfson himself recalls the idyl-
lic life of the island, and even today
wishes to retum. He spent his first 19
years on the island.
“Every day I think of it,” he said.
“Someday I hope to get back near it.”
Grimolfson was with the provincial
Highways department, and was reluc-
tant to speak too harshly of the govern-
ment that closed his home community.
He said he left the island when
fishing was in its decline. “ There was
just no employment for the young peo-
ple. So I left for the city.”
That was in 1964. Grimolfson said
he’s never enjoyed living anywhere else
as much.
“There’s no comparison. I loved liv-
ing on the island,” he said. “It was so
free. The people were so nice. Everyone
helped each other. The doors were never
locked. It was the old story of country
living.”
Grimolfson added the Icelandic char-
acter of the island was evident even at
that Iate date.
“Always the dances were very spe-
cial. And the concerts they put on. Life
in general was so different. It was like
another country, or another province
when you go out to Hecla,” he said.
“I would have stayed on the island
had there been any type of work. If,
fishing had improved, I would have
gone back.
Like others, Grimolfson never got
the chance. The family’s house was
bought by the government. His father
was transferred to the ferry at St. George,
and later to the route between Matheson
Island and Bloodvein.
He retired in Riverton.
“Mom and dad were very hurt by it,”
Grimolfson said of the province’s ac-
tion. “They didn’tget a very good deal.”
The Grimolfson residence still
stands, but next to Highway 9 near
Matlock. It was auctioned off and
moved. Ironically, it’s never been used
as a residence since its relocation. And
like many other properties, the land it
sat on has also never been used.
“For some reason they wanted all
this open space. They never used it,”
Grimolfson said. “I don’t know what
the reason was.”
Paulson said a lot of the destruction
was unnecessary.
“In my opinion they should have
never occupied all the island. They could
have developed the north end. That
would have been sufficient to accom-
modate all the tourists they’re handling
right now,” he said.
“A lot of people spent a lot of money
on lawyers trying to fight this. And they
lost. They lost out.”
The end result was far from the prov-
ince’s first game plan. The unofficial
spokesman for the island at the time,
Helgi Jones, who is now a Gimli resi-
dent, said at the time of the park’s
announcement: “It was the people that
want this development. The govem-
ment isn’t forcing anything upon us.”
Slowly, the promises began to disap-
pear.
Jones, who had been promoting tour-
ism in the area since the early ‘50’s,
spoke differently by the time the gov-
emment began to implement the plans.
By September 1970, he was fighting
for a fair price for residents who had
first supported the park.
Inflexible
With residents wanting to stay, the
govemment remained inflexible. Said
Stan Eagleton, then deputy tourism
minister and now chairman of Manito-
ba’s Clean Environment Commission:
“There is no argument about the own-
ership of the land. The land belongs to
the Crown. Only the price can be
fought.”
Thirty-two properties were eventu-
ally expropriated.
The promise of leasebacks was the
next to trouble the residents. In fact,
then-deputy recreation minister W. W.
Danyluk said in a May 10,1969, meet-
ing of Hecla Island residents: “TVn at-
tempt will be made to locate all the
Island residents who desire to remain
on the island, either in their existing
homes or in the proposed fishing vil-
lage.”
Said the same govemment repre-
sentative in a July 25, 1975, letter to
Hecla resident Helgi Tomasson: “Mr.
Tomasson cannot be guaranteed a lease-
back for his existing home... After 1975
no leases will be permitted unless Mr.
Tomasson is a permanent employee of
the park.”
Arguably the oldest surviving former
resident of Hecla Island is Asta
Jonasson. Jonasson has a special at-
tachment to many of the residents, hav-
ing been the nurse there for many years,
delivering over a hundred of the is-
land’s babies between 1932 and 1948.
Without the causeway, getting a doc-
tor from neighbouring Riverton was a
risky venture, sometimes by water,
sometimes by ice.
“Half the time they couldn’t make it
on time,” she said.
Jonasson recalled being taken by dog
sled to many of the births.
“The snowstorms are something you
Continued on page 5
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