Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.04.1996, Side 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 26. apríl 1996
The lcelanders of Argyle
From the Diary of Skapti Arason (1850-1903)
Submitted by Herman Arason
Continued from last week
The weather had been
calm and warm when we
left Winnipeg but the first
day of winter (Saturday) there
was a cold north wind and on
Sunday we had snow and win-
ter set in. It is likely that had the
steamboat not helped us, we
would have had a hard time on
the Red River — it was by acci-
dent that we received that help.
When we arrived, we had to
prepare ourselves for the winter.
We didn’t think it a good idea to
settle at Víðirnes point so we
moved north along the water
about two miles. We moved in a
big boat we had brought. We
worked hurriedly to build some
shacks to spend the winter in.
We didn’t have to build animal
shelters, as the only animal was
a pup given to me in Winnipeg.
When the houses were built
and Friðbjöm Fredericl<son had
set up a store and John Taylor
had built a house of double logs
and mud, we felt it quite habit-
able. Five men were chosen for a
town council and the town
given the name Gimli.
Fishing was good when we
arrived but we had few nets and
the water was freezing so the
catch was small. For example,
Sigurður Kristoferson caught 60
fish in four nets during
December. During January,
February and March, there were
hardly any fish in the lakes. The
winter was cold and a great deal
of snow fell. On March 20, it
became milder but there was
snow on the ground until April
20.
The end of December I wrote
the following: “Most men have
homesteaded but few have put
up any buildings on their land.
The sale price of wares we
bought were as follows: 90 lb.
bag flour — $3.75; potatoes,
while they lasted, were 90 cents
' a bushei; salt pork 16 cents a
pound; smoked pork 18 cents a
pound; flat beans 7 cents a
pound; salt three cents a pound;
vinegar 40 cents a quart; coal oil
60 cents a gallon, and there was
Little of anything else. As can be
imagined, few had any money to
buy with; most people were
given what was to be had as a
govemment loan.”
In January I wrote: “Most
men are building on their land
out and south from the lake.
Supplies are small, tobacco, tea
and little pork and kæfa from
Winnipeg. We have had brought
to us some flour — four and a
half cents a pound; Indian com
— four cents a pound; and
wheat — four cents a pound.
This was ground in large coffee
grinders and used for bread.” In
March I wrote: “Very little has
been brought in this month due
to bad roads. We now now live
on fish, a little beans and wheat
were to be used for planting;
flour has gone up in price to $7
a bag in Winnipeg.” Later I
wrote: “May 20, tiie ice went off
the lake. May 28, a steamship
came to Víðimes dock bringing
potatoes and wheat.”
Many people have been sick
from scurvy and some have
died. Later in May Guðmundur
Ólafson and Jón Guttormsson
bought two cows.
About the middle of June we
got 20 cows with small calves.
John Taylor got three, I got four
for myself, my sisters and fami-
lies, and one for Sigurður
Kristoferson. The other 12 were
divided between the other fami-
lies who had no cows - two or
three families to one cow. There
were more fish in the lake from
April 20 and the rest of the sum-
mer.
Late in August another 1,200
people came from Iceland. They
brought a few cows and calves
with them. They settled all over
from Boundary Creek in the
south and north to Islend-
ingafljót to Mikley. That summer
of 1876 was rainy and haying
was very poor. Flies were very
bad in the bush so the animals
did not thrive; there was little
movement on land - only by
water on small but rather poor
boats made from rafts on which
we moved our things from
Winnipeg. To move the belong-
ings between Winnipeg and the
settlement we used the boat I
have mentioned that we had
brought with us. These people
moved themselves in flatboats,
made for that purpose, using
two or four oars. This trip on
these boats was surprisingly suc-
cessful and there were no acci-
dents, even though these boats
were not good. That fall and
winter logs were hewn and cut,
roads were built through the
whole settlement that could be
used during the winter but were
of little use in summer.
Later in the fall of 1876 there
was an outbreak of smallpox.
There was not much attention
paid to it at first, and it spread a
lot before anyone paid it much
heed. When it was known what
the disease was, there were doc-
tors sent to the settlement and a
guard set at the south to lceep
people from going in or out of
the settlement. It remained until
July 21,1877.
The smallpox was the worst
in January but there was still
some in March. About 100 peo-
ple died from smallpox and
there were deaths from other ill-
nesses which was to be expected
where housing and facilities
were so poor. Quite a few got
sick from scurvy as well (winter
1876-77). It helped a great deal
to keep those poor people alive
- the fish from the waters and
timber for heating and building
and keeping out the Manitoba
cold and winds.
While the guard was posted
the wares were brought from
Winnipeg to him and from him
the men of the settlement moved
them themselves, some by ox
sled and some drawn by the
men themselves. We lived most-
ly on govemment loans the first
almost two years in the settle-
ment. We had almost no crop
the first summer (1877). We
planted potatoes, gardens and
beans. We did not know how to
prepare the land for planting as
was necessaiy in this country.
Fishing was good in the fall
but work was scarce in the
province during the summer.
In July of 1877, Reverend Jón
Bjamason paid the settlement a
quick visit from the U.S.A. He
had a service at Gimli July 19
and married a few couples and
after the service a meeting was
held.
The following fall he moved
to the settlement and became
our minister September 14. Lt,-
Gov. Dufferin paid us a visit. He
knew of our people from travel-
ling in Iceland in 1856 and it
was due to his advice that the
Canadian govemment assisted
us so generously. Canadians did
not know what good citizens
were in this penniless race but
Dufferin told them they would
find the Icelanders fine citizens.
The summer of 1877 was
veiy good but it rained consider-
ably in Nýja ísland. The crop
and hay were quite good. The
first work animals that came to
the settlement were two four-
year-old oxen, slightly broken
that I bought in July 1876.
Early that winter six oxen
were bought with govemment
money and later another six and
the odd individual bought an
ox. For a long time many of the
men had to drag their hay or
whatever they needed to get. To
those who lived inland, it meant
they had to carry the wet fish on
their backs. In 1877 the govem-
ment sent the settlement 230
cows.
The summers of 1878, 1879,
1880 were very rainy; the land
was wet and it was hard to get
about. The flies were so bad the
cattle were hungry and didn’t
thrive. In 1880 there was so
much water that the meadows
near the lake were flooded and
up on the mainland they were
wet from rain and there was veiy
little hay. In the fall there was so
much water that the haystacks
spoiled and near the lake they
were ruined. The people were
doubtful that the prospects for
the future looked very bright
there and it would be advisable
to look for homes elsewhere.
That year (1880) a great many
moved from the settlement to
Winnipeg or Dakota. Some fam-
ilies moved to Dakota in 1878.
On the advice of John Taylor in
1880, I went to Shoal Lake to
look at land. Had I been
impressed, we would have gone
to put up hay and moved the
next winter, but I did not like
the look of it so nothing came of
thattrip.
September 25, 1880, William
Taylor (John’s brother) and I
went from Winnipeg and from
there to Pilot Mound to visit our
friend Everett Parson, who had
been John Taylor’s hired man
and came with him from
Ontario. Before we came, E.P.
had directed Sigurður
Kristoferson and Kristján
Jónasson to a homestead and
they had chosen land in town-
ship 6 R 14 W. E.P. took us, his
father and his brother to the
same place where we all filed
homesteads. E.P. drove us to the
Souris River where we filed our
claims, then drove us back to his
place. On some of the land we
crossed were newcomers and in
other places notliing. The farm-
ers where we stopped were so
hard up for food that we could
not buy meat or bread so all we
had to eat was potatoes after we
had eaten the food we had
brought with us from Parson’s.
When we retumed to Parson’s,
Friðbjörn Frederickson and
Halldór Amason were there to
ask him to guide them to a
homestead but due to circum-
stances at home he was unable
to go so I went with them. We
left on foot with our food, blan-
kets and all we had with us on
our backs. They filed home-
steads in the same township as
we. We also filed for some oth-
ers. After that we walked to
Winnipeg as straight across
country as we could. I got back
from this trip November 13. On
November 15 there was such a
storm from the north that it
flooded everything and people
had to flee from their houses.
My haystacks were so badly
flooded that I had to board out
some of my cattle and others I
fed on frozen hay that I beat out
ofthe staclcs.
Five years have now passed
since the first Icelanders arrived
in this settlement. Besides what
men have eamed for a living,
they have built quite comfort-
able homes, cattle sheds better
than the first ones, cleared quite
a bit of land, fenced in meadows
and fields, also built a number of
prayerhouses, and started a
paper (Framfari). Sigtryggur
Jónasson, Árni and Friðjón
Frederickson have bought a
steamboat and are preparing to
take out logs for timber and set
up a sawmill at Islendingaflfatt
—1881.
The religious dispute is now
settled. Rev. Paul Thorlákson
has gone to Dakota and Rev.
Jón Bjamason to Iceland. Rev
Halldór Briem is now the only
minister in the settlement.
Friðjón Frederickson has a
good house and store in Gimli
and besides there are one or two
stores in the setUement.
March 15,1881 -1 left Gimli
for good with my wife, our child
almost three years old and
another almost a year old. I had
three oxen and a pony hitched
to four sleighs. On one sleigh
was a house built of single ply
lumber, six feet wide and ten feet
long in which we lived on the
way and until the following July
on my land. I also had 10 cattle.
Accompanying us were
Guðmundur Nordman with two
oxen and two sleighs (there was
usually one for each sleigh in
Manitoba). Sigurður Krist-
oferson with two oxen and two
sleighs and Skúli Ámason with
two oxen, two sleighs, a few cat-
tle and a wife and four children.
Sigurður also had some cattle.
One sleigh was used for canying
hay. We bought that wherever
we could and where it was not
to be had we had to do without.
The nights on the way we had
nothing to feed our stock, some-
times a little, sometimes plenty.
We went to Winnipeg and
from there to Portage la Prairie;
then southwest, after 17 days’
travelling, March 31, we arrived
at our new settlement - the east
end of the present district of
Argyle. The last day we had a
blizzard but brightened up late
in the day, but remained very
frosty. The oxen were becoming
played out so we had to lighten
their load so had to leave some
of our belongings. Our last night
was spent in the shelter of a
bush close to Skúli and
Guðmundur’s land. Our stock
were suffering from the cold and
lack of food. That moming I had
a sick calf and he died shortly
after. The next day, April 1, we
reached the place where
Sigurður Kristoferson had put
up some hay the summer before.
Continued on page 5