Lögberg-Heimskringla - 08.10.1999, Síða 2

^^^gbei^jHeimskhngla^Rida^^OctobeM999
Letters to the Editor
David Jón Fuller:
I take the privilege of addressing this
letter to you. If I am incorrect in doing so
please forward it to the proper person
involved.
In your September 3 issue, page five,
USA, “Kristjanson family reunion in
North Dakota,” which has my name as
the one who sent in the article. I did not
send the picture shown although Ethel is
one of the family descendants. And the
article has been changed as the last sen-
tence, “The Kristjansons farmed in the
Wynyard area,” is not true. They farmed
in the Eyford Community, south of
Mountain, ND. They farmed from 1883
til their deaths in 1953. Kristjan was 102
years old and Svanfríður was 98 years
old. The Icelandic wool afghan was cro-
cheted by me. I am disappointed in the
way my story is printed, to say the least.
It appears to me that two articles have
been combined, although I do not know
where the picture or where the informa-
tion for the last sentence came from. It
also appears by the photo by I. Isfeld that
someone took the liberty that they knew
who the family were. I hope you make
corrections in the next issue of your
paper.
Thank you for your attention to this
matter.
Hannes Kristjanson
David Fuller had nothing to do with the
above mentioned mistake.
I am very sorrv for the misinforma-
tion at the end of the article, which I had
planned to check, but somehow it did not
get done.
I thought it would not do any harm
to have a picture of our good friends by
the article as I knew they were on their
way to the Kristjanson reunion. I felt
there were so many Kristjanson families
that the readers would not know which
family was being talked about when they
were not located, nor a picture included.
It would be ofgreat help to include a
phone number on articles as that would
make it easy to contact the writer to ask
information.
I am sorryfor the mistake which was
mine.
Gunnur Isfeld
***
Dear Gunnur:
I was pleased to see the notice about
my niece, Betty Spalton, published in
Lögberg-Heimskringla “E.M. (Betty)
Spalton Trust Fund Established,” but the
whole object of the exercise was miss-
ing. I’m sure most of your readers are
asking, “So, who was Betty Spalton?”
The object of the exercise, as far as I
was concerned, was to let your readers in
BC, who may have been aware of Betty’s
death, know of her Icelandic connection.
Betty was the daughter of my sister, the
late Svava Bardal Kerr, and granddaugh-
ter of the late Arinbjöm S. and Margrét I.
Bardal.
It was Betty who organized, so suc-
cessfully, our A.S. Bardal Family
Reunion just a year ago when she
appeared perfectly healthy. This past
spring she died at the age of fifty-one.
This has been a tragic shock to all of our
family and to Betty’s many friends and
business associates.
Your tmly,
Agnes Bardal Comack
Governor George H. Ryan.
Dear Kevin Johnson:
As Governor of the State of Illinois,
it is my pleasure to congratulate you on
the 40th anniversary of your joint publi-
cation of Lögberg and Heimskringla, the
Icelandic Weekly.
Lögberg-Heimskringla has provided
countless members of the Icelandic com-
munity with an excellent source of
national and community news. The
depth of your coverage has given a
wealth of information to those who are
interested in the events and issues perti-
nent to citizens of Icelandic descent. You
can take pride in the many accomplish-
ments that your publication has
achieved.
On behalf of the citizens of Illinois,
please accept my best wishes on this spe-
cial occasion.
Sincerely,
George H. Ryan
Governor of Illinois
***
In 1904, Pembina County, North Dakota,
could boast a record of 24 years without
a single crop failure. The population was
estimated at 19,132, and there were
1,742 farms across a total area of
717,098 acres. About 498,760 acres of
farmland under cultivation had a total
grain production of 8,308,832 bushels.
There were schools, churches, post
offices and towns. There were 18 news-
papers. The area produced 486,000
dozen eggs and 517,432 lbs of butter.
Why, then, would a large group of
Icelanders leave Pembina County and
head for the Vatnabyggd area—before
Saskatchewan had even become a
province?
Shortly before the official unveiling
of our Vatnabyggd pioneer statue, Harry
Denesik of Wynyard showed me the
county map, which his son, Doug, had
found rolled up in the ceiling of the attic.
More than 90 years old, the “Pink Paper
Map” is in remarkably good condition.
Besides mapping out the townships of
Pembina county, the map offers a little
geography and the sort of statistics that
should have immigrants rushing in,
rather than packing to leave. There were
66 churches, 165 schools with 175 teach-
ers for 5,632 children, which would be,
on average, 32 children for each teacher.
There were enough animals to pro-
vide food, transportation and wool for all
the children and the adults—16,004
horses, 13,380 sheeþ, 14,572 cattle,
32,008 pigs.
The Township names are strangely
familiar—Gardar, Thingvalla, Walhalla,
all of which became Vatnabyggd area
names. Gardar had 761 people,
Thingvalla a population of 752, Walhalla
452. There were rivers and railways. The
old map even provides the rural mail
routes as well as defining the location of
the houses and the cemeteries.
Local history books don’t provide a
clue for the movement of the Icelanders
from an area that sounds like it was next
door to paradise. There was a logical rea-
son why they had gone to Pembina
County in the first place—government
agents and community leaders figured
that Icelanders would do well on the
shore of a fish-filled lake or in an area
that offered opportunities for mixed
farming. Icelanders obviously had no
experience with straight grain farming
and the statistics on the Pembina County
map certainly suggest that it was a mecca
for mixed farming.
Doug Denesik found the map, he
said, during some renovation. They
ripped up floor boards and found the map
tucked up against the joists. His first
reaction was to throw it out—then he
took a look. When he realized it was a
map, he knew it was a keeper. When he
looked more closely, he realized that the
names he was reading were Elfros,
Dafoe, Wynyard, and Mozart family
names.
According to some sources, by the
turn of the century, older farm settle-
ments in North Dakota were becoming
crowded, obviously by standards that we
could not fathom. There was little land
available for homesteads and the price
was going up. However, it was estab-
lished immigrants who moved to the
Northwest Territories—and then to the
Lögberg-
Heimskringla
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SUBMISSIONS
L-H is always open to new writers. News,
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articles are welcome. Send by mail, fax, or
e-mail to the attention of Gunnur Isfeld,
Managing Editor, at the L-H office.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT: Kevin Johnson
VICE PRESIDENT: Harley Jonasson
SECRETARY: Julianna Bjornson
TREASURER: Bill Perlmutter
BOARD MEMBERS: Neil Bardal, Elva
Jonasson, Shirley McCreedy, Paul Westdal,
Kirsten Wolf, Melissa Kjartanson, Leslie
Bardal, Andrea Mclntosh, Marno Olafson,
Catherine Filmon, Dan Johnson
MEMBER-AT-LARGE; Jon Sig Gudmundson,
Kentucky
brand-new province of Saskatchewan.
In 1872, the Canadian Parliament
had passed the Dominion Lands Act
offering each settler a quarter section for
$10. However, transportation into the
Vatnabyggd area was sketchy. The
Canadian Pacific Railway was contracted
to build a trans-Canada railway which
reached Yorkton in 1890, but tracks did-
n’t stretch to Wynyard until 1909.
So, if any reader could give me a
plausible reason why Icelanders would
leave the Pembina Garden of Eden to
venture into the Vatnabyggd area, I
would be most interested.
Thank you.
Joan Eyolfson Cadham
Foam Lake, SK
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