Árdís - 01.01.1953, Page 64

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ÁRDÍ S
that few corrections had to be made by the government surveyors
when they arrived that winter. Then three townsites were marked
out in New Iceland: Gimli, one mile deep and half a mile wide;
Sandvik (Sandy Bar), half a mile deep by a quarter mile wide, and
Lundi, now Riverton, on the east bank of Icelandic River three
miles up from the river mouth, the same size.
The old town-site of Lundi is directly opposite to the Lutheran
Church. There was the old wharf where Lake Winnipeg’s pioneer
sailboats and steamboats were frequent visitors, among them
Jonasson’s and Fridrikson’s “Victoria”, Kristjon Finnson’s “Sigur-
ros”, and Stefan Sigurdson’s “Vikingur”. Now today’s motor boats
have taken their place and are moored at the dock on the west bank
when the fishing fleets are in. The church is located on the south-
east corner of “Modruvollum”, the quarter-section taken by Sig-
tryggur Jonasson on Nov. 1, 1876. To the south is Grund, the home
of Johann Briem, first reeve of this district when regular municipal
government was established in 1887. Both of these lands have been
divided into town lots on which the new town is built. The name
of Lundi was changed to Icelandic River and in 1914 to Riverton.
On the river bank, to either side of the old wharf, stood the
homes of two pioneer merchants of the community, Kristjon Finnson
and Sveinn Thorvaldson. Mr. Finnson’s home carried the name
“Lundi” as long as the old house stood. Just to the north of his
home was the log house in which “Framfari”, the first Icelandic
newspaper in America, was published.
When the first settlers arrived here the river banks were thickly
treed. The river was the highway and every home had its rowboat.
Great elms leaned out over the river and boaters had to be careful
not to get their oars caught in their branches. Four or five Indian
cabins were on the west bank at Modruvollum and Osi, one of them
belonging to John Ramsay, who proved a great friend to the new-
comers. His home was just north of the creek at Osi.
In October, 1876, the Dominion government granted the colony
a loan of $18,000, to buy food supplies for the winter, stoves, the
most necessary household articles, tools and 40 cows. The last loan
of $25,000 was granted in April, 1877, for the purpose of buying seed,
implements, nets, stoves, food supplies, and 250 head of cattle. These
loans were to be repaid by January 1, 1889.
The River Settlement received some of its share of the loans