Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.06.2010, Síða 12

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12 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1 June 2010
Jim Anderson
Editor’s note: In the next
several issues, we will reprint
episodes from a 37 page book-
let called Trapping Trip to In-
dian Lake, 1920: A Series in
Four Parts.
It is the story of four young
Icelandic men from Winni-
pegosis, Manitoba, who set
off in the winter of 1920 into
the northern Manitoba wilder-
ness, intent on a rich haul of
furs. One of these young men
Gisli Norman, kept a diary.
He wrote this obscure book-
let based upon the notes in
the diary some 63 years later,
when he was 88 years of age
and living in Denare Beach,
Saskatchewan (near Flin Flon,
MB). He printed the booklet in
very limited numbers and only
a handful of copies remain in
a couple of Canadian libraries
and among relatives. By print-
ing the text in this newspaper
in the form of episodes over
the next few months, we hope
to bring the story to a wider
audience.
When he went trapping,
Gisli was only 22 years of age
and was newly returned from
the trenches of France in the
First World War. His three Ice-
landic-Canadian companions
were also young men in their
early twenties.
Gisli and his companions
overcome all manner of dan-
gers, including stampeding car-
ibou, a burning cabin, break-
ing through thin ice, narrowly
escaping spills over waterfalls,
dodging attacks from trapped
animals. They also encounter
new and (to them) unfamiliar
people such as the Aboriginal
boatmen and Swedish trappers.
Gisli’s booklet fits comfort-
ably into the Canadian literary
tradition of northern explora-
tion and northern adventure
writing. One of the most ac-
claimed northern adventure
books in Canada was written
by the late A. L. Karras of Ni-
pawin, SK, who tells the true
story of the eight years he and
his brother spent trapping up
north, in North to Cree Lake.
The northern adventure mem-
oirs most closely related to
Gisli’s story were written by
two other Manitoba Iceland-
ers: one is Sigfusson’s Roads,
by Svein Sigfusson, a legendary
builder of northern winter (ice)
roads; the other is Helgi Ein-
arsson, from the Lake Manito-
ba area, whose autobiography,
Helgi Einarsson: A Manitoba
Fisherman, is a moving family
memoir and an insider’s ac-
count of the early commercial
fishing industry.
These are the four main
characters in this northern ad-
venture.
Gisli P. Norman
Gisli P. Norman was born
on June 19, 1895 in Iceland to
Pétur Jónsson (Norman) and his
wife Ingunn. He was four years
old when his father and mother
and older sister (María aged six)
emigrated to Canada in 1900.
First they moved to Thingvalla
area of Saskatchewan (just north
of Churchbridge), then to Foam
Lake in 1910. In 1915 the fam-
ily moved to Red Deer Point on
Lake Winnipegosis.
Gisli served in World War I
with the 27th Battalion, 6th Bri-
gade, 2 Division, Canadian Ex-
peditionary Force. He took part
in battles at Amiens and Cam-
brai and was wounded. When
he returned to Canada, Gisli
farmed on what had been his
father’s land at Red Deer Point,
near Winnipegosis. In 1928, he
married Lilja S. Einarson. After
their marriage, Gisli and Lilja
moved to Vance Island in Bea-
ver Lake Saskatchewan, then to
the east shore of the lake (now
known as Denare Beach). There
they built their log home where
they lived for many years, rais-
ing six children. In 1994 they
moved to Creighton, SK. Gisli
died on January 21, 1995 at the
age of 99.
Leo Hjalmarson
Hjalmar Leo Hjalmarson
was born in Grafton, ND about
1894, son of Finnbogi Hjálmar-
son and Ólöf Ólafsdóttir, who
emigrated from Iceland in 1887
– first to Winnipeg and then to
Grafton, ND. In 1899 the fami-
ly moved to Winnipegosis. As a
young man, he worked at com-
mercial fishing and trapping.
During the 1930s, he moved to
Flin Flon, MB, where he oper-
ated a fishing business and lat-
er, a construction firm. He died
in 1972.
Oscar Gunnar Fredrickson
Oscar Fredrickson was
born in Ontario 1898 to Gunnar
Friðriksson and his wife, Guðrún
Helga Jörundsdóttir. The fam-
ily moved to the Winnipegosis
area in 1899, living at nearby
Red Deer Point for a number of
years. Oscar joined the navy in
1918, the same year he married
Petronella (Nellie) Crawford,
daughter of Björn Crawford and
Sigríður Pétursdóttir. His main
occupations were commercial
fishing and trapping. Oscar and
Nellie were parents of two chil-
dren and grandparents of four.
Oscar died in 1971.
Sigurður [Siggi] Oliver
Siggi was born in Iceland
February 5 1897, son of Þor-
steinn Þorsteinsson Oliver from
Eyrarlaekur in Árnessýsla and
his wife Vilborg Jónsdóttir from
Laugarnes in Kjósarsýsla. The
family emigrated to Canada
in 1910, moving to the Winni-
pegosis area at Red Deer Point
in 1915. Siggi worked with his
parents in fishing and farming
until 1918 when he enlisted in
the Canadian army. He went to
England and was still in training
as the war ended. He returned to
Winnipegosis in 1919. He spent
most of his working life working
for the Department of Fisheries.
Siggi also served as Mayor of
Winnipegosis and Magistrate
there. In 1917, he had mar-
ried Guðrún (Þorsteinsdóttir)
Johnson who was also born in
Iceland. Siggi and Guðrún had
4 sons and two daughters. He
died in 1971.
(If you have any early pic-
tures of these four young men,
please send them to us so we can
include them in this series.)
Next installment: Episode One
Gisli and his three friends
from Winnipegosis ride the
Muskeg Express far into north-
ern Manitoba and begin the ca-
noe trip that will take them to
their trapping grounds.
Trapping Trip to Indian Lake, 1920:
A Serial in Four Episodes
From a booklet by Gisli P. Norman
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