The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1946, Blaðsíða 48

46
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1946
John Taylor’s tent was commodious, and
the tents of his brother William and of
some others in the group were fairly
good, but many were less fortunate.
It snowed a little during the first
night, and there was a light frost; frosts
continued and grew more intense.
When the goods had been conveyed,
by slow degrees, to our chosen location,
now called Gimli, the building of the
log-houses was begun. But at this time I
took ill, and for two weeks I lay in my
miserable quarters. I was sore from toil
and exposure, and my condition was not
improved by the unappetizing food. This
illness caused a serious set-back to my
work, for each person had enough to do,
attending to his own.
Our family shared an old tent with
Erlendur Olafsson and Ingibjorg and
their son Andres, who was of an age with
our GuSmundur. The two families were
thus equal in numbers, but Erlendur had
a little more money than I had.
When I was able to crawl out of bed,
Erlendur and I turned our thoughts to
building. It was in the first week of
November that we began work. The oth-
er settlers had already laid claim to
their lots, for indeed a large city was to
arise on this little spot, and we were
compelled to locate in the outskirts. We
located to the south of the others, and
knocked up a shack, about twelve feet
square, and man-high, of rails which
with difficulty we had managed to drag
to the site. We topped the rafters with
Withered grass-rubbish from a low spot
nearby, and plastered the chinks with
clay. The door was in the middle of the
east wall, with a half-size window on
either side. There were two beds along
each side-wall, madeof rails that had
been trimmed a little. The stove was in
the centre. We thought this a delightful
abode in comparison with our ragged
tent.
We moved into our new home on Sat-
urday, the nixth of November. My Valdis
was then not well.
On the eighth of November a fairly
large number of men started work for
John Taylor, on the erection of a building
which was to be good-sized, warm, and
in every respect well built. William Tay-
lor, who had already constructed a shel-
ter for himself, was the chief carpenter.
The walls were double and very thick,
and the space in between filled with
clay. There was a ground floor and an
upstairs. Altogether, the building, es-
pecially in comparison with the shacks of
the others, was quite impressive.
This work lasted a good fortnight. The
pay was $1.25 a day, and was in kind
through the government loan.
Pending the completion of the build-
ing, Taylor continued to live in his tent,
despite snow and prevailing frosts.
As previously mentioned, cook-stoves
were included with the necessaries which
we brought in with us. Erlendur and I
joined in buying one. We made immedi-
ate payment almost in full, and then
my funds were exhausted.
The provisions which we brought in
with us included the following items:
flour (not of good quality); potatoes
(which froze); pemmican, and wheat.
The wheat had to be ground in iron
mills, a task both difficult and slow. As
for the flour thus produced, the women
found it unsuitable for bread-making,
and, indeed, as made by some, the
bread was not fit for human consump-
tion. There was also some coffee, in
half pound lots, and beans.
Our supplies were not greatly aug-
mented by the fish which we were able
to catch, for none of us possessed fishing
tackle. Lacking too, on our part, was the
necessary knowledge of how to go about
lake-fishing. Nevertheless, we were able
to catch a few.
Neither the townsite nor the surround-
ing country had been surveyed, so that
the buildings that were erected had to
be sited approximately. During the
winter, however, the surveyors came,
and surveyed both the townsite and the
country around. The townsite, which
was not a large one, was called Gimli.
Deaths were frequent among both
grown-ups and children, but the casual
ties were proportionately greater among
the children. It was a miracle that any-