The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1946, Síða 51

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
49
The time had now come for us to move
on our lands, or, to be more precise, for
lands which we hoped would be ours, for
in many cases full possession was never
acquired. Erlendur and I had built a
house together, for we owned the cook-
stove in common, and Ingibjorg prepared
the meals for me and my GuSmundur.
We moved in on the first of April, or
shortly after. The weather was cold and
the snow still lay heavy on the ground.
Because of this, and because of our lack
of the requisite equipment, the move
was accomplished only with difficulty.
Of course, it was possible for the sleds
to travel on the lake, but they were so
heavy, being made of green wood, and so
poorly constructed that all that one per-
son could do was to pull them empty.
Many small sleds had also been built,
and at this time almost every person
seen on the move had a sled in tow or a
pack on his back.
About the tenth of April, I began the
building of my house, with four men to
help. I had already cut the logs required,
and the work of building took two days.
The snow had subsided but little, and
fresh snow fell at the beginning of May,
and frosts continued until June. On the
ninth of May there was a thunder-storm,
With an extremely heavy downpour of
rain. We were unable to keep a stitch
dry in the clayey leakage of Skapti’s
newly plastered house. The rain com-
menced about bed-time, and we stood
nearly knee-deep in water for most of
the night. We were unable to protect
our bed-clothes from the rain, and they
were soaked. Such was the comfort of
most of the homes at that time, and this
state of affairs continued for some years
to come, in a number of cases.
Then commenced the seeding of beans
and potatoes. It was rather difficult
work Clearing the forest and burning the
trees, for the ground was very wet. Hoe-
ing was difficult, too, for the ground was
a solid tangle of roots.
The yield was small, and in addition
there were a great many destructive
small creatures to spoil the crop.
About the middle of June the potatoes
were planted. It had not been possible
to bring the seed in before, as the ice
remained on the lake till the twenty-
fourth of May.
After the middle of June, Mundi and
I went to Winnipeg. My Valdis was then
employed at a boarding-house. She was
not happily situated, for the work was
too hard. In addition to that, she was
defrauded of a goodly portion of the
wages promised her, which was in keep-
ing with what often happened during
those first years.
Then we set up a tent and took in
boarders, but the undertaking was not
profitable; consequently I obtained work
in connection with a large ditch which
was then under way along Main Street.
The work was exceedingly hard and we
were driven relentlessly, so that only
the strong could stand it. Later I worked
for Taylor at making flat-boats for the
party of Icelanders whose arrival from
the homeland was then anticipated. The
wages were not high, and nowhere else
were they high, but generally they were
better for women in domestic service
than elsewhere — for at that time there
was little prosperity in -the land.
On the eighth of August, Sigtryggur
arrived in Winnipeg, with the first group
of Icelanders to arrive that summer,
numbering upwards of 750. Later, on the
fifteenth of the month, Ha'lldor Briem
arrived with nearly 450. I mention the
names of these two for they were the
conductors of the groups. It may well
be imagined that we who had been
away from home for two years, and not
in the best of circumstances, welcomed
this addition to our group.
The new-comers were not much better
off on their arrival than we had been
when we first came to this part of the
country, except for the fact that summer
was not far advanced when they came.
Their group was much larger, and their
baggage many times greater than ours,
but they had to rely on the Same in-
adequate means of transportation. They
were complete strangers to the manner
of life and the methods of work, which
differed totally in the Old Country. Many