The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Qupperneq 65

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
63
elements of their cultural heritage.
“Glima”, an old Icelandic form of
wrestling, was taught in the school
house, which was also used as a com-
munity center where chess and card
games were played and the regular
Saturday night dances were held. A
library containing both Icelandic and
English titles was established in 1920.
The Anglican mission boat, “Northern
Cross”, was a regular visitor to the
small settlement.
Salmon fishing was the main oc-
cupation of the settlers. Most of them
also kept small gardens and raised a
few domestic animals. The Farmer’s
Institute was of considerable help in
clearing the land. The settlers also
made unsuccessful efforts to grow fruit
and to raise mink.
Osland survived the hard years of
the 1930’s, partly due to the availabil-
ity of fish and game. During the war
years however, people began to move
to Prince Rupert, where well-paying
jobs were available and where their
children could continue their school-
ing. By 1944 the school had been
closed, the store and oil station moved
elsewhere and the Farmer’s Institute
was dissolved. The post office was
closed in 1952. Today the village has
no permanent inhabitants, though
some of the Icelandic families living in
Prince Rupert maintain their old
homes as summer houses.
At about the same time as Osland
was being established a man by the
name of Halldor Fridleifsson led a
small group from Vancouver to Hun-
ter Island, a large island forming the
western boundary of Fitz Hugh Sound.
By 1920 several families were living
in this new settlement and in 1922 a
small school was opened. Salmon fish-
ing was again the main occupation. In
the long-run, however, the settlers were
not successful and by the end of the
decade of the 1920’s they had all re-
turned to other areas.
A few Icelanders also settled in other
parts of the province. There were some
in the Okanagan around 1890 and a
small group in Princeton during the
1890’s though these stayed only a few
years. After the turn of the century
there were a few families settling in
various towns in the interior, such as
Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops.
Other areas in which Icelanders set-
tled include Golden and Revelstoke
(1940’s), Campbell River '(’1920’s), ithe
Alberni Valley (1940’s) and Kitimat
(1950’s). These scattered settlements,
however, were always quite small and
usually short-lived. Since the first set-
tlers came to Victoria the Icelanders
moving into the province have concen-
trated in the major urban centers, first
in Victoria and then, beginning about
1900, in Vancouver. Presently about
90% of all the Icelandic Canadians in
the province live in the Greater Van
couver area.
Vancouver is not only the area in
which most of the Icelanders settled
after their arrival in British Columbia.
It is also the place in which almost all
of their clubs and organizations were
established. The only Icelandic club
set up outside of the Vancouver area
was the Icelandic Women’s Club of
Victoria, established in the early 1940’s.
That club has been active in preserv-
ing some elements of an Icelandic com-
munity life in that city. It has also
been a good supporter of the Icelandic
old folks home in Vancouver.
The first Icelandic society establish-
ed in Vancouver was the literary
society “Ingolfur”, organized in 1908.
The primary objective of this society
was the establishment of a library of
Icelandic books. The society also
sponsored social gatherings and out-
ings, at first by itself and then, after