The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Side 93

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
91
A Canadian farmer and store-keeper,
William Sifton, was then located at
the Narrows. He received the new-
comers hospitably and at Christmas
the Sifton family sent over choice food
to the fishermen’s camp. Warm friend-
ship among the young people followed.
Years later Einarsson said: “I have
never met with people I liked so well”.
During his first two years in Mani-
toba Einarsson engaged in the type of
work familiar to many of the Icelandic
newcomers. In the summer he worked
on the railroad, shovelled coal, cut
cordwood, and worked at a sawmill.
In winter he fished.
At the sawmill at Basket Creek on
Lake Manitoba he saw a good sample
of the racial mixture in America. Of
twelve employees there were three Nor-
wegians, two Icelanders, one English-
man, one Scot, one Irishman, one Am-
erican, one Canadian, one Australian,
and one Hungarian. Indians were em-
ployed in casual labor. Einarsson
never learned race prejudice.
In his first spring at the Narrows,
an experience influenced Einarsson
strongly. Discovering one day that he
was without flour, he went to the local
store. The only flour in stock was the
poorest grade, sold only to Indians. At
the railroad this grade sold for one
dollar a bag, but the price asked of
him was five dollars. “I considered
that this was the lowest price I ever
paid for flour, for it taught me never
to depend on others,” he said later.
In 1892 the local Indian agent en-
gaged Einarsson as skipper on ithe boat
he used for conveying treaty money
to Indians on Lakes Manitoba, St.
Martin and Winnipegosis. This first
acquaintance with the Indians was
extensively developed in the years to
come.
In the early nineties Einarsson began
to freight fish from the Narrows to
Winnipeg, and to buy fish. This
brought him in contact with important
fish-dealers, including Hugh Arm-
strong of Portage la Prairie and W. J.
Guest of Winnipeg. A business as-
sociation was built up that lasted for
many years—in the case of Guest for
forty years. He was well-regarded by
these men and his credit was always
good.
Years later he was in sharp competi-
tion with Armstrong, for the latter
represented ithe big commercial fish
companies and Einarsson was one of
a fetv independent buyers who kept up
the price of fish on Lake Manitoba.
Armstrong he considered the keenest
businessman he ever met.
»Wl
Often the big companies offered
such low prices that Einarsson turned
to selling personally on the market
stands in Winnipeg and to small retail
stores. In 1896, when times were hard
and the sale of fish lagged, he took a
quantity of fish across the border to
Grand Forks, Fargo and neighboring
towns, and with vigorous canvassing
disposed of all his supply.
Dealing in fish soon expanded into
general store business and about the
turn of the century Einarsson had
stores at Fairford, Lake St. Martin,
Sandy Bay, Little Saskatchewan, and
other places.
His trade was chiefly with Indians
and his store-clerks were mainly Inch