The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2005, Side 23

Vol. 59 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
109
Arngrimson’s Trek
by Darrell Gudmundson
Arngrimur Arngrimson was born in
1845, the only son of Arngrimur Jonsson’s
marriage to Gudrun Eiriksdottir, his sec-
ond wife. He was christened at four days
old at Saudanes, Nordur-
Thingeyj arsysla.
Arngrimur was nearly a generation
younger than his several half-brothers and
half-sisters. He farmed at FinnsstaSaseli in
Eidaflingha from 1875 to 1882 - then with
his bride Forbjorg Magnusdottir he set out
for America with sons Stefan, about 5 years
old and Siggi, about 2 yrs.
Arriving at New York, they boarded a
train for Duluth, where the rail line ended,
aiming for the North Dakota settlement,
where some cousins already lived.
At Duluth, it was found that none of
their trunks had found their way onto the
train! They were without belongings
except for the clothes on their backs. All
household effects were lost, never to be
recovered. It was late autumn, and to con-
tinue on was impossible.
The family approached the Lutheran
Church in Duluth for help, and Arngrimur
was given a place to live and put to work as
caretaker. In spring, his cousins came from
North Dakota, and assisted the family on
their way.
The rivers of Minnesota were in spring
flood, and three year old Siggi could recall
being held at the ferry rail by his mother,
watching a baby’s body float by on the icy
current, on either the Mississippi, St. Louis,
or the Red River. Such memories tend not
to fade.
To pay for homestead goods,
Arngrimur found work to the north, on a
railway line that was almost certainly the
CPR, since they were near the Canadian
border. Arngrimur was not sturdily built,
but slight, and heavy work must have been
hard on him. He developed lung problems,
and died early, likely of consumption, as
tuberculosis was called in those days.
Arngrimur’s brother Petur had joined
them, taking a nearby farm. Petur was a
powerful man who was known for having
repelled a band of Moroccan sheep-stealers
by throwing each one off a bridge into an
icy stream till they fled to their ship. Petur
was elderly for a homesteader, but his help
was welcome. Later, Petur’s other claim to
fame occurred when he became frostbitten
and contracted gangrene; he took off the
infected toes of one foot with a sharpened
ax.
Steve became the head of the home-
stead, while Siggi was put out to work for a
farmer at about thirteen. The job included
living in the barn, with porridge twice a
day - not quite enough for a growing lad.
Siggi and a co-worker subsisted on raw
eggs and milk fresh from the cows.
However, there was no substitute for the
leather in the soles of his shoes. These wore
out in midwinter, and Siggi could not buy
replacements as his entire pay went to his
mother to look after the younger siblings,
Jon, Sofia and Bjorn. Fresh straw went into
the bottoms of the shoes each day - replac-
ing the wet straw of the previous day - and
when plowing began in spring, Siggi went
barefoot, though each morning he cut his
feet on the shards of fresh ice that formed
in the puddles each night.
On a rare trip into town, Siggi was
stopped on the street by a local homeopath
and sternly warned not to return to his
farm job. Siggi was coughing nastily, much
like his father had once done. The doctor
advised Siggi to get an outdoor job, work-
ing with cattle, so that fresh air and sun-
shine could do their work.
Afraid to tell his mother, Siggi found a
ranch job, and the kindly rancher took him
in as if he were a son. Siggi became a range-
hand, but was offered a job as a veterinari-
an’s helper on condition that he let the doc-
tor put him through veterinary school.
Sadly, Siggi’s income was needed too