The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2007, Síða 15

Vol. 61 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
13
Wonalancet, New Hampshire.
In the U.S.A.: WILD GOOSE CHASE,
the movie
In 1917, an American movie company
wanted three dog teams and drivers for a
motion picture called Wild Goose Chase,
which was to be filmed in Chicago and
Detroit. Sigurjon Isfeld, Baldwin
Anderson, and Gudjon Arnason were
hired. The film was about a young girl who
went to the Yukon during the gold rush.
The three Gimli men were to be used for
long shots of the teams, and the actors
would be used in the close-ups. In a family
history of Baldi Anderson in Gimli Saga
says, “Sigurjon, a man over six feet tall and
weighing 240 lbs., was thought to be too
big to portray an Indian”, but Baldi and
Gudjon were in the movie. The female star
of the movie petted the dogs and fed them
candy. The handlers suspected that the
dogs were never as obedient after that. One
scene required the blowing up of a ship,
and the Manitobans suggested Lake
Winnipeg for the scene. Unfortunately, it
was wartime, and the presence of a man of
German origin in the party prevented them
from entering Canada. The scene was shot
on Lake Superior.
In Winnipeg
Many Gimli residents who had work-
PHOTO FROM JOHN MANN, CHESHIRE, ENGLAND
J.B. Johnson at Millwall docks , England, July
14, 1914, with two of the Gimli sled dogs
ing dog teams made a little extra money by
taking their teams to Winnipeg. The sleighs
were colourfully decorated and people
went for pleasure rides a mile up the Red
River and back for 25 cents each.
Winnipeg’s River Park featured the dog
teams of Oli Isfeld, Alii Jonasson, Gilli
Anderson, Ed Smith and Paul Olson . (Paul
was always proud to say that Jack
Dempsey became the owner of one of his
dogs.) Sigurjon Isfeld, his son Steve, and
Doddi Thordarson took the snowy white
dog team to Winnipeg for the February
bonspiels. Gimli sled dogs teams were
often a feature of Winter Carnivals in
Winnipeg and many other places.
In Northern Manitoba and the Arctic
As did many other young Icelandic
Canadians, Sigurjon Isfeld began to drive
sled dog teams as a boy. Some were guides
for prospectors, fishermen and traders.
There were contacts with the Hudson’s
Bay Company, the North West Mounted
Police, and Inuit and Native peoples. These
men and their dogs helped develop
Canada’s northern frontiers.
We are interested in any photographs
or stories your family may have regarding
the Gimli sled dogs of the early 1900s. We
will scan the photographs and return them
to you, if you wish. Printed material will be
copied for our International Polar Year
project, and filed for later exhibitions.
Please contact the New Iceland Heritage
Museum. Address: #108-94 1st Avenue,
Gimli MB Canada ROC 1B0. Phone: 204
642 4001. Fax: 204 642 9382. Email:
nihm@mts.net. We would appreciate your
help. We know there are many interesting
Dog Tales out there!
I would like to thank Kenny Aquin
and Donna Isfeld (Sigurjon’s great-grand-
daughter) of Sandy Hook for inspiring this
whole project. You can find pictures and
information about “The Watch” and “The
Innes-Taylor connection” on Kenny’s
website:www.pbase.com/villageidiot/the_
watch.
Thanks to Robert Isfeld of Gimli for
loaning Sigurjon’s watch to NIHM.
Thanks to Brad Silvester of Michigan and
Jonina Poropiglio of Winnipeg (great-