The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Page 37

Vol. 61 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
79
we can bring in a steamship to pull the
daily load of one flatboat to Lundur.
June 25th, 1894
The men in Lundur liked it! They told
us that if we could set up the material they
gave us, and use it, after ten loads of timber
it would pay for itself! Imagine us owning
a logging mill, and our wives, picking
berries and raising our children together. It
is a wonderful thought! We have decided to
try and start a small community....maybe
with a small church and a community pas-
ture for our animals. After we get some
more people into the area I think we could
use a blacksmith. Maybe I could try my
hand at the smithy - my father did it. It
might run in my blood. Well tomorrow is a
long day I must get some sleep.
June 30th, 1894
The mill has been set up; Kristjon went
to Lundur to buy a crosscut saw. With a
crosscut, we could saw the biggest trees far
easier. Between the three of us we figure we
could cut about three or four units of lum-
ber per day. If we haul one flatboat a day
then we will sell one unit a day, so every
day we should bring in two boats, and
maybe we could get a few other people to
help us out. If we sold three units a day,
one in the morning, one at noon, and one in
the evening we would make approximately
three dollars a day, including expenses.
After a week we would have eighteen dol-
lars; six dollars each. After a month we’d
each have twenty four dollars. Things are
looking up!
July 4th, 1894
Lorey is due to deliver the baby at the
end of December. She’s starting to become
round around the middle. The animals in
this area are strange. There are deer, birds,
bears, and a strange cat like creature that we
ran into the other night. Porey and I were
walking back home after our walk, when a
strange animal crossed our path. I told
Lorey to get behind me and she did. Good
thing too. I approached the animal slowly,
this strange cat like creature with a long
black tail and two white stripes on it, one
on each side of its’ spine. I could barely see
it in the night, but the moon shed enough
light that I could see it. Its tail was pointed
at me, as if it were some sort of peculiar
weapon. I was shocked when it emitted a
foul and terrible stench and promptly left
the scene. I felt I could never get rid of the
stench! So many things we have experi-
enced here, in Canada, so many strange
things that we have never seen before.
July 10th, 1894
The wheat is turning, the oxen are
healthy and the logging system is under
way. I have earned ten dollars! It is great
working with those men, Halldor and
Kristjon. They are astute businessmen.
Kristjon has learned English quite well, as
have Halldor and I. May, Kristjons wife,
has learned some Icelandic, though not
nearly as much as Kristjon has learned
English. We haven’t been practising our
English overly much because all the people
in Lundur speak fluent Icelandic. A great
many things have happened in the last year;
a lot that we have to take time and look
back on. I can really see the advantage in
this journal now; I can look back and fol-
low in great detail what we did and what
we went through to get here. By this time
next year, we will have a six or seven month
old baby, we will have a larger house, a
proper barn and sufficient food. We will be
able to sell wood all winter, and for that,
make some money as well, though we will
have to harbour it over the winter, as a
steamship cannot travel the Icelandic River
in the winter. Perhaps we can build a sleigh,
drawn by horses that can be used on the
ice—
July 20th, 1894
There is much work to be done. We
have postponed the cordwood ship for at
least a week. We are to build a barn for
Halldor. He has purchased two milking
cows and I, likewise. We hope to build a
barn in two weeks and so we will but sleep
and work. After we cut the grain we will
build another barn, this one for me. If we
have time we will build another for
Kristjon though it won’t be needed because
I can house Kristjon’s few oxen over the
winter. I will have to buy three milking