The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Blaðsíða 13

Vol. 62 #3
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
155
Winnipeg and graduated with a Gold
Medal in 1902. He was an extrovert, a nat-
ural public speaker and debater, and he
organized the ‘Icelandic Students Society’
that evolved into literary groups, debated
in English, Icelandic, and French, produced
plays and raised money for financial assis-
tance to students. It is beyond my compre-
hension how this poor but brilliant young
man was accepted into Harvard, but he was
and he graduated with a Bachelor of
Science cum laude.
Charles Eliot, President of Harvard
University, asked him to stay and speak to
Unitarian organizations in Massachusetts.
On February 4, 1904, Thorvaldur experi-
enced severe stomach cramps. He was
operated on for a ruptured appendix and
died four days later. His roommate at
Harvard was Vilhjalmur Stefansson. In his
autobiography Vilhjalmur writes, “A week
later I was on my way to the Icelandic set-
tlement on the west shores of Lake
Winnipeg, taking home for burial one of
the most promising young men I have ever
known.”
Thorbergur, four years younger fol-
lowed in his brother’s footsteps and in 1911
received a PhD and was awarded the
Hooper Travelling Fellowship, the highest
scholarship granted by Harvard. He won
more fellowships in Europe and studied
and did research in the top schools.
Thorbergur became the Dean of
Engineering at the University of
Saskatchewan and a world-renowned
expert on reinforced concrete.
Sigurdur Erlendsson and family came
from Iceland in 1876. He and his two sons
Stefan, aged twelve, and Johannes, aged
eight years, settled at Mill Bay on Hecla
Island. Stefan showed his initiative at an
early age. His father, Sigurdur Erlendson
writes in his memoirs of events in 1887, “In
April that same spring I homesteaded one
mile away from here, north along the lake,
and built a rough log cabin there. Stefan
was my main helper, and assisted me in all
work although he was only 12 years old.
My younger son Johannes, then 8 years of
age, brought the dinner to us daily of fried
whitefish. I thought he did well, young as
he was, to walk all that distance against the
north wind and no road along the lake. I
was happy then with my boys and thought
I could see they would accomplish things
in their lifetime.”
The two brothers were able to get
work at a sawmill at Hecla and at the same
time, learn the English language. Knowing
how to speak, read and write English was
an asset and helped them get employment
with fish companies, such as Booth
Fisheries that were already setting up fish
stations in the north basin of Lake
Winnipeg. They soon became sail boat
operators and station managers.
In 1887 they set up a fish business at
Breidavik (later Hnausa). Stefan, at age 26,
married Valgerdur Jonsson of Grand or
Gull Harbour and Johannes married
Thorbjorg, daughter of Jon Jonsson who
had already set up a fish station at Gull
Harbour. The Hanneson brothers had a
station at Gimli so Hnausa seemed a logical
place for the brothers’ business venture.
Settlers were moving into the district and a
railroad was promised by 1915 with
Riverton as the terminus. And so it began,
the “Sigurdson brothers” were on their
way to a successful life in business and
community service.
The partners, organized as “Sigurdson
Brothers,” were established as fish dealers
and general merchants and were ready to
expand into the North Basin of Lake
Winnipeg, with Hnausa as a major supply
center for the area. A major obstacle was to
get the government to build a dock and
harbour to increase the viability of Hnausa.
The brothers were politically minded and
Stefan was elected as reeve of the munici-
pality in 1893. His first priority was to get
a dock constructed.
In order to get a depth of 12 feet of
water the dock had to be 600 feet long,
shorter than a dock planned for Gimli. The
government approved construction of the
Hnausa dock and construction started in
the winter of 1895. The dock did not facil-
itate layovers but served the purpose.
Docking facilities at Hnausa enabled
them to start construction of their dream
boat the ‘Lady of the Lake.’ This vessel
would be large enough to handle opera-