The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Qupperneq 14

156
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #3
tions in the North Basin and in 1897 the
‘Lady of the Lake’ was launched.
The Hnausa Dock was now a reality,
settlers were moving into the area. Boats
were on the move hauling freight and pas-
sengers between the settlements of New
Iceland and Selkirk.
A list below gives us some idea of the
vessels moving in and out of Hnausa:
Sailboats, Sigurros, Viking, Vestoria, Tern,
Miska, Mikado, Lady Ellen, Aurora, Ida,
Gimli and Lady of the Lake.
In the late 20s and 30s the fishing
industry was undergoing many changes.
Sailboats were replaced by gas and diesel
motorboats and the Hnausa dock had to be
enlarged to handle the larger freighters and
companies operating there. The dock was
extended with a lighthouse at the end and a
breakwater on the south side creating at
last an all weather harbour. This allowed
companies to tie up and winter their boats
in the ice. The list below gives us some idea
of the companies in operation at Hnausa
and the extent of the activity at the Hnausa
Harbour:
Company Vessels
1. Sigurdson Fisheries
Lady of the Lake, J.R. Spear, Goldfield
2. Magnusson Bros.
Betty Lew, Icelander
3. Canadian Fish Producers
Lady Canadian
4. Steini Sigmundson
Sigmund
5. Selkirk Fisheries
Suzanne E
6. Northern Lake Fisheries
Douglas M
7. Keystone Fisheries
Keystone
8. Bjornson Bros.
Bjornson H
9. Hallgrimson Fish
Fisherman
10. Herman Thorsteinson
Orlando
In 1903 Johannes sold his share of the
business to Stefan and entered into partner-
ship with Sveinn Thorvaldsson.
Sigurdsson-Thorvaldsson Company had
stores in Arborg, Hnausa, and Riverton.
Johannes, like his brother Stefan, was
involved in community affairs and politics
and soon became the Reeve of the
Municipality of Gimli and later its first
Mayor. His new company later built a gen-
eral store at Hnausa near the railway as
well as a large home for the store’s manag-
er.
Stefan then reorganized his business
with his two sons Solli and Sigurdur Victor
(known as S.V.). Operations were now
mainly in the south end of the lake and up
to Berens River. The business fell on turbu-
lent times, the store burned down and
Stefan suffered a stroke and died in 1917 at
the age of 53.
The death of Stefan changed many
lives. His son S.V. had enlisted in the Air
Corps and was overseas. His plan had been
to study medicine but he returned home to
work in the family business. He had
attended the Hnausa School with Kristrun
Marteinsson and they were married shortly
after his return.
In 1921 Sigurdson Fisheries was reor-
ganized with S.V. as President and his two
uncles S.R and Stefan (Stebbi), as partners.
The railroad did come to Riverton in 1914
and the town experienced a mini-boom.
The company was moved there in 1922.
Fish companies were buying up property
and building fish sheds to receive fish
hauled from fishing camps on Lake
Winnipeg by horse drawn freighting out-
fits.
In 1928 S.V. and Kristrun moved into
their new home. The marriage produced
eight children: Stefan, Helga Norma,
Valgerdur Eliza, Victor Johannes, Kristrun
Gladys, Lois Lillian, Ralph Larus, and
Gordon Bjarni.
S.V. served on the Council of the
Municipality of Bifrost and was Mayor of
Riverton for 12 years.
Stefan’saccomplishments include:
The Dock
Stefan Sigurdson was convinced that,
by applying political pressure, the govern-
ment could be persuaded to build a much-
needed dock at Hnausa. Stefan was a deter-
mined young man, and when he applied his
energy and enthusiasm to any project resis-