The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2009, Blaðsíða 18

160
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 62 #3
reception of all was staged at Hnausa.
Premier Roblin was received at the palatial
home of Stefan Sigurdsson of Hnausa. An
avenue of evergreens had been set in the
snow leading from the highway to the
house. Decorating the entrance were the
words. “Here you are at Home.” A sump-
tuous feast had been prepared for the
Premier and his retinue and later a ‘honour
parade’ was held from the Sigurdsson man-
sion to the Hnausa School, and again the
route was lined with evergreens. The vista
of evergreens extended from the
Sigurdsson home to the school and the
prominent citizens carried the Union Jack
and sang Icelandic folk songs with great
gusto. At the school the entire community
joined in a tribute to the First Citizen of
Manitoba, Sir Rodmond P. Roblin. Stefan
Sigurdsson and B.B. Olson responded.
And now before this part of the story
relating to the fishing industry and its chief
exponents in the years preceding the First
Great War is concluded, the author (Dr.
Thompson) wishes to add a slight personal
touch. ‘As a boy playing on the docks at
Selkirk about the time Stefan Sigurdson
acquired the ‘Mikado’, he had on many
occasions, a chance to observe this remark-
able man. Steeped as he was in the lore of
Horatio Alger’s characters where a hero
rose from rags to riches, this man, to his
mind, was the perfect symbol of such a sto-
rybook hero.
Whenever he swept down to the docks
to give orders, like a true Norse chieftain,
usually accompanied by a retinue of fisher-
men followers, who liked to bask within
the bounty and benevolence of his gener-
ous nature, the younger boys crowded
around well in the outskirts of the group
hoping to be noticed and have nickels and
dimes tossed to them, as hardly ever failed.
Stefan always seemed to be in a hurry,
so that when he was going anywhere he
moved with his upper trunk in a forward
inclination and his feet coming down in
short quick steps. Also not to be forgotten
were his quick nervous gestures and the ris-
ing pitch of his voice when his emotions
were aroused. All this left, on a boy with an
impressionable mind, a firm lasting picture
of a story book hero.’ This then was a
description of a man who stood out in a
crowd. He had a charisma that carried the
day.
Stefan Sigurdson was a remarkable
man in many ways. Captain Ed Nelson, in
an article in the Winnipeg Free Press in
April of 1963 gives the following account
of Stefan. ‘The S.S. Chieftain was then
operating a freight and passenger service
between Selkirk and Gimli. This was
before the railroad was built. The boat was
under the management of Stefan Sigurdson,
the Icelandic King of Manitoba at that
time. Mr. Sigurdson was a striking figure,
standing well over six feet, with powerful
shoulders, ice blue eyes set in a strong but
kindly face, and ringlets of black hair down
to his shoulders.’
And so the story ends of a remarkable
man who came to us at the right time, a
visionary with energy and a sense of pur-
pose who accomplished great things for the
Icelandic settlers and fishermen, and passed
on too young, and too soon.
Postscript
Sumardagurinn Fyrsti, Selkirk, 1897.
On the First Day of Summer in April of
1897, the ‘Lady of the Lake’, newly built
for Stefan and Johannes Sigurdsson of
Hnausa, was launched at Selkirk,
Manitoba, with much fanfare and excite-
ment. In the words of a report published in
the April 19, 1987 issue of
Heimskringla,’....It was a fair summer gift
indeed, given to the Icelanders in America
by the Sigurdsson Brothers, merchants at
Hnausa... the finest and sleekest, if not the
largest ship launched on Lake Winnipeg to
date...’ Built at Selkirk, this impressive
steam-powered, white and dark red vessel
was christened with a bottle of champagne
by a nine year old niece of the Sigurdsson’s,
Lara Helgasson, who called out ‘Lady of
the Lake’ as it started down the shipway
and into the Red River. At the same time a
white flag bearing this name was unfurled
on board the boat amidst cheers from the
crowd.
The picturesque name ‘Lady of the
Lake’ that was given the brothers’ first
boat, a small sailboat at Mikley, evokes