Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.02.2019, Qupperneq 15

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. febrúar 2019 • 15
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IMAGE COURTESY OF PIXABAY
L-H
Translat ion
Serv ices
English to Icelandic
or
Icelandic to English
We can accommodate
your translation needs
contact L-H for a quote
LH@LH-INC.CA
(204) 284 5686 TF: 1-866-564-2374
My parents were
married in the early
part of the Great
Depression. At that time, the
belief was that two could live
as cheaply as one. So, with a
positive attitude based more
on desperation then reality,
they set forth on a magnificent
journey. As the firstborn
Canadians, they had a strong
belief in themselves and in this
great country called Canada.
And they were determined
to survive until the world's
financial mess was straightened
out.
My father's chosen line
of work was to join his father
and his brothers Hannes and
Siborg in the fish business –
more labour than business,
really; it’s a tough way to make
a living. But there were few
other choices at that time, as a
good one-quarter of Canadians
were unemployed. My father
started on a sailboat at the north
end of Lake Winnipeg, fishing
for whitefish. In the fall, the
group moved to Granite Quarry
on the east side in the Narrows
area of the lake. Eventually,
through continued hard work,
the group, now called S.
Kristjanson & Sons, was able to
acquire a fall station at Albert's
Point on Humbuck Bay in
1936 – the year I was born. In
August of that year, after the
group had come home from
whitefish fishing, my family,
including four-month-old me
and older brother Robert, made
the nine-hour trip to Albert’s
Point. We traveled on an old
freighter called the Roddy S
and we stayed there until April
of the next year. We did this for
the next six years until Robert
and my cousins, Beverley and
Eddie, were old enough to start
school in Gimli.
The 1940 whitefish
season was very good for our
group. So when they heard
of a small Cleveland crawler
tractor for sale in Regina at
a dealership called Hawg &
Hawg that August, they jumped
at the chance to acquire it.
Without hesitation, the ever-
entrepreneurial group borrowed
Uncle Siborg’s 1939 Pontiac
coupe and drove with their
wives to Regina in the August
heat. My mother said they
were packed like sardines in a
can. Plus, the men all smoked
continuously. The trip took
two days and during that time
we kids were looked after by a
marvellous lady by the name of
Victoria Malinowsky.
The tractor was a four-
cylinder called a Cletrac and it
was purchased and shipped on
the CPR to Gimli. (On the trip
back, the women put a limit on
the smoking.) To complete the
project, a local carpenter built
a wooden house on the tractor
to protect the operator. He
also built a caboose, which we
mounted on new skis built by
a great Gimli blacksmith, John
Chudd. We all came home from
fall fishing that year and, after
Christmas, all the equipment
and families were loaded on the
CPR train for the 30-mile trip
to Riverton.
Recently, a chance meeting
at Tim Horton’s with of one of
the sons of Kris Thorarinson of
Riverton had me re-visiting a
picture my mother had taken at
Albert’s Point with her Kodak
box camera (see story: March
2016). The old story that a
picture is worth a thousand
words is true. The Thorarinson
saw mill supplied our group
and others with lumber for ice
houses, filleting sheds, and so
on. They were great friends
of the family and thus our
starting point for our journey.
After we detrained in Riverton,
the dependable Cletrac, to
the frustration of all, would
not start. The Thorarinson
family, seeing our difficulties,
immediately offered us supper
and accommodations. The next
day, fresh gas was added to the
Cletrac and it started up just
fine. And so the caboose, with
the families inside, was hooked
up to the tractor. We then
traveled down the Icelandic
River through the Grassy
Narrows on the east side of
Hecla Island and around Big
Grindstone Point for the 30-
mile trip to our winter home
in Humbuck Bay. Talk about
pioneers! Looking back, I think
that some greater being was
looking after our group.
The next year, the group
bought a permit to log 5,000
board feet of timber at Albert’s
Point, for the grand sum of $2.
As you can see in the picture,
my mother captured the
moment. My uncles Hannes
and Eddie Jonasson along
with Robert and me under the
stern eye of our father, posed
for the shot. All trees were cut
using the swede saw shown
in the picture. With the help
of the Cletrac, the logs were
skidded to the water’s edge,
and the next spring they were
rafted to Riverton to be cut at
the Thorarinson's sawmill into
rough lumber. This lumber was
then trucked by Greenberg's
Transfer to Gimli where it was
used to build three houses.
Namely, my grandparents’ at
125 Third Avenue, my uncle
Hannes’ home at 97 Third
Avenue, and our home at 127
Fifth Avenue. Ever frugal,
the group hauled the sawdust
home for insulation and the log
trimmings became firewood.
Even though the Depression
was long over, the lessons
learned stayed with us all over
the years and nothing went to
waste. As my lovely wife will
point out, to this day I always
try to find a use for things and
don’t throw much out.
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Ken Kristjanson
Winnipeg, MB
The family at work