The last decades of the 19th century saw incredible advances in the production of machines of all kinds in North America that revolutionized transportation, agriculture, and all kinds of technology. Such devices and tools were unfamiliar to most Icelandic travelers at the beginning of their journeys to the west, but their sons and daughters, some of whom were born in the west, grew up in a society that practically saw some new discovery become a reality every year. There was nothing strange about a young boy going to see a tractor or a threshing machine or anything interesting in his countryside. Gunnlaugur Bjarni Gunnlaugsson grew up in the Akra settlement not far from the village of Cavalier where agents and salesmen introduced all kinds of new machines that made agricultural work and transportation easier. Early on, the youngster, who was considered to be particularly good at machines, showed a keen interest. No one was surprised that he should lean to studies that turned towards their production. Þórstína Þorleifsdóttir watched this young man who was no doubt of the same age as she, if a few years older. She wrote about him in her book, “Saga Íslendinga í N. Ameríka” which was published in 1926, and said:
Advertisement from J. I. Case in the 19th century. It could very well show Eggert in the Akra settlement telling his son Gunnlaugur how the machines work.
“Many people think that Icelanders are better suited to other things than being inventors and engineers, but the Dakota-Icelanders have already proven that their nationality can stand at the forefront in that field, no less than elsewhere. Gunnlaugur Bjarni Gunnlaugsson was born in Akra, North Dakota. He is the son of Eggert Gunnlaugsson from Baugasel in Eyjafjarðarsýsla and Rannveig Rögnvaldsdóttir from Skíðastaður in Skagafjörður. As a boy, Gunnlaugur was particularly good at machines and early showed a high level of academic ability. He received his education first at Akra and later at Grand Forks University, and various other educational institutions. At the age of twenty, he became a labor agent for the J. I. Case equipment company, which is one of the largest of its kind in America and has branches all over the world. His current position is a Research Engineer for this company, and he is the head of the research and invention department, as well as the head of the sales department of this company. He has discovered many things related to machines, which are considered of great value, especially many things that make the equipment that farmers use for farming more useful, cheaper and simpler. He has also written extensively in this regard, and articles by him and about him have appeared in many engineering journals across America.
Logo of the J. I. Case company in Racine, Wisconsin. Gunnlaugur moved there, lived and worked there.
Gunnlaugur is very dear to the Dakota village and the old pioneers. In recent letter to this writer, he said: “I would like nothing better, if I had the time and opportunity, than to write about the brave deeds of the Icelandic pioneers in the Dakotas.”
English version by Thor group.