This Alberta image shows a typical 19th-century fur store.
Icelandic settlement at Red Deer Point began around 1900. This point juts a long way out into Lake Winnipegosis, in northern Manitoba. In 1930, the Winnipeg Almanak published a chapter in the episode Safn Til Landnámssaga Íslendingar í Vesturheimi. It was by Finnbogi Hjálmarsson from Tjörnes and was called Landnáms-söguþættir frá Íslendingum í Winnipegosis (Settlement Stories from Icelanders in Winnipegosis). Let’s take a look at his story; “A fish story goes – a whale story flies,” says an old saying. Undoubtedly, it was the fish stories that came here from Winnipegosis before the turn of the century that played the strongest role in the settlement of white men here during the aforementioned period. Húðson’s Bay, a company with a few Indians and Metis, had one shop here, it sold these men various necessities, but took back as currency the furs of the Redskins, which made it a lifelong job to hunt these animals. In other respects the land and the water here lay in desolation and silence, with their possessions full of all kinds of goods, and waited as much as possible for as many to enjoy them. Roads around the country were not very passable and rare, mostly crooked Indian paths, so travel was rare in the district in the summer. The water route was usually started in the summer, when the aforementioned company had to transport its products to and from the market. During the winter, dogs were used with sledges and the main necessities were transported with those vehicles … Icelandic settlement in the countryside did not begin until the spring of 1900. Some Icelanders from North Dakota first started farming there. … The area they chose for settlement was the point that juts out into the water north of town, called Red Deer Point. It is 30 English miles long and about 4 miles where it is widest, the point is fragmented in many places with good harbors and landings. Yet the snag in this settlement was that the land was not surveyed so no one knew where his plot was. Men built their homes where they thought there was the most beautiful view and most comfortable access to the water and the field. “It’s beautiful in my mountains now,” said Halla, the poor Icelandic outlaw. The Icelanders thought Red Deer Point was beautiful when they first saw it in its summer attire. Elm, pine, poplar and birch had grown up there since time immemorial, and lined up in long lines around large meadows were spruce and lichen and various grasses. Water and land seemed to pay close attention to these newly arrived foster children and welcomed them into their kingdom. Then everyone got settled and prepared for them to the best of their ability, most of them happy with their share.”
Water levels
The weather on the Canadian plains at first glance seems very predictable, summers dry and hot, winters cold. History shows, however, that there are special droughts that last a few years. There is not a drop from the sky for weeks and months so all the vegetation of the plain dies, there will be no harvest for the farmers. The other side is such incredible water levels rises in the great lakes that floods threaten fields and settlements. The settlers in the Ísafold Settlement north of Riverton became acquainted with one of these flood cycles at the turn of the century, some were forced to relocate elsewhere. Happy settlers at Red Deer Point were about to experience a flood in the lake, and Finnbogi described it in his article in the Almanak. “In 1901, several people joined the said settlement, all of them Icelanders. There were few cattle or other livestock on these farms on the point during their first years there, as there were no other tools to obtain the hay with other than scythes. With these devices, however, humans harvested much more hay than they needed for their animals. The grass was so abundant in the lowlands that it could reach up to people’s shoulders. It grew up from the clay next to the lake. Our method of stacking the hay was that two men with their spruce branches each 12 feet long, pointed at both ends, slid them under the rows of hay and carried the hay between them to where it was to be stacked. It was a piece of cake for two men to carry 10 tons of hay a day and stack it. In 1902, the Icelanders who lived at Red Deer Point and those who moved there that year will surely be remembered for a long time due to the flooding in the lake. The spring was extremely rainy. Most days in the month of May, after the ice melted, it rained more and less. June did not improve as far as the wet weather was concerned. For the first two weeks it rained daily. The water rose sharply, so that every gust of wind that came rolled it over all the low land next to the water. There were two days in particular which in which rains at Red Deer Point caused real damage this summer. They two days of June 17 and August 2 were significant for Icelanders in that a few years before a debate had started in Winnipeg regarding which should as be chosen as Icelandic Festival Days. – I had built my house 6 feet above water level in 1900 when I moved there. Able to show people how great the water rose was during this period, June 17, 1902 there was a sharp north storm, it was accompanied by a torrential downpour, the water rose sharply and the level increased as the day went on, big waves rolled over the swamp below the House. At 6 o’clock in the evening, the water began to flow into the house. From then until 11 in the evening the water rose so that chairs and more floated in large-waves back and forth in the house. Jón J. Samson and his wife (interjection: Jón Jónasson from Skagafjörður and Guðbjörg Ólafsdóttir from Rangárvallasýsla) and children were guests in my house. And I know that they remember this wicked night, which they had in my hut. We put the beds up on chairs, where our wives and children snuggled, but Jón and I stood in water up to our knees on the floor. The weather calmed down at 12 at night and the water receded so that it stood at the threshold of the house the next morning. This is how Icelanders’ Day was celebrated with my friend Jón Samson on June 17, the summer of 1902, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that Jón if did not celebrate June 17 as the national day of Icelanders. The events of the day of June 17th had informed us that we had built too close to the lake. So a few moved their houses and built them on a higher elevation. On the second of August this same summer, our Icelanders’ village at Red Deer Point brought the similar disaster with its rival on the 17th of June, and it did not go down well. It is worth mentioning that over the meadow, which was dry the previous summer, this summer sailboats were sailed and many tied them to the door of their house.”
Broken hopes – Emigration
“Surely it was these floods from the lake that shocked people and dampened their hopes for their future at Red Deer Point. The weather improved as the summer progressed so that everyone had enough hay for their animals. In spite of these minor floods and the devastation that befell them, all who lived there had enough to eat for their families and excessive hay for their animals. There was no shortage of hay, food, or firewood at Red Deer Point. And would not have answered the questions of men about his well-being there like the man of old, “that he had never lacked anything in farming except these three, hay, food and firewood.” In 1907, 37 Icelandic families were counted as living in this town, that year was the highest population. After that, their number decreased … A reading society was formed in the village during the years that most people lived there, but when the emigration of people from the village began, it dissolved. From this year until 1907, many emigrated, most to Sask. (Saskatchewan) Several people moved to the town of Winnipegosis and have lived there ever since … At Red Deer Point now (1930) 6 Icelandic families live there. Census there now 36. For many years the water has dropped annually, so now for the past 2 summers cars have sped on the point, where sailboats were sailed in 1902. At the time of writing, about 300 Icelanders live here in the town of Winnipegosis and in the neighbourhood.”
Priest Visits
Finnbogi continues, to discuss the services of the priests, etc. “Reverend Oddur Gíslason came to the town in 1900 and performed one Mass. – Reverend Pétur Hjálmsson came to the Icelandic settlement in 1903 and 1904, sang mass there, baptized children and confirmed some young people. – Reverend Einar Vigfússon came 1905 and 1906, buried a man and married one couple. – Reverend Bjarni Þórarinsson came here in 1911, 1912 and 1913, sang mass, baptized children and confirmed. – Reverend Karl Olson came here in 1917, formed a Lutheran congregation here and did more priestly work. – Reverend Adam Þorgrímsson preached here once. – Reverend Runólfur Marteinsson came here twice to bury two men. – Reverend Björn B. Jónsson came here and buried one man. – Reverend Steingrímur came here and sang a funeral for one man. – Reverend Rögnvaldur Pétursson buried one man here. – Reverend Jónas A Sigurðsson has been called here and has done most of the priestly work for us Icelanders who live here in the town and settlement now for the past ten years. – Professor Svb. Sveinbjörnsson, his wife and daughter stayed with us during August – the month of 1920. Composer Jón Friðfinnsson, taught Icelandic teenagers singing here in town about two months in the summer of 1928. “
English version by Thor group.