Birch Bay is a village in northwest Washinton state, just over 10 miles south of Blaine. The bay was given that name in 1792 by Archibald Menzies, one of George Vancouver’s men who noticed the numerous types of birch trees in the area. The bay was an area early Icelandic settlers explored and settled in during 1888-1900. Margrét Jónsdóttir, better known as Margrét J. Benedictsson wrote an article about Blaine and Icelanders there in the Almanak in Winnipeg in 1926. She describes the early years of Guðný Þorleifsdóttir from Hjaltastaðaþinghá in N. Múlasýsla in Birch Bay. Her write-up describes the area and life there quite well. Guðný emigrated west in 1883, along with her brother Jón and his family. Below is a translation of the first of the article from the book ICELANDERS on the Pacific Coast published by The Icelandic Club of Greater Seattle in 2004. The translators were Baird Bardarson, Theodore R. Beck, Arna Garðarsdóttir, Willard Larson, Arni Magnusson and Sverrir H. Magnusson. The second half was translated by Thor Group.
Birch Bay
Guðny went to work for a Norwegian farmer, Oli Lee, and his wife Þórunn Halldórsdóttir. This couple lived for some time around Grafton N. Dakota. Guðny was with them for five years, and in this period married Petur O. Lee, cousin of Oli. In the spring of 1888 Oli moved to the West Coast settling in Birch Bay, about ten miles from Blaine, and setup household on 40 acres that he bought there. A few months later, Petur and Guðny went west and bought 40 acres four miles from Oli. In the first year they lived with Oli and Þórunn, but next year they settled on their own land. At that time Blaine was in the developing stage. There was a small store at Birch Bay – at the head of the fjord. There the first settlers in these surroundings fetched their most urgent necessities. Gu6ny said that the cousins, and likely others, had to send for tobacco to Seattle, and had to walk to Ferndale to get it, about 10 miles south of there. The mail came to Birch Bay once or twice a week – likely by way of Bellingham. It was then called Whatcome, but is now the county seat in Whatcom County, and is called Bellingham. After ten years in Birch Bay, Guðny came to Blaine, which was then developing. There were so few sidewalks that Guðny said she had a problem getting to the town’s town hall without getting wet feet and, of course, this was in the winter. The first winter that Guðny lived in Birch Bay, she said was the best winter which she had lived, as regards to mild weather (the winter 1888-89). Men had sown their gardens by the beginning of March, and some even earlier, and had been successful. But the next winter she said that it had been the coldest while she had lived here in the west. The year 1890 started with a northeast storm and snowfall, which continued uninterrupted to the beginning of March; the fjord was frozen as far as the eye could see. I, who write this, have heard old people talk about “the great frost winter” and that they used sleds, pulled by horses, over the Drayton harbor, next to the town of Blaine. It is possible that this was the same winter that Guðny spoke about. It is quite unusual for these fjords to freeze except by the beaches.
Otherwise, it is unusual for ice to be seen along these fjords, and then only next to the shore . It is worth noting that Drayton Harbor is so shallow that only a narrow stream remains during high tide, and it would easily freeze, though not hold ice, where there is more deep water. Nevertheless, it is worth noting this remarkable exception, which has happened once in 40 years or more. It is common for the buds on trees to burst out in the month of February and the spring flowers to be in full bloom in the middle of March. It is also common for people to put potatoes down in the middle of March, and many are successful.
When the couple, Pétur and Guðný, came to Birch Bay, there were few settlers there and far between them. The nearest farm to them was three miles away. The whole area was in a large forest and wet in many places. When Guðný visited her neighbors, she said that she had to cut herself short, as was the custom for women in Iceland. It was often lonely there, as her husband worked most of the time in the forest cutting down trees for sawmills, and she was alone at home with her children, sometimes both nights and days. She remembers one night in particular. She had read much about the Indians, and little of it good; among other things, the fact that they cooked over fires in the open air. One night she saw smoke down by the fjord, not far from her home. She expected the worst, and that she would not live until the next day; – of course it would be the Indians who started the fire and would, as it grew dark, burn and kill her and the children. She didn’t sleep well that whole night. But there was no way to get the children to the nearest neighbor. The night went by without any news. The next evening her husband came home; laughed at her fear and assured her that there were no warlike Indians here, and it proved to be true. The couple lived in Birch Bay until Pétur died in 1916. The grieving Guðný stayed there, first rented the land, but later sold it to Vilhjálmur Ögmundsson, her son-in-law. She herself is now in Blaine, still well and cheerful, despite her advanced age.”