Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. The Arrival of my Father and Brother—Journey to Illinois—Work on a Railroad—The Ague—Doctor Ober—Religious Impressions—The Arrival of my Mother, Sister and her Husband—A Burning Railroad Train—We go to Minnesota—Our Experience as Wood Choppers and Pioneers
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
IS 4.2 Story of an Emigrant.
should go to Minnesota and select a suitable place. Being
the onlv one of the party who could speak English, I was
naturallv appointed its leader. My father also went with us,
and so did Mr. Willard and his wile, the whole party taking
deck passage 011 a Mississippi steamer, and arriving at
St. Paul in the month of August.
At that time St. Paul was an insignificant town of a few
hundred inhabitants. There we found Henry Russell, John
Tidlund, and a few other Swedish pioneers. Mr. Willard and
I had very little money, and for the few dollars which we did
own we bought a little household furniture, and some
cooking utensils. We therefore at once sought employment lor
him, while the rest of our party started off in search of a
suitable location for the proposed settlement.
We had been told that there were a number
ofourcountrymen at Chisago Lake and a few near Carver, but that all
had settled on timber lands. We also learned that near Red
Wing, in Goodhue county, places could be found with both
timber and prairie, and an abundance of good water.
Having looked over the different localities we finally decided 011
the present town of Yasa, about twelve miles west of Red
Wing. The first claims were taken at Relle Creek, south of
White Rock, and afterwards others were taken at a spring
now known as Willard Spring, near which the large brick
church now stands.
After selecting this land my father returned to Illinois. In
company with the other explorers, I went to St. Paul, where
a council was held in which all participated, and at which it
was decided that three of us, Messrs. Roos, Kempe, and
myself, should go to our claims that fall and do as much work
as possible, until the others could join us the following
spring.
Having made the necessary preparations we three went to
Red Wing bv steamboat and found a little town with half a
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
