Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Future Hopes—Farm Life—Norwegian Pioneers—The Condition of the Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties—Religious Meetings—The Growth of the Settlement—Vasa Township Organized—A Lutheran Church Established—My Wedding—Speculation—The Crisis of 1857—Study of Law in Red Wing—I am admitted to the Bar and elected County Auditor—Politics in 1860—War is Imminent
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ss Story of an Emigrant.
102
farm into a house in town, where I engaged in a successful
mercantile business. But speculation was in the air, and
before the spring of 1857 my entire stock of merchandize was
exchanged for town lots in Wasioja and Geneva, two paper
cities further west. Meanwhile my friend Mr. Eustrom,
with his young wife and baby, had arrived from Boston,
and both of us, with our families and a few friends, moved
out to Geneva early in the summer, with the intention of
building up a city and acquiring riches in a hurry. But
at that time the waves of speculation began to subside,
and nine-tenths ol the cities and towns which were mapped
out, and the great enterprises which were inaugurated by
enthusiasts like myself suddenly collapsed into a mere
nothing. Among these was also Geneva, which is not
larger to-day than when we left it, and it w^as about all I
could do to raise enough money to get back to Vasa with
my wife. My friend Eustrom pre-empted a claim near
Geneva and remained there.
Making an inventory of my property after the return to
Yasa in 1857, I found that the principal thing I had was a
debt of $2,000, bearing an interest of live per cent, a month.
In order to pay this debt we sold everything we had,
even our furniture and my wife’s gold watch. This was the
great crisis of 1857. It stirred up everybody and everything
in the country, and it was no wonder that I, being an
inexperienced and enthusiastic young man, had to suffer with so
many others. But now the question was, what should I do?
I could not return to the farm, for I had none; that is, it was
encumbered for about twice its value.
In the midst of these difficulties I went to Red Wing one
day to consult a prominent lawyer in regard to some
business matters. During my conversation with him he said:
"You have nothing to do now, you have had enough of
speculation, you know the English language, you are tolerablv
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