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.
4.2
4.2 Story of an Emigrant.
astonishment the fire had spread over the best part of the
valley and consumed all. the remaining grass, which was
pretty dry at that time of the year. Inexperienced as we
were, we commenced to run a race with the wind, and tried
to stop the fire before reaching another fine patch of grass
about a mile to the north; but this attempt was, of course,
a complete failure, and we returned to our cheerless tent
mourning over tins serious misfortune.
The next morning we all started out in different directions
to see if any grass was left in Goodhue Count}’, and
fortunately we found plenty of it near our first
camping-ground. Having put up a second stack of very poor hay,
we proceeded to build a rude log house, and had just finished
it when my brother-in-law, Mr. Willard, surprised us by
appearing in our midst, having left in Red Wing his wife and
baby, now Mrs. Zelma Christensen of Rush City, who is, as
far as I know, the first child born of Swedish parents in St.
Paul. Mr. Willard who was a scholarly gentleman and not
accustomed to manual labor, had found it rather hard to
work with shovel and pick 011 the hilly streets of St. Paul,
and made up his mind that he would better do that kind of
work 011 alarm. Messers. Roosand Kempe having furnished
all the money for the outfit, I really had 110 share in it, and
as we could not expect Mr. Willard and his family to pass
the winter in that cabin, I immediately made up my mind
to return with him to Red Wing. I11 an hour we were ready,
and without waiting for dinner we took the trail back to
that place. 1 remember distinctly how, near the head of the
Spring Creek Valley, we sat down in a little grove to rest
and meditate 011 the future. We were both very hungry,
especially Mr. Willard, who had now walked over twenty
miles since breakfast. Then espying a tempting squirrel in a
trceclosc bv, we tried to kill it with sticks and rocks; but we
were poor marksmen, and thus missed a fine squirrel roast.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
