California State

Early Norwegian Presence

Some of the earliest Norwegians to reach California were seamen, while others came during the gold rush. Many of them were transient. Among the Norwegian gold seekers of the 1850s were O. B. Dahle from Nissedal, Telemark, and the Vossings Amund Honve, Lars Seim, Gullick T. Saue, Ole Bøe, and Sjur Bøe. They were among the earliest Norwegian prospectors known to the author. As far as was known, they all later returned to Dane County, Wisconsin, where most of them became well known.

Another early gold seeker was John H. Thoresen, a seaman from Mandal. After sailing around the world, he settled in California and took up gold mining. The work was dangerous, and on one occasion two fellow travelers allegedly planned to rob him of his gold and kill him. A young woman overheard part of the plot and warned him in time. She later became his wife. By 1905, the couple lived in San Francisco, where Thoresen had become a well-known businessman.

Kjel Kaalstangen from Levang near Kragerø, was said to have reached the Pacific Coast in the late 1840s. He later went to San Francisco and found work in construction. According to his own account, he took part in laying the foundation stone for the first building erected there.

Gold Miners at Bidwell’s Bar, 1851

On November 15, Bergens Stiftstidende Printed a letter from a gold miner in California. The letter had been written at Bidwell’s Bar on August 26, 1851. The writer, Lars Hansen, was from Frederikshald (Halden), where he had left behind a wife and children. About two years earlier, he had sailed as a ship’s carpenter aboard the brig Louis de Geer, which belonged to the local merchant house T. & M. Hansen. During the voyage, however, he secretly deserted the ship and made his way to California. Hansen first came to San Francisco and worked there for some time as a carpenter.

Hansen had left San Francisco at the beginning of March 1851 and traveled to Bidwell’s Bar, where he began digging for gold together with several fellow Norwegians. Bidwell’s Bar is about 150 English miles from San Francisco, in Butte County. A number of other Norwegian immigrants had apparently settled there for the same reason. At first, their efforts produced only a modest return.

On the opposite side of the river, however, a so-called dam company was at work. Three brothers named Johnsen from the Christiansand area had already held shares in the company since the previous year. Through them, Hansen and several other Norwegians were offered shares on what appeared to be reasonable terms. Hansen joined the company together with four other Norwegians, among them Julius Abertus and Niels Kjetelsen from Frederikshald. From April 1 until shortly before the letter was written, the men had been occupied with digging a canal that would divert the river into a new channel. The work was exceptionally hard and involved both blasting and cutting through rock. Much of his money had also been invested in the undertaking, without any certainty that he would recover either his expenses or the value of the time he had spent working. By late August, however, Hansen believed that the effort might not have been in vain. During the previous two weeks, the company had been working in the original riverbed, and the results had been encouraging. Their yield amounted to between $200 and $400 a day. Such sums would have seemed like fortunes in Norway, Hansen observed, but in California, where tools and nearly everything else were extremely expensive, the amount was considered relatively modest, particularly because the proceeds had to be divided among twelve shares. Hansen therefore warned his acquaintances in Frederikshald not to expect him to return as a wealthy magnate. At best, he expected to bring home a modest quantity of gold dust. If he succeeded in earning some money during the autumn, he planned to return by way of Panama and the free states of North America and hoped to reach home in March or April of the following year.

Hansen also reported news of several other men from Frederikshald who had come to California. A goldsmith’s journeyman named Thoresen had arrived from New Orleans about a year earlier. After trying his luck as a gold miner in several different places, he reached Bidwell’s Bar at about the same time as Hansen and remained in his company throughout their work there. Thoresen did not intend to return home so soon. He hoped first to accumulate a small fortune before leaving the gold country. First Mate Hans Hoel, also from Frederikshald, had traveled to the mines together with Hansen, and the two initially worked as partners. After Hansen joined the dam company, Hoel became the constant companion of Sigwardt Baastad, another man from Frederikshald. As far as Hansen knew, the two energetic young men had earned a considerable amount during a period of several months. He hoped that they might once again discover a profitable piece of gold and be ready to travel home with him. Hansen nevertheless ended his account with a strong warning. Based on his own experience in California, he would not advise anyone to go there. In his view, the best opportunities had already passed, and he believed that ninety-nine out of every hundred people in California wished they had never thought of going there in the first place.

Early Norwegian Settlers

Among the earliest Norwegian settlers elsewhere in California were Nils Hansen from Flekkefjord in Eureka, Humboldt County; Mr. Leque in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County; Osmund Johnson and O. Swensen in Modesto, Stanislaus County; Pastor H. L. Haakonson in Red Bluff, Tehama County; and Pastor Løken, who served an American congregation in Richmond, Contra Costa County.

Hans Jevne from Hamar was one of the oldest Norwegian residents of Los Angeles. He had been engaged in the grocery business there for many years, and his enterprise was regarded as one of the largest of its kind on the Pacific Coast. By 1905, he employed about 130 men and operated approximately forty delivery teams.

Norwegian Settlement in Santa Barbara County

Casberg Wade from Stordalen near Ålesund was the first Norwegian farmer at Goleta in Santa Barbara County, where a Norwegian settlement later developed. The first Norwegian known to have visited the area, however, was Hans Nickelsen Engeseth from Stranda, Sunnmøre. He had traveled on foot from the eastern states to Washington, where he built a sawmill. There he suffered a serious accident and lost his right hand. He later moved to Santa Barbara County and died in a hospital there in 1899 at the age of seventy-five.

Newbury Park

A small Norwegian settlement had once existed at Newbury Park in Ventura County, but by 1905 it had largely disappeared. Only Nils Olson from Stranda, Sunnmøre, and N. Nilsen Ansok remained of the original settlers.

Churches and Congregations

Vor Frelser Congregation, established in San Francisco in 1871 by Pastor Hvistendal of the Norwegian Synod, was the oldest Norwegian congregation in both San Francisco and the state of California. By 1905, San Francisco had four Norwegian congregations and three churches. Two congregations belonged to the Norwegian Synod, one to the United Church, and one to the Methodist Church. The Norwegian Synod also maintained a Norwegian Seamen’s Home with a reading room. Oakland in Alameda County had two Norwegian congregations, each with its own church. One belonged to the Norwegian Synod and the other to the Methodist Church. Los Angeles County had four Norwegian congregations and two churches. Two congregations belonged to the Methodist Church, one to the United Church, and one to the Norwegian Synod. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County had a congregation and church belonging to Hauge’s Synod, while Orland in Glenn County had a congregation belonging to the United Church. Santa Barbara also had a Norwegian congregation, which was served from Los Angeles. In San Diego, a Norwegian congregation and church had existed a few years earlier, but internal church conflict led to the work being discontinued and the church building was sold. Eureka in Humboldt County had two Norwegian-Danish congregations and two churches, one belonging to the Norwegian Synod and the other to the Methodist Church.

Norwegian-American Press

Bien was the name of an illustrated Norwegian newspaper published in San Francisco. It was followed by Luthersk Sendebud, then Fram, and finally Pacific Posten.

Public Office

A Mr. Nilsen of San Francisco was, as far as the author knew, the only Norwegian who had held a public office of any significance in California. He served for a time as a member of the California State Legislature.

Norwegian Place Names

The source identified three California post offices with Norwegian names: Nord in Butte County, Iverson in Mendocino County, and Monson in Tulare County.

Sources:

[Ulvestad, Martin. Nordmændene i Amerika. Utg. History Book Company's Forlag. Minneapolis, Minn. 1907.] [Bergens Stiftstidende 1851.11.23]