Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota

The First Norwegian Settlement

The first Norwegian settlers established themselves along the Lac qui Parle River in 1869.

The colony consisted of forty families, mainly from the Stavanger and Bergen areas, who settled among the Indians. They came from Fayette County, Iowa, under the leadership of F. Jacobsen, who was also the first to claim land. Peter Thompson accompanied the colony as pastor, and Peter Skoven as teacher.

The first Norwegian settlers in the vicinity of Louisburg were Jacob Nilsen and Torkel Thompson from Hallingdal and Ole Skordal from Telemark.

A. M. Aves from the Trondheim area was the first Norwegian in the vicinity of Marietta.

Peder Quaal from Orkdal was the first in the vicinity of Boyd.

Pioneer Life at Freeland

The first Norwegian settler in the southern part of the county, near Freeland, was Andreas Eriksen from Eidsvoll, a veteran of the Civil War.

In The History of the Freeland Township, written by several Norwegians who settled there, Andreas Eriksen related:

“In the beginning, we lived fifteen miles from our nearest neighbors. During the first years, the Indians visited us regularly and caused considerable trouble by stealing whatever they could while they were fishing along Florida Creek.

On one occasion, when my wife and children were home alone, an Indian chief came from the Sisseton Reservation with a tomahawk in his hand and seated himself in the middle of the floor. His purpose was to frighten my wife and children out of the house so that he could help himself to the food.

He succeeded, for the terrified woman took the children and fled as quickly as she could.

Otherwise, these Indians were peaceful. In 1878, when the government decided that they should return to their reservation, they came in a large group carrying a peace pipe, which we all had to smoke with them as a sign of peace and friendship.

When the ceremony was over, they departed peacefully, and we never saw them again.”

Eriksen continued:

“In 1876 and 1877, grasshoppers came in enormous swarms that darkened the sun as they flew through the air. They descended upon the fields and destroyed everything in their path.

In 1877, we had eighteen acres of wheat. We worked without interruption, day and night, carrying straw, hay, and other combustible material to the edges of the wheat fields and setting it on fire. By means of the flames and smoke, we prevented the grasshoppers from destroying the crop.

The work was exhausting, but the family’s livelihood depended upon it. Our efforts were richly rewarded. From the eighteen acres, we harvested two hundred bushels of wheat, enough for our own needs and for seed the following year.

In other places, the crops were completely destroyed. Even the grass and the leaves on the trees were eaten by the voracious insects.”

Prairie Fires

Eriksen also described the danger of prairie fires:

“Another dangerous element was the prairie fire, which from time immemorial had swept across these plains. For amusement, the Indians set fire to the tall grass, and the wind drove the flames across the prairie at lightning speed, consuming everything in their path.

Like a devouring sea, the fire raced across the endless plateau. Neither plowed fields nor rivers could stop or slow its furious advance. A few furrows around our houses provided our only protection, and sometimes even they failed.

People often lost everything they owned and barely escaped with their lives. Many times, I fought prairie fires until I was more dead than alive.”

Snakes

“Snakes and serpents were so numerous,” Eriksen continued, “that they caused considerable trouble and fear. They crawled into our houses, which were not as tightly built as farmers’ homes are today, and often found their way into our beds.

On one occasion, my wife found a snake lying quite comfortably beside our small child in bed. Once, we found fifteen or twenty of them in one place.

Before long, however, we lost our fear of them. Their bites proved not to be poisonous, and the snakes disappeared after the land was cultivated.”

Berger Steffensen’s Journey for Oxen

Another early settler, Berger Steffensen from Eidskog, described what happened when he set out to purchase his first team. He wanted to acquire a pair of oxen and naturally had to travel east to find them.

After many days of difficult travel, he finally bought a pair northeast of Montevideo. He was poor and had to purchase them on credit, but he was nevertheless happy to have a team of his own.

Bringing the oxen home was difficult. There were no bridges across the rivers or creeks, and there were no roads. To cross the Minnesota River, the oxen swam while their owner held on to their tails. Later, he managed to ride on the back of one of the animals.

Late in the fall, he went to Appleton, the nearest place where grain could be milled. He was completely unfamiliar with the country, and there was no road. Then the heavens opened, heavy rain began to fall, and the saturated ground became almost impassable.

“At last I arrived and had my grain ground,” he said. “On the journey home, the weather changed to snow and bitter cold. What the oxen and I suffered on that trip is impossible to describe. After five or six days of hardship, we finally reached home.”

Winter in a Dugout

Herman Olsen Dale from Eidskog recalled:

“In 1881, when we had an especially severe winter with heavy snow, the dugout in which we lived was often buried beneath snowdrifts.

In the morning, we sometimes had to shovel the snow into the room before we could get outside. The lamps had to remain lit all the time because the snow lay eight to ten feet deep around us.

Nevertheless, we were comfortable and warm and suffered no hardship.”

Churches and Congregations

The Lac qui Parle Congregation, established in 1870 by Pastor Peder Thompson of Elling Eielsen’s Society, was the first Norwegian congregation in the county.

At the time this account was written, there were twenty-seven Norwegian congregations and twenty-four churches in Lac qui Parle County. Fifteen belonged to the United Church, seven to Hauge’s Synod, two to the Evangelical Free Church, one to the Norwegian Synod, one to the Lutheran Free Church, and one to Elling Eielsen’s Society.

Public Office

Peter F. Jacobsen and Colbe Anderson were the first Norwegians to hold public office in the county. They were elected County Treasurer and County Commissioner, respectively, in 1872.

The aforementioned Peter Jacobsen was also the first Norwegian to represent Lac qui Parle County in the State Legislature. He was elected in 1875.

Newspapers and Education

Minnesota Tidende, which for a time was known as Madison Tidende, was published in Madison during the 1890s.

The United Church’s Normal School was founded in Madison, Minnesota, in 1892.

Norwegian Place Names

Post offices with Norwegian names included Norman, Vaaler, and Sverdrup. All had been closed by 1907.

Sources:

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