Winter 2013 - Norwegian-American Historical Association - St. Olaf ...

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Page 2Eleven Covered Wagons - 1873On August 9 -11, 2013 an estimated300 descendants of an ElevenCovered Wagon Train will convenein Sioux Falls, South Dakota tocelebrate the 140th Anniversary ofthe original, incredible four weekjourney. It began on May 18, 1873when the Wagon Train left FillmoreCounty Minnesota and headed westinto the sunset to claim land in theDakota Territory. It ended on June18, 1873 upon their arrival in thenortheast corner of MinnehahaCounty, about eight miles westof Garretson, South Dakota. It isbelieved that this Eleven CoveredWagon Train may have been oneof the longest to ever enter Dakotaterritory.Most of the people who comprisedthe Eleven Covered Wagonsstarted emigrating from Norway toAmerica in the mid 1850s, settlingin Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.Their voyage from Norway typicallytook 6 to 8 weeks on ships built tocarry cargo, so accommodations forpassengers were primitive.Anders J. and Caroline O. Berdahl and family circa 1886. From the personalcollection of Solveig Zempel, great-granddaughter. Used with permission.At that time, most of the Norwegianimmigrants to America traveledthrough Quebec, Canada. However,their journey was far from over asit would take another three weeksto get to their destinations in theMidwest.In the spring of 1871, JohannesBerdahl and several neighborsstarted west to look over the countryand see for themselves what landwas available to be claimed. Whenthey got as far as the Sioux River inDakota Territory near the presentlocation of Brandon, South Dakota,they found what they were lookingfor. The land was good and therewas an abundance of timber sothey turned around and went backto Minnesota, very excited aboutwhat they had seen and found. TheWestern Fever had begun.They returned to the same locationthe following spring, but much totheir dismay, somebody had alreadystaked claim to the land they hadlooked over the year before. Theyconsulted a local surveyor who tookthem to another area further northand east along the Slipup Creek inEdison Township. It looked goodand while it didn’t have timber, itdid have water and hay. The nextmorning they started on a three daytrip to the Vermillion land office tofile their claims.On May 18, 1873, a caravan of 8Covered Wagons departed FillmoreCounty for their new home inDakota Territory. The Wagon Trainstarted with five families: Mr. & Mrs.
The 140th anniversary of the Covered Wagon Journey from FillmoreCounty to Dakota Territory, provided by Ron Halverson.Page 3Johannes Berdahl with 9 children;Mrs. Power (widow) with 6 childrenand her brother-in-law Allen Powerand his son; Mr. & Mrs. JohnLoftesness and their 6 children; Mr.& Mrs. Olaus Jenson and 3 children;Mrs. Lars Branvold and 1 son. Theywere joined a few days later by Mr.& Mrs. Thor Hermanson and his5 daughters and his grandfatherHerman Wangsness and his wifeand youngest son. Mr. WilliamTobin, traveling alone joined thegroup later in the journey.They were now a caravan of 46people with 11 covered wagons, 6horse teams, 5 teams of oxen, alongwith 85 head of cattle, 8 colts, and30 sheep. During the first few daysall of the youngsters got plenty ofexercise by keeping the big herdtogether following the wagon train.Once in the open prairie the cattlewould come along when they sawthe wagons move. In the evenings alarge tent was used as a dining hall,although each family had to providetheir own food.It was a very bad spring for traveldue to heavy rains and flooding.West of Austin, Minnesota they hadto unload all of the wagons and shipgoods by train to Winnebago City.There were days when they were notable to travel more than 6 to 8 miles.The horses proved to be of little useand only the faithful oxen could behitched up as needed to cross themarshy places.Their next challenge was crossingthe Little Sioux River which was soclose to their destination, yet so faraway. The whole valley was underwater with no hope of crossing withtheir loads. Fortunately, they wereable to secure a boat so all of thewagons had to be unloaded againand transferred to the boat. Threeyoungsters were placed on eachside of the boat to prevent it fromtipping. The crossing was difficultand took more than six hours. Oneof the members of the group fellasleep from exhaustion and thatevening the tent was not put up norwas there any attempt at cooking.Fortunately, the rest of the trip wason land that drained better and therewere no more serious encounters ordelays.They reached their destination onJune 18, 1873, a month after theyleft Fillmore County. The actualarrival was a shock as a prairie firehad blazed across the area a few daysearlier, leaving black desolation inevery direction. “Why oh why” saidone of the wives, “did we ever leaveNorway if this is where we must live?Surely God never intended humanbeings to live here.” The first yearswere ones of severe testing. Thegrasshoppers came in clouds anddevoured the crops each of the firstfour years and then the Big Blizzardof 1881 struck, which is still talkedabout.Two of Johannes Berdahl’s sons,Andrew and Erick, each wrotejournals describing the journeyand homesteading in DakotaTerritory. One of Andrew Berdahl’sdaughters, Jennie, married theNorwegian novelist, Ole Rolvaag,on the Berdahl Homestead nearGarretson and that house is nowpart of the Heritage Park on thecampus of Augustana College inSioux Falls, South Dakota. In hisclassic pioneer novel, Giants inthe Earth he revealed the humancost of the American pioneerexperience. Rolvaag gave muchcredit to his father-in-law anduncle for their writings andstories about the families onEleven Covered Wagons, as hewrote Giants in the Earth. Lettersbetween Rolvaag and the BerdahlFamily are found in archivesthe the Norwegian-AmericanHistorical Association (NAHA)at St. Olaf College in Northfield,Minnesota.The pioneer beginnings in thiscountry were simple, humbleand fraught with hardshipand privation. Now that thesehardships are partially forgotten,the past seems somewhat moreromantic to us, and the ordealis material for anecdotes. Atthe celebration these, and otherstories, will be shared. Newfriendships will be made andrelationships discovered, all basedon the ancestors we take pride in.They truly were Giants in theEarth.(1) Based on relevant informationcontained in the Autobiography ofErick J Berdahl written about 1928and The Thor Hermanson Familyby Christie Hermanson Monson in1950.
Page 5 and 6: Page 5What We are Reading, Jackie H
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Winter 2013 - Norwegian-American Historical Association - St. Olaf ...

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