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

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.