In July 2025 it will be 200 years since the first organized group of Norwegian immigrants left the city of Stavanger, Norway. Cleng Peerson was their pathfinder in western New York in 1825, and in Fox River, Illinois, in 1833. His last 15 years in Texas have been a mystery. Most Norwegian immigrants settled in […]
From 2023: First priority Texas, Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan Les mer »
Some of the early Norwegian settlers in Montana came from the Rushford area in Fillmore County, Minnesota. Several people in Rushford organized a society with the aim of exploring for better land in Montana. Because of several years with crop failures caused by hail, bugs, and rust in Minnesota they began to dream about better
Step-by-step migration to Montana Les mer »
In the 1870s and into the 1880s the copper and pyrite mine at Vigsnæs in Avaldsnes on the west coast island of Karmøy was the largest mine in Norway. For more than a decade the newcomer, now known as Visnes or Vigsnes, on the North Sea surpassed the 300-year-old Royal silver mining establishment at Kongsberg
From the Vigsnes Copper Mine to the copper mines in Montana Les mer »
On May 25, 1866, the bark “Nicanor” left the town of Trondheim in Trøndelag, Norway. “Nicanor”, with a gross tonnage of 438, was built in Skellefteå in Sweden in 1857. When the ship set its course for Quebec in Canada, it had 233 steerage emigrants on board and five cabin passengers. Among the passengers were
Martin T. Grande: Sheep pioneer in Montana Les mer »
When the Civil War broke out in 1861 very little economic activity was conducted by people of European ancestry in Montana. Some Indian trade and missionary activity took place. Small agricultural settlements sold their surplus to homesteaders passing through the territory on their way to Oregon. After the gold discoveries became known in the early
Norwegian immigrants were drawn to the Montana gold fields Les mer »