Viking Magazine - May 2013 - 9

MIND THE (GENDER) GAP The Nordic countries top
the list of the world's best countries for women, according to the World Economic
Forum. The Forum's Global Gender Gap Report measures 135 countries
on economic-, political-, education- and health-based criteria. Canada and the
United States ranked 21st and 22nd, respectively. Here are the top fi ve:
12 3 45
From Norway to Quebec
ICELAND
FINLAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN
BY JEFF M. SAUVE
f I ever reach the shore, I'll
never go back to Norway, "
said a seasick 25-year-old Guri
Bly. Along with 238 fellow passengers
on board the 124-foot
sailing ship Immanuel, she departed
Bergen, Norway, on May
4, 1872, and arrived at Quebec,
Canada, on June 9.
I
According to family documents,
her passage to Quebec
and a rail ticket to Chicago totaled
$31.30, or approximately
$591 in today's currency. Family
lore suggests that Bly earned
her passage by climbing up
the glacier near their home in
Ullensvang, Norway, and chipping
ice, which she would carry
down to the shore and sell to
passing ships.
" From 1850 to 1865 more than
51,000 Norwegians landed in
Quebec City, " says Odd Lovoll,
professor emeritus of history
at St. Olaf College. " Nearly
all these immigrants went to
the United States, " he adds.
A New York newspaper, the
Commercial Advertiser,
described the city's port
as bustling with immigrants
in 1861:
" There are many
gray-haired men,
as well as young
children,
among them,
and all are attired neatly, especially
the woman, with their
snow-white kerchiefs about
their heads. "
Unfortunately the immigrant's
attire made them easy marks
for local thieves. One family who
arrived in Quebec reported being
robbed of all their money and
tickets. Luckily their ship's captain
was notifi ed of the predicament
and he arranged passage
for the family by rail to La Crosse,
Wisc., albeit in livestock boxcars.
Bly married a former California
gold prospector, Elias Oleson
Espe of Lee County, Ill., in 1876.
Together they had six children.
True to her words, she never
traveled by boat again nor ever
saw the members of her family
who remained in Norway.
Jeff M. Sauve serves as an
archivist for the NorwegianAmerican
Historical Association
in Northfi eld, Minn. Background
material for this article was
contributed by Odd Lovoll.
In 1872, Guri Bly left Bergen on a
ship bound for Quebec.
IRELAND
SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
" Kon-Tiki " Nabs
Nominations
Norway's most expensive
movie, " Kon-Tiki, " is garnering
international recognition
from the industry's top
critics. The fi lm was nominated
for Norway's fi rst-ever
Golden Globe award for a
full-length feature fi lm and
also nabbed a nomination
for Best Foreign Language
Film at the Academy Awards
earlier this year. Released
in Norway last summer,
" Kon-Tiki " dramatizes Thor
Heyerdahl's (Pål Sverre
Hagen) legendary 4,300mile
journey across the
Pacifi c Ocean on a wooden
raft in 1947. The Weinstein
Company secured rights to
the English-language version
of the fi lm, which is now in
theaters across the United
States in limited release.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING MAY 2013 9
PHOTO (RIGHT) COURTESY OF GARY S. KRAHENBUHL
http://www.sonsofnorway.com
Viking Magazine - May 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Viking Magazine - May 2013
