AMERICAN LETTERS
The American Letters
I have selected all match the time frame (1845 1875) and the locale (southern
Minnesota) that I have established for this series of articles. For those interested in additional
letters and other similar material I might suggest the Norwegian-American Historical
Association located at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
In 1850 an Irish settler who had been
living in Wisconsin for twelve months wrote a letter to The
Times in London (14th May, 1850)
I am exceedingly well pleased at coming to this land of
plenty. On arrival I purchased 120 acres of land at $5 an acre. You must bear
in mind that I have purchased the land out, and it is to me and mine an
"estate for ever", without a landlord, an agent or tax-gatherer to
trouble me. I would advise all my friends to quit Ireland - the country most
dear to me; as long as they remain in it they will be in bondage and misery.
What you labour for is sweetened by contentment and
happiness; there is no failure in the potato crop, and you can grow every crop
you wish, without manuring the land during life. You need not mind feeding
pigs, but let them into the woods and they will feed themselves, until you want
to make bacon of them.
I shudder
when I think that starvation prevails to such an extent in poor Ireland. After supplying the
entire population of America, there would still be as much corn and provisions
left us would supply the world, for there is no limit to cultivation or end to
land. Here the meanest labourer has beef and mutton, with bread, bacon, tea,
coffee, sugar and even pies, the whole year round - every day here is as good
as Christmas day in Ireland.
(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAEireland.htm)
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The following example was written by a Norwegian farmer
in Wisconsin in 1856:
I had 20 acres to take crop from this year from which raised two
hundred and twenty-three and a half bushels maize corn, and 50 bushels potatoes
and a great deal of garden fruits. Here next prices per bushel a bushel is two
Norwegian bushels. wheat per bushel 1 dollar, oats P.B. 2 dollar maize P.B. 2
dollars. potatoes P.B. 2 dollars. So that is my harvest in addition to seed and
food for the house brings in for me 200 dollars this year.
These aforementioned prices seem to you much exaggerated but it is
to the cultivator's
advantage and in the same way profitable for the worker's class for then
they receive much higher daily pay and the money is more spread out among the
public thereby.
Here next what
animals I am in possession of which are 2 pair oxen 3 cows 2 heifers 2 sheep
and 4 pigs prices per animal 1 horse from one to 200 dollars a pair of oxen from
100 to 100 and 50 dollars a cow from 25 to 35 dollars, a sheep from 2 to 3
dollars. I have this summer bought various equipment for the first an old
cradle for 21 dollars, a cleaning machine for 26 dollars, a plow 14 dollars and
various other farm tools. Altogether I have spent a lot on my land as I have
broken 15 acres with various other repairs on the house fences etc. here next
prices for worked land here in this district 40 Acres of worked land here on
the prairie costs from 400 to 1000 dollars. So that my land ownership is worth
about 2000 dollars perhaps you think these land prices are unreasonable but I
will not exchange my arable land for the farms which are bought and sold in
Norway for 2000 dollars.
(www.telelaget.com/Telemark%20HTML/KvitseidValb2a.html)
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RØDNING, NEAR ST. PETER, TO
FRIENDS IN NORWAY
February 1860
We
must let you know that we have taken up 160 acres of government land, including
prairie and woods. It is about five English miles from Lars S. Rødningen and
twelve from the town of St. Peter. Our neighbors are Ole Lofthus and our son
Svend and a young man from Torp Annex. We moved onto our land last May. In the
summer we built a cabin with a loft, and also a barn for the animals. We have
three cows, a pair of driving oxen, two pairs of two-year-olds, three other
oxen only a year old, a heifer, two pigs, and two sheep. Last fall we
slaughtered six pigs. We can also tell you that we have broken thirteen acres
of our land for cultivation. Five of these we planted with corn and potatoes,
and we harvested 60 bushels of corn and 70 of potatoes, together with 70
bushels of cabbages. Last year we farmed seven acres belonging to Lars S.
Rødningen, from which we got half and he half. Our share consisted of 30
bushels of wheat, 60 of barley, and 15 of oats. I have fenced forty acres of
fields and meadow. As I see it, my land is well situated for water, fields, and
hay, and is a good place to build on.
Now,
to give you our honest opinion about emigration, which I know many of you want
to hear about, I can say truthfully that I do not regret our coming here,
especially when I think of the heavy burdens we escaped from.. I feel very glad
about it all, for example, when I remember the moving to the saeters, the
plight of the cattle in winter, the difficulty of getting hay, and the problem
of subsistence. From all this, with God's help, I regard myself as freed, not
that I want anybody to think that we have escaped all worry by having come
here. Still, there is a big difference, especially for women.
I
must now tell you a little about conditions here. We had a very good year, but
these are hard times for money, though we are hoping things will soon improve.
Wages are not high. A good worker gets 50 cents a day in the winter, but the
trouble is that there is not much work to be had in the winter. In the summer
wages are from $.75 to $1 a day, and for girls from $4 to $6 a month, with
never any lack of jobs for them. Now a little about the prices of foods: a
bushel of wheat, $.70; a bushel of corn, $.35; potatoes, $25; barley, $.40; a
barrel of wheat flour, $5; a pound of butter, from $10 to $15; a pound of pork,
from $.04 to $.041/2. I will also report a little about the prices of animals:
a pair of driving oxen, $60 to $70; for a team of good working horses, $200 to
$300; and for a cow, $20 to $25; one-year old heifers, $5 to $6. Tools and
implements are rather expensive here. A wagon costs from $50 to $100, a plow
$12 to $15, a breaking plow $15 to $24, and a cook stove $15 to $35. We have
bought a stove that cost us $36, and with it we can cook, roast pork, make
bread, and brew coffee all at the same time.