Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/401

 CHAPTER XX. SONS OF THE VIKINGS. Discovery of America — Modern Norwegian Immigration — Mathias Pedersen Ringdahl — Early Settlers — Anecdotes — Officeholders — Newspapers — Norwegians as Pioneers — Their Present Status. The Norwegians of today are the descendants of that fearless race, the Vikings, who peopled the coast of Norway and swept the oceans with their swift craft, venturing to Iceland, then to Greenland, and then, it is believed, even to the Atlantic coast of North America as far south as Long Island. It is stated that Bjarne Herjulfson, while driven about in a storm, sighted the coast of Labrador in 986. Erie, the Red. was one of the pioneers of Iceland and Greenland, and his son. Lief Ericson, or Leif the Lucky, as he was called, was early filled with the spirit of adven- ture. In the year 1000, this Leif, with a company of thirty-five men, set out from Greenland and started down the North Ameri- can coast, landing on the island of Newfoundland and on the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Continuing their voyage, they reached the vicinity of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the fall of the year. The wild grapes were hanging heavy on the vines, and Tyrker, a German, who accompanied the expedition, called the place Vineland. Norwegian historians have declared that Leif landed and settled near what is now Fall River, Mass. Even to the present day, there exists in New England a stone tower believed to have been the work of these Norsemen. In 1003, Leif's brother, Thorwald, was killed by the savages while leading another expedition of Norsemen in about the same locality. In 1007 came a larger expedition, headed by Thorfinn Karlsefin, who had married Gudrid. a widow of Thorstein, a brother of Leif. This expedition consisted of 600 men and pos- sibly some women. They landed near what is now Buzzards Bay. Three years later this settlement was abandoned, and the party sailed back to Greenland with hides and timber. In 1847 there probably occurred another attempt, although this is less generally believed than the story of the other Norse 333