Daily globe., 1879-07-27
BOUND FOR MINNESOTA.

Party of 1tvO Hundred Icelanders, With
Pretty WtUes and DGstOhters, and Plenty
of Money, A,rtues In ChtcaO0-A Desira-
bic Glass Of E,ai0sasats.
Chicago Times, July Is.
The arrival of over 200 Icelanlers on
visitation at this season of the year. The
temperature has been entirely comfortable
ever since they struck the town. In counter
action of the summer solstice they beat the
Manitoba wave out of sight. They were
cool looking crowd. This party went by
sailing vessel from Iceland to Glasgow, where
they took the steamship Waldensia for Que
bee, where they arrived on July 13. Their
destination was originally Manitoba, but, he
ing captivated by the oily speech of an ennis
sary of the Chicago & Northwestern railway,
the party were induced to change their pro-
gramme, and instead of going to the Cana
dian province, they propose locating at Min
neota, border settlement on the Winona g.
st. Peter railway. Not soul among these
200 emigrants from the frozen zone under
stood q word of English. OF course an in
terpreter accompanied the party. But for
him they would have been obliged to Law
over at some station until they could pick up
little English education.
THE CHILDREN,
of whom there was good-sized grist, were
sleek-looking kids, with blue eyes and "tow''
heads. The men and women all had white
hair. There wasn't a black eye among the
whole four hundred. A few of the women
we're quite handsome, and all were passably
good lookingg-in appearance away ahead of
most foreign immigrants. They appear to
have succeeded in raising children in Ice
land If nothing else, for ono middle-aged
woman was trying to take care of thirteen
youngsters, the Oldest being only sixteen
years of age. The men wore
sHEEPsKIN OvERCOATs,
or cloaks, with head-gear, or hood, attach
ed, the garments being sewn together by the
sinews of the reindeer. The lower extreme
ties were encased in sheepskin leggings.
Their feet were dressed in wooden clogs.
Some of the overcoats has sleeves, and some
had not. These people carry an enormous
bulk of baggage. One old fellow, who hob
bled around on two canes, was growing be-
cause he couldn't find his seven trunks. In
one respect they resembled tourists more
than immigrants. The party
HAD MORE MONEY THAN THE RETURNING CAL
IFoRN1ANs
in 49 and 80. The cash carried along
averaged $4,000 to each family. One man
seemed rather vain of exhibiting his seven
hundred pounds sterling in English sover-
eigns The women carried their lucre in
pockets on the inside of their leggines.
while the men had their funds secured in
belts which they wore about their waists.
They do their cooking on the cars, and their
sleeping on the seats, few of the more tony
travellers indulging in the luxury of feather
beds. The party filled two ordinary coaches
of the Chicago and Northwestern railway.
If these people find everything at Minnesota
as represented, they will influence an immi-
grafton of seven hundred families from the
same section of Iceland next year. They
purpose engaging in wheat raising and gen.
eral agriculture.
PARTY OF RUSSIANS,
not Mennonites, however, but the straight
Slavonic breed, arrived in this city on We'd
nesday night, and left at o'clock on yester-
day morning for the James river valley in
Dakota. They came from Saratov, on the
Volga, having been continuously in vessels
and railway cars since April Z, the date of
their departure for the new world. They are
thrifty set, and, like the Icelanders, bring
plenty of money with them. They exchanged
their Russian roubles in New York for
American money. The aggregate fund
in possession of the party was about $780,
600. Some of the party had stored their
cash away in trunks and boxes, and one
fellow was bemoaning the disappearance of
several pieces of luggage, which have proba-
bly, been spirited away by some wide-awake
thief. They were detained at New York
three days by the custom house authorities.
Over 800 pieces of luggage were examined,
but the search revealed only about $50 worth
of dutiable goods consisting of some linen
underwear. These people are taking with
them machine for manufacturing feul out
of straw and hay. The straw is twisted into
pieces about three inches in diameter and
two feet in length. The members of this
party are Lutherans, and they claim to have
been persecuted in their own country. Lands
have been already selected for them in the
James river valley, and each family will 90
direct to a permanent homestead. This
party required eight coaches and five baggage
cars for transportation to their destination.