The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-01-28
VOVG-MOZHER COLONY
=. OF NORWEGIAN SETTLEMENTS
Boyhood Home of Senator Nels0m Professor anderson,
Former Governors He,veid and Lee, and Many
Others Distinguished IN Public Life.

how to proceed and instructed them as
to government MARKINGS stakes
which stood at the corner Of every
quarter section, giving the number Of
each.
After resting for two days at the
tavern, the wanderers continued west.
woods out upon Koshkoning prairie.
The land seemed to them exceeding
ly beautiful; here they saw a little
stretch of meadow, where focks could
feed; there they saw a clump Of tim
Der, affording fuel, rails for fences and
logs for houses. Near by flowed Kosh-
konong creek, teeming with fish.
For two days they roamed over the
about two miles from the spot where
Cambridge now stands, on the boundary
line between the towns Of Christiania
and Deerfeld.
Founders of Settlement.
These three men were the first Nor
weglans to set foot on KOshkonong soil
and they became the founders Of this
famous settlement, fact which gives
them an important place in Norwegian
American pioneer history.
derhus, Bolstad and Himle returned to
Illinois to spend the :. winter. They
told about their journey to their Nor
wegian friends and aroused great inter
est in the new promised land they had
found in Wisconsin.
The next spring, in 1910, Glider
hus and Bolstad again set out for Kosh-
konong, accompanied by Magne By
them all their belongings. The grass
was just beginning to grow when they
started and in April they reached their
destination. Some of them walked to
Milwaukee and "filed their claims' in
the land office there on the 9th day Of
May 1870.
Hardships Of First Winter.
The first habitation Of these four
pioneers was large log cabin, which
rival r 'F They built it rather e careiessiy
Ineglecting to insure warmth by plaster.
ing mud or mortar between the logs, so
when winter came, they were at the
mercy Of the cold. Every day, wher
|they had finished their work outside
|they would lie down on their beds and
Icover up with robes to protect them
Iselves from the cold winds. ,.,..-
i At last their condition became in
}tolerable, and they dug a cellar to live
was warm and served as their winter
residence for several years. The biz
log cabin became in time the property
Of Erick Lee, the father of former Gov
!, lernor. Lee of South Dakota, and tn
future executive lived in this rud
dwelling while boy.
In 1871 these pioneers began to sepa
frate. Bolstad built log hut il
Deerfeld township, where he lived til
his death in 1865. Gilderhus ais
erected a log cabin in Deerfeld, but re
moved in 1856 to Minnesota. He die,
in the eighties in North Dakota. Hi
! was restless spirit-the spirit of
, typical frontiersman, who shuns civil
zafion.
Magne Bystol sold his Koshkonon
,, farm in 1856 and went to Minnesota
.. diving there a score Of years ago. Ar
drew Femme stayed in Wisconsin unit
1849, when he caught the gold feve
and went to California. He was neve
; heard of again.
Second Group Of Pathfnders.
s All Of these pathfnders were Vos'
i lings-former residents of Voss, No
: way-and formed distinct group Q
d Koshkonong. Only a month after thei
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