The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1914-03-26
Are Busy With Centennial

tn Centennial
which is fitted up for visiting country
women.
Even the Norway Abroad" exhibit
excludes the display of foreign manu-
features. 1t will consist entirely of
photographs, drawings, models, plates
and statistical reports designed to
throw light on the life and activities
Of Norwegians abroad.
When Norway's call went out thru
the legation at Washington for coop
Grafton it was responded to by Nor
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES with great enthus-
iasm. It has proved an incentive to
the collection Of much historical ma
terial and data which might otherwise
have been neglected. The famous
Harku stone, found ct Yarmouth, N.
s., viii b loaned By The Canadian Pa
eide railway % The Ane historical
SAnayi4 Collections and the Nofsreg-
EE.e.R qsea1a q Rxgdo, Ha.fp,
Eaai5s1 frsm. tel3sa1 Is slfiinjan1s. Is
EIc61 aa65 4Aeifs ottlAss4s, antedasine
Ee1sG61lSi 10 discovery by' 800 .4yeafs,
Fa5ofwek ians claim o tie beginning of
their property IA America. ThofAn
eyen went - far south - Dighten,
Massachusetts,, where the famous
Writing Inscription Rock still bears in
Runic the record Of his name aud num-
Der Of his party.
OF closer and more modern interest
are the histories Of some Of the mid
die west states which are being writ
ten for the exposition from the Nor.
wegian point Of view, portraying the
part Norwegians took in the develop
ment particularly Of North Dakota,
Minnesota and Wisconsin. The ad-
venturous spirit of the Vikings, COM
bined with industry and patient toll,
stopped not at the seaport towns but
found place in the middle west where
their descendants are possessors of
many acres of rich farm lands.
Iceland in the eleventh century has
been called the Athens Of America.
This is questioned but it is certain
that literature and music are we'll de-
veloped qualities in the American
Norwegians. The summer reunions
of the "Bygdelag," or associations Of
people from the same district or
"Bygd" in Norway, keep alive in the
minds of the Nor,vegians born here
the saga tales on Snorri, and the pic
lures of the Viking ships in the forms
of dragons and serpents that glided
over the seas as gracefully as swans.
Here in the Bygdelag reunions the
young folks of these Vikings told in
their own dialect, listen to the tunes
of their fiddlers and eat the holiday
dishes Of Norseland.
No doubt the railroad, steamship,
land and warehouse companies, and
the banks, merchants and others who
would profit by such sturdy settlers
would gladly have sent agents on this
immigrant-getting mission-but they
were not permitted. Norway doesn't
wish to lose her sturdy citizens. Cor
porations and private persons who try
TODD recruiting Of that sort are gently
three great Norwegian states Of the
t. and Wisconsin were welcomed Is
exhibitors 1t the centennial exposition,
their connissio toner's will do the rest.
n Norwegfans own almost 5000, Oe0
acres. in North Dakota. This IS val
ued for taxation at $275, 0O0, 900, and
the ,140, 900 owners have II Of the 130
members Of the Legislature, one Of the
Two United States senator's and one OF
the Observation-Disclosures in congress-.
not 70 speak Of thfse elective state of
ficials. incidentally, perhaps, the
state = the most prosperous, per cap.1
II, 81 tie union. The average wealth.
Per citizen y, $1,000. g4i The i United