New Britain herald., 1925-06-09
VIKINGS OF AMERICA.

Delving into the musty pages of historical events for information re- garding the first landing of Norwe- glans in this country we find most interesting chapter.
 The stalwart sons of Norway are celebrating a centenary in St, Paul this week, which has been hoQored by the presence Of President and Mrs. Coolidge, so that a turning back of the pages of history 10 the time 100 years ago when the first Norwegian ship arrived off an American harbor, is an appropriate and agreeable task.
 The sloop which brought the first Norsemen to cross the ocean 100 years ago was the staunch little ves- sel Restaurationen of AS tons Note the small size-even the Mayfower was a vessel of-1SO tons.
 The Restaurationen carried 5 men. women and children, and took IA weeks to cross the ocean, A cargo of iron in the hold caused the ship 10 sag to the bottom of every bil- lowy valley When the small ship ar rived in the harbor of New York 1t created a sensation - nothing so small had ever crossed the Atlantic. Port authorities were indignant that the lives of people were jeopardized in crossing the deep in such a slight vessel, so the captain was arrested and the ship confscated,
 The staid conservatives of New York did not reckon in the light Of the past performances of the Norsemanic race. The newcomers were progeny of the old seakIngs who drove their square-rigged ships into every creyice of the European continent, whose exploits had be- come famed in song, story and saga. The trip over the ocean in the di minutive craft was but of a piece with the exploits of f-Norseman for q thousand years.
 The Restaurationen WAS but the beginning of the Norscman invasion oc the United States. Other vessels followed, each bringing hardy sons of the northern fjords and their women folk. They were farming people, and scarcely landed upon the Atlantic coast when they set their faces westward, A thousand miles and more they travelled, at time in the annals of the nation when trav- ' cling that far west was an adventure scarcely less epical than crossing the ocean in ships of slight build.
 The Norsemen settlers Of this country became citizens early; at least three generations have passed snce they came in large numbers. Their children, of course, and their grandchildren and grca;-grandchil- Jrcn are those citizens of "Norwe- gian extraction" who make Up the populations of inc northwest states. In North and South Dakota they rank first among the immigrant na- tlonaHtcs; in Wisconsin, Washing ton, Montana and Minnesota, second; and so on in ehe other western states,
 Their characteristics of idcajism and courage have become jrans- planted in tho soil Of those com monwcullns. And while they are eel 1 ebrating in St. pauI. Raold Amund- sen. the present-day air viking of their race. has added a new chapter 10 the adventures Of restless spirits by attempting 10 penetrate inc Arc tic silence of the Pole, and II Is yet to he determined whether he has succeeded or failed.
 The spirit that look Amunlsen to the Arctic was the same streak oi ad.enturousness that brought that first puny Norwegian bark 10 our shores from fhg iro-capped coast Of Norway.