Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1948-12-01

IllC oil ~ oil vi
The stone was found in 1898 by
Olof Gilman, an immigrant Swe-
dish farmer who owned a home
stead near the village of Kensing-
ton in Douglas County, Minnesota.
He discovered it clutched in the
roots of an aspen tree at the edge
of a marsh, and found strange let
tiers carved on the surface of the
stone which was about the size
and shape of a Swedish cemetery
headstone. Farmer Gilman shoNet
it to some neighbors who suggest
ed that he visit Kensington. He
did. and the owner of a bank there
showed some interest in the unique
find and had it sent to the Uni
versity of Minnesota at Mime
apolis. Professor o. ]. Breda was
able to decipher most of the in
scription, which he then found to
be Morse runes, the first alphabet
of the Germanic peoples
The accepted translation reads
as follows: 1--WE are) Goths
(Swedes) and % Norwegians on
(an exploration journey from
Vinland through Tor across the
West, We had camp by Ia lake
with two skerries (rocky islands)
one days journey north from this
stone. We were (out) and fished
one day.
After we came home (we) found
10 (of our) men red with blood
and dead. AV (e) M(aria), Save
(us) from evil. (We) have 10 of
(our party by the sea to look
after our ships Tor ship IA days
journey from this island. Year
1862.
The learned men of the univer-
sity agreed that the stone was a
fake. The language was a mix
ture of Swedish and Norwegian
and what was thought to be old
English. The letters AVN were
Latin, not runes, and doubters
pointed out that the Roman alpha
bet was not introduced in the
Scandinavian countries until early
in the Middle Ages. 1t was OBJ
viously a fake and the North
western University which also ex-
amined the stone expressed the
opinion that somebody with a per-
verted sense of humor and a SUI
perficial knowledge of runes had
tried to perpetrate a fraud. 1t
said that the stone was carved on
an island in a lake, and there was
in reality no lake within twenty
miles of the Ohnian homestead.
The doubters soon began to
change their minds, however.
The learned men had one thing
in common-a complete lack of
knowledge of the runes which later
proved to spell the year 1862
These runes were of later origin
and Were used locally in Norway.
The Latin letters AVN formed
well understood symbol for Ave
Maria Latin letters had been in
troduced in Scandinavia in the
fourteenth century,, and were
much easier to carve in stone than
a large number of runes which
would spell the same expression.
The fact that runes had been used
instead of Latin letters, is easily
because straight-lined
runes were especially adapted for
carving on stones. According to
the inscription the party of Morse
men was encamped on an island in
a lake about seventy-five miles
fourteen days Journey from an
other lake containing two rocky
islands. Geological surveys show,
that the slightly elevated rocky
land where Farmer Gilman found
the stone, was almost certainly an
island five-hundred years ago. For +
the past century the land in that I
section has been getting progress
sively drier About seventy-five /
miles away is a lake with two
rocky islands, which could be the
ones mentioned in the inscription.
It is Coronant Lake, located in
Becker County, and on its shores
are large boulders. in three of
which triangular holes have been
drilled. The Norsemen in four
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