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from Fjord to Floathouse: one family's journey from the farmlands of Norway to the coast of British Columbia

by Myrtle Siebert

239 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #01-0464; ISBN 1-55369-062-1; US$22.00, C$25.00, EUR18.00, £13.00

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about the book      about the author      excerpts and Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book     In 1898 Vancouver, the flip of a coin sends his partner to the Klondike gold rush and leaves young Norwegian immigrant, Andy Forberg, to carve a living from trees found along the waterways of the remote coast of British Columbia. One hundred years later a granddaughter, driven by a need to explore her family heritage, experiences a heart-warming welcome at the farm he left so long ago. from Fjord to Floathouse is the saga of hardy pioneers living in snug floating homes and sustained by surrounding sea and forest. Their chosen life meant communication and transportation by water only, with semi-weekly shipments of mail and staple supplies (anything they could not shoot, catch, or pick). In short time segments complete with quotes, photographs, maps, recipes and family charts, readers are drawn into a rural lifestyle that only few have experienced, or even been aware existed. Book Reviews     Pictures, maps, copies of old documents, and recipes grace and inform this fascinating account of a family migration from Norway to Canada. Myrtle Siebert draws on letters and Norwegian records to document the migration and continuing in Canada, on her own memories and those of her relatives. The overall story is imaginatively put together and engaging.     The migrants were Myrtle Siebert's grandparents, Andy Forberg and Gunhild Gunnulfsen, married in 1909. Andy Forberg decided to become a hand logger on the remote mainland coast of British Columbia and the couple set up their home on a floathouse that moved around the coast north of Campbell River.     For Gunhild, an educated woman, the move to the west coast of BC must have been traumatic but it was clearly also life affirming. In Canada, her domestic knowledge was important, for her new life was probably harder than the one she had left behind in Norway. One hopes that more women will be inspired to search the records and gather up the memories, to create family histories for their friends and children. Such histories add to our understanding of how life evolved in B.C. over the past century. Above all they demonstrate the importance of women's family work in our collective past. Alison Prentice, PhD., Victoria, Women's History Network     from Fjord to Floathouse should be of great interest to those who are curious about the past, whether they are visitors to this area or people who relish traveling back in time through the joys of reading. I'm grateful to Myrtle Siebert for renewing many memories - logging camps on Vancouver Island, B.C.'s elementary correspondence schooling, grocery orders from Woodward's, trips to Vancouver on the Union Steamships, residences at U.B.C. I look forward to her next book! Frances (Munro) Money,B.A., Ottawa     Edsvold Lodge has another author in its midst. Myrtle (Forberg) Siebert, like many of us, had not asked enough questions while her parents were alive and now she was on her own. A search that began in our Sons of Norway library has resulted in publication of from Fjord to Floathouse. With the help of friends, the Mormon Genealogy Library in Salt Lake City and many letters, the exciting day finally arrived when Myrtle received her first reply from Norway. "Yes, you have many relatives here. We have been searching for you." Then came the joyful reunion in Telemark and a warm Norwegian welcome into her Forberg Family. Einar Einarson came from Bo, Telemark, in 1893. But like many other immigrants he had changed his name. 'Einar' became Americanized to Andrew (Andy) and then instead of Einarson he took a name from his family farm called 'Forberg.' This was the Andy Forberg that Myrtle knew as 'Grandpa Andy.'     But genealogy is only part of Myrtle's book. Woven expertly into the story is the tale of three generations of the Forberg family in Canada and their lives in the logging industry on the coast of mainland British Columbia. This too was Myrtle's early life. We learn of the isolation, the sorrows and joys of this unique lifestyle. A-frames, donkey engines and living on a floathouse tied to the shore where your front yard changes with the tides. It is a lifestyle that many of us never knew existed and that has now become extinct.     Many pictures help us relate to the story and Myrtle, ever the Home Economics teacher, has sprinkled Grandma Gunhild's recipes liberally throughout each chapter. It is a valuable addition to the history of the British Columbia West Coast. A fascinating read! Hilda Tellefsen Voth, BEd., Sons of Norway, 'Runer'     from Fjord to Floathouse is an interesting, easy read. Your vivid descriptions bring people and places that you have written about clearly to the mind's eye. Many times I would stop and say to myself "I remember that." It was surprising how often the events in your family's lives parallel those of my family as they struggled with life on the Alberta prairie. Even a number of the recipes you included are so similar to those we call our family specialties they made my mouth water. I hope you will be able to stay in touch with these people you have portrayed so sharply. Margaret Morrison, BSc., CFUW Writer's Workshop     "Just wanted to let you know I can hardly put the book down. At times, when my head starts to spin with the brevity of description compacted into time spans of years I put it to rest for a while. I'm lured back, bent on getting on with the next step in this adventure. Back to the book! I'm reading on with anticipation." Penny Briggs, International Training in Communications You have discovered what I did when I was first exposed to Myrtle's work - that the imagery was superb, the story fascinating. That Myrtle has studied the craft is evident in the way the story unfolds. She has just cause to be very proud of this work. I now feel that I "know" the characters and can hardly keep myself from calling Myrtle "Rae." It is a name I feel really suits her. Truly inspiring to us, asFledgling Writers. Suzanne Schrader, Victoria, 'Writer in Training'

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About the Author     Myrtle Rae Forberg Siebert came to writing through a deep appreciation for books, first as a child and later through participation as a teacher on a Ministry of Education Textbook Selection Committee. Ms Siebert's Management and Foods is a ministry text and was the first book to achieve a much-coveted metric "M" designation in Canada. An education ministry contact led to her second work, Food for Life, published in 1994 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson for students at grade nine and ten level.     She is a Registered Professional Home Economist with a special interest in management of time, energy and resources. A former teacher, she has enjoyed a wide range of careers including that of owner-operator of a small fast food outlet. Her other interests of a more personal nature change with the season or need: bookkeeper, homebuilder, kitchen designer, decorator and gardener. Through many years of volunteer activities she has gained a valuable understanding of group leadership. Involvement with International Training in Communications has honed Myrtle's public speaking skills. She has led beginners workshops in writing, family history research and life planning.     Myrtle has three children and lives with her husband near Sidney on Vancouver Island. from Fjord to Floathouse is the result of over three years of family history research. She is currently working on a fiction with the same setting as this publication.

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Table of Contents and Excerpts

page 22

    Einar Einarson was the eldest son of Einar Einarson and Åste Gunnulvsdatter of Forberg. (See Appendix #1) Their big farm was one of the most productive in Bø but as the church records showed, families supported by it over the years had also been productive. Åste, the only daughter and the eldest in a family of seven children, had taken over the farm from her parents. She and her husband were raising four sons, of whom Einar was the first to leave for work outside of Bø. He had been employed in the forests around Skien for some months.
    The other fellow was young Ole Jonsen of nearby Glennahaugen farm, and Camillo thought he was two or three years older than Einar. Both had been confirmed nearly ten years ago but neither was married yet, nor had they yet been promised to any of the young parish women.
    Now the young men approached their mentor who had, up to this day, guided their learning within the church. The business they were coming about was not unexpected. Among his parishioners Camillo had heard talk about young Einar and a friend preparing to leave for 'Amerika.' As their priest, his role today was to provide them with a document that would permit them to leave the country.

page 81

    On a hot sticky August 26 th in 1937 hundreds of black cow-flies swarmed over the steaming backs of nine lazy cattle nestled in the shade under the alders that bordered the gully. The pond behind the dirt dam was nearly empty, barely a puddle now, after an unusually dry summer. Grass stubble left after the hay had been harvested created a welcome haven for butterflies and crickets.
    Fortunately for the family supported by this meagre, isolated farm, the hay harvest had been substantial this year. Threatening rain clouds last week had amounted to nothing after a crew of adults and assorted children had worked late, anticipating a coming shower. Winter's hay was finally all dried and safely ensconced in the barn. For once it might not be necessary to have a supplemental shipment brought in to keep the animals over the winter.
    Five fat pigs wallowed in the sandy dust of their pen out behind the house. There would be ham and bacon this winter and probably some to trade for other necessities. A lean-to family kitchen and tiny bedroom had been attached to the original sturdy log house over ten years ago, to make more space for a growing family. The added bedroom formed one side of the pig pen.
    Three dozen young pullets had begun to lay regularly - they scratched dissolutely in their yard behind the woodshed or settled in straw-filled nests stacked along the back wall of the hen house. A flock of sassy bantams skittered free across the cattle enclosure, ducked under the wire fence, and began a thorough grub search in the orchard's shade.

page 102

    On hot summer days keeping food fresh was nearly impossible. Beer kept cold in a sack hung from the float because the water was always frigid, but that didn't work at all for fresh vegetables or meat. On the occasional times when Einar took her to Jackson Bay to see her parents and brothers, Hazel-May accepted the opportunity to carry home a welcome supply of fresh fruit and vegetables.
    There were other differences between her new life and the old one. Fresh water came from the creek, not a well. During the rainy times even a filter placed where water entered the hose couldn't prevent muddy brown water coming through the tap. On those occasions both Forberg families reserved buckets of rain-water for drinking and teeth brushing. The deliciously soft rainwater left her thick hair more manageable after washing with it so she tried to always have some on hand for that purpose.
    Hot water for washing dishes and clothes was dipped from a lid-covered metal reservoir attached to the firebox. Coils imbedded along the common side of the firebox carried cold water that heated as the fire burned. Alternatively the women heated water for tea and rinsing dishes in the huge kettle that always graced the back of the wood stove. The custom of a Saturday night bath was continued here in her new life, although the method somewhat changed. In the floathouse she and Einar took turns washing each other's back as they sat curled cross-legged in the round aluminium washtub placed in the centre of the linoleum covered kitchen floor.
    The distance to the outhouse on the float was shorter at her new home and although a trip out there could be pretty cold on bare skin with the wind whistling under the rough carved seat the odour was not as overpowering as on the farm. Every change of tide left a clean beach below. At the farm, especially in the heat of summer, the old outhouse could be extremely unpleasant, even when regularly dusted with lime, and it was always a strong draw for large black blowflies.

page 198

   Armed with some names, possible locations and a few pages from a Norwegian telephone directory, she had returned home to develop a plan. Why not select some of the names that were possibilities and send them an inquiry letter?
   Success! Forty-three letters mailed, and only two weeks later the first contact was made. On that memorable Sunday morning the words she heard were these, "This is Halvor Forberg calling from Larvick, Norway, and I think I must be your cousin." Was the ground moving? The house must be shaking. It felt like it.
   Rae felt giddy with the discovery that she had other relatives. Even more surprising to hear that one of them had been searching major Canadian cities for her very own family members. The next three months had passed in a whirl of communication and preparation.

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Catalogue Information

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