Across the Deep Blue Sea : The Saga of Early Norwegian Immigrants

The author relates how Quebec City and Montreal became the gateway for Norwegian emigrants to North America, replacing New York as the main destination, from 1850 until the late 1860s. During those years, 94 percent of Norwegian emigrants landed in Canada. After the repeal of British navagation laws in the mid-nineteenth century, Norwegian sailing ships engaged in the lucrative timber trade between Quebec City and the British Isles. Ships carried timber one way across the Atlantic and emigrants on the way west. For the vast majority landing in Quebec port cities, Canada became a corridor to their final destinations in the Upper Midwest of the United States, primarily Wisconsin and Minnesota. However, the author recounts the establishment and failure of Norwegian colonies in the Province of Quebec and pays due attention to the tragic fate of one such settlement at Malbay Gaspé.

St. Paul, MN

Minnesota Historical Society Press

2015

211p.

en

978-0-87351-961-8