Book Review - An Untamed Land

Do you like to reread favorite books? I do, especially those I haven’t read for several years. It’s like visiting an old friend.

After my husband’s passing, I’ve been struggling with depression, not wanting to do anything. But God provides our needs even in times such as these. My college bound grandson moved in and will attend a local college. He has been such a blessing. 

As I was cleaning out the bookshelves in the spare bedroom, I ran across Lauraine Snelling’s Red River of the North series. My memory snagged on an incident in the first book in that series, An Untamed Land. The heroine, Ingeborg, lost her husband and went into what the author called “a dark pit.” When I first read the book, it had no particular significance for me. Now it did. I could relate to Ingeborg’s emotional struggle in a way I didn't when I first read it.

As I reread the story, I realized why this book became a keeper in the first place. It's one of the best novels about immigration in the United States during the late 1800s ever written. The saga follows a Norwegian family as they travel from Norway to settle free land in North Dakota. After an arduous Atlantic voyage, they process through Ellis Island.

What impressed me was how orderly the immigration process was compared to the chaotic system now in place. Settlers were checked medically and deemed fit both health-wise and financially before entering.

Lauraine Snelling didn’t sugar-coat the experience, however. Immigrants faced prejudice and unscrupulous people, and language was a major problem from the beginning. Only the desire for land and a future for their children drove them on, and it soon became evident only the strongest would survive the harsh conditions.

As the title implies, the antagonist of the story is the land itself. Rather than long descriptions, the author presents a compelling picture of this wild territory through the characters’ experiences, from cooking in an earthern firepit to building a sod house to fighting the brutal winters. The reader can picture the land and feel the desolation and beauty.

I thoroughly enjoyed rereading An Untamed Land, and as I expected, I understood Ingeborg better this time. Her faith helped strengthen my faith. There is no better reason to read Christian fiction. 

The promise of free land lures Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund from their belowed home high above the fjords of Norway in 1880, and after three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, they finally arise at the docks of New York City. This new land promises a rich heritage for their children, and here they hope to build a good life. When the Bjorklunds finally arrive in Dakota Territory, they settle on the banks of the Red River of the North. But the virgin prairie refuses to yield its treasure without a struggle. Can they overcome the hardships and tame this new land?

What favorite book have you enjoyed reading again?

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American Settlers

It’s Tidbit Tuesday. Elaine here with an historical tidbit that affects us all. Immigration is one of the top news topics today. Every politician calls for a so-called comprehensive immigration plan, but for some reason or other, it never gets done. Reminds me of everyone complaining about the weather, but nobody doing anything about it.

When I was researching my western historical series I found some interesting things about immigration. The ranch in my story is based loosely on the huge 101 Ranch in Kansas, but Kansas didn’t fit into my plot, so I moved north to Nebraska. My research began with a 900-page book written by the people who settled the land.

A large number of these settlers came directly from Germany. It made sense. The Germanic people weren’t that far removed from serfdom, so the opportunity to own land was a compelling dream. They had to work hard. Under the Land Act, settlers had to produce a viable farm from virgin prairie within five years to claim ownership.

Many failed and went to the cities of the east or back to their home lands, but those who toughed it out turned this country into the breadbasket it is today.

Before the mid-1800s most immigrants came from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Africa. Between 1881 and 1885, when my series is set, over a million Germans immigrated to the mid-western states. During the 1890s into the early 1900s over five million Italians and one and a half million Swedes and Norwegians immigrated. Lauraine Snelling wrote the Red River of the North series about a Norwegian family settling in North Dakota. One of the best Christian historical series written in my opinion.

Immigration law has a checkered past. Until 1875 states passed their own immigration laws. The first federal law, the Page Act, was passed mainly to restrict Asian immigration. All the laws passed afterward were used to restrict or encourage immigration from one place or the other. In spite of the lack of law, immigration was generally an orderly process with most immigrants coming through Ellis Island.

Some of the immigrants tried to stick together, like those who settled into the industrial centers, but those who prospered most quickly acclimated into American society. The mid-western settlers are proof of that. They brought their religion and customs, but sent their children to little one-room schools and joined with other farmers in church and community events. Within a generation, no one could tell where these settlers came from. Even in the larger cities, the shop keepers and craftsmen, those who dealt with society, did better than factory workers.

I’ve never studied my ancestry, but I have German roots from my father’s side and English from my mother’s side. Honestly though, I’m a mutt and proud of it.

How about you? Do you know where your ancestors came from? Where they settled?

 

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