Next Monday is the observed Columbus Day in the U.

Friday, October 05, 2001

Next Monday is the observed Columbus Day in the U.S., and Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

The word observed, incidentally, is just a sly way to indicate Columbus Day is one of those movable holidays intended to provide a three-day weekend for those folks lucky enough to have this date off from work. Columbus Day, according to tradition and several calendars, is Oct. 12.

However, this column is about the day following &uot;observed&uot; Columbus Day, Oct. 9, which had been officially designated to honor Lief Erickson.

On Oct. 10, 1935, the Tribune’s daily columnist, Albert Lea Tommy (in reality, Editor Burt May) had some comments about the man being commemorated by area Norwegian-Americans on the previous day.

Albert Lea Tommy wrote: &uot;Lief (the Lucky) Erickson crossed the ocean with his brave band of Norwegians (about) nine hundred years ago, 457 years before Columbus came over, landing on the rock bound coast of Nova Scotia. Not until the 18th century did Norway discover America the second time when her colonies were successfully established. Ninety percent of Norway’s newcomers settled in six Midwestern states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and the Dakotas. Any map of the Middle West bears proof of this. Just look at the names: Norway, Mich.; Norway, Ill.; Norway, Neb.; Stavanger, Ill.; Bergen, N.D.; Bergen, Wis.; and Bergen, Minn. Few people realize that Minneapolis is called the ‘largest Norwegian city in the world.’ This in spite of the large Swedish population. The second Viking invasion was in 1825 when a little sloop sailed out of Stavanger for New York with 52 pioneers aboard. They settled on the shore of Lake Ontario and soon moved farther west led by Cleng Peerson, the Lief Erickson of the 1840s.&uot;

Now, let’s add a few more details to several of the topics mentioned in Albert Lea Tommy’s column.

First, in some reference books Lief’s last name is spelled Ericson.

Second, here’s some added biographical information about this particular Viking explorer. He was born in Iceland during the tenth century and was the son of Eric the Red of Greenland. During his life Lief lived in Iceland, Greenland, Norway and Vinland (North America). About A.D. 1000, Lief and his Viking sailors went southwest of Greenland to what’s now Labrador, Newfoundland and maybe Nova Scotia. According to Icelandic sagas, Erickson (or Ericson) traveled back and forth between Greenland and Vinland for about 12 years. Lief was Greenland’s ruler when he died.

Third, in the 1960s Canadian archaeologists discovered the remains of a 900-year-old Viking settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland.. This area is now designated as L’Anse aux Meadows National Historical Park. This is a place where further research continues at the site of what could be the first known European settlement on the continent.

Fourth, the reference in the 1935 column to a place named Bergen here in Minnesota is rather interesting. There is such a locality, somewhat comparable in size to Armstrong, 10 miles north of Jackson and just off U.S. Highway 71. This locality with an obvious Norwegian name is also about eight miles southeast of Windom.

There are several other Norwegian inspired names here in Minnesota. For example, there’s the town of Oslo up in Marshall County on the Red River, St. Olaf College in Northfield, and St. Olaf Lake near New Richland.

Fifth, I was unable to discover just why Oct. 9 is the date so closely associated with Lief Erickson. However, this was certainly the date emphasized in the 1935 column written by Albert Lea Tommy (Burt May). This date became official when the U.S. Congress authorized President Lyndon Johnson to proclaim Oct. 9 as the nation’s annual Lief Erickson Day in 1964.

Feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.