The Dream of America
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Whenever a journey is particularly long and difficult, Norwegians often liken it to ‘a passage to America’. Of course, we are not referring to a present-day holiday jaunt to the US, but to the hazardous journey made by many of our parents, grandparents, great grandparents or other relatives in the 19th and early 20th century. Around 800,000 Norwegians left their homes for North America during this period. The migration started in the mountain villages on the west coast, then spread to urban areas and the rest of the country. Why did they leave? We talk of ‘the dream of America’, but the motivations were many: poverty, a shortage of living space, unemployment. Some may have sought greater personal freedom. Or perhaps there was a sense of adventure? What they all had in common was a dream of a better life and a better future in the country across the sea. Crossing the Atlantic took several weeks, even if sail ships were gradually replaced by steam liners. Many will have bid farewell to their loved ones on the pier at Geiranger,Stranda or Sjøholt before stepping aboard the local service boat to Ålesund. From there they continued to Bergen or Stavanger where they boarded a ship bound for Ellis Island in New York. They then tended to travel onwards to Minnesota or another Midwestern state. Some of them found what they were looking for, sent tickets and money back home and managed to get their families to join them. Some returned after a while, with impressive tales of America in their travel chest. Others tried their best to make something of themselves in the new country.