G.030.01 - Niagara Falls in Winter (1905)

 

American Falls in Winter- Niaga Falls, N.Y.

To: Mr Gust Ekman, Galeton, Pa
From: Gust F. [Franson?] Port Allegany Pa (21 Nov 1905)

Tjenis på dig Gust, hur tyks du må nu för tiden. Jag mår utmärkt bra. Jag lefver nu i en kåk här uppe i Skinnre bäck [Skinner Creek]. Jag hugger ved fortfarande, men här är det lika så bra som i Galeton tror jag. De ville ha oss att arbeta för dag när vi kom. De betalar två Daler om dagen i millan och i skogen, min [boss?] och jag har köpt oss en kåk och bordar oss sjelf. Carl och Conrad har gått till Pittburg till minfeld [kolgruvorna i Pittsburgh]. Min adräss Gust Franson[?], Bemis Mills, Portalagany [Port Allegany]

Hi Gust, how are you these days. I'm very well. I now live in a house up here in [Skinner Creek?]. I'm still chopping wood, but it is just as good as in Galeton I think. They wanted us to work per day when we arrived. They pay two dollars a day at the mills and in the woods. My [boss?] and I have bought ourselves a house and are boarding ourselves. Carl and Conrad have gone to Pittsburgh to the [coal] mine field . My address: Gust [Franson?], Bemis Mills, Portalagany [Port Allegany].

Kommentarer 

1/ Första året eller två i Amerika bodde Gustaf i Port Allegany, innan han flyttade till Galeton. Han kan ha arbetat ihop med Gust F. antingen där eller i Galeton. Det fanns sågverkindustri på båda platserna. 
2/ Pittsburg var/är en kolgruve-stad.
3/ Hittar ingen "Bemis mills" i nutida Port A., men däremot en dal med namnet Bemis Hollow, och en bäck med namnet Skinner Creek. Så fanns det ett sågverk i Bemis Hollow så kan det ha hetat Bemis Mills. 
4/ "bordar oss sjelf" - kan syfta på att han ordnat sin egen inackordering (boarding) genom att köpa ett hus tillsammans med någon istället för att hyra in sig på ett "boarding house" (medan Gustaf E däremot var "boarder" hos en familj i Galeton, enligt folkräkningsprotokoll från 1910)

Comments

1/ Gustaf lived in Port Allegany for a year or two when he first arrived in America, before he moved to Galeton (where he then seems to have stayed until he went back to Sweden in 1911). He and the sender of this postcard may have worked together either in Port Allegany or in Galeton (or both). There were sawmills in both these places.
2/ Pittsburgh, where "Carl and Conrad" had gone, was a coal mining town.
3/ I don't find any Bemis Mills in Port Allegany, but there is a valley named Bemis Hollow, and also a Skinner creek.
4/ Interpreting the text on this card is a challenge, besides the handwriting the writer is mixing Swedish and English and not very good at spelling in either language... But it seems Gust F bought a house together with someone (I read it as "my boss", but I'm not sure) at Skinner Creek, rather than staying at a boarding house, which was probably more common among temporary sawmill workers. (Gustaf E, the recipient of the card, was was one of several boarders with a family in Galeton in the 1910 US Population Census - cf. the previous post on this blog.)