Last week, developers of the LaFarge site offered to move the Leif Erikson boat out of Leif Erikson Park and house it within a facility planned for the Bayfront. It's an idea fundamentally wrong on many levels.
The boat was built in Norway in 1926 for Capt. Gerhard Folgero. According to historian Pat Labadie, whose father and grandfather built the boat, the Leif Erikson was a 42-foot wooden "femboring" craft "patterned after the traditional Norwegian working craft that served coastal shippers and fisher folk for centuries (and was) used by medieval Norse adventurers and explorers." So the Leif Erikson is not a precise replica of a Viking craft but a representation of the same class and style of boat likely used by Leif Erikson himself.
Capt. Folgero and his crew outfitted their vessel with carved head and tail pieces and wooden shields bearing Viking devices and sailed the dressed-up fishing boat from Bergen, Norway, to the coast of Labrador and beyond, supposedly following much of Leif Erikson's original 1002 route.
It wasn't easy. They faced hurricane-like winds, icebergs and weeks of fog. But they made it to Labrador and on to Boston, covering 6,700 miles in 50 days. From Boston they sailed on to Duluth to take part in a national convention of Norwegian immigrants. By the time they arrived here they had covered about 10,000 miles. That they accomplished this in a 42-foot boat outfitted with only oars and a square sail is nothing short of remarkable.
That's when Congressman William Carss suggested Duluthians raise money to purchase the ship and move it to Lakeshore Park, which could then be renamed in the boat's honor. But it was Bert Enger and Emil Olson, West End furniture dealers and Norwegian immigrants, who purchased the boat and gave it to Duluth for all to enjoy. Indeed, Lakeshore Park was rechristened Leif Erikson Park.
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The boat is part of our heritage; it has been with us in that park for more than 80 years. It commemorates not just Folgero's historic voyage but Duluth's Norwegian immigrants. Moving it from the park would be an insult to those immigrants, particularly Enger and Olson.
This isn't the first time someone suggested relocating the craft. A few years back, the Save Our Ship group -- established in 1984 by Neill Atkins and Will Borg, Emil Olson's grandson -- considered moving it to the Great Lakes Aquarium. The idea couldn't have sat well with Borg, as he was once quoted saying, "Leif Erikson Park without a ship is like Canal Park without a lift bridge." I couldn't agree more.
The proposed location also is far from appropriate. The boat would be part of a hotel, restaurant, condominium, and shopping complex. Why would the city give what once was its
second-largest tourist attraction to a private commercial enterprise?
Meanwhile, for more than
25 years, Save Our Ship has struggled to raise money to preserve and protect the craft. A major overhaul was accomplished in 1996. The boat was then moored in an out-of-the-way location within the park. Fear of vandals, however, has left it covered in shrink wrap waiting for a proper home.
This year, with help from Duluth Rotary, Duluth found the money to restore and relight Enger Tower in time for an upcoming visit by the King of Norway. That monument was built to honor Enger for the donation of money and the land that created Enger Park Golf Course.
The Leif Erikson is just as important a landmark as the tower. We should come together as a community and do for the legacy of Enger and Olson what they did for us in 1926 and build a proper home for the Leif Erikson within the park -- secured and displayed for all to share -- that also would tell the tale of its journey and history in Duluth. Let's make that "dressed up fishing boat" once again one of Duluth's top tourist attractions.
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Tony Dierckins of Duluth is an author; the owner of X-Communication, a book publisher that focuses on local history; and publisher of ZenithCity.com, an online resource launching in January that will celebrate historic Duluth, western Lake Superior and Minnesota's Arrowhead.
