Even Olsen Gullord, Coon Prairie’s first settler

Even Olsen Gullord

Biri is a parish in Norway which lies on the west side of Mjøsen, toward the north end, halfway between Gjøvik and Lillehammer. Most of the farms there are small and the landscape consists mostly of forest and mountains and steep slopes. The first immigrants from there came in 1846 and settled at Koshkonong. There were Peder Brønstad, Syver Nilsen Galstad and Even Olsen Gullord. Brønstad was wealthy and paid the fares for the others.

The youngest of these was Even O. Gullord. He was a bachelor and especially bold and capable young man who with his well-written letters encouraged the large exodus from Biri which followed directly. He worked for a year at Koshkonong and paid the fare which he owed. When he felt himself a free man again, he decided to go further, to seek better luck. He had heard of New Orleans, that mighty city far to the south, and decided to go there. He asked the way to Galena, Illinois, the nearest place where he could get passage on the Mississippi riverboats.

At Galena he found work in the lead mines to provide new passenger fare. He remained there the following winter, 1847-1848. Work there was good, he gave up the journey to New Orleans, and decided in the spring to go northward after the floods to find land.

There was very little land occupied north of Galena, on either the west or east side of the Mississippi River. He did not have to go far from the city before he found a promising place. But, home in Biri he had many relatives and friends who thought of coming to American, and he decided to make a longer journey to find a place suitable for a large settlement. He traveled therefore on a steamboat far northward.

After a while the boat stopped at a place which was called Coon slough (now Stoddard) to take on fuel for the boiler. Gullord had now traveled more than 150 miles into the wilderness, and since this was the last stopping place for a long while, he disembarked here.

He wandered up the whole length of Coon Valley, about 20 miles. Not a single settler had yet moved here, and Gullord saw many beautiful places which invited him to establish home and farm. At last he came upon large Coon Prairie, beautiful and bountiful as the best at Koshkonong, but quiet and untouched as on the morning of creation. Glorious was the sight which that magnificent prairie, with its swaying grass, its large forest groves and charming views, appearing before him. Poetic expectations rested over this landscape. Psalms of silence were sung across its expanse. No wonder that Gullord knelt down there in the grass and thanked God that he had brought him to such good land.

Gullord examined the whole prairie and found that in every way it was excellently suited for a large Norwegian settlement. He chose for himself 160 acres in Section 5 of the present town of Viroqua and wrote his name on the survey markers. This farm, the first on Coon Prairie was truly as fine and good as can be found in the state. Thereupon he journeyed back to Galena, where he continued his work until fall.

In 1847-1848 a number of other people left Biri and some of them had on his advice, came to Galena, where they got work. Together with these he traveled in September 1848 back to Coon Prairie to take permanent residence in that new settlement. That group consisted of Even O. Gullord; Hans N. Neperud, with sons Gulbrand (Øium) and Elias; Hans O. Libakken; Syver N. Galstad, together with two bachelors, one of who was Norwegian and named Christian, but the other was German. If Gullord and his following had taken up land on the other side of the Mississippi River, they would have been the first settlers in Minnesota.

When Gullord came to settle on his claim, he found that an American by name Smith had taken residence there. Gullord did not make a fuss about it but chose instead another parcel of land nearby. This lies a half mile north of the Country Coon Prairie church and there he lived for many years. The others took land in the nearest surrounding.