Sunday, Aug. 7, 1949: Runestone found
Posted on August 11th, 2005 – 3:27 PMBy Ben Welter
The Minneapolis Sunday Tribune’s top story on this date was an earthquake that killed an estimated 6,000 people in Ecuador. For the middle of the page, editors chose to feature a sober account of the discovery of a second runestone in central Minnesota:
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| Grant County Herald editor Warren Gahlon examines the runic-like characters on a stone found near Elbow Lake, Minn. |
NEW RUNESTONE
FOUND IN STATE
By ED CRANE
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
ELBOW LAKE, MINN. – A new runestone has been found in Minnesota, but its authenticity was disputed Saturday.
Small enough to be lifted by one man, it was discovered on a farm nine air miles northwest of the spot where the famed Kensington runestone was found nestled in the roots of a tree in 1898.
Scratched on the surface of the heart-shaped object are some 34 characters which appear to resemble the ancient Scandinavia alphabet known as “runes.”
‘LOVERS’ LANE’
J.A. Holvik, Norwegian professor at Concordia college, a skeptic regarding the Kensington runestone, said he translated the new stone’s message and expressed doubt it is genuine.
Holvik said it reads: “Year 1776. Four maidens set camp on this hill.”
The place where the new discovery was made is known as Maiden Hill, a traditional “lovers’ lane” for young folk of the vicinity.
The Kensington runestone, if authentic, tells the story of “8 Swedes and 22 Norwegians” who wandered up the Red river nearly to Alexandria in 1362.
But 1776 is a familiar historic date, and by that time a number of nationalities had hit the shores of America. Runic characters by then had been out of use for centuries.
PLANS PICNIC GROUNDS
The story of the new discovery to date offers a strange parallel to that of the earlier find. Victor Setterlund, a farmer living about three miles northeast of Barrett, Minn., said he found the heart-shape stone five years ago as he was digging a foot path along the hill.
The Setterlund farm is seven miles southeast of Elbow Lake.
Of late Setterlund has been preparing the land in the discovery area for a new picnic grounds.
Last Wednesday, Ansel Sletten, an Elbow Lake automobile dealer, was at the Setterlund farm, to sell the farmer a new car.
Setterlund showed Sletten his discovery and said: “You’re a pretty smart fellow. Maybe you can tell me what this is.”
Sletten said he tried to buy it from Setterlund, but failed. He did succeed, however, in borrowing the stone to take it to Elbow Lake.
Warren Gahlon, editor of the Elbow Lake Herald, took a look at the stone and offered $100 for it, but still no sale.
Sletten, until the translation was made, wanted the discovery listed as being seven miles southeast of Elbow Lake. After the translation, he decided three miles northeast of Barrett was all right.
It still remained a mystery yesterday as to whether the discovery is a hoax, as a number of people stoutly maintain the Kensington stone is.
Douglas county historian R.S. Thornton, Alexandria attorney who was closely associated with the studies of the Kensington stone, did look at the new find.
He said yesterday he thinks the characters on the stone are similar to those on the Kensington runestone. He translated part of the inscriptions as a reference to making camp, but added that he may have misread it.
Thornton said he doubts that the new stone and the Kensington discovery were chiseled by the same person.
Through out this period the authenticity of the Kensington stone was debated in newspapers. It was the subject of magazine articles and a civic festival at Alexandria. Nevertheless, Setterlund said neither he nor his friends thought the find important enough to investigate.
The new stone is of glacial granite and weighs about 75 pounds. Characters on it are about two inches high.
Hjalmar Holand of Ephraim, Wis., expected to visit Elbow Lake soon. Holand first investigated and later defended the Kensington stone. His efforts were rewarded last year when it went on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Man Slugged;
In Fair Condition
A Minneapolis man was slugged but not robbed about 10 p.m. Saturday at Lyndale avenue and Lake street.
Taken to Swedish hospital in fair condition with a head injury was Henry Ketter, 33, 806 W. Lake street.
Police said that Ketter and his attacker had an argument on a corner and the slugging ensued.
The assailant hailed a cab, rode to Twenty-ninth street and Lyndale avenue S., paid the cab driver and disappeared.
7 Responses to "Sunday, Aug. 7, 1949: Runestone found"
I love all the yesterday’s news. It is so fun to read.
I found Henry Ketter in SSDI. He died in 1985 in Minneapolis.
Of course its real. And its very cool.
Where the heck is it now?
The Vikings were all over the place 1100 years ago. Why did the Mayan civilization die out? It wouldn’t take Vikings long to find the Mississippi river from the Red River (probably more like a large lake then) and hit the gulf of Mexico. The Caribbean Sea is like a bathtub compared to the North Sea. Eventually, they reached the Mayan, where they inadvertently introduced European diseases and wipes out most of the people.
Steve, while there were some Norse people in North America over 1000 years ago, there is no evidence that they were “all over.” And nobody was using runes in the 18th century — they’d stopped hundreds of years before that. It was likely a fake; if it weren’t, I’m sure its historical significance would have led it to be acquired by a major museum.
There’s too many finds in Mn to say that the Viking people were not here before Columbus. Too much evidence. I think it costs to much to rewrite the history books.
I saw the Kensington Runestone in Alex this year. Don’t know if it’s real or not, but it makes for interesting lore!
Also, it explains the (football) Vikings Curse.
Vikings were tough people. And curious people. And they liked gold as much as the Spaniards. You think they got to America across the most vicious ocean on earth, and then stopped? All it would take is a couple Vikings with a small canoe and maybe a trusty Indian guide and it’s off they go down the Mississippi. Even today, bored teenagers take off on long trips for no good reason other than curiousity. What a story that would make, even if they didn’t hook up with a squaw that looked like Natalie Wood! All it would take is the spread of the smallpx virus or our old friend Yisernia Pestis to an index southern Indian case and BOOM!- there goes about a dozen Indian nations.
