Páll Franklin Pálson

Páll with his Aunt Matthildur

Páll Pálson was born on Hecla Island, Manitoba January 9, 1906.  Unfortunately, when Páll was just a baby, his mother Johanna Palldottir died when the steamer she was working on "The Princess" was wrecked during a storm on Lake Winnipeg.

Páll was raised by his mother's family on Hecla Island, Manitoba at the Steinnes house. 

Páll spent 25 years as a commercial fishermen on Lake Winnipeg.  My dad, Johann, spoke about freighting on Lake Winnipeg. In the"thirties" the Palsons ran a freighting outfit that carried supplies from Riverton to Hecla, Manigotagan, San Antonino Gold Mines and to fish outposts. These were horse drawn sleighs with large draught horses weighing approximately two thousand pounds.




Fishing on Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba

Freighting team, Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba

This was the depression era, and the men that drove the teams of horses and cared from them were mainly in their twenties and thirties. My dad once said that "a horse in good working condition was just as important as a man...and sometimes more intelligent."

He later went on to work as boat operator in the pulp and paper industry near Geraldton,Ontario. He retired and lived with our family in Keewatin.

People said that Páll was a gentle man, and took great care of the horses. He would often walk with a spring in his step, so he was nicknamed "Springy Palson".

Páll passed away in Kenora, Ontario, November 1981.