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With only her faith and
Pa's wisdom to guide her, Laurin desperately sought survival. Her
quest led her through the early mining camps of the Central and
Southern mines of the Mother Lode during those days leading up to
California statehood. Along the way, a metamorphosis took place as Laurin became Hardluck Lin, innocence became awareness, and the
youthful girl became the woman.
The Thorald homestead
was located near the banks of St. Peter’s River in the southern
portion of Wisconsin Territory. One day this region would become
part of the great state of Minnesota; the river would be renamed the
Minnesota River; and near the old homestead, a city would rise and
identify itself after Chief Mankato of the Mdewakanton Sioux.
Pa and the twins worked hard to turn that rich black earth into life
and subsistence for his wife and five young’uns. When the
unpredictable weather fought his labor and sweat and the land turned
against him, survival rose to new heights. And Pa caught the dream
of the new land …
It was 1848. Pa followed his dream; he was taking his family to the
Promised Land, a land called California …
Pa taught his family that God will not shut a door without opening a
window. He said it was God’s Way of leading His Children. And during
these hard times, Pa added that it was the North wind that made the
Vikings.
What he didn’t tell
Laurin, his 17 year-old-daughter, was how small and difficult
“getting through” that window might be or how long and strong that
North wind might blow …
Laurin, like her father, dreamed big …
...until tragedy
struck!
When cholera claimed the
lives of her parents and older brothers in the Humboldt Sink, she
had to find that window … set her own sail against that staunch wind
…
Only she remained to do it!
She had to find a way not just to survive the trek over the Sierra
and into California, but to survive and be safe, once they arrived
in this untamed land. It wasn’t for herself but for her younger
brother, age 7, and sister, age 4 … they were her responsibility …
their future; their very lives depended upon her. They couldn’t go
back; there was no “back”!
She loved them … she had to find a way … |
