Jim’s History Corner – An Author’s Tale
I am a very avid reader, however this has not always been true. Until the age of 20, I only read comic books and the Sunday funnies. My favorites were “action” comics where the good guys always beat the bad guys and saved the day. I guess this is why some of my current readings have followed this same theme. One such author is Clive Cussler. A voracious writer of action novels that center around lost ships, history, bad guys and heros. It was while reading his novel, Valhalla Rising, that I came across an interesting tidbit about Viking ships and the Monticello area – especially Bertram Lake.
One aspect of the book was that the Vikings in the eleventh century had discovered the New World (North America) and began exploring the land. During their travels they had created records of their trip on Rune Stones and placed them in certain locations along their route. One such place was west of the Mississippi River next to a lake that later became known as Bertram.
Dirk Pitt, the hero of the story, sought out an expert on runes who happened to live next to the lake. I quote from the book……
“…. she heard the thumping sound of a helicopter approaching her farm outside Monticello, Minnesota. Her house was typical midwestern farm structures: a wooden frame and siding, a chimney that rose from the living room through the upstairs bedroom and a peaked roof with two gables. Across a broad grassy lawn stood a red barn in pristine condition. The property had once been a working dairy farm, but now the barn was her office and the three hundred acres of wheat, corn and sunflowers were sharecropped and sold on the market. Behind the farm, the lane dropped down a sloping bank to the shoreline of Bertram Lake. The blue-green waters were surrounded by trees, and the shallow water around the edges was filled with lily pads. Bertram was popular with fishermen……….”
It seems that Mr. Cussler must have visited the location to have such detail. It’s nice to know that many people have at least read about our little corner of the world.
