Norwegian emigrant traffic through Canada began in earnest after the
repeal of the British Navigation Acts (1849) and was precipitated by a
lucrative timber trade between Canada and Britain. Norwegian shipowners,
many of whom were acting as carriers for the timber industry, quickly
discovered that their return voyages to Canada could be more profitable
if their ships were filled with immigrants instead of ballast. The time
was ripe for interest in immigration to Canada when Schroder decided to
embark on his tour. Schroder was well received in his Canadian travels
and managed in two months to see more of the country than most Canadians
did in a lifetime. But, despite his warm welcome, he decided to settle
in the United States and advised others to do the same. Four years after
his trip he published Skandinaverne i de Forende Stater og Canada (The
Scandinavians in the United States and Canada) in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
Another edition, containing only the chapters on Canada, was published
in Christiania, Norway, as was an abbreviated Swedish translation.
Schroder's account of Canada, which is now published for the first time
in English translation, is the only narrative of travel in Upper and
Lower Canada by a Scandinavian and one of the very few descriptions of
pre-Confederation Canada written by a traveller from outside the
English-speaking world. It not only gives us a view of Canada as it
appeared to an educated Scandinavian but also sheds light on the reasons
why most European emigrants who entered the port of Quebec located in
the United States.
