Business Ventures

Tosten spent 13 years trading -- sheep, cattle, horses, hides, leather, even butter and cheese. Here is how he got started:

"I went to Lerdahl's Oine (island) to a territory called Aurdal. My father had been there before and bought sheep, so I was to follow in his footsteps, so to speak. They were nice people to have dealings with. They were glad to have us "Saue Hallinger" (sheep Hallings) as they called us, because we brought money into their midst."

"When we had made our purchase, it was to gather our flock and begin the home journey. This was usually the last days in May or the first days in June. First we went by boat, and later we herded the sheep the rest of the way, which was about 12 Norwegian miles (84 American). It was strenuous work. But then we were young and husky and managed nicely. But it took a lot of runnning! It took us usually a week when we had just a small flock. We then got some farmers to herd them together with their cattle until fall when we butchered them and hauled them to town during the winter. Later when our business grew and we had bigger flocks, we would rent meadows and do our own herding, and then in the fall we would gradually move on to different territories and butcher and sell as we moved along. This worked out better."

-- excerpt from Tosten's autobiography, written in 1917

Chores and Herding

"Most of the work for us children was chores. And my first work besides that was to help on the threshing floor in the winter after school hours. Then came springs work, and after that the herding seasons (gjete), as we said. But here I was more lucky than most of the others because I had a helper. Sissel and I were twins, and consequently the same age. They did say Sissel was a couple hours older than I, but that made no difference when it came to herding except that I herded spring and fall and she during the summer. Therefore, I began to stay home during the summers earlier than most others."

-- excerpt from Tosten's autobiography, written in 1917