Anton Magnus Hopen was born on January 6, 1902 in Eikefjord, Norway, which is twenty-five miles north of Bergen. His parents are Salamon Mathias Hopen and Dorthea Svardal, and he had two brothers and two sisters. They lived in Svardal for a few years and then moved to Eikefjord because his father was in the fishing industry and had to move to follow it. Anton was confirmed in 1916 and attended school until he was 15. He left home when he was 16 and worked on the telephone lines; he was foreman for one year. He left Norway on April 11, 1923, landed at St. John's in Canada, and took a train through Montreal, Winnipeg on to Blaine and Tacoma, Washington. He worked at a logging camp near Enumclaw, Washingotn for a year and then for the railroad building track into the logging camps. He went to see an uncle in Alaska and got a job with Vermont Marble Co. in Tokeen, Alaska working in the marble quarries. He visited Norway for six months in 1926 and came back and worked in the marble quarry until it shut down in 1932. He then fished for many small companies in Alaska and went to Tacoma in the winter.
From the description of Anton Magnus Hopen Oral History Interview 1981. (Eugene Public Library). WorldCat record id: 182862024
