Early Life
Sevareid was a child of the northern Great Plains, born in Velva, North Dakota, to Alfred E. and Clara H. Sevareid. Following the failure of the bank in Velva in 1925, his family moved to Minot, and then to Minneapolis, Minnesota, settling on 30th Avenue North. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1935. Of Norwegian ancestry, he preserved a strong bond with Norway throughout his life.
Sevareid was adventurous from a young age. Several days after he graduated from high school, he and his friend Walter Port embarked on an expedition sponsored by the Minneapolis Star, from Minneapolis to York Factory on Hudson Bay. They canoed up the Minnesota River and its tributary, the Little Minnesota River to Browns Valley, Minnesota, portaged to Lake Traverse and descended the Bois des Sioux River to the Red River of the North which led to Lake Winnipeg, then went down the Nelson River, Gods River, and Hayes River to Hudson Bay, a trip of 2,250 miles (3,620 km). Sevareid's book, Canoeing with the Cree, was the result of this canoe trip. The book is still in print.
Read more about this topic: Eric Sevareid
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