This is what Stjarna saw when she looked out the window on March 29, 1875. Mount Askja, in Iceland, had erupted and was sending streams of burning lava down its mountainside. Huge bursts of steam were shooting out of the ground in places on their farm. The thick ash from the lava and the poisonous sulfur fumes destroyed all the farmland in her town. Her parents and many of the other families decided they had to move away and many of them chose to go to Canada.  

In Canada they would get a huge plot of free farm land in an area the Canadian government called New Iceland.

Since 2020, there have been many volcanic eruptions in Western Iceland. Many families in several towns have had to leave their homes until the dangers caused by molten lava were over. The picture you see here shows what a volcanic eruption in Iceland looks like near the town of Grindavik.

Photo Credit: www.visiticeland.com/eruption