The large emigration from Hälsingland was started by Erik Jansson and his followers moving to North America in 1846. It was also the start of the enormous wave of emigration there; the emigration from the province of Småland came later. The well-known Swedish author, Vilhelm Moberg, collected facts and inspiration from the emigrant families of Hälsingland when he wrote his historical novels.

More than any other place, the first emigrants departed from the harbour in Gävle. They might have had to wait for a few days until the boat was ready to sail, and when that was the case, the travellers stayed in the port warehouses.

Photograph from Norra varvet in Gävle 1832. Owned by Länsmuseet Gävle.

From Gävle, the trip stopped first at Hull in England and then continued overland to Liverpool. From there, the big adventure started with the trip across the Atlantic usually headed for New York before continuing on to other locations. For Jansson and his followers, the final destination was the Bishop Hill colony, 250 kilometers southwest of Chicago.

On the first leg of the trip to England, passengers were responsible for getting food for themselves. For the trip across the Atlantic, however, food was included in the ticket price. People were allowed a ration of food and water per person every week. The rations were carefully calculated to last the entire voyage.
An agreement was made in Gävle, May 22, 1846, concerning the ticket price for passengers on the ship "Wilhelmina." This agreement became standard for the journeys from Gävle. The ticket price for one passenger at the time was 54 Swedish crowns for the actual trip, water and firewood included. On top of that, the passengers had to pay 3 crowns for the food and an 8-crown arrival fee in New York. The total amount was thus about 65 Swedish crowns, depending upon the number of travellers. A year's wage for a farm hand in the year 1846 amounted to 150 Swedish crowns; a barrel of rye cost about 10 crowns and 8½ kilos of butter 5 crowns.
(Source: Från Gästrikland 1996, Emigrationen via Gävle till Nordamerika vid mitten av 1800-talet).

In the middle of the 19th Century, a normal voyage between the ports of Gävle and New York took about 8-10 weeks if the weather was fair. Some voyages lasted a lot longer, however. The ship "New York" almost capsized off the coast of England and the passengers had to stay on the Isle of Wight while the ship was being repaired. All in all, their journey lasted about 5 months.

Ships heading for America used Gävle as a port until the middle of the 19th Century. After that the ships sailed from other Swedish ports, mainly Gothenburg and Stockholm. It was also possible to travel via Norway, from Trondheim, Bergen or Kristiania (today called Oslo).