as one Finn stated in an article in the Työväen Osuustoimintalehti of 16 March 1946, that "prosperity, honesty and concern for the general welfare have been characteristic of the Blowers Township government ever since the Finns have been in power there."

Paddock Township

Paddock, north of Blowers and at the extreme northeast corner of Otter Tail County, was established in 1882 and was named after one L. A. Paddock, who had moved into the area in 1880, settling up a sawmill, 13 miles north of New York Mills. The Red Eye River, which flows through the township, supplied power for the mill, Logging operations led to the construction of the first road in the township, for the big sleigh, drawn by 13 span of oxen, which brought in the sawmill's steam boilers, could not have reached the site otherwise. The mill was already in operation before any Finns arrived on the scene, but the year the township was established, however, several Finns did move in, spearheaded by one John Kuukas. The arrival of many of them must have resembled that of one group which moved from the New York Mills region to the Paddock wilderness in May 1882: five people, a team of horses pulling a wagon, two cows and two calves, made up the expedition. There were no roads but only a suggestion of a trail through the forest, and in some swampy places the wagon wheels sank perilously, often down to the axles in mire. At last the party reached the banks of the Red Eye, but still had a trek of several miles ahead of them. The river was so deep that even the calves had to be put on top of the wagon to haul them across, but once over the river, the party was near its destination, a 160-acre homestead site. This party was made up of Gustav Saari, his wife, their 10-month old son Andrew, and one Anna Kaisa Nevala and her son John. Here in Paddock they began the hard lives of pioneers, which did not lack in work or adventure.

For example, one Finn, Jacob Lalli, told E. A. Pulli in an interview (1945) of the mutual relationships of two peoples, the Finns and the Indians, the one so different from the other, in the Minnesota wilderness : "Once, on a winter evening some sixty years ago our neighbor John Maunu fell into the icy river on his way home from a hunting trip, and he would have drowned if the Indians had not heard his cries and come to his aid. They took him to their camp, wrapped him in furs and fed him hot drinks all night long. In the morning they gave him his dry

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