Previous Page Search Again Next Page

was the potato, and huge potato cellars marked every farm. Barns came later, when the emphasis shifted to dairy farming.

This shift occurred almost simultaneously among all the Finnish farmers in Minnesota, and in part it reflected a definite campaign : "Less grain growing, more dairy farming - that is the way to ward off poor times," became the general theme in the press. Agricultural journals like Aura, Pellervo and Pelto ja Koti published all pertinent material in this respect from American sources, while several Finnish publishers were putting out literature on the same subject. The starting of cooperative dairies, breeding stations, and the appearance of cattle barns beside the house and sauna were signs of these developments. Frequently, also, the change was connected with the younger generation taking over the farms, while the oldsters sat back and shook their heads like doubting Thomases.

Alex Palo wrote (13 January 1918) to L. B. Arnold, that "many of the farms in this community have about 1,000 bushels of potatoes in their cellars, and everyone has from 5 to 10 cows. The farmers get 60c to $1.00 per bushel for their potatoes; 39c a pound for their butter. Hay (timothy) sells for $20 per ton." Ten years later farmers were offered 80-90c per bushel for their potatoes, with the retail price standing at $1.50. In a report to the Land Commissioner of the Duluth and Iron Range Railroad, Erik Nelimark (Juhani Erkki Takala) wrote on 17 January 1913: "A few years ago the argicultural potential of the Embarrass valley was an unknown factor. Today the Finns have begun to make it into a grainfield. I do not hesitate to prophesy that one day it will develop into one of the outstanding agricultural regions of St. Louis County. At present there are about 200 farmers here. During the winters they work their forests, bring to market the remnants of their timber still available from their own lands. During the summers they bring increasing amounts of land under cultivation. They all have all the necessary buildings, about 60 to 70 acres of cleared land, 6 or 7 cows, 2 or 3 horses, and all sorts of machinery." The oxen of the pioneers had disappeared, and even horse-drawn plows were giving way to tractors in this pew pattern of farming. Amenities were appearing on the scene, too, in the form of electricity and the telephone - in 1914 the Finnish farmers of Embarrass were establishing their own telephone company and hoped to have 20 farmers committed by the time they intended to start putting up the poles. And still later phases of farming brought in specialization, with some

541


Previous Page Search Again Next Page