was purchased in 1905 by M. R. Hannula, who also took over the post office duties. As the community grew, so did Hannula's business, until it became the leading lumber, food and farm produce outlet locally. In 1928 this firm was purchased by Isaac Lamppa, Jr., and his brother Alex, and became known as Lamppa Bros. Isaac became the local postmaster and continued in that post even after the partnership was dissolved and the business was in the hands of his brother and became the firm of Alex Lamppa and Son. Under this name the business moved into new quarters and continued to flourish as the largest privately owned local business enterprise. Other local Finnish businesses include the Corner Store owned by Henry and Mary Salo, and the gasoline station and coffee shop owned by Leonard Johnson.

The population of Embarrass Township was 49 in 1900, then 648 in 1910 and 712 in 1920. No figures are available to state how many of these might be Finnish, but in 1940 when the population was 670, the Finnish Legation in Washington made an inquiry and came up with the figure of 500 in round numbers as being of Finnish descent. The estimate is perhaps not exaggerated.

Waasa and Allen

East of Embarrass lies the Township of Waasa, and north of Waasa lie extensive areas which have remained wilderness in spite of Finnish attempts to settle there. If Waasa has remained an area of sparse roads and wilderness trails, the situation in Allen has been even worse. As soon as Finns had begun to settle in Embarrass, a few went farther on, and in 1899 J. Antuli, Julius Dahl and H. Eno appeared as three whose names were on the petition to organize the Township of Allen, which is better known on the maps as T 61 R 14. Although there were a few pioneers there in the early years, in 1920 there was but one solitary person left, for even the Finns, in the majority among the total of 179 of them at one time, had abandoned their holdings. Allen died basically because of its isolation, for there was no railroad to serve it, no highways or roads to pierce through its forests. It has not been until the years after World War II that a few persons have ventured again into this still virgin wilderness.

Vermilion Lake and Payla

Northwest of the Embarrass-Waasa Finnish region, and north of the Aurora and Biwabik area, lies another Finnish region dating from approximately the same time and consisting of Vermilion

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