above, also edited a journal in Floodwood in the years prior to World War II, the Rural Farmer.

Cedar Valley (Salo)

During the last Indian uprisings, the army built a road northwest from Floodwood, following the river, through an area later known as Cedar Valley. The Finns followed this road in their movement northward from Floodwood, and the settlement they made, organized in 1908, went under the name of Salo (the word means wilderness or backwoods). Up to the 1920s, this seemed a promised land for timbermen. In the wintertime, trees were felled and the logs hauled to the shores of Floodwood River, and when spring came they were floated downstream. Fields and meadows of Finnish farmers bordered the river, and the loggers occasionally caused some property damage as they worked along the shores. The Finns appealed to the lumber firms for payment of damages but received no satisfaction. In the spring of 1910 these farmers took matters into their own hands and constructed three booms across the river. When no logs arrived at their destination as usual, investigators were sent upstream to find out why. They found the first boom, but when the boss ordered it torn apart three warning shots rang out from the shore: John Luoma and his son were standing guard. The authorities were notified, and the Finns involved in obstructing the river were arrested, but when the case came to court, the lumbering firms were found guilty and had to assume responsibility for damages done to farmers' property . . .

Religious activity in Salo began with the organization of an Evangelical Lutheran church in 1905. Isack Niemi was the first chairman, John Kurki the secretary, and Erick Hill the treasurer. Pastors were Matti Strom and J. Rankila, and it was through their influence that the congregation became affiliated with the National church. Premises were built, and the church has for decades served as the Evangelical Lutheran center for the surrounding area, even in post-World War II years, when membership has dwindled. The Apostolic Lutherans were also present, but without a church; services were held at members' homes, by preachers such as Andrew and Eeli Juola, Alex Puotinen, Walter Isaacs and Matti Reed.

A workers' society also appeared on the scene, and a hall for it was also built, but a rather unusual one: it was made of round logs set up vertically, and its appearance gave it the

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