decade, through the period which saw formal organization and a sound start for the cooperative. In 1957, the business manager was Arvid Järvis, serving at a time when a good financial status had been achieved, an annual sales figure of $100,000 plus had been reached.

The board of directors no longer has any of its original members of 1923: John Turkula, John Backa, Ivari Jalonen, Frank Seppä, Herman Lammi, Felix Turkula and Jacob Harju. The second generation has taken over completely, and the 1957 board included Arvid Huotari, Eino Erikson, Kenneth Liukkonen, Reino Kylven, Eino Friholm, Joel Tuominen and Robert Nyynes.

William Mannila, who has furnished most of this information about Little Swan, came there himself in 1915 and has been involved in all the organization discussed above. He has been on the board of directors of the cooperative and has been its delegate on the Range Cooperative Federation and Cooperative Central boards.

Kelsey - Cotton - Elmer - Payne - Meadowlands

There has been considerable Finnish settlement east of Little Swan, in the townships of Kelsey (organized 1895), Cotton (1903) and Ellsburg (1914), as well as south of it in the townships of Elmer (1920) where Fred L. Mattson and Eino J. Metsälä were postmasters, Northland (1904), Meadowlands (1903) and Payne (1904). Since this region is large and its population relatively sparse, there have been but few Finnish organizations. Of churches, only the tiny Suomi Synod group in Elmer and the Congregational church in Kelsey are listed; of temperance societies there were none, but at least one workers' society, which had 24 members, tried to remain alive, in Northland. The story of the Finns in Payne may be taken as typical of their story in the other communities.

Payne is located on the Duluth and Mesaba Railroad, and the distance to Kelsey is four miles, to Meadowlands, five. All the land was owned originally by the railroad, which began to sell acreage to settlers in 1914. The first Finn to move here was Väinö Tainio, who came from Eveleth; he was soon followed by William Toivonen. Clearing the land began early in the spring; by autumn, everything was ready enough to say that life could begin. The cleared land grew good hay, so dairy farming seemed in order as the means of livelihood. A relatively good road was opened to Meadowlands, so an outlet for the dairy

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