perance Brotherhood in 1890. After a brief lapse of interest there was renewed activity: a library was started (it had 300 volumes in 1911) as well as a band, a chorus, and a dramatics group. All these activities were housed in the society's hall, which was built circa 1895.

When a workers' society, named the Edistys (Progress) was started in 1903, it did not take long for that society to overtake the temperance society: the entire brass band of the Ilmarinen, for example, put itself under the aegis of the new society. However, the Ilmarinen continued to exist as an active society, even after the fire.

The workers' society, meanwhile, had to build itself a hall in 1905, because the temperance society no longer allowed them use of their hall. At this time the workers' society already had more than 100 members (there had been but 18 when the society was founded) and there were to be 252 in 1912. After the schism, with a strong IWW faction resulting, and eventually even a small communist group developing (with the following Cloquet Finns leaving for Russia: Karl Rudolf Kallinen, Thomas Kuittinen with family, Arvid Nyysti and John Seppänen,) the workers' society continued to be active, even after the fire which destroyed all its property. Rebuilding began, and the new structure afforded space for the local cooperative store on the ground floor, a hall on the floor above, with a big stage, for dramatics activity which was continued at a brisk pace. One of its amateur directors was Nestor Petman, and the caretaker of the hall for many years was Väinö Kajander.

With the gradual slowing down of activity, the building was sold in the 1930s to the cooperative, with the stipulation that the hall itself was to remain available to the workers' society for another ten years, free of charge. At the same time, the society bought some shore land on Little Grand Lake for summer quarters.

Against this background of such diversity among the Finns, it was in Cloquet that an attempt was made to start a new Finnish organization which would unite them all into one, nonpolitical grouping. About 150 persons gathered in Cloquet for this purpose in January 1939, and its importance may be judged by the fact that six Finnish-language newspapers sent reporters to cover the meetings. The result was an organization which called itself the Farmers' and Workers' League, and although its platform was supposed to attract other secular groups as well, particularly the temperance people and the cooperative movement supporters, there was some scepticism apparent among these

639