In more recent years the descendants of those pioneers have taken steps to preserve the memory of their pioneer forebears with the founding of the Cokato Finnish American Historical Society, whose chairman was W. A. Nelson and secretary, Vernon G. Barberg. When a new county road was planned between what had once been two Finnish villages, the residents of Cokato proposed that this road be dedicated to the memory of the Finnish pioneers; the authorities concurred, and not only was the road given extra width but an area was set aside where Elias Peltoperä's little cabin, the first Finnish building in the region, was moved, and where a memorial tablet was erected.

Wording on the Cokato Pioneer Memorial.

The first generation of pioneers has passed away years ago, but the accounts they gave of the past to their sons and daughters and grandchildren remain fresh in memory. They are accounts of work and toil, of difficulties and how they were overcome, until life gradually seemed to offer some sense of security. How vastly the region has changed since the days of the pioneers! The forest has retreated farther and farther, out of the way of ever more land taken under plow; the number of farms has increased steadily, and where a scant hundred years ago the wilderness

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