The `black lists' kept by the employers, -listing those workers who had struck, were now used against them: a Finn whose name was found on any such list could not possibly get work anywhere in the area where he lived, or any other area where there were mines. Those lists were sent as far afield as Montana in the West and Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the East. A few managed to be employed in other places by changing their names, but for the majority it meant giving up work in the mines and moving away from Hibbing and the iron mining area altogether.

The number of Finns in mining communities dropped dramatically after the 1907 strike, but it did not take long for the flow of new immigrants to fill the gaps and then to make the percentage of Finns in those communities greater than ever before. The mines once more gave a livelihood to thousands of families, and the brisk pace of work was reflected in their private lives and their community endeavors. Further, lumbering activities around some mining areas went into high gear, and there, too, many Finns were employed. The miners and lumberjacks together were once more to be involved in a major battle for their futures.

While local administrations seemed to have ample funds available from increased taxes in the first and second decades of the century to build handsome public buildings to beautify their towns and cities, nothing was done to assure the well-being of the workers. Seasonal employment in the mines and low wages in the forests meant that for the immigrant portion of the population the crucial question was that of subsistence. The one common topic of conversation for all was the high cost of living, and it was a real issue. In the first place, rents were very high, particularly in Hibbing and Virginia, where a good 6-room flat in a good location cost $40-50 per month, while similar quarters cost $25-30 elsewhere, and even in the Twin Cities no more than $35-40. A room in what would be the equivalent of a slum area in a metropolitan center cost $8-15 in the mining area.

The mining companies did build housing on their own properties, for which employees had to pay but $8 the month, but there was never enough available for even half the employees. In another instance, one large sawmill had a housing development of row houses, but built in the poorest section of town, of cheap materials, so that they were not much more than 6-room hovels for which $14 per month rent was collected.

Most foodstuffs were expensive, and modern production procedures in this field were only beginning. The brief growing season locally (100 days, compared to 132, which was the state's

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