Chapter VIII

St. Louis County:

North from Duluth

The Southeastern Sections of St. Louis County

Before moving directly north from Duluth to consider the extensive Finnish settlements in St. Louis County, a glimpse must be given of the communities in the southeastern corner of the county, close to Duluth. This immediate area borders on Duluth but continues northward, along the borders of the county, up to the mining areas in the county. In several of these 16 townships, none of whose population ever grew to more than several hundred persons, the role of the Finns has been evident.

Midway: The official name of the area once called the Fond du Lac region has been Midway Township since 1898. Located between West Duluth and the western border of the county, it is in area one of the smallest townships in the state. This history of the Finns there began with Juho Drufva, Tuomas Heikurainen (Johnson), Kalle Kytömäki (Hendrickson) and William Lehto, who left Duluth in the early 1870s to look for land for themselves. They found what they liked about 10 miles west of the city, and Kytömäki was the first to take a homestead site into his name, in September 1872. According to the early maps (1857) his land lay on Pine Hill, some 863 feet above the level of Lake Superior According to the regulations then in force, Kytömäki had to build himself a home at least 12' x 12' in size within six months, with a weatherproof roof, at least one window and one door and a wooden floor. This requirement was met, as was the further one that in his house he have a stove, a bed and a table, and much else that the lawmakers had not thought of requiring in advance a well, and the clearing of at least an acre of land per year for five years for pasture and cultivation : Kytömäki promptly cleared 65 acres.

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