During his first years on the farm, Kytömäki used to go to Duluth to work in the winter, and walking along paths which avoided swamps and wet spots the going was somewhere between 10-15 miles. Everything that was bought for the farm had to be carried in along this path. Usually a gun had to be carried, because bears were frequently encountered. Indeed, if the whole family happened to be away from the farm, bears could even pay visits there. On one occasion a bear tore away the window and had climbed in, putting everything inside topsy-turvy; even the flour had been spilled all over the floor, and there was nothing for it but to go to Duluth for another sackful. From the very beginning, this trip used to be made on skis in the wintertime. Gradually, there were oxen available for making the trip with a wagon, and the oxen were also yoked to do the plowing. And when they were not being used in the fields or on trips to Duluth, they were busy

Timber cuffing at Midway.

hauling forest products to the Fond du Lac station. The logs used to be made up into railroad ties, telephone poles, or cut up into firewood. And when the time came to build a road to Duluth, the oxen were busy there, too. At times it was easy to get good feed for them cheaply, salvaged from fires in the Duluth elevators.'

Year after year there were more and more neighbors in the area. Drufva was the next to build, then Heikurainen, finally Lehto. While the other homes were being built, Kytömäki's hut

1. Aaltio, E. A. A Study of the Midway Finns. Ms, in MFAHS archives

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