before a railroad was here, and that was in 1884 or 1885," while still other sources indicate that Perttula arrived in 1888, which is more likely, since that would have still put him on the scene before the opening of the railroad.

The pay the Finns received in Ely was not large. Jacob Jacobson told E. A. Pulli in an interview that when he came to the mines in 1890 he received $1.50 for a hard, 10-hour working day, while Matt P. Lahti, who managed to be taken on in a "timber gang" received 15c more per day. Fabian Mäenpää has stated that at the turn of the century he received $1.80 per day up on ground level, $2.00 per day when he was down in the mines. Some more enterprising Finns used their meager savings to buy themselves a horse, with which they found themselves easier work and an easier $2.00 per day as far back as 1890; however, the horse still had to be fed from that money. For humans, board and room in Ely cost $15-16 per month, which meant that a third of one's wages went automatically for this basic maintenance on the simplest level. There were lumbering jobs to be had near Ely, too, and here the pay was about the same as in the mines. Women usually began as maids or dishwashers in boardinghouses, receiving, according to Anna Sofia Frant, $12 per month in 1902, or else they worked as milkmaids on farms. It was no wonder if girls and women "were shocked and wept a lot when they first came here, thinking they were coming to a city and landing instead in the wilderness," as Maria Mäenpää related. The families used to keep a cow or two in the early days, because it was impossible to buy milk; they bought hay for the winter, but the rest of the year the cows used to graze in the fields outside Ely. The Slavs, who came later, even kept pigs, and even in the center of town.

The Ely Finnish temperance society was founded in 1889, and it affiliated itself with the Brotherhood Association. Here, too, the mining company donated land for the Finns to build their hall, and everyone took part in clearing the land, in excavating, and in building a modest hall. When interest grew, the hall proved too small and was replaced by a new one. Gifts to the building fund were so many that the new building was made quite large, 38'x80'. The Raittiuskalenteri of 1899 described the new building as "elegant as an opera house. It is heated with steam stoves and lighted with electricity. In the middle of the lobby is a box office, a storeroom on the left, and archive on the right, plus stairs to the balcony, with armchairs for 80, and in the back of the balcony the society's lending library. On the main floor

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