greatest opportunity of all times is at hand," proclaimed the advertisements, stating that auctioning of the lands would begin the following day in Duluth. Interest in the offering had grown to such a fever pitch that the whole group of lots (a total of 80 acres of land) was sold within a few hours. Businessmen and laborers rushed to pay $335 to $430 for plots of land they had never seen, located in a community which was still non-existent but which did have a future, for 20 years later those same lots could be sold at an average of $15,000 each. However, when buyers went in the winter of 1892 to look over their new purchases, "their eyes opened wide when they saw their journey, so full of

Missabe Mountain open pit mine in Virginia.

expectation, end in deep forest."2 The railroad, which had been extended as far as Mt. Iron by the end of the summer 1892, reached as far as `Virginia' by December of that year, and the first train brought in 16 carloads of machinery and building materials. A prosperous saloonkeeper began to build a rather large `concert hall,' and Palm states that the saloon became the most important community center in the town. There friends and strangers met, meetings were held, the latest news reported and repeated. There Pastor E. N. Raymond spent his first Sunday in town, watching a poker game. That evening, when the crowd

2. Interview information from Virginia Finns, collected by W. Palm. Archives of the Minnesota Finnish-American Historical Society.

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