Koski and Gust and Susanna Turja; however, since this list included only those still alive at the time of the writing, that list of early arrivals is necessarily very incomplete.

In another study, A. Mattinen has added to the list of 1892 arrivals the following Finns : Matti Haapala, Henry Ketola, Mikko Lindquist, Jacob Luukkinen, Henry Marostenmäki, Conrad and John Mattson, Alex Niemi, Sakri Oberg and Alex Äysti. But H. Moilanen reported in the 1955 Juhannusjulkaisu that the first Finn in Virginia was "John Jacobson, who arrived in 1890, and who later moved to take up farming in Florenton, where he died a few years ago." Further, E. A. Pulli has also added to the facts on the earliest Finnish arrivals on the basis of his interviews, and according to his information the names of John Latvala (Matson), said to be from Nurmo, and Sanna Santa, from Lapua, should be added to the list of 1891 arrivals, and Isaac Hill, William Kestilä, Jacob Koski, Andrew Leiviskä and Vilho Tikander to the 1892 list. Finally, V. Palm states that in 1892 one Anton Ahlstrand also arrived in Virginia. It is in any case apparent that almost a score of Finns were among the first to begin the building of Virginia, whose subsequent rapid development was to become more apparent in the spring and early summer of 1893. Moilanen's claim that the number of Finns present was already close to 600 is apparently exaggerated, but in any case a considerable number were soon living in Virginia, which had become the most important mining community in the iron ore region, with a standing minimum population of some 5,000 - until that catastrophe came which could have meant the death knell to the whole community.

On Sunday, 18 June 1893 a big forest fire raged southwest of Virginia, at a time of extremely dry weather and drought. A strong west wind began to blow, and the fire became a swift rush which nothing could stop. Flames were soon licking the outlying buildings of Virginia, and less than an hour later they left all Virginia a mass of smouldering ruins. The disaster made many quit the place for good, but those who stayed built a new Virginia, with a faith in a better future. However, even those brave ones came to grips with a severe economic depression that spread that same year. Unemployment prevailed in almost all the mines, and only $1.10 the day was paid to the ordinary, common laborer who was able to keep his job. 3 A period of new, rapid development began again in 1894, and on the first of

3. The Virginian. 30 August 1907.

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