machinery was begun.3 This `trust company' began its existence with Heikki Allen serving as president and Hiski Abelson as secretary. The first big machinery procured was a thresher, bought in Chicago for $1,400 plus delivery fees, and this machine was taken from farm to farm to help the Finns in their harvesting. Actually, the program was successful as long as the old Finns were still able to keep on farming their lands.

The winter of 1914 also saw the start of a Farmers' Club in Pike, which was to aid the farmers with their problems and furnish them with guidance. The same purposes were behind the `farmers' days', held chiefly in the bigger centers of population in the Range, and the special demonstrations often held in rural areas as well. Examples such as the Hibbing plus county agricultural fair of August 1915 and the Eveleth Farmers' Days in September 1923 fall into this category.

The farmers of Pike, out to make progress on their own, began to plan a telephone company in 1920 as a welcome convenience

Joseph and Kreeta Kultamäki's store in Pike in 1920.

in a rural area where farms were far from each other. When Matti Allen, Jacob Finni, Matti Holkko, Verner Lake, Matti Ranta and Victor Williams held their first meeting to discuss this project, they estimated it would cost each participating party about $100, but before it actually materialized it was found the cost would mount to $180 plus 20 telephone poles to be furnished

3. Laulunen, Alma, MS in files of MFAHS. Cf also, Päivä1ehti, 3 September 1914.

$53