trails did eventually become good clay country roads, there were never enough of them to reach all the pioneers in this wilderness, and it was not an easy job to carry a 5-gallon milk can on one's back from an isolated farm down to the nearest road to be picked up, as Fred Leinonen had to do, and his complaint to his neighbors might well have been echoed by them: "Why do we have to live in America in a spot like this and go through all this torture, even though we haven't committed any crimes?" The local historical society gives its unqualified recognition to these pioneers in the introductory paragraph to the local history they have submitted : "A person who learns the life stories of these pioneers and still refuses to doff his hat to them cannot comprehend the dangers and difficulties, the perseverance and will power which has dripped in sweat from the brows of Finnish men and women upon this soil. Certainly the settlement of this wilderness has been possible only for those whose zeal has been unending, who have known no fear of the difficulties facing them, and who, with deprivation to themselves, have dedicated themselves to work for a future which was to benefit their children and future generations."

Increasing numbers of Finns came, to do just this. Lydia Aho and Valentin Takala were the first couple to get married here; Albert Simonson in Alango (1903), Lydia Aho in Wilderness Village, and Aino Aho in Field were the first white children born here. In time some of these families grew so large that those of Henry Jacobson, Alfred Johnson, Andrew Pihlaja and Carl Simonson each had eleven children.

As the numbers of children increased, the Finns had to begin building schools, for the nearest ones outside were 20 miles away. Anton Alto and Otto Mäki built the first one, in Wilderness Village, and the teacher who came there in February 1909 found 30 children to teach. (Later this village was incorporated into the Buhl school district, and children have been transported there to modern schools.) The first one-room school in Alango was built on Fred Saari's land, another rose on Isaac Pihlaja's land, a third on Nikolai Haavisto's property in 1913. All of them originally formed an independent school district but were later incorporated into the county system, which built its first two-room school here on Isaac Pihlaja's land on the Itasca road in 1914. When fire destroyed this school in 1926, high school classes were held in Andrew Pihlaja's home until a new school was built. In Field the situation was similar: one school built on Oscar

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