A more permanent settlement developed at Orr, whose first permanent residents were a Finnish couple, Charles and Amanda Auvinen (Kiiski iä) . When they came to Orr there were no roads at all, hardly even trails through the wall of forest which separated them from the rest of the world. In fact, even at the end of World War I there were still no roads, but a railroad had penetrated to it because of the forest wealth. A Finnish settlement grew, then, around the station, and for a time there were even a few Finnish organizations here. The socialists had a chapter with about 30 members before World War I, but it was another of those chapters which left the party and turned IWW. This group built its own hall, and for several years they busily put on plays. Later there was even a communist group, also with some 20 to 30 members. Not far away, in Alvina (Gheen) there was also a socialist chapter and a cooperative association. Coming later than these workers' societies there was in Orr a Lutheran church, affiliated with the Suomi Synod, and this church still had about 30 members in the 1940s. Still later came a temperance society, Pohjantähti (North Star), started in 1931 with 15 members. Three were promptly read out of the society again "because they did not appreciate the seriousness of the work but had only joined for the fun involved," while the remainder continued to hold meetings as long as interest lasted. In 1940, there was a Finnish relief committee, with Herman Lammi as chairman, while Martha Brandt headed a similar committee in Alvina.

Lammi, by the way, had opened a store in Orr when he moved there in 1918, and in time it became the most important one in the community. Also, the local post office was located in his home. Of other Finns in Orr, V. Vanhanen served on the board of directors of the local bank. The Orr Farmers Cooperative Trading Company was established in 1919 and took out membership in the Cooperative Central at the same time. On its board of directors at that time all 9 members were Finnish born; in 1952, two of them were left, while 3 second-generation Finns and 4 Americans filled the rest of the seats.

Still farther north, a few Finns lived in still unorganized townships. In Kabetogama there were enough of them at one time to maintain a hall of their own and to have a cooperative club.

Five miles north of Orr lies Cusson, known in the early decades of the century for its vast timber operations and big lumber camps. The Virginia Rainy Lake Lumber Company was responsible for the operation and owned the Cusson camps. The most active period here was circa 1915-1925. At that time some 1,500

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