Emigrants Leaving Finland in 1909 For America

. ,`~ ULeSINCE 1966 Sou'W~te(ites

A Quarterly Publication of the Pacific County Historical Society, Inc .A Non-profit Organization

Magazine subscription rate - $6.00 AnnuallyMembership in the Society - $3.00 single, $5 .00 couple

Payable annually - membership card issuedAddress : P.O. Box P, South Bend, WA 98586

Historical articles accepted for publication may be edited by the editors to conform to size and other requirements .Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the historical society . All RightsReserved . Reprinting of any material approved by special permission from the Pacific County HistoricalSociety . Second class postage paid at South Bend, Washington .

PUB. NO. ISSN-003804984

Larry WeathersEDITOR

Susan PakanenCONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Karen Johnson and Esther Coates - Subscriptions

Printed by Pacific Printing, Ilwaco, Washington

Our Coverby Larry Weathers

Our cover this quarter is a photo reproduction of an aquarelle painting by Emil

Danielsson (1882-1967) . He made this water coloring at the port of Hanko (or Hango),Finland in 1909, while watching Finnish emigrants embarking for America . The original is

at the Archives of the Institute of Migration, Turku, Finland . This photo reproduction was

made by Photo Museovirasto, Helsinki, Finland .

Table of ContentsTITLE

PAGE

Our Cover - Larry Weathers 22Naselle : An Etymology - Larry Weathers 23The Immigrants' Journey - Susan Holway Pakanen 23These Home Loving Finns - Elenora Hundis Hillis 26Memories - Martha Keiski Wirkkala 28Fish-Eye Soup - Steve Raistakka 29Finnish Folk Festival - Festival Program for July 24, 1982 30The Immigrant Sauna - Albert R . Wirkkala 32The Shamrock Hotel - Ellen Johnson Wirkkala 33Finn Valley - Max Wilson 34Swinging Bridges and Country Schools - Peggy Mathews Busse 34Early Day Logging in the Nasel Country - Peggy Mathews Busse 36The Little Pig Tail Engineer - Woodrow J . Gifford 39Bridging the Distance From Finland to America - Photo essay . .

. 40

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Naselle : An Etymologyby Larry Weathers

Editor's Note : The information in this article was lifted without shame from several excellent sources :Nasel published by the Naselle Centennial Committee in 1978 and edited by Elenora Hillis ; The Nor-thwest Coast: or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory written by James G. Swan in 1857 ;Our Pacific County written by L . R . Williams in 1930 ; and The Pacific County Edition of the SouthBend Journal, a souvenir supplement published by editor F . A . Hazeltine in 1900 .

"Naselle" is the name of a river and a community. Both are located in a valley insouthwestern Pacific County just north of the Columbia River . The river is the third longestin the county (beginning somewhere among the Willapa Hills of central Pacific County andeventually flowing into Willapa Bay) and the community is one of the oldest scenes of In-dian and pioneer settlement in the region .

The word "Naselle" is a derivation of a word used by the small band of Chinook In-dians who lived there before the arrival of white men . In their old, pure Chinook tongue,they call their river "Na-sil" or "Ni-sal", meaning protected, sheltered or hidden . White set-tlers, like James G. Swan, who attempted to record and interpret the Chinook languagevariously spelled the word "Nasal" or "Nasel" .

A few settlers, like Harry K . Stevens, who settled on the river in 1853, tried to ignorethe Indian name and attempted to rename it with a more familiar term . In August 1853,

Swan visited Stevens at his cabin on the river . Stevens informed Swan that he had namedthe river the "Kennebec" in honor of the river in his home state of Maine . The honor didnot survive Stevens' land tenancy and does not appear on any known maps of the period .Even Swan labeled it the "Nasal" river on the map he made for his book Northwest Coastin 1857 .

"Nasel" is the spelling which most often appears on early county maps and in nar-ratives and documents prior to 1920. The present spelling "Naselle" was in use as early as1887, but it did not go into common use until May 19, 1920, when the U .S . Post Officeofficially adopted it for the postmark spelling .

The last survivors of the Nasel band of Chinook disappeared many decades ago, buttheir name for their river still lives . The change in spelling matters little .

The Immigrants' Journeyby Susan Holway Pakanen

Editor's Note: The following story was written by Susan after completing graduate work in immigrantstudies and interviewing local Naselle residents about their family backgrounds .

Some of the residents of Naselle have traced the route their parents or grandparentsmade coming from the old country . Each of the stories is fascinating . Some left theirvillages by boating across a lake, floating down a river on a log raft, or walking for milesthrough a spring snowstorm . Most traveled to Hanko (or Hango), Finland, or to Sweden, orLiverpool, England, to catch a ship for America . Almost all had to buy passage in steerage .

That ticket to America must have been precious . One woman tells how her brotherbought a ticket to America, saved up his money to go, and then got too drunk to leave . Shetook the ticket and the money and came in his place .

The reasons many immigrants left their homeland are just as interesting and varied asthe ways in which they left . They included starvation, war and the loss of land . Many Finnsdreamed of owning their own farms and living the good life .

Some Finns had been living in Sweden before coming to America . Sweden had invited

23

them to homestead logged-off land. Those who went became known as "burn beaters,"persistent clearers of land . When the Industrial Revolution occurred in Sweden, the popula-tion exploded . Swedes who had been living in the cities moved back to the countryside .The foreigner Finns were pushed off the land, and as one immigrant remembers, hundredsof people, whole villages, wandered from place to place, starving . Those who could tookpassage to America .

If immigrants had known how bad the trip would be, many might not have left . Forthree weeks they tossed and turned in steerage on cattleboats. It was a rough and dirty trip ."Movies gloss over everything," Anna Spaan says . "People cannot believe the way thingswere . My husband (John Spaan) used to say `In the boats you sat with your feet in cowmanure to keep them warm .' "

On the boats there was usually a big room in steerage with double bunks all around it .There was also a table where food was served ; potatoes, herring, bread and pudding . Manyimmigrants carried a package of food from relatives left at home . One woman says she wasso sick she threw her whole bundle of food overboard, including wooden spoons andknives .

Finnish immigration was at its height during the years of the Great Migration1880-1910 . The people preying on innocent immigrants were also at their zenith . Theysold passage at high rates, crammed too many into the ships, and examined passenger listsfor targets to rob (immigrants were required to declare the amount of money they had onthe lists) . These unscrupulous types demanded special payments from immigrants, tooksuitcases and promised to meet them at certain hotels and then disappeared .

Immigrants got off the boats at Ellis Island, New York . They were herded inside thebuilding, shouted at in English to "keep moving" and "hurry up", and poked and jabbed

-photo courtesy of the Archives of the Institute of Mig at on Turku F stand

Dance on the deck of the ship "Urania" .509 emigrants came to America on board this ship in the spring of 1893 .

24

in physical examinations . "When I landed," said one person, "the noise and commotionwere unbelievable . There were so many languages being spoken. The shouting andpushing guards calling out the big numbers on the tags attached to our coats created morenoise and confusion . Surely, I felt, the noise surrounding the Tower of Babel could nothave been worse."

Doctors observed the immigrants from the time they entered the great hall . Theywatched for people out of breath from walking the long flight of stairs into the building tosee if they limped or walked slowly . If they had trouble seeing they went through a primitiveeye exam . The doctors popped eyeballs out with a buttonhook and examined them fortelltale signs of disease .

Aili Saari, mother of May Johnson and Wilho and Leo Saari, had an E marked on hercoat by one of the doctors moving through the crowd . It meant she was to be examined .She had caught a cold from the draft on the boat and her eyes were red . At such points,most families were separated from those to be examined but Mrs . Saari's family said, "If shegoes back, we all do ." Fortunately, they found a women who spoke Finnish and Englishand she helped them out . The officials changed their minds the next day .

There were other tests as well . As one immigrant said, "For a long time I sat on abench in the main part of the great hall waiting for the final test . I talked anxiously with thosearound me and rehearsed the answers to questions . I might be asked about jobs, moneyand relatives . . . Finally, I went before a tired stern-looking official who checked my nameagainst the ship's passenger list and quickly fired questions at me : Can you read and write?Do you have a job waiting for you? Who paid your passage? Have you ever been in prison?How much money do you have? Let me see it now . On and on went the questions until Igot more and more confused ." (from Ann Novotny's Stranger at the Door, The ChathamPress, Inc ., Riverside, Connecticut, 1971) .

It is no wonder so many immigrants had their names changed then and there by a har-rassed official . They were overburdened with work and sheer numbers, and spoke nothingbut English .

If immigrants were detained for any reason, they stayed in special dormitories wherethey were fed stew and fresh fruit such as bananas and oranges . Many of them had neverseen such fruits and ate them skin and all . Usually they spit them out halfway through andvowed never to eat them again .

The final step for immigrants was a long train ride cross country to one of the miningtowns of Michigan, Wyoming or Montana. Language was still a barrier, so misunderstand-ings often occurred . Some thought they would starve, assuming that the lunch they weregiven the first day had to last them the whole train trip . In one case, a mother used up herwhole supply of syrup. When the train stopped she sent a relative to buy more at a store .The man behind the counter tried hard to understand her, but ended by filling the bottlewith whiskey . The teetotaler mother, being practical, had her children dip their bread in itfor sweetener .

Immigrants coming to Pacific and Wahkiakum counties took passage on boats fromPortland and Astoria. They crossed the Columbia River to the north shore and landed atWilme's (or Wilmi's) Landing . From there they followed the trails through the woods to ahomestead .

Many immigrants must have had second thoughts about coming to America . Un-doubtedly some yearned for old friends and former homes, grieved at the toll that immigra-tion had taken on them, but most adjusted and went on to a new life .

I recently visited Ellis Island and asked the guide, "Aren't your visitors bitter over theirtreatment here? Aren't they angry at the injustice of the immigration process? Don't theywant to protest?"

"No," she said . "They put things behind them . But they want people to know, toremember what they've been through ."

And maybe by knowing to understand .

25

Those Home Loving Finnsby Elenora Hundis Hillis

Editor's Note : Elenora Hillis is a member of a pioneering Finnish family of the Naselle Valley . Herfather Matt Hundis came to the valley in 1902 and purchased a large tract of land from Issac NewtonLane. Matt later divided the land with his two brothers : Charles Hunters and John Huntus . The threebrothers had different spellings of their last name because they arrived in America at different timesand the immigration officials spelled them as they sounded . Descendants of each brother continue tospell their name as they were received .

As an adult Elenora taught physical education and history courses for the Naselle School District .In 1978, she edited the Nasel Centennial Book . It is the most complete history of the Naselle RiverValley, in narrative and photographic form, published to date . She also authored Nain Sanottin (ThusWe Said), a book of Finnish proverbs. The proverbs are printed in Finnish and translated into English .

Elenora is now retired, lives in Naselle and writes about the Finnish culture .

Love of home, and love of the land, are bonds which run strong and deep among theFinnish peoples. Breaking these bonds of love was a difficult task for many turn-of-the-century Finnish immigrants; though they had suffered hardships, hunger and suppressionin Tsarist Russian ruled Finland . Only the bright promise of owning land and establishingnew homes in America, where freedom and opportunity prevailed, made the task easier .The Naselle Valley provided many early settlers with a chance to forge new bonds . In agreat many instances their descendants retained these new ties, remaining in the new homeor on the land of their parents .

Noteworthy for exemplifying that special Finnish trait, Sisu (determination), as well asfor being among the first Finnish settlers in the Naselle Valley were Andrew Kainber andJacob Pakenen. These two men, among thousands who came to America, broke their tieswith the homeland, and, with determination, built a future for themselves and the r offspringin a new and strange land. Their bloodlines continue in Naselle on land for which theystruggled .

Andrew Kainber was fabled as the tough Finn who chased a bear out of its den to pro-vide a home for himself until he could build a cabin . After he built it, he sent for his wife tojoin him . He raised a family on land which he "proved" by 1888, according to HomesteadCertificate No. 1620 signed by President Benjamin Harrison-. A great-grandson, EddieAnderson, and wife Betty have raised their family on the portion originally allocated toKainber's daughter, Matilda Kainber Anderson .

Jacob Pakenen's feat showed equal Sisu . He carried a cookstove over the hills fromKnappton to Naselle to set up his household in Naselle in 1879. The homestead heclaimed became the home of his daughter, Mary, and her husband, Alexander Paavola,and their many children . Mary's grandson, Marvin Paavola, with his wife Nobi, have ahome there today .

Jacob's son, Jon Pakenen, purchased property one mile south of The Landing (earlysettler's name for the community of Naselle - ed.) on the South Fork of the Naselle River .The home he built is now occupied by his son and daughter-in-law, Ward and MildredPakenen. Another son, Eino, has his home across the road on Pakenen holdings .

The Leander (Lee) Bighill family home was established on the Upper Naselle River inthe early 1880's . The original home was replaced in the early 1900's as the family in-creased and prospered . The new and larger house is now occupied by a great-grandson,Danny Bighill . Ronald (Skeeter) Bighill, Lee's grandson, also has a home on the familyproperty .

Andrew (Antti Peltola) Penttila's descendants are well established on portions of Anttiand Sofia's farm . Mrs . Evelyne Engleston lives in the home built by her father, Toivo Pent-tila, and her son Edwin has a home' on the property that had been Toivo's share of thehome-farm . Everett Mosher, son of Lilly Penttila Mosher, has a home on his grandfatherEmil Penttila's share . Across the river, the Waino Penttila farm boasts the home of VernaPenttila Holm, Waino's daughter, and her husband Charles . On Frank's farm, adjacent to

26

Waino's lives Frank's son Millard and his wife Frances . Frank's grandson Don Penttila alsohas a home there . The adjoining property of Saina Penttila Wirtanen became the home ofRichard and Patty Penttila .

Charles Holm, who settled in Chetlo Harbor (at the mouth of the Naselle River) in1871, moved up river after the demise of the short-lived city of Stanley. The Andersonbrothers farm purchased by Charles was later farmed by his sons, Wilbert and Wendell .Wendell's daughter, Louise Hunter and her husband Peter, have built their home on theproperty as has Wendell's widow Emma Holm .

Finnish families arriving between 1900 and 1910 included that of John Ullakko, whopurchased the Dr . Grey farm on the South Fork in 1901 . John's son, Martin with his wifeAgnes, now live in the family home .

Lauri Wirkkala and his wife Martha Keiski Wirkkala, own and operate the farm whichAndrew and Hilda Wirkkala moved to in 1906 . Lauri's brothers Edwin, Howard and Benhave built homes on the family property, as has Lauri's son Loren . Albert Wirkkala's homeis on adjacent property, keeping the family close together . Two sisters live nearby .

Just upriver on the Nyberg Road, Nellie Nyberg and Ethel Pellervo Nelson haverenovated their respective family homes . Evert Ehrland and wife Rowena live in the originalEhrlund home nearby .

The Issac Newton Lane homestead purchased by Matt and Matilda Hundis in 1902 isowned by son Eino Hundis. Eino lives there with his sister Elenora Hillis. The original IkeLane home, built in the late 1 870's is occupied by Matt Hundis's granddaughter KarenHillis Peters and her family. Martha Hunters Keiski lives across the road . Her home wasbuilt on her father's, Charles Hunter, portion of the Lane homestead .

In 1905 Matt and Tilda Koskela purchased a farm alongside Salmon Creek . Today,their grandson Robert Paavola and wife Judy, have their home on a portion of it .

-photo courtesy of Martha Keiski Wirkkala

House warming celebration at Leander (Lee) Bighill's second house .Front yard : Mrs . Wirkkanen, Mrs . Lee Bighill, Mrs . Mariana Lindstrom, Mrs . Maija Kolback, Mrs .Charles Korpela, Charles Korpela, John Nasi, Mrs . John Nasi and child . The men on the porch arenot identified . The young people on the balcony are children of the Bighill, Hill and Keiski families .

27

Not only did Finnish immigrants establish family ties in Naselle that have endured, butso also did Andrew Johnson of Norway, who settled in Oysterville in 1873 . AndrewJohnson's son Albert, born in 1880, was the first white male born in Naselle . His son An-drew, who lives in the home built by Albert in Naselle, is the only non-Finnish familyrepresentative living on original settler property .

As the Finnish descendants clung to the homes and the lands of their immigrantparents, so did they retain the language and much of the Finnish culture . This has givenNaselle its strong Finnish flavor . Sisu has prevailed .

Memoriesby Martha Keiski Wirkkala

Editor's Note: Martha Keiski Wirkkala is a Naselle native who still lives in Naselle with her husbandLauri. She is a housewife who has made history an avocation. Martha collects old photos and has doneresearch locally and in Finland .

Memories of childhood are precious treasures . Living on the old homestead I recall thecarefree summers and especially the warm summer evenings .

The fragrance of old fashioned flowers, the music of the songbirds (which were veryplentiful) and the large colorful butterflies filled the air . Crawfishing and the old swimminghole were great delights .

The ladies would walk for miles for afternoon visits when the chores were done . Theirlong skirts and full blouses and aprons, with lovely crocheted lace trim, were alwayshomemade. They were also always white despite caring for large families with no modernconveniences .

When dusk approached we would walk with mother through the narrow winding trails,over the stiles and swinging cable bridges, to the nearest neighbors . Often the conversa-tions would turn to ghost stories of Finland . Ghosts were supposed to have dwelled aroundthe cliffs and wooded areas of Kaustinen, where many Naselle families had lived .

Returning homewith a dimly lit lantern, Iwould hold mother'shand tightly and be veryhappy to be safe againin the shelter of ourhome. Our house is stillstanding but it is nowowned by a differentfamily. It was built bymy grandfather Juho(John) Wirkkala in the1880's .

-photo courtesy of Martha

Wirkkala

Juho (John) Wirkkala Homestead on theUpper Naselle River . Wirkkala came tothe valley from Kaustinen around 1883 .

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Fish-Eye Soupby Steve Raistakka

Editor's Note : Steve Raistakka, a fourth generation Naselle Finn, recently graduated from WashingtonState University . He graduated with a degree in English and is currently working on a novel . His sub-ject is the lives of blue-collar workers in the Pacific Northwest .

Phillip Raistakka, Steve's father, and Pat Wagler, his aunt, have often written articles fornewspapers.

Old Finns jabbering away in that strange tongue haunt my own past . Creaking tongueand groove flooring, the wood stove that seemed more like a blast furnace than an oven,big fish flopping on the frosty river bank, and always huge trees falling, falling, falling : theseimages creep up from my subconscious whenever someone mentions Finnish Culture .Now I hear less of that other language . The floors squeak linoleum ; the stove hums electric ;the fish are limited to a few snaky things and the great fir stumps amidst the second-growthbespeak a healthier, more prosperous day . Still, we try to preserve it, to indulge ourselveswith remembrances of our transplanted culture . I wonder why?

Perhaps the most important reason lies in the sense of dislocation the years haveheaped upon most Americans . My great-grandparents came to this country and settled . Mygrandparents weathered a couple of moves, then built their permanent residences . Myparents, however, following that Great American Dream of the Fifties, packed Barbie andKen and Batman and G .I . Joe into a U-Haul at least a half dozen times. Consequently,home really stood on the banks of the Naselle, Grandma and Grandpa's, the place with thefoul-smelling whitefish in the kitchen and the deer prancing in the front yard . And if theirhome was our home, then their culture followed accordingly . We kids struggled with Finnwords (MY-TOO-WAH? BOY-KAH? Why then of course, GIRL-KAH, no, no . . .) . Wewaddled about the brush pigeon-toed, knock-kneed, puffed-up little Finns .

I remember when the "Fighting Finns" rattled, cleated, across the gravel drive to thefootball field . I remember when our turn came . We growled our way to the same field, butnot as Finns, rather as the team : a mongrel collection of kids from everywhere . It was just asexciting and fun, but the continuity was fading even then . After high school, contact withthe greater world displaced what remained of my Finnish heritage . I learned that we Finnsaren't so special. We leapt into the "melting pot" like everyone else in this country . Isuspect others my age have been awakened in like manner . I know Finn classmates havejourneyed to Washington D .C ., Canada, Mexico, even to Egypt . Certainly, our strange, flatbread must pale in comparison with a pyramid .

Years later, rumblings emanate from the Southwest . The phone buzzes: "We're put-ting together a magazine on Finnish Culture, Heritage, you know?" I guess I do know in away. We aren't empire builders or great artisans or magnificent musicians, but we aretogether . Despite the dislocation, the fearful, dizzy progression of American Culture, we stillfeel an affinity towards each other and for things Finnish . Oddly enough, the Finnish ex-perience persists. We want to expose our children to it . We want to give them that samesense of worth in this crazy, gyrating world .

In the process of initiating our children we rediscover the magic of those old, almostforgotten images. That great blue pot still bubbles on the stove, while Grandpa dumps inodd stuff, evil stuff, even a big slimy fish head . The brew works all day . Finally, that night,the kids scramble up to the table to watch . Grandpa sticks his meaty paw into the sinistercauldron and pulls it out! He squints, grimaces, pops it into his mouth and all the kidssqueal in horror. Even after seeing the mulligan prepared so many times before, I still haveto ask again : "Did he really eat the fish's eyeball?" Soon, my own son will ask me that veryquestion .

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Naselle Community Church Picnic

A Naselle sewing circle with visiting circle .

30

Finnish FcSaturday, Ji`

Naselle

10:00 a .m .

Festival Opens

10:00 a .m . Handicraft Demonto

Food Preparation5:00 p .m . Working Skills De

Photography and !Concession boothsPacific County HisFinnish-AmericanBook ExhibitTour of Lutheran twindows (the chug

Genealogy Room"Finlandia" - a filr"Old Time Logge-slide & tape shoo

Music and certain performances

10:30 a.m .

InvocationBoy Scout Flag RL

Paul Niskanen, Hefor Portland - Key'Children's Maypo .

11 :00 a .m .

"Finnish and Finn*(Panel Discussion

Noon

Finnish Children's

1 :00 p .m .

Scandinavian Darx

2:00 p .m . "Finnish ImmigrantMichael Karni of !.Scholar in FinnishFinnish Americana

3:30 p .m .

Scandinavian Dance

4:00 p .m .to

Smorgasbord in th7:00 p .m .

6 :30 p .m .

"Finnish Immigrant

7:30 p .m .

Readers Theatre of(poetry/drama/disc

8:00 p .m .

Community Concert(soloists, instrument

A Nestor Wirkkala family and friends portrait .

Community Dance

ilk Festival

fly 24, 1982

School

IrrationsDemonstrationsmonstrations (Fishing & Logging)

-leirloom Exhibitsc and Games for the youngitorical Society Book ExhibitLiterary Heritage Foundation

-hurch and stained glassh will be open for viewing)

h

+s of Southwest Washington"

iwill reoccur throughout the day

sing Ceremonynorary Finnish Consulote Speaker? Dance

llish", Comparative Language

Dances

ers from Astoria

t Lives" - a filmlinneapolis (Leading AmericanAmerican Studies and editor of

ers from Astoria

cafeteriaJM

((Lives' - a film

(ancouverrussion)

hbl quartets, choir)

Johnson Bros . Logging Company at Wirkkala-Kelski Homestead,c 1910 .

Cutting the big ones from the Naselle Valley .

-photos courtesy of Martha Keiski Wirkkala

Finnish Folk Festivalsponsored by

Pacific County Historical Society and Museum Foundation, Inc .

co-sponsored by

Naselle Assembly of God Church, Naselle Congregational ChurchNaselle Lutheran Church, Naselle-Grays River Valley School District

Grays Harbor Community CollegeWashington Commission for the Humanities

3 1

The Immigrant Saunaby Albert R. Wirkkala

Editor's Note: Albert Wirkkala is a native of Naselle and is the son of the late Mr . and Mrs . Andrew K .Wirkkala . For years he logged the hills of the Naselle valley and is a preacher for his church . Heregularly preaches in Finnish on an Astoria radio station and has travelled the world preaching thegospel in Finnish .

Recently Albert finished a luxurious sauna at his home in Naselle . It is considered a communityshowplace and it is perhaps fitting that he has written this piece for us .

The Palace of Versailles had one thousand one hundred rooms and one bath . Theinns having no perfume industry opted for steam cleaning . No one knows exactly what yearthe sauna was invented but it has come down to us through the centuries and is gainingpopularity around the world . It is especially popular in the United States .

The sauna has therapeutic value . A person taking a sauna bath feels tensions beingrelieved . After steaming, scrubbing and showering, one feels very relaxed . They sleepsoundly and wake up refreshed .

There are different types of saunas . The savusauna (smoke sauna) is the original . Itconsists of one room . Usually a small log cabin with a furnace made of rocks . It has nochimney ; only a vent to let the smoke out . After the rocks are really hot, the fire is allowed todie down . Some water is thrown on the rocks to drive the rest of the smoke out and the ventis then closed. Before the bathers sit down they wash the bench on the platform down . Thesmoke leaves black soot on the walls and bench . Light is provided by a lantern or candle setbehind a little glass window .

Some saunas now have a chimney and a fire is constantly left to burn . The modernelectric sauna is definitely ersatz .

Saunas are usually built on lake frontage or some other body of water . After a sauna, aswim in the water is in order. In winter a hole is made in the ice for swimming . Once I wentswimming in a blizzard temperature of -14° C . When I came out of the water my feetstarted to freeze to the dock and my towel froze until it was stiff as a board .

The sauna should always be heated so that it is hot . The hottest that I have experiencedwas 125' C . or 257' F .

The first sauna in Naselle was built by Jacob Pakenen in 1879 . It was a log cabinwhich doubled as his first house . For many immigrants from Finland, one of the firstbuildings they built was the sauna . Jacob's was a savusauna and it was situated close to theriver east of where the Nasi home now stands . The furnace was built out of parts from anold steam donkey. The bull gear was used as the support for the rocks .

The first sauna on our homeplace was also built with an old steam donkey boiler as thefurnace. The flues had been re-moved and the rocks placed on thecrown sheet . My first experiencewith smoke sauna was actually inVictor Ylonen's sauna .

The argument over whichsauna is best has never been settled .Mikon Antti said that their parishdoctor would not receive patientswho had not used the savusauna .This was because the smoke andheat was believed to kill all bacteria .The sauna was also used as a mater-nity ward by many families andmany Finns speak the truth whenthey say they were born in a sauna .

-photo courtesy of Russell Wirkkala

Juntilla Brother's sauna, built 1915 in Eden Valley .

32

The story is told in Naselle that some school teachers wanted to try the sauna atCharles Bighill's place one year. Charles agreed and heated it up for them . He then toldthem that if it got too hot to throw some water on the rocks . When they innocently did asthey were instructed, the heat became unbearable and they ran screaming from the sauna .

The sauna is a great institution . It is solemn ritual for many . Too bad that no one hasraised a statue in honor of the Unknown Inventor of the sauna .

The Shamrock Hotelby Ellen Wirkkala

Editor's Note: Ellen Johnson Wirkkala was born and raised in Astoria . She moved across the ColumbiaRiver when she married Charles F. Wirkkala of Deep River . She operated the Shamrock Hotel fortwenty-three years until it closed sometime around 1955. She lived in Deep River until 1975 . She nowresides in Longview but returns to the Naselle area often to visit members of her family .

The Shamrock Hotel was built in 1900 at Deep River, Washington, by Mr. CharlesZiegler . Charles's father was a homesteader who had moved to Deep River from Germanyabout 1862 . In 1904, the building was remodelled into a saloon downstairs, offeringrooms and meals, by a new owner Mr. Reikkola .

Nestor and Hulda Wirkkala purchased the Shamrock Hotel about 1917 . Huldaoperated the boarding house from the time it was purchased by them until 1932 when shebroke her leg . Her daughter-in-law, Ellen Wirkkala, operated the boarding house for thenext 23 years . Sometime after 1955, the Shamrock was closed and used as living quarters .

Boarders who stayed at the Shamrock invariably were loggers, construction workers,engineers, teachers, scalers, salesmen and retired loggers . Transients always stopped forthe food. Hulda Wirkkala fed them well, so the Shamrock had an excellent reputation . UntilState Highway 4 was built south of Deep River, the old road used to pass in front of thehotel .

Breakfast at the Shamrock consisted of cooked cereal, fruit, toast, hot cakes, bacon orlinks or ham, eggs, sometimes waffles and hot biscuits .

Dinner at noon was usually a roast, sometimes fish, potatoes, salad, vegetables, alwaysfresh pie, fruit, cake or cookies .

Supper in the evening was usually the same as the noon meal . Once in a while steakwould be served instead of roast .

Menus also included such Finnish foods as fish

<?r3

1-Genuine P

Mini by Rankin,courtesy of Marlene Wiitala

The backdoor and garden of the Shamrock Hotel,August 14, 1950. The gardener is not identified .

33

head stew, love or fruit soup, pratinapaistia (boiled veal organs),and blood bread and stew .

The hungry traveler couldalways buy canned fruits, pies,cookies, coffee bread andhard tack for 25 cents .

Recipe for Fish HeadStew: trim fish head and cut inquarters, add the tips andpieces of the tail as well, placepotatoes in the bottom of apan, then add the fish and onecubed onion, add salt, pepperand about 2 bay leaves, coverwith water, cook till thepotatoes are done, pour offhalf of the water and addcanned milk . Serve .

From the rivers, lakes and isles of valiant FinlandIn the strenuous pioneering days of yoreCame a hardy people seeking human freedomsTo this lush green pristine waiting Western Shore .

Each one chose and grubbed and burned himselfa homesite

Often helped by friends and neighbors there about,Built a sometimes rustic house and set of buildingsSpent long hours to put the wilderness to rout .

Found a young, determined woman, ever willingTo share the labor as they went along and thenRaised a family of healthy active youngstersThree or four or sometimes even eight or ten .

Finn Valleyby Max Wilson

Editor's Note : The following poem was written by Max Wilson of Long Beach, Washington . Max served onthe Board of Directors of the Historical Society as president in 1972 and was Director for the Long BeachDistrict from January 1978 to January 1982 . He was awarded Life Membership in the society in 1979 .

Max grew up in Naselle and knows the logging roads of the area by heart. While his fatheroperated the General Merchandise store in the hotel in old Naselle, Max and his brothers fished therivers and hunted and logged the hills of the Naselle River Valley . He says of his poem :"This poem is a well-deserved tribute to the first wave of Finlanders who settled in the Naselle Valley .Since I grew up there, I speak from first-hand observation . In a life-time of intermittent dealing with thefirst generation, often on the cuff, I have never lost a dime by trusting them and have a deep-seatedrespect for their sterling character ."

"Finn Valley" is one of many poems written by Max about the people and landmarks of centralPacific County : his birthplace.

Swinging Bridgesand Country Schools

by Peggy Mathews Busse

Editor's Note : Peggy Busse is a native of Pacific County and a 30 year resident of Naselle. She wasborn in Portland, but moved to South Bend with her parents when she was a couple months old . Sheis the wife of Walter Busse of Naselle.

Peggy has been a member of the Historical Society Board of Directors since 1977 . She was ap-pointed to the newly created Naselle Directorship in May of that year and was elected to a full term inOctober 1979 . During the past 16 years she has written articles for newspapers in Pacific County andClatsop County (Oregon) and now writes the Naselle community news column for Wayne O'Neil'sChinook Observer of Long Beach .

When settlers first came to the Naselle River Valley it was a lonely and isolated place .The education of children was undertaken by their parents . As families appeared in greaternumbers, they took to visiting one another and educating their children collectively . Soon itwas time to establish a real school . The first one in the valley was a one-room structure builtin 1880 near the O'Connor home on the South Fork of the Naselle . It was replaced later bya new school closer to The Landing (the early settler name for Naselle) .

There were three other schools in the vicinity as well . One was built on Smith Island forthe children living near the mouth of the Naselle River . The Whealdon School served mid-valley residents where Salmon Creek and the Naselle River converge . The Bighill Schoolwas built on the Upper Naselle River for children in the upper reaches of the valley .

Naselle vicinity children often walked to school through soggy fields, rowed boatsacross rivers and streams, or walked across slippery, mossy logs . Some routes to school

Worked for a net of surfaced, modern highwaysWhere before had been but slippery muddy trailsManned our mines and mowed and milled our

virgin forestsWent from once-a-week to boasted daily mails.

Devout Christians, building schools and varied churches,Keeping what was best from former country lines of thoughtWhile embracing what was best from present thinkingAnd intent to more enhance their present lot.

May your offspring strive to emulate their siresAs they take the baton from the aging handsCounteract the surging power of mass destruction,Keep a stable, free and self-sufficient land .

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were impossible . Especially where the rocky, steep banks precluded the use of a rowboatand log bridges were prone to wash away in the high water of winter . For these locations,the Swinging bridge was the ideal solution .

The Swinging bridges of the Naselle first appeared near school locations well beforethe turn-of-the-century . They enabled children to reach their destination with greater ease .They were constructed of rough-hewn planks, small logs, wire cables and ropes . Theyswung and swayed with the capricious breezes up and down the river canyons, and at sometimes of the year were wet, slimy and slippery . They could be nearly as disagreeable anddangerous as the moss-covered log footbridges . Most had handrails of a sort but they wereoften only a rope strung along small upright supports extending from the bed or walkway ofthe bridge. A well-constructed bridge might have a wire mesh along the sides to keep thewalker from taking an unexpected header into the cold waters below . Yesterday's childrenstill recall their trepidation on crossing the bridges during wet and windy weather .

At one time there were ten Swing bridges spanning the reaches of the Naselle . The firstone provided a crossing near the present-day location of Peaceful Hill Cemetery . Other

A Naselle Valley Swing Bridge .

bridges spanned the river at the Oman place, the Kolback farm, Bighill school, and bet-ween the Keiski and Pollari farms . The remainder were located upriver from the Keiski-Pollari bridge .

Children used the swinging bridges until 1906, when the consolidated school wasestablished. After that, children were most often delivered to school via horse-drawn schoolwagon . By 1910, the county was building a road through the Naselle area and the Swing-ing bridges gradually fell into disrepair . The Bighill bridge was used up until about 1920 .No traces remain of these early-day bridges over the Naselle . However, other Swingingbridges were built in later years for various reasons and one of these still stands .

Some Swinging bridges were built on the upper reaches of the Naselle to accom-modate loggers who worked there . They were hastily built, intended only to be used forshort periods of time . They usually consisted of a couple rough-hewn planks laid over wire-held crosspieces with a cable or knotted rope handrail . The caulked boots worn by loggersmade short work of the walkways on such bridges, but by then the logger was working inanother location, where he built another bridge .

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-photo courtesy of Martha Keiski Wirkkala

-photo courtesy of Peggy Busse

Bergquist Swing Bridge

The only remaining swinging bridge on theriver today is one built by Carl Bergquist on theUpper Naselle about 1930 . He built it to gain ac-cess to property where he built his home . Bergquistcarried every board, nail and window in his houseacross the bridge . Needless to say, the furniture wasalso hand carried over it . The Bergquist childrenused the bridge to catch the school bus .

The county finally built a road on the homesiteside of the river in later years, but the bridge is stillin use today . Family members use it to visit backand forth across the river . Several other Swingingbridges were built in the Upper Naselle River areaby isolated families to cross the river, or to reach afavored fishing hole, but none of them remain .

In the late 1 930's surveyors built and used aflimsy cable and log bridge at the steep and rockycanyon known as Rocky Cut . It was only used whilea railroad bed was being blasted from a solid rockwall during the construction of the Deep RiverTimber Company logging railroad .

Pictures and memories are the only remindersof the Swinging bridges over the Naselle, with thelone exception of the Bergquist bridge .

Early Day Logging in the Nasel Countryby Peggy Mathews Busse

Editor's Note : This article is used courtesy of Wayne O'Neil, owner and publisher of the ChinookObserver. A longer version first appeared in the "Long Beach Centennial Edition" January 1, 1981 .

The settlers who first came to the Nasel Valley may rightly be considered the area's firstloggers. The clearing of land to provide an open space for homes and gardens was loggingon a limited scale . The lush green growth, be it more than 100 feet in height, had to becleared away. Some of the cedar was used as fencing and as building materials, but muchwas burned on the ground . Many of the trees were wasted so far as lumber use was con-cerned, as they were broken up in the falling and there was no market for it .

The first company to begin operations in the area was the Deep River Timber Com-pany about 1870. They logged in the Deep River Valley and Salmon Creek Valley . Log-ging was done with crosscut saws . Falling the huge trees of those days required them to getabove the lumpy base . T hey accomplished this by cutting notches in the base and pushingin a small platform, or springboard, to stand on while making the cut . Sometimes, due tohilly terrain or the size of the tree, more than one springboard was necessary . Many oldstumps show springboard notches to this day .

Trees were felled directly into the water, using handsaws, axes, wedges, sledges andjacks and peaveys . The work was dangerous and profits uncertain . This was because themarket fluctuated or logs were washed away in a freshet .

When timber near the water was used up, trees were moved though the woods byteams of oxen or horses, sometimes over a skid road, or downhill path . Skidroads were

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often made of logs, greased with tallow or water, so the logs would slide along more easily .Oxen logging was used in Nasel in the 1 880's when the Maclntyre Brothers logged on theSouth Fork and Middle Valley . Ross and Graham logged the Knappton Road and Talusproperty .

A skid road variation, known as a tramway, was used on Lane Creek . Tramways usedsteel plated rails over timbers . Log cars ran on huge cast iron flanged wheels and camedown the hill by gravity . A brakeman rode the car to the end of the road, where the logs

-photo courtesy of Martha Rangila Morse

Log Train and Trestle at Bell's Camp, Deep River, 1905 .

-photo courtesy of Martha Keiski Wirkkala

The Falls on the Upper Naselle River .The young men in the photo are from left to right: Walter Penttila, Oscar Nyberg, Otto Wirkkalaand Otto Bighill .

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rs-photo courtesy of Martha Rangila Morse

Wentworth Logging Company, early 1900s .The Wentworth Company was logging behind the present Bill O'Connor home in Naselle whenthis picture was taken .

were dumped in the river . A horse riding on a platform at the rear, then pulled the car backup the tramway for another load . Alfred Johnson of Naselle recently unearthed some of theold iron flanged wheels used on a tramway . They had been abandoned on site when theywere no longer needed .

In 1884, Robert Miller built a sawmill at Sunshine . It was the first one on the bay at themouth of the Nasel . The mill closed during the depression of 1892 but later resumedoperations for a short period of time .

The turn-of-the-century brought steam donkey's and splash dams to the valley . Splashdams were built on the upper reaches of a river . When the gates were opened logs andwater shot down the river with a thunderous roar . A rider usually rode through the valley towarn everyone to stay off the river. Dams were built on several branches of the Naselle .

Early day loggers in the Naselle Valley included Armstrong and Leonard (1898) on theupper Naselle, Noble and Ellsworth (1899), Larkin Logging Company on the UpperNaselle (later sold to George King who renamed it Niagra Logging Company), OmanBrothers on the Parpala place and Alder Creek (1912), Bighill Brothers on Salmon Creek(1908), Matt and Frank Johnson and Gustafson on the upper Naselle (Charlie, Alex andJohn Johnson continued operations until the 1950's), William Moffitt, George Mosher andArt Wentworth on the lower Naselle, Soule on Nurmi Creek, and Chambers on Dell Creek .

Railroad logging in the Naselle River Valley started before World War I . Brix Brotherson the South Fork and Sission Creek was one of the bigger locomotive operations . Theylogged there through WWI and then moved into the Knappton area .

Logging railroads utilized many trestles over steep canyons and creeks . The Naselle-Salmon Creek and Deep River Valleys were literally honeycombed with logging trestles inthe early 1900's .

Logging railroads gave way to the age of gasoline powered equipment sometime dur-ing the 1930's . Trucks could haul logs out of the more inaccessible places, and roads weremade possible by more modern equipment .

As logging technology improved, especially with the advent of the chainsaw, youngertimber could be taken from the woods . Some areas in the Naselle valley have been loggedfor the third time since the days of the crosscut saw .

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"The Little Pig Tail Engineer"by Woodrow J. Gifford

Editor's Note : Woody Gifford worked bucking and "doing a little bit of everything" for theWeyerhaeuser Company in Deep River for fifteen years . Literature hit him between the eyes in highschool and he has been writing poetry ever since. He published a book called Timber Bird: LoggerRhythms and has written for Logger's World and Raindance, a journal of Northwest poetry, edited byShirley Ruble of Seattle Pacific University .

"I've never been able to get rid of the itch to write and at my age I'm not gonna try," Woody, nowseventy, says .

Up at Deep River Logging'sBustling Family Camp,Most of The Crew were Home GuardsThe rest were men on The Tramp .Nestled here in this Forest SettingOf Tall Fir Trees that swept the sky,With the Deep River Hills around herAnd the winding Naselle near by .The Logging Sides were busyGetting out Logs each day,Two Train-load from Camp down to waterWas what it took to make her pay .And each day Old No . 7Would thunder down The Track-Unload her Logs-pick up The MailAnd then she would thunder back .The Children that lived at The CampsiteOffspring of the Home Guard Crew,Never suffered the Childhood AnguishOf having nothing to do .When the long School Term was overThey could play on The Forest Floor,Or swim and fish in the riverNew adventures were always in store .But one Little Girl named BunnySeemed to stay apart from the rest,Of all The Campsite GlamorShe loved Old 7 best .Old Seven Spot was The MalleyA Lokie of much acclaim,Whose name in "The Logging Country"Had won respect and fame .Each morning you'd see Bunny standingWhere The Lokie would stop-wheeze and wait,While The Fireman with his Long Barreled Oil CanWould each Pin and Slide Plate lubricate .Dewey Stinchcomb, the kindly firemanHad noticed the Little GirlAs she watched him pump oil in The Journal Box-Where he'd seen a wisp of smoke curl .He figured she'd like to see what made-Old Seven Spot heave and sigh,How The Throttle-The Gauges and Levers all workedThat The Engineer drove her by .One day Dewey asked "Little Pig Tails"If she'd like to ride up to The Y,Old Seven was hissing and puffingSending Smoke Plumes up in The Sky .He had barely finished askingAnd released his hand from The Grab,When-with a sudden swish of blonde Pig TailsBunny was up in The Cab .Dewey-amused at her promptness

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Winked at The Engineer,Who was picking up slack in The Bell CordThe Train Bell "ding donged" loud and clear .Stewart slowly opened The ThrottleAnd Old Seven began to throb,Bunny was watching closely-As "Stew" turned that well polished knob .She quickly noticed the leverHe pushed to go forward and back,Old Seven eased out from the Curve in The Y-Through The Frog to the Mainline Track .With the Skeleton Cars on The SidingThe Lokie deadheaded back,Art had just walked across the Truck CrossingOn his way to the Timekeepers Shack,Bunny smiled and waved at her father-Who happened to take a look back .For a moment it sort of amused him-But he also felt somewhat perplexed,Inside him he seemed to be thinkingWhat's My Little Girl going to do next?It was just a few days laterThe Crew had come in after work,They were all getting ready for supper-All except Earl the Time Office Clerk .Art had seated himself on his Porch StepAnd started unlacing his boot,When suddenly heard No . 7Blow that familiar Crossing Toot-Toot!"My God,-that has got to be Bunny",Gasped Art as his Caulks reached full stride ;I've got to get aboard That LokieBefore she cracks The Throttle too wide ."Art rounded the Time Shack at full speedSeized The Lokie Hand Rail in one grab,Leaped over the top of The Drivers-And landed smack inside The Cab .He quickly closed off The Throttle-Glanced sharply at little Blonde Bunn,"Daddy, she sobbed-I just wanted to take-Old Seven on a Trial Run!"Art pushed back a smile as he recalled his youthWhen adventure came first on The list,He remembered some of the chances he tookAnd the dangers he just barely missed .So he said : "Honey Girl-before you try againTo take Old Seven down The Track,Be sure you know where you are going to go-And above all get safely back .""Remember Bunny-that Caution is Boss-But don't get side-tracked by fear,Some day Girls and Boys will have equal rights-And you'll be the First Girl Engineer ."

Bridging The Distance From Finland to America

"Where We Came From"Penttila Bridge on the Perhonjoki River, Finland

Kaustinen, Finland

Finland 1982

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America

"Where We Came To"Penttila Bridge on the Naselle River, U .S .A .

Naselle, Washington-photos courtesy of Russell Wirkkala