Great post BP.
Swedes and Finns came to Northern Ontario back in the day.
Some worked in the mines but most worked in the bush.
Swansons was one of the first big logging companys to operate here in the early days.
The Finnish people really held on to their identity,and even today there is an old folks home in Timmins just for Finnish people.

Two things come to mind after reading through this. One, gosh, is this the same little kid that was running around the Christmas dinner in Creswell with the coon skin cap. Time flies. And second, Terry Sawyer said there were so many Swedes in Oregon because they had logged all the trees in the East, and and then ran into an ocean and had to stop. Looks like you had a blast, thanks for the post.

Bearguy, I know you're referring to my son Will not me. LOL But yep, the same.

Here's the story of how my grandpa Teodor ended up in Oregon: He worked off his passage in one of the New England states and was working for a farmer hoeing a field of beets when another Swede came walking down a country road and yelled out to him in Swedish: " Hey ya dumb Swede, what're you doing hoeing beets? You should come out west and work in a rock quarry for big money like where I'm headed". Grandpa threw down his hoe and off they went together. He said that farm didn't even feed them enough to keep going and they had to steal milk and eggs in the early hours to keep from starving to death. He ended up in St Helens, Oregon on the Columbia river and soon after married my grandmother and bought a small farm.

Another mini American success story.

Thank you very much for the pictures, BP!