Finnish Settlement in Canada

Abstract

HE pattern of Finnish settlement in Canada resembles that in the T United States. Occupance of the open prairie is almost unknown, or of the semiarid localities where irrigation is a requirement of agriculture. Outside urban centers the Finn lives on rolling lands interrupted by the coniferous forest or by birch if it can flourish (Fig. 2). Farm sites generafly flank rivers or lakes or are easily accessible to them. In the Prairie Provinces parklands are preferred to open country. Soils are likely to be podzols, and some of them poorly drained; in fact, a little muskeg now and then is not unwelcome to a Finn. Of course, Finns do not shun black-earth land if, as rarely happens, they can afford to buy it. With few exceptions, the Finns in Canada reside where both the terrain and the climate resemble those of their native land (Figs. i-5).' Even urban Finns refer to the satisfaction they find in living in a region climatically and scenically related to Finland. To be sure, no Canadian Rockies rise majestically from Finland's surface. But neither have large numbers of Finns settled in the Rockies. In forested areas where merchantable timber is being cut, it is more than likely that Finns will be numbered among the employees. Their names also appear on mill payrolls. The strong attraction of the forest and podzol soils is strikingly exemplified in southeastern Saskatchewan. The forests of